The 14 men seated on the front row were in or closing in on their 10th decade on earth. Some of them were bent and wheelchair-bound. A couple were spry and alert. Several had trouble hearing, even when their names were called and their courage recounted. Seventy years ago, they were young men. Boys,…
Read MoreGovernor McCrory was checking off his 2014 Reset List. Teacher pay plan: check. Televised command presence in snowstorm: check. National face time on Face the Nation: check. New communications director: check. Then a river of sludge called coal ash starts gushing out of a facility owned by his employer of 28 years. Then a…
Read MoreJohn Drescher down at the News and Observer hit the nail on the head last week when he wrote: ‘Steve Beam needs a boss.’ What’s happened to Mr. Beam (the Director of the Raleigh Housing Authority) isn’t unusual. He’s got a government job and a political board with political goals. No one spends his own…
Read MoreThis is not what you call an ideal corporate PR juxtaposition. The Page One headline screams, “Damage from Dan River spill still unfolding.”From a Duke Energy power plant. On the business page, the headline says: “Duke Energy earnings up for 2013.” In true corporate PR fashion, Duke’s CEO announces the profits. An underling is dispatched to…
Read MoreGovernor McCrory walked into Reid’s Fine Food and ran head on into a cook who proceeded to tell him what he thought of the Governor’s politics; then, the way the cook tells it, the Governor started yelling, saying he was a customer and shouldn’t be treated that way – then the Governor’s security detail complained…
Read MoreThe other day down at the News and Observer ole Rob Christensen wrote about how Republicans in Raleigh are cocksure there’s not a chance they’ll lose their majorities in the State House and State Senate – because of redistricting. Then he pointed out a not-so-good thing: When politicians get the idea they’re so powerful they’re invulnerable it…
Read MoreNorth Carolina’s unemployment rate apparently went up by one person this weekend following an encounter between Governor McCrory and a cook at a Charlotte gourmet food store. The Charlotte Observer reports that the cook was fired after making a critical comment to the Governor. The Observer said: “On Sunday afternoon, McCrory was shopping at Reid’s Fine…
Read MoreIt’s got to be a temptation – but it may not have a happy ending. Lately, President Obama’s taken to running the country by Executive Order – for instance, the other day he found a part of Obamacare wasn’t going to work so he simply announced he wouldn’t enforce that part of the law. …
Read MoreLast week summed up the obstacles and opportunities that Governor McCrory faces as he governs in a purple state where politics is played for keeps. And he saw how hard it is, even for a Governor, to dictate the agenda. McCrory started the week trying to shed the Republican Party’s anti-teacher, anti-education label. He…
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