Posts by Carter Wrenn
School Bond Fight
Opponents of the school bond have run the first ad. Instead of supporting the billion dollar bond the Chairman of the County Commissioners, Tony Gurley, and Mayor Charles Meeker support, they endorse a smaller $650 million bond, which would not require a tax increase. They also support using the county’s hotel/motel tax to help schools.…
Read MorePrice Blasts Bush
Last week Congressman David Price told us the Bush administration’s anti-terrorism strategy has “made matters worse” and “has simply failed to meet the standard of an intelligent anti-terrorism strategy” (News and Observer; 9-29-06). Now, will Congressman Price also tell us his strategy to win the war on terrorism? If he – and his fellow Democrats…
Read MoreAn Odd Thing
People will say just about anything about a politician they disagree with, say, on the war in Iraq. Anyone from the head of the Moral Majority to the Pope is fair game too. But when the Pope, ever so gently, raised the question of the role of violence in Islamic theology all of our free-wheeling…
Read MoreThe TTA, Bus Break Downs and Eminent Domain
Mayor Meeker’s Triangle Transit Authority has been having a bit of trouble with its buses. The TTA runs an express bus everyday from Chapel Hill to Raleigh. According to the News and Observer the bus has been plagued by a series of mechanical failures. The air-conditioning goes out, one morning ten minutes after it left…
Read MoreA Missed Nugget
Here’s a nugget about the lottery trial from the Raleigh Chronicle (9/28/06) and NBC-17. So far, Kevin Geddings’ trial has focused on his failing to disclose his ties to lottery venders. Now NBC-17 reports a member of Governor Easley’s staff was paid cash to set up a meeting with the Governor and representatives of a…
Read MoreBehind the Scenes at the Lottery Trial
Watching the lottery trial is like being invited to go behind the curtain and see how legislative politics really works in North Carolina. Democratic House Speaker Jim Black has said for months he came up with Kevin Geddings’ appointment to the Lottery Commission, more or less on his own. Now, we learn from the prosecutors…
Read MoreHow Bad is the Foley Scandal?
For us Republicans, I’m afraid, pretty bad. The Foley scandal is a microcosm of what’s wrong with Congress: Arrogance, Hypocrisy and Venality. And it has two elements that make it politically lethal: It’s simple. And it’s sex. There are no clandestine deals with lobbyists. No labyrinthine money trails. Just sex and instant messaging. There are…
Read MoreWhich Finger?
Governor Easley didn’t know about Kevin Geddings’ ties to lottery companies. He didn’t know his chief political aide orchestrated ads attacking three senators opposed to the lottery. But when he testified at the trial he did know how he felt about the press. “Easley spent less than 15 minutes in the courtroom, offering perfunctory testimony…
Read MoreParties and Good Times
The newspapers are reporting more good times in Governor Easley’s administration. Last summer the Governor’s folks at the Department of Transportation arranged a $30,000 ferry cruise with lobster, hors d’oeuvres and a band so they could enjoy seeing the tall ships. Now, two of the Governor’s appointees to the ABC Board have taken an excursion…
Read MoreOn Terrorism
Opium production is up in Afghanistan and the Taliban, not coincidentally, is making a comeback. The day before these reports ran in the newspapers New York Times columnist David Brooks pointed out a flaw in the war on terrorism (News and Observer, 9-29-06). “To his eternal credit,” Brooks wrote, “After 9/11 George Bush quickly understood…
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