Governor McCrory is starting to look like Bev Perdue without the dress. He started out this legislature saying he’d be more assertive. Then Senator Berger released his budget and showed everybody who’s the Real Boss in Raleigh. McCrory clearly doesn’t like Berger’s budget. But it’s not clear what he’s going to do about…
Read MoreHorrified by the vision of legions of fired Democratic state employees, back when Jim Martin was elected Governor, Democrats changed the law so Martin couldn’t fire much of anyone – then announced (with a show of virtue) they’d gotten nasty old politics out of the state government. But the best laid plans of…
Read MoreEveryday emails float in out of the ether about miracle cures and hot stocks and how to meet the woman of my dreams in Moscow – it’s like having a swamp on my doorstep. But even in swamps virtue has a way of showing up now and then and the email below (part…
Read MoreHere’s some history on teacher assistants – and a hint about why Senate Republicans want to get rid of them: They’re Jim Hunt’s creation. In his first race for Governor in 1976, Hunt proposed what he called the Primary Reading Program. As Lieutenant Governor and ex-officio member of the State Board of Education, he…
Read MoreThe Brasstown possum’s landed back in court. Up in the mountains, in Brasstown, there’s a gentleman who celebrates each New Year’s Eve by putting a possum in a box, suspending the box from the top of a general store, then, as the clock ticks down to midnight, dropping the possum to the town square…
Read MoreThe sound of handcuffs clicking onto more sit-in protesters echoes the grinding gears of North Carolina’s political machinery. Those shackled, disgruntled citizens apparently feel they have no other way to protest how Republicans are treating the poor, the sick, the disabled, teachers, etc. But one reader of this blog writes: “No group is…
Read MoreAs Democrats look to counter Senate Republicans on teacher pay, they should look outside the revenue box. The 11 percent raise/end tenure plan caught the headlines and seemed to catch Democrats (and Governor McCrory) off guard. Democrats responded that the plan would gut education, UNC and Medicaid to fund an election-year pay raise that…
Read MoreIf you did a poll – and Senator Berger surely has – you’d probably get overwhelming support for this proposition: “Should public school teachers get an 11 per cent raise in exchange for giving up tenure?” Therein lies the challenge to Senate Democrats. Berger says: “You say you want higher teacher pay. Here it…
Read MoreOn Election Day my cousin Winifred who’s pure steel magnolia walked into the voting booth, stared at the names of the three judges running for Supreme Court, remembered the Republican ad saying Judge Robin Hudson was for child molesters, thought, I’ve seen enough of that kind of nastiness, and did something she’d never…
Read MoreRecent Articles
Curmudgeonly Cajun James Carville says Democrats just need to “roll over and play dead” and wait…
Read More
Trump raised tariffs. Said tariffs are beautiful. The next day, about facing, said automakers didn’t have…
Read More
A legend in politics, with a sneaky streak but a kind heart, Paddy sat down in…
Read More