North Carolina – Republicans
High Finance Government Style
It’s hard to make heads or tails of this: The Republican Legislature raises taxes on hospitals $215 million – and the hospitals are delighted, tickled to death. In fact, newspapers report, the legislature raised the ‘tax’ at the request of the Hospital Association. The explanation gets even stranger. And more confusing: The $215 million…
Read MoreSmart?
Should the legislature merge and cut Smart Start and More At Four? As the Geico guy might ask: “Is stirring up Jim Hunt a good idea?” Republican legislators apparently are hearing an earful from Hunt already. Those who weren’t around when he was Governor will learn what one legislator back then told one of…
Read MoreGroins, Seawalls and Vanishing Beaches
The Wilmington Star News has branded the unkind words ‘pay to play’ on Senate Republican Leader Harry Brown, who’s put his political clout behind ‘groin-building’ to help wealthy homeowners who need seawalls (groins) to keep the beaches in front of their vacation homes from vanishing. The Star News attack on Brown was straightforward: It…
Read MoreOnly a Politician Would Argue…
Last year, the state received $10.5 billion in ‘Stimulus Funds’ from the Obama administration – a staggering number equal to one-half the state budget. This year, the state faces a $2.7 billion dollar budget deficit. Does that sound a bit like fiscal mismanagement? The state gets a $10 billion windfall from Washington last…
Read MoreGeneral Tata’s Politics
Tony Tata obviously learned something about politics in the military, as well as good offensive strategy. When he started as Wake schools superintendent, he disarmed critics by meeting with them. Now he has proposed a budget that is austere, but avoids classroom cuts. In other words, the same political strategy as Governor Perdue.…
Read MoreWhat Can Government Do For You – Today?
Well, the legislative freight train called ‘Legal Reform’ has barreled out of the State Senate and over into the State House: The other day a passer-by spotted a parade of lobbyists (from Insurance Companies, the Medical Society, the Hospital Association, the Pharmaceutical Industry and the Chamber of Commerce) sauntering into Speaker Thom Tillis’ office beaming…
Read MoreChanneling Jim Gardner
Speaker Thom Tillis’ quote rang familiar: “You are looking at people who are members of a party that will lead this state for a decade, if not a generation. I’m not sure the Democrats can ever take it back,” he told the Nash County Republican Convention last week, according to the Rocky Mount Telegram.…
Read MoreUps and Downs
UPS – The Governor’s up for somehow convincing House and Senate Republican leaders to attack her for juggling the state’s books to send out $300 million in tax refunds. The Republicans are up for raiding (or trying to raid because they failed) the Governor’s Golden Leaf pork-barrel fund to use the money to pay…
Read MoreRepublicans and Insurance Deadbeats
A Democratic reader wonders why Republicans have gone soft on deadbeats. Ronald Reagan excoriated “welfare queens.” The Tea Party denounced freeloaders who sponge off hard-working taxpayers. Republican Governors pick loud fights with public-employee “leeches” who get big salaries and generous benefits, courtesy of the taxpayers. The reader asks: What about people who don’t…
Read MorePolitical Point Scoring
Having a Republican legislature and a Democratic Governor fighting over how to best save North Carolina has sure made our politics more entertaining. The Republicans passed a bill to save us from Obama-care – which didn’t go down at all well with Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper who the Republican legislative leaders ordered to…
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