Posts by Carter Wrenn
The Chancellor’s New Home
N.C. State University is going to spend $3.5 million to build a 12,300 square foot ‘house’ for its chancellor (News and Observer, 5/21/06). Similar ‘McMansions’ have been built at UNC-Wilmington, UNC-Charlotte and Appalachian State University. There’s a lot to be proud of about NCSU but it’s a shame they’re trying to match other colleges by…
Read MoreTTA – Raleigh’s New Developers
The TTA can’t get the first dollar out of Washington to build its lite-rail boondoggle. But Mayor Meeker and the Raleigh City Council have voted to approve a TTA station on five acres at the State Fairgrounds. There’s no lite-rail. There’s no funding coming from Washington for lite-rail. But taxpayers are buying land for the…
Read MoreThe TTA Strikes Again
Triangle Transit Authority (TTA) officials have finally admitted they cannot meet the federal standards to get money from Washington to build their lite-rail project. But are they going to pitch their tent and save the taxpayers the millions they are pouring into the TTA each year? Well, no. According to the News and Observer (News…
Read MoreJim Black Attacks Art Pope
Art Pope must be tickled to death. Last month he lead a campaign to defeat five Republican legislators – saying they were really pawns of Democratic House Speaker Jim Black – because three years ago they voted for a coalition that elected Republican Richard Morgan and Democrat Black Co-Speakers of the House. Of course, the…
Read MoreIndictments Galore
The indictment of Kevin Geddings in the lottery scandal has opened a unique window on Democratic politics in North Carolina. There are probably only two dozen Democratic consultants and strategists in North Carolina. They live in a small world. They are friends, acquaintances and rivals. A year ago, many of them were swept up in…
Read MoreEye Exams and Video Poker
You have to give Jim Black credit he doesn’t scare easy or at all. Earlier this year, Speaker Black, his optometrist allies and his video poker supporters testified at State Board of Elections hearings investigating allegations of corruption growing out of the ‘pay to play’ scandals. There were revelations of blank checks (without the recipients…
Read MoreThe School Superintendent Speaks Out
Wake County School Superintendent Bill McNeal told the News and Observer, (5/16/06) he could never recommend a measly $625 million School Bond. McNeal said he couldn’t put kids in schools with adequate heating, air-conditioning and a roof that doesn’t leak for $625 million. Huh? The superintendent is saying if he doesn’t get a billion dollar…
Read MoreQaddafi Revisited
Under Muammar Qaddafi, Libya bombed a West German discotheque and blew up a Pan Am jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland and killed 270 people. In March, the United States included Libya on the list of nations that are state sponsors of terrorism. Now, suddenly, all that has changed. The Bush Administration has taken Libya off the…
Read MoreA Few Statistics from the News and Observer’s School Bond Poll
The News and Observer and WRAL-TV polled to find out if the taxpayers would support a $625 million school bond (with no tax increase), a $998 million bond (with a tax increase) or a $1.15 billion bond (with an even bigger tax increase). 1. Voters opposed the $1.15 billion bond (with the biggest tax increase)…
Read MoreEthics Reform – House Style – Chapter 1
I’ve not often had a kind word to say about Senate Democratic Majority Leader Tony Rand. I do today. It seems hard to believe but House Speaker Jim Black has made Rand, the man who removed the crosses and Bibles from the Senate Chapel, look like a paragon of public virtue when it comes to…
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