I was out of town this weekend and had difficulty following news about the tornados and their aftermath. But that was nothing compared to the difficulty untangling the PR disaster surrounding Governor Perdue’s whereabouts Saturday. An obliging TAPster summed it up this way: “Governor Perdue should fire her entire communications team after their…
Read MoreRepublicans have opened the doors of opportunity for Governor Perdue. And missed a golden opportunity for themselves. Perdue can now say – according to State Board of Education Chairman Bill Harrison – that the Republican budget cuts would make North Carolina LAST in the nation in per-pupil education funding. We can’t even say…
Read MoreFor the last ten years – girding their loins for this year’s redistricting battle – over in the State Legislature Republicans have been telling anyone who’ll listen that the Democrats should set up an ‘Independent Commission’ to draw new House and Senate districts. What they had in mind was simple: They didn’t want Democrats to…
Read MoreSome 500+ of Bill Friday’s closest personal friends attended a luncheon in Chapel Hill honoring him for 40 years of hosting “North Carolina People.” (Warning: Shameless self-promotion ahead! I’m on his show tonight and Sunday, talking about my Jim Hunt biography.) Friday has conducted these gentle, relaxed interviews with probably 2,000 North Carolinians…
Read MoreIn theory state law says the maximum contribution you or I or anyone else can give a State House or Senate candidate is $4,000 per election – but it turns out legislators left a loophole in the law. Say a group – like the Medical Society – gives Senator Louis Pate $4,000. Then…
Read MoreHas it occurred to anybody in the Republican Party that U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan is driving them off a cliff? Think back one year ago. Republicans could smell victory in November. Why? Because President Obama and the Democratic Congress had given them the perfect punching bag: sweeping, comprehensive health care reform. Best of…
Read MoreCraig Phillips, who died Tuesday, was a good and progressive Superintendent of Public Instruction. But I feel compelled to correct one small thing in the N&O’s story about him. The story said Phillips “put reading aides in state elementary school classrooms as part of his Primary Reading Program.” No. The Primary Reading Program…
Read MoreOf all things there’s another ‘concealed carry’ bill over at the legislature…this time Speaker Thom Tillis’ Chief of Staff, Charles Thomas, and State Senate Kingpin Tom Apodaca want to allow the Sergeants-at-Arms in the legislature to carry concealed pistols. Supporting the bill, Thomas explained to the Senate Rules Committee that arming the Sergeants-at-Arms will…
Read MoreLook on the House budget proposal as the first move in a political chess match. The strategy: Lay out the most draconian cuts possible, guaranteed to bring to Raleigh every special interest group in the state – a chorus of voices denouncing, declaiming and pleading. Then come up with some magic moves –…
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