Posts by Carter Wrenn
The Most Bungled Cover-Up in History
When we last visited The Case of the Missing Emails it was a tangled web. It all started when The News and Observer reported the Department of Health had wasted $400 million – it was supposed to spend to provide health care to the mentally ill. Next, the Department of Health’s spokeswoman told The News…
Read MoreLonging for Jim Hunt
When it comes to managing North Carolina’s state government, the Easley Administration is beginning to sound like the gang that couldn’t shoot straight. There’s been one mishap after another. The Department of Transportation wasted $30,000 on a ferry junket to watch the tall ships sail around Beaufort Harbor. The Department of Health and Human Service…
Read MoreNo More Stumbling
It looked for awhile like Fred Smith was doing some adroit foot work in the Republican primary, moving to Pat McCrory’s right. (Or, conversely, and more lethally, moving Mayor McCrory to the left). But, now, McCrory is doing some footwork of his own – moving just where Smith doesn’t want him on an issue Smith…
Read MorePolitics in a Nutshell
There’s a good old-fashioned brou-ha-ha going on in the Democratic Governor’s primary. Beverly Perdue says – in her latest TV ad – Richard Moore’s Wall Street’s boy. That as Treasurer, he increased fees to Wall Street Money managers 600% — and the Wall Street tycoons paid him back with $1.5 million in campaign donations. Moore,…
Read MoreEnter Rev. Wright
After being in the room with the boys during Senator Jesse Helms campaign in 1990, when the much ballyhooed (or infamous) ‘white hands’ ad was written, I’ve been telling myself, ‘Don’t you touch Reverend Jeremiah Wright with a ten foot pole.’ But, anyway, here goes. For several months I’ve been saying there’ll only be one…
Read MoreHigher Taxes for Raleigh
Well, the City Council has gotten serious about raising ‘impact’ fees – taxes on new homes and buildings – and there’s bad news for churches, schools, and people buying houses in Raleigh. For instance, The News and Observer reports the new tax increase will cost Wake Cross Roads Baptist church $20,256 – when it expands.…
Read MoreA Mystery that Defies Common Sense
Depending on who you talk to, Democratic leaders in the state Legislature either bent – or broke – the rules to pass the lottery. I’m no authority on Parliamentary Procedure, but the issue seems to be whether the lottery bill was a revenue bill that should have been voted on twice on two separate days,…
Read MoreUnique Thinking
City Councilman Rodger Koopman has a unique way of analyzing Raleigh’s problems with laser-like precision. For instance, yesterday, at the City Council meeting, he announced to support the troops in Iraq…Raleigh should ban garbage disposals. He said: “If you support the troops, be willing to suck it up just a little bit.” Now, there’s a…
Read MoreA Strange Definition of Republican
When former House Speaker Richard Morgan filed to run for Superintendent of Public Instruction, Republican Ed Kennedy reared back and hurled a mud ball at him, then someone posted it here on Talking About Politics. To call Mr. Kennedy’s letter to Mr. Morgan mean-of-spirit understates his eruption. He had an arm-waving tantrum. Calling Richard Morgan…
Read MoreThe Mystery of the Missing Aides
Follow this. The governor orders the press spokesman (Debbie Crane) at the Department of Health and Human Resources fired. But tells his press office to say her boss, Dempsey Benton, was the one who made the decision to fire her. Because she’s dishonest. Secretary Benton then tells the press the only reason he fired Crane…
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