Archive for April 2011
Bill Friday’s People
Some 500+ of Bill Friday’s closest personal friends attended a luncheon in Chapel Hill honoring him for 40 years of hosting “North Carolina People.” (Warning: Shameless self-promotion ahead! I’m on his show tonight and Sunday, talking about my Jim Hunt biography.) Friday has conducted these gentle, relaxed interviews with probably 2,000 North Carolinians…
Read MoreDavy Jones’ Locker
In theory state law says the maximum contribution you or I or anyone else can give a State House or Senate candidate is $4,000 per election – but it turns out legislators left a loophole in the law. Say a group – like the Medical Society – gives Senator Louis Pate $4,000. Then…
Read MoreRyan’s Express
Has it occurred to anybody in the Republican Party that U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan is driving them off a cliff? Think back one year ago. Republicans could smell victory in November. Why? Because President Obama and the Democratic Congress had given them the perfect punching bag: sweeping, comprehensive health care reform. Best of…
Read MorePrimary Reading Program
Craig Phillips, who died Tuesday, was a good and progressive Superintendent of Public Instruction. But I feel compelled to correct one small thing in the N&O’s story about him. The story said Phillips “put reading aides in state elementary school classrooms as part of his Primary Reading Program.” No. The Primary Reading Program…
Read MorePolice Envy…
Of all things there’s another ‘concealed carry’ bill over at the legislature…this time Speaker Thom Tillis’ Chief of Staff, Charles Thomas, and State Senate Kingpin Tom Apodaca want to allow the Sergeants-at-Arms in the legislature to carry concealed pistols. Supporting the bill, Thomas explained to the Senate Rules Committee that arming the Sergeants-at-Arms will…
Read MorePawns to Queen’s Turf
Look on the House budget proposal as the first move in a political chess match. The strategy: Lay out the most draconian cuts possible, guaranteed to bring to Raleigh every special interest group in the state – a chorus of voices denouncing, declaiming and pleading. Then come up with some magic moves –…
Read MoreGive Me a Ticket on a Fast Train…
The corporate-wing of the State Republican Party, led by Charlotte Senator Bob Rucho, has come out four-square for Governor Perdue taking $545 million from the federal government to build ‘high-speed’ railroad tracks from Raleigh and Charlotte. Governors in several other states turned down the federal money, but Senator Rucho explained that ‘snubbing the federal…
Read MoreObama’s Balance
An advisor to President Obama used a term recently that may be the theme – stated or not – of both his budget proposal Wednesday and his 2012 campaign: “a balanced approach.” He will no doubt contrast that to Republican “extremism.” And Republicans fell right into the trap. Rep. Paul Ryan’s dream budget gives Democrats…
Read MoreLincoln’s Dream
One more Civil War story: In 1865, just after Lee surrendered at Appomattox Lincoln went to bed and had a dream: He was alone in the White House, walking through empty rooms and heard voices wailing; he walked towards the sound and came to a wide room he didn’t recognize but in the middle of…
Read MoreOverstaffed?
I received the missive below from a veteran of the Legislative Building. I should note that the author is not a yellow-dog Democrat, but rather someone who is sympathetic to the new Republican majority and its (supposed) agenda. “Long-time legislative observers are scratching their heads trying to remember if they’ve ever seen a staff person…
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