Posts by Gary Pearce
Gays and the GOP
Even Republicans are giving up gay-bashing. But, as always, and to paraphrase Rob Christensen, paradox rules North Carolina politics. In the last 10 years, North Carolina went from a Republican Senator, Jesse Helms, who bashed “queers” and “the homosexual lobby” to a Republican Senator, Richard Burr, who surprised people by voting to abolish Don’t…
Read MoreBarbour’s Blindness
Of course Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour doesn’t remember race relations “being that bad” in the 1960s; he’s a white guy! I grew up in the 60s in North Carolina, and I don’t remember race relations being bad at all for us whites. We could go anywhere we wanted and do anything we wanted. …
Read MoreSchool Wars
General Tata better bring his helmet. The new WakeCounty schools superintendent is already taking incoming. He might be starting the job with half of WakeCounty mad at him. People who don’t like the board’s (sometime) majority welcome his selection like a poke in the eye with a stick: a Fox-commentating, Sarah Palin-admiring, conservative-blogging…
Read More50 Years Later
One of my favorite questions to ask people when I’m speaking about my Jim Hunt book is: “How many of you were living in North Carolina in 1960?” I use 1960 because it was a seminal year in Hunt’s life – and North Carolina’s. It marks a neat half-century, for one thing. It was…
Read MoreIn Defense of the Gov
Chrissy Pearson, Governor Perdue’s communications director, took me to task for my blog “Smile, Gov.” (But she did it nicely. Her email began: “Season’s greetings.”) I’m happy to oblige any elected official – or their representative – who reads my blog and wants to respond. So here is Chrissy’s full message: “I’m sorry…
Read MoreJobs, Environment and the Budget
Two stories on the N&O’s Page One Sunday struck me as related. One was the fight over a chicken processing plant in Nash County. The other was whether a state government “reset” can balance the budget. Like many things these days, the linkage hit me because of the work I’ve done on my Jim…
Read MoreSmile, Gov
This quote by Governor Perdue on WRAL captured her fundamental political problem. “I’m going to make a lot of people unhappy, and I’m sorry.” First, let’s recall what people look for in leaders. It’s not just what they say, it’s how they say it. The most successful – Roosevelt, Kennedy, Reagan, Clinton, Hunt…
Read MoreInstant Runoff, Eternal Confusion
I used to think the instant runoff was confusing. Now I know it is. There’s nothing instant about it. We still don’t know for sure who won the N.C. Court of Appeals race where it was used this year. The best analysis I’ve seen is by my friend Reid Overcash of Raleigh, who worked in…
Read MoreLou Wilson Responds
Once again, we interrupt this blog to bring you a word from our clients. I promise not to turn this into a long-running home-care versus assisted-living debate. But Lou Wilson with the N.C. Association of Long-Term Care Facilities takes issue with Carter’s blog “Grit” below. Herewith Lou: “Mentally ill people have not…
Read MoreInto the Elephants’ Den
Since I tweaked Governor Perdue for the building-code mess (see below), I’ll salute her for a bold stroke at the legislative caucus today. She went in to talk about the budget. But she seized the opportunity to challenge the new Republican House and Senate to act on three issues: - Legislative session limits - More…
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