Posts by Carter Wrenn
General Washington and Newt
Not every politician can straddle a fence standing on one leg, but Newt Gingrich can do it and make it look easy. For over a decade Newt’s enthusiasts and supporters have been saying his ‘Contract with America’ was why the Republicans swept the 1994 election – but, in fact, right here in North…
Read MoreRuffin Poole and $500 Million
I’ve never laid eyes on Joe Sinsheimer. Politically he and I walk on opposite sides of the street. But if you ever get the feeling North Carolina politics has turned into a swamp of no-bid contracts and corrupt politicians stop a moment and consider what Sinsheimer has single-handedly done with good old-fashioned hard work –…
Read MoreThe New Republican Strategy for 2010
Back after Obama rolled into the White House and North Carolina turned into a ‘Blue State’ overnight Gary told me wryly, Don’t worry, we’ll find a way to blow it. Now that Republicans are leading in the polls Gary’s looking a bit clairvoyant but, on the other hand, it’s now Republicans who seem…
Read MoreThe Essential Woman
When I was a boy I had a wire-haired terrier, a stray who showed up on the farm and made himself at home; one day walking past a woodpile the terrier spotted a barn rat and in the blink of an eye charged, ears tucked back, hair bristling; now, far as I know, that…
Read MoreNo Bid Contracts
Over the last several months Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Lanier Cansler at DHHS has handed out a couple of hundred million dollars in contracts – many of them no bid contracts – to his former clients from the days when he was a lobbyist. But, now, he’s done…
Read MoreA Three Ring Circus
Here’s another odd story about how the Department of Health and Human Services works. Early in the Easley Administration, when Lanier Cansler was Assistant Secretary, the department decided to ‘Reform Mental Health’ in order to save taxpayers money and provide better care. About the same time Assistant Secretary Cansler was handling bidding…
Read MoreHow Not to Solve a Legal Problem
Back in August in her rush to pass the budget and get the legislature out of town, it looks like Governor Perdue slipped up and pulled a number out of thin air. What the Governor did to balance the budget (at least on paper) was tell legislators she was going to cut the Department of…
Read MoreSell the Cars; Keep the Nurses
Back in 1984 when Governor Hunt fessed up to making political trips on the state airplane and reimbursed the state $180,000, Tom Ellis, the attorney running Jesse Helms’ campaign to defeat Hunt told me, You know, give a politician a free airplane and he’ll hang himself every time. It turns out – for…
Read MoreBoss Plunket Would be Proud
The famous Boss Plunket of Tammany Hall, explaining his singular talent for getting the most out of politics (and what he called “honest graft”), told his biographer, ‘I just seen my opportunities and took ‘em.’ At first glance Boss Plunkett, who was a colorful New York Irish politician, and DHHS Secretary Lanier Cansler, a…
Read MoreThe Looniest Department in State Government
It turns out Craigan L. Gray, the MD and JD (lawyer) and newly appointed Director of Medicaid is pretty thin skinned. When Tim Rogers – head of the Association for Home and Hospice Care – asked Secretary Lanier Cansler to reconsider Gray’s cuts in a tiny Medicaid program that provides nurses to care…
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