North Carolina – Republicans
Civilization With Its Pants Down
It was like a curtain parting and catching a glimpse of a backroom filled with politicians – there, sitting in the middle of the hearing, were two of the Governor’s aides testifying and doing their best to wriggle out of the pickle they’d landed in. A businessman – who’d given $12,000 to the Governor’s campaign…
Read MoreWe’ll Find a Way…to Blow It
When I opened the newspaper and read the Governor explaining he was having a side conversation and didn’t hear Graeme Keith say he wanted a state contract in return for his contributions, I thought, That sounds thin. When Phil Berger called a hearing about Graeme Keith’s state contract, I thought, This could get out of…
Read MoreCooper’s critics get it wrong
Roy Cooper caught flak from the left when he said Washington should pause before admitting 10,000 Syrian refugees and make sure we balance humanitarianism with security. He’s right, and his critics are wrong. And it’s not a case of “he had to do it politically.” It’s the right thing to do. Period. It’s wrong for…
Read MoreTurning Up the Heat
He flattened the Governor to get a $3 million state contract then like a one-man wrecking ball crashed into Senator Phil Berger to keep his contract and after the press chewed on the Governor the reporters made a beeline straight for Berger – who didn’t mince words. Yes, he said, Graeme Keith called him about…
Read MoreA moment for Hillary
The Paris attacks and the Syrian refugee crisis quickly brought out the worst in Republicans. Will it now bring out the best in Democrats, especially Hillary Clinton? Of course Republican politicians are doing what they do best: stoking Americans’ worst fears, deepest suspicions and darkest prejudices. No surprise. The politicians saw what bashing Mexicans did…
Read MoreFeeling the heat
Governor McCrory is in hot water, and his spokesman sounds like a teapot on a hot stove. Democratic Rep. Larry Hall said of Prison-Gate, “It’s obvious they went to great lengths to ensure this contractor had special access and opportunity. There’s a pay-to-play, quid pro quo way of doing business that’s happening right now.” Josh…
Read MoreThe Big Kerfuffle
Just hearing the four words Grand Jury and FBI Investigation is enough to make a politician’s blood run cold and the Governor’s got both on his hands, a Grand Jury investigating the Department of Health and the FBI investigating the Prisons Department but after reading the morning newspaper story he tore into not the FBI…
Read MoreThe Soiling of the Governor 2015
“Very bad decision. Sorry, but this will soil our Gov…” – Secretary of Public Safety Frank Perry The amateurishness of Governor McCrory’s office is chronic and sometimes comic, but now it has veered dangerously close to serious trouble. The Governor’s fierce counterattack against the N&O story (“McCrory brokered meeting on contract for friend and campaign…
Read MoreTemptation Strikes
When temptation raises its head politicians, like most folks, topple off their pedestals. Back when the Democrats ruled the roost in Raleigh the Republicans reviled them for their wicked ways like pork barrel spending and wasteful earmarks. Now the Republicans rule the roost and, according to the newspapers, temptation’s struck again, tying them in a…
Read MoreNot Even a Fine
It was a lopsided fight from the start: An international conglomerate marched a battalion of blue-chip lobbyists and high-priced lawyers into the arena and took aim at a gaggle of bureaucrats who didn’t want to fight and who, at best, stumbled and fumbled when they had to. What Alcoa had its sights set on was…
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