Tony Tata is the Karl Hess of school superintendents: a click too sensitive to criticism. (Memo to all – and self: The next time you get mad at somebody, feel free to compose a blistering e-mail to them. Then immediately hit “Delete.” You won’t regret it.) Tata had won over a lot of…
Read MoreLast year when I decided to work with the trial lawyers I took a fair amount of razzing from my Republican friends – among Republicans, lawyers are not as unpopular as the Huns but it’s close. As best as I can tell the last lawyer Republicans admired was Cicero. Anyhow, last year there were two…
Read MoreThe Democrats in Raleigh haven’t looked this befuddled in years – redistricting is one source of their bewilderment but the roots of their disorder run deeper: In every state election for two decades the Raleigh Democrats have outraised Republicans by millions – this year the Democrats are staring at empty coffers and Phil Berger has…
Read MoreThe GOP 13th Congressional District race looks like a mini-version of the Republican presidential race. George Holding is playing the part of Mitt Romney: establishment conservative focusing on cutting spending and deficits (and ignoring the reality that Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush gave us the biggest deficits ever). Paul Coble…
Read MoreCan Democrats get so lucky? Will the Republicans really nominate Rick Santorum? I had high hopes for Newt Gingrich. But, once again, he has proven to be the Hindenburg of American politics: a huge vessel of hot air doomed to go down in flames. Clearly, Mitt Romney would be the toughest Republican in…
Read MoreListen up, ACC execs and refs: Any Big Shot today has to be open, honest and accountable. No comment and not answering questions won’t cut it. Full disclosure: I was at the State game Saturday, and I’m a big fan of the Pack. But I pride myself on never getting after the refs (they’re…
Read MoreA Democratic TAPster offers these thoughts “Re – Caterpillar and others over the past several months: “If I were running for governor (and I’m not but have to admit I think I could beat the current group of contenders) I would come out in favor of corporate incentives. I would state I will not…
Read MoreA Republican filed to run for State House and no sooner had he filed than he was told he had to fill out a second form called a Financial Disclosure Report – so he went to the State Ethics Commission’s website and found the form then ran head on into a bureaucratic maze. When…
Read MoreWhat would have happened two years ago if then-Speaker Joe Hackney had ordered Capitol police to clear away a group of Tea Party demonstrators on the second floor of the Legislative Building? Republicans no doubt would be in high dudgeon over such high-handed action. The Tea Party would be in a frenzy over “police-state…
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