Posts by Gary Pearce
Reforming DENR
The easy story line is that rapacious Republicans are out to gut North Carolina’s environmental protections. Not so fast. In fact, Governor Perdue might want to jump on this train while she’s restructuring state government. There are economic developers and business people who are responsible on environmental issues AND convinced that DENR…
Read MoreThe Republican Rush
I’m the last person most Republicans would listen to for advice. But I’m struck lately by the concerns I’ve heard from serious and nonpartisan people about the GOP’s ambitious legislative agenda. As one veteran at the legislature observed: “If the Republicans try to do everything now, there won’t be a later for them.” …
Read MoreFergit, Hell!
An N&O letter-writer takes umbrage at the bipartisan effort to pardon Civil War-era Governor W.W. Holden, denouncing him as a “pestiferous ulcer on the body politic.” (It’s hard to find good calumny like that anymore) Then someone leaves on senators’ desks an “unflattering biography of Holden that quoted histories written by a deceased white supremacist…
Read MoreAnother View on Med Mal
I do consulting work with doctors and hospitals, and my view of medical-malpractice reform differs from Carter’s. First off, personal-injury lawyers aren’t opposed to reform just out of tender hearts and a passion for justice. They’re looking after their bank accounts. Second, a lawyer who is a skilled courtroom performer can hit the…
Read MoreOver-Reading
I love Public Policy Polling – and the almost-daily poll fix they give me. But I take issue with a recent analysis. PPP found that Senator Kay Hagan’s approval rating was up – to 39 percent, with 38 percent disapproval. According to the N&O: “Pollster Tom Jensen attributed Hagan’s improved standing to some more conservative…
Read MoreSmart?
Should the legislature merge and cut Smart Start and More At Four? As the Geico guy might ask: “Is stirring up Jim Hunt a good idea?” Republican legislators apparently are hearing an earful from Hunt already. Those who weren’t around when he was Governor will learn what one legislator back then told one of…
Read MoreMedia Meltdown
Watching television coverage of the nuclear-plant crisis in Japan is a classic case of TMI. Not Three Mile Island: Too Much Information. Too much confusing, alarmist, over-heated and incomprehensible information, to be precise. The coverage also reflects the trend toward anchors and correspondents being drama kings and queens rather than Walter Cronkite. The New York…
Read MoreGeneral Tata’s Politics
Tony Tata obviously learned something about politics in the military, as well as good offensive strategy. When he started as Wake schools superintendent, he disarmed critics by meeting with them. Now he has proposed a budget that is austere, but avoids classroom cuts. In other words, the same political strategy as Governor Perdue.…
Read MoreChanneling Jim Gardner
Speaker Thom Tillis’ quote rang familiar: “You are looking at people who are members of a party that will lead this state for a decade, if not a generation. I’m not sure the Democrats can ever take it back,” he told the Nash County Republican Convention last week, according to the Rocky Mount Telegram.…
Read MoreRepublicans and Insurance Deadbeats
A Democratic reader wonders why Republicans have gone soft on deadbeats. Ronald Reagan excoriated “welfare queens.” The Tea Party denounced freeloaders who sponge off hard-working taxpayers. Republican Governors pick loud fights with public-employee “leeches” who get big salaries and generous benefits, courtesy of the taxpayers. The reader asks: What about people who don’t…
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