The school board meeting the other night was packed with parents opposed to year round schools. One mother let the ‘chips fall where they may,’ put it bluntly and said “switching to year round schools would force her family to eschew the annual beach vacation.” (News and Observer; 9-26-06). Now, there’s something about all this…
Read MoreIn the final weeks of the 1994 campaign, smelling a rout, Newt Gingrich blamed Democrats for the moral climate that he said led a South Carolina woman to drown her two children. So Republicans can hardly complain about Democrats hammering away at the Mark Foley affair. Maybe this is the sign that 2006 will be…
Read MoreThe Governor just rewarded political advisor, Mac McCorkle (who’s pet line, especially when it comes to the lottery scandal, is ‘I don’t discuss my conversations with the Governor with the press’) with a new appointment. Governor Easley has named Mr. McCorkle Chairman of the North Carolina Progress Board, the state commission Governor Hunt founded to…
Read MoreRaleigh’s North, Northeast and Northwest planning districts accounted for 58% of the city’s growth over the last six years. Compare that to the Central District (downtown): its share was 2.5%. The Mayor’s spokesman, City Manager Russell Allen, says North Raleigh hasn’t been forgotten when it comes to city spending – and adds, as an example,…
Read MoreLast Wednesday the City’s “Livable Streets” newsletter came out boasting about the groundbreaking of the new RBC Centura Plaza downtown, another huge new mixed use project downtown, four new parking garages downtown – and taxi fares going up everywhere. The next morning I talked to a friend who got stuck in traffic on Glenwood Avenue…
Read MoreIt’s hard to tell who’s in charge at Raleigh’s City Hall when it comes to the sanitation workers’ protests. But it sure looks like City Manager Russell Allen has lost the City Council’s confidence. In fact, it looks like the Council – not Allen – made the decision to fire the city’s top sanitation managers.…
Read MoreGary, after all the trials and lottery scandals a little dose of sex and politics sounded interesting so when I read your blog (see below) about Vernon Robinson’s new ad about Brad Miller I looked at the copy on factcheck.org. Unfortunately, poor Vernon’s his own worst enemy. He has two legitimate points. Congressman Miller did…
Read MoreThis is from Dick Morris’ newsletter (“Attack Dog – Bill Threatens Media”) about President Clinton’s interview on the Today Show and his eruption during an interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News. Morris says former President Clinton’s ‘Play Book,’ when it comes to dealing with critics, works this way: “Item one is ‘deny the allegation;’…
Read MoreWell, Gary, I watched President Clinton on Fox News the other night and it was like old times not forgotten. He said four times he wanted to kill Osama bin Laden and it was sort of a shock hearing the words, “We tried to kill him,” come out of anyone’s mouth quite so bluntly. He…
Read More