The Law of Unintended Consequences

A doctor is a simple creature. He measures achievement by a straightforward standard – the Hippocratic Oath.   A businessman also measures success by a simple standard – money, income and outgo.   But a bureaucrat has the misfortune of breathing and walking in the murky world of insider politics. Which is like no other…

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Coal Ash

I don’t know why but I’ve become absorbed by the machinations of bureaucrats – it’s a bit like watching Alice in Wonderland: Down is up, and up is down.   Take hard work.   Businessmen work hard to get ahead.   Students work hard for better grades.   But who joins a bureaucracy to work…

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The Future Is Now

“A change is coming, and it’s blue.” That’s the conclusion of an op-ed that looked at why more young Americans are voting Democratic. And it was my conclusion after several hours at the College Democrats/Young Democrats convention in Greenville Saturday.   I found an impressive group of smart, dedicated and determined Democrats who are getting…

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Green Paint Balls

About a month ago Greg Brannon, dead-set on getting elected to the Senate,  was trying to build momentum and gain ground on front-runner Thom Tillis then, out of a clear blue sky, two investors sued Brannon for flamoozling them out of $250,000 and a jury ruled he had to repay the money.   That opened…

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Addicted to Koch

Thomas Mills at PoliticsNC riled up some Democrats when he questioned the strategy of going after the Koch brothers.   I have the same question. Is this a classic case of chasing the cape and missing the matador?   A national poll this week showed that half of all Americans don’t even know who the…

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A Better Way

Charlotte minister Mark Harris, who’s running for Senate, hit a rough patch when he released a poll showing him trailing Thom Tillis by 11 points – an inconvenient fact his political aide, Tom Perdue, brushed aside by saying, “The fact that we are down actually means we are way up.”   Saying down is up…

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Wake Up

You couldn’t design a more perfect Democratic candidate for Wake County in 2014 than Sarah Crawford. Proven success in a professional career and in community service – check. Attended public schools and college here – check. Young mother with children in public schools – check. Energy, smarts, savvy and a fiendishly hard worker – check,…

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Spill=One Term for McCrory?

Without Duke Energy, Pat McCrory wouldn’t be Governor. Now, with Duke’s coal-ash spill, he may very well be a one-term Governor.   Get some popcorn and get a comfortable chair, because this movie is going to run for a long time. At least through the 2016 election. And it will dominate the rest of McCrory’s…

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A Side-Step

It’s tough to stay a step ahead of a smart bureaucrat.      About a week ago I wrote an article explaining how what a bureaucrat wants (for himself) and what’s best for public education isn’t always the same thing – and used Senator Phil Berger’s ‘Read to Achieve’ bill as an example.   What…

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Homeless

Will Randy Voller leave the Democratic Party homeless? What a tribute to his leadership.   WRAL reports: “An Executive Council member…said embattled party Chairman Randy Voller told members the party is ‘broke,’ with only $60,000 in the bank. According to the attendee, Voller told party members he may have to let some staffers go, and…

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