North Carolina – Republicans
Sponsored by Governor Perdue
A scruffy-looking rock band comes on TV and the leaping in the air singer bawls, “Big bucks, quick bucks, mega bucks, jumbo bucks”…It was an ad for the Lottery Commission. Whose motto seems to be “Never Give a Sucker an Even Break.” Back when the Democrats passed the lottery the legislature also passed…
Read MoreTilting
Last election President Barack Obama won huge majorities among ‘early voters’so, naturally, now Republicans want less ‘early voting.’ Of course, no self-respecting legislator is going to put it quite that bluntly. Representative Bert Jones is an example. He told the press he’s for limiting early voting because it will ‘shorten campaigns.’ Think…
Read MoreMcCrory vs Perdue: Polls
The North Carolina Free Enterprise Foundation has been studying the polls in the Governor’s race and after adding them all up and averaging them together it’s issued a report saying Pat McCrory leads Governor Perdue 50% to 38% – which is no surprise as the Governor’s been in hot water in one way or another…
Read MoreThe Education of Phil Berger
Contrary to what some people think, I believe the most powerful weapon in politics isnât a negative ad. Itâs a positive message. And Senator Phil Berger seems to have figured that out. He realized the Republicans were losing ground by having to defend their education cuts â including laying off teachers. So last week…
Read MoreBack Benchers…
There’s a story floating around the legislature: A couple of weeks ago when the House budget writers sent their budget over to the Senate Leadership the minute Senator Richard Steven’s saw it he saw red. Stevens, the rumor says, erupted over how much the House was cutting UNC’s budget and grabbed Speaker Thom Tillis…
Read MoreAfraid of the Voters
It’s revealing when politicians – specifically, Republican legislators – clearly believe they are better off when fewer people vote. That’s the conclusion you have to draw from their efforts to suppress early voting in North Carolina. (See Jim Morrill’s story in the Charlotte O and N&O.) Actually, the Republicans are right. The GOP…
Read MoreLoophole Closing
I said: Who ever heard of Republicans saying increasing fees $150 million isn’t a tax? And the former legislator sitting across the table said: You missed the real tax increase. I blinked: Come again? It turns out for years private colleges – like Campbell and Queens and Peace and Meredith – haven’t…
Read MoreThe WakeMed Wars
The lobbying war between WakeMed’s Plebes and UNC Hospital’s Aristocrats in the legislature just took a wild turn at the Aristocrats’ expense. So far the Plebes have been set on cutting UNC’s $44 million state tax subsidy but then, last week, Plebe chieftain Bill Atkinson surprised everyone by announcing he wanted to buy Raleigh’s…
Read MoreInmate Labor Pains
What would Jim Gardner say? The silver-haired, golden-tongued GOP gubernatorial candidate had a great issue in 1992, when he was running against Jim Hunt: “Make prisoners work – and work hard,” he said in his TV spots. He was outraged that hardened criminals were idling away their time “watching TV and working out.”…
Read MoreThe Oldest Profession
Over in the State House Republicans hurrahed when five Democrats voted for Speaker Thom Tillis’ budget – at last it looked like Tillis had the votes to override one of Governor Perdue’s vetoes. But flowers bloom then quickly fade. Before the sun set the five Democrats made it perfectly clear to the press…
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