North Carolina – Democrats
School 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 MoreBlind Loyalty, Blind Justice…
Floyd Brown’s a grown man who has the mental capacity of a seven year old boy; seventeen years ago he was arrested and confessed to an SBI Agent who wrote down his confession word for word, that he’d murdered an elderly woman in Anson County when he broke into her home. He was never…
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 MorePeople Who Live in Glass Houses…
Off and running hard for reelection the other day Governor Perdue charged over to the legislature to confront the newly elected Republican Majority and right off she threw the gauntlet down challenging the Republicans to limit the legislative session to 45 days and to appoint an independent commission to handle redistricting both of which Republicans…
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 MoreAnd the Winner is…
The Civitas Institute has published a right interesting report about how much North Carolina’s Senators and Congressmen have requested earmarks over the last year and the winner is… In the Senate when it comes to grabbing for the loot Kay Hagan whipped Richard Burr hands down, reaching into the Treasury to spend $3 to…
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…
Read MoreShoddy Construction
You wouldn’t want the people who put together the new building code to build your house. The Building Code Council Tuesday adopted rules to make new commercial and residential buildings more energy-efficient. But they were afraid the changes would increase the cost of homes when the home-buying market is in a depression. So they…
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