Archive for 2013
Concerned about Pat?
About the last thing on earth the Governor needed when he opened the newspaper the other morning was to read the Department of Health and Human Services had hired another former political campaign worker. But it had. Now the young campaign worker – who’s been hired to handle the Department’s ‘branding’ – may…
Read MoreLet Teachers Teach
“The problem with education policy is that it’s made by old white men who haven’t been in a classroom since college.” – A professor of education For decades now, cycles of education “reform” have swept across America and North Carolina. Testing programs, No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top and now Common Core.…
Read MoreThe First Test?
It’s hard to say exactly when the tide that landed Republicans in the soup began to whirl and eddy – maybe it was on Election Night, or when the legislature came to town, or when the Moral Monday demonstrations ignited and breathed life into the Democrats. But no matter how or when it began, last…
Read MorePat’s Mid-Year Review
A veteran executive of a big North Carolina corporation offers this: “If Governor McCrory had remained in corporate America, he would’ve been subjected to a mid-year review by his boss to ensure he’s on target to meet his goals and objectives. “Let’s see how he’s doing as governor: “Strategic planning and execution. Needs…
Read MoreOn His Heels
Governor McCrory says he’s not afraid “to step on toes.” It looks more like he’s tripping over his own feet. And some of his key appointees can’t find their footing. At this rate, they’ll all get the boot.
Read MoreListening to Voters
A veteran political hand once gave me this insight into how political people overestimate how much attention voters are paying: “The voters listen a lot slower than we talk.” Two pieces of recent evidence: John Frank’s fascinating set of articles in the N&O about voters in swing districts and a new poll on the…
Read MoreWho Is Paying for This?
Taxpayers are paying for big salaries and big consulting contracts at DHHS. Are they also paying for “security” so the Secretary won’t have to answer questions about what the taxpayers are paying? An indignant TAPster emailed on Sunday: “Ned Barnett’s column this morning says that Aldona Wos has ‘security personnel.’ I guess this really…
Read MoreLost in Syria
Foreign policy is not my forte, so don’t ask me what America should do about Syria. But I get politics, and I don’t get President Obama’s political strategy. If you want to do something, why ask permission from a Congress that has proven itself incapable of doing anything? Most Republicans won’t vote for…
Read MoreMeeker’s Toe Dip
When Charles Meeker let fly his Governor-in-2016 trial balloon, you saw two things about where the political winds are blowing today. First, Democrats sense Governor McCrory is vulnerable. That’s no news flash. Everybody has concluded that over the last month. Including McCrory and his allies. That’s why they’re denouncing the media, promising to whack…
Read MoreThe Price of a Fiction
In the Senate of the world’s oldest democracy the Honorables sat down around a giant horseshoe-shaped table to hold a hearing to ask the Secretary of State how he figured bombing Syria was a good idea – but a strange thing happened: As soon as each Senator asked his first question the Secretary of State…
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