Archive for July 2006
A Blue Ribbon Punt
When I hear the words “Blue Ribbon Study Commission,” I automatically think: Another politician is punting. That’s exactly what happened in Wake County this month. Problem is, the “Blue-Ribbon Committee on the Future of Wake County” punted the ball right back to the politicians. The News & Observer summed it up this way in a…
Read MoreThe Great Contract Embroglio
The state’s biggest contract is its $171 million Medicare contract. Two years ago, it put the contract out to bid and Secretary of Human Services, Carmen Hooker Odom, announced with great fanfare she was awarding it to Texas computer giant, ACS – and saving taxpayers millions. Two years later, Secretary Hooker Odom says she is…
Read MoreDemocrats, Republicans and ‘Pay to Play’
The Democrats in the State House have been conducting their version of ‘damage control’ to dodge the political fallout from the ‘pay to play’ scandals in the House. What’s their strategy? Well, it’s to pass meaningless reforms and then to proclaim from the rooftops that they have solved the problem. When, in fact, they have…
Read MoreThe Governor’s Race
The Republicans Salisbury attorney, Bill Graham, has spent a million dollars of his own money to pay for TV ads to express his opposition to the Gas Tax. And, now, he’s getting ready to spend another bundle of his own money to say he’s against illegal immigration. Graham’s potential opponents might call this buying an…
Read MoreHypocrisy From the Left and the Right
Two news stories from the same day: While Republicans in Congress and the Bush Administration fulminate over The New York Times’ “treason” in publishing the banking-surveillance story, Republicans in Congress criticize the administration for not telling them about the program. They wouldn’t know about it today if they hadn’t read it in the Times –…
Read MoreJohn Edwards: Leading the War on Terrorisim
John Edwards has called for us to immediately withdraw 40,000 troops from Iraq. Not next month. Or by Christmas. Or in a year. Now. Granted we’re in a mess in Iraq. But where does bringing 40,000 troops home tomorrow leave the troops still in Iraq? Are they safer? Mr. Edwards is running for President as…
Read MoreNorth Hills Developer Takes a Plunge
I admire what John Kane has done at North Hills in Raleigh. He’s obviously a businessman with vision and guts. But I wonder if he knows what kind of political buzzsaw he has walked into now. Specifically, the anti-developer buzzsaw that seems to be dominating Raleigh politics. Kane has asked Raleigh and Wake County for…
Read MoreSocking it to Developers
The Mayor has increased the fees the city charges builders when they submit plans by $150,000. Sounds fine? Doesn’t affect you? You’re not a developer. Well, how expensive will the cost of doing business in Raleigh have to be before it does affect you? Those developers the Mayor uses as political foils serve people who…
Read MoreAmerica’s Debt to George Bush
When George W. Bush – the “compassionate conservative” – became President, the national debt was $5.6 trillion. Today it is $8.3 trillion. That is $2.7 trillion in additional debt. That is a 48 percent increase. By the way, if you’re having trouble grasping how much a trillion is: It’s a million millions. Click to Read…
Read MorePaying for Growth with Taxes?
There was a time – when Raleigh had a Republican Mayor – when growth meant no new taxes. Back then, when the city grew, new people and new businesses moved here, they paid new taxes, revenues went up and the city didn’t have to raise tax rates on the rest of us. Mysteriously, this has…
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