North Carolina – Democrats

Perhaps someone can shine the light of open-government on this question. Debbie Crane, former PIO at Health and Human Services, is being praised as a paragon of open government. She spoke at the Sunshine Week program at Elon University. Yet Crane says she told ex-Secretary Carmen Hooker Odom NOT to talk to The News &…

Depending on who you talk to, Democratic leaders in the state Legislature either bent – or broke – the rules to pass the lottery. I’m no authority on Parliamentary Procedure, but the issue seems to be whether the lottery bill was a revenue bill that should have been voted on twice on two separate days,…

Richard Moore’s newest ad boasts that he has been “challenging the most powerful corporations.” He sounds like John Edwards, who blasted “corporate Democrats” in his campaign. And Moore is not the only one. Anti-corporate rhetoric is blooming among Democrats this spring. Even Hillary Clinton, who used to be on Wal-Mart’s board, has chimed in. It’s…

Follow this. The governor orders the press spokesman (Debbie Crane) at the Department of Health and Human Resources fired. But tells his press office to say her boss, Dempsey Benton, was the one who made the decision to fire her. Because she’s dishonest. Secretary Benton then tells the press the only reason he fired Crane…

Two small Under the Dome items in The News & Observer deserve more attention: Richard Moore’s endorsement of Barack Obama – which actually happened last month – and Pat McCrory’s dismissal of his campaign manager – the one who claimed a hacker caused the campaign to spoil its own kickoff by misspelling governor. Inexplicably, the…

William F. Buckley, Jr. was an admirable and enjoyable fellow, regardless of his conservative politics. He was a master of words, ideas and wit. He showed that political debate could be friendly, entertaining and yet still penetrating. He lacked the hard-edged meanness that for some reason consumed Jesse Helms, Tom Delay, Newt Gingrich and other…

It seems, or at least appears from reading the newspapers, that each successive generation of Democratic leaders in North Carolina is less concerned about rooting out corruption. Former ‘Governor for Life’ Jim Hunt, not my favorite elected official, may have occasionally tolerated a little bit of what a Tammany Hall politician once called ‘honest graft’…

Since Claude Sitton retired from The News & Observer, North Carolina editors have been an invisible lot. John Drescher may be changing that pattern. Drescher, who recently became executive editor at The N&O, publicly called out Governor Easley twice this weekend. In his column and on the air, Drescher challenged Easley to answer questions about…

People from Charlotte are obsessed with the so-called Charlotte Curse: the repeated failures of Charlotte mayors to be elected to statewide office: Eddie Knox, Harvey Gantt, Sue Myrick and Richard Vinroot. There is no curse – at least among voters. Poll after poll has shown they don’t mind a candidate from Charlotte. But there is…