Duke Up the River

Duke Energy badly fumbled the political/PR ball on the coal-ash spill. Duke should have quickly rolled out a clear plan to clean up the Dan River and to deal with long-term management of ash ponds.   All we heard was the CEO saying ratepayers would pay. Politicians filled the void with preaching, posturing and their…

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Spill=One Term for McCrory?

Without Duke Energy, Pat McCrory wouldn’t be Governor. Now, with Duke’s coal-ash spill, he may very well be a one-term Governor.   Get some popcorn and get a comfortable chair, because this movie is going to run for a long time. At least through the 2016 election. And it will dominate the rest of McCrory’s…

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Slow Down!

A TAPster reports seeing a State Capitol Police car equipped with a radar gun – miles away from any state government building.   Inquiring minds want to know:  Why does the State Capitol Police need a radar gun in one of their cruisers? What possible explanation can there be? Are school children running too fast…

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It’s the Schools, Stupid

Governor McCrory may have coal ash on his hands, but I bet most voters have education on their minds. So, does focusing on the Dan River disaster distract Democrats from a stronger issue?   The spill is a tempting target. There’s the McCrory-Duke tie. You can tell the Governor is sensitive about it. When he…

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A Side-Step

It’s tough to stay a step ahead of a smart bureaucrat.      About a week ago I wrote an article explaining how what a bureaucrat wants (for himself) and what’s best for public education isn’t always the same thing – and used Senator Phil Berger’s ‘Read to Achieve’ bill as an example.   What…

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Homeless

Will Randy Voller leave the Democratic Party homeless? What a tribute to his leadership.   WRAL reports: “An Executive Council member…said embattled party Chairman Randy Voller told members the party is ‘broke,’ with only $60,000 in the bank. According to the attendee, Voller told party members he may have to let some staffers go, and…

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Mountain Man Martin Nesbitt

This tribute was penned by Gene Upchurch, a veteran executive and lobbyist for CP&L and Progress Energy:   “For those of us who have toiled in the Raleigh political gig the last 30 years, Martin Nesbitt has always been there. Love him or hate him, agree or disagree, he was there, usually bigger than life.…

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Thank You, Robert Holding

He helped answer two questions that I get a lot: Why are you helping Clay Aiken? And, of course: What’s he like?   When Holding said he was considering running against Renee Ellmers in the Republican primary (he didn’t, in the end), he said she “has gone Washington.” He added, “Do not underestimate Clay Aiken.…

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Running in Circles

These days just about every politician in Raleigh is saying (as often as he can) how he wants to spend more money on schools and give teachers raises.    But what if the root of the problem with schools isn’t money.    This is a bit simple but the prime movers in public education are:…

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Thinking Head

When every politician in Washington sounds like a robot reciting a predictable party line, Rand Paul sounds like a man who actually thinks. Sometimes he sounds sounds nutty and sometimes he makes sense, but he’s worth watching – and listening to.   Paul first caught my attention when he filibustered against drones, denounced the NSA…

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