North Carolina – Republicans
Elections Where Issues Don’t Matter
Arthur walked through the door, dropped a four inch thick poll on the table with a thud, sat down, and said, If you don’t want to lose this election, you have to learn something new. That was in December of 1983 when Jesse Helms was fighting for survival against Jim Hunt and Arthur – who’d…
Read MoreWebs
It usually begins with an evasion which leads to another evasion and soon, like a hapless fly, even for a Brigadier General (who was a paratrooper) the silken webs are inescapable: Tony Tata, explaining to the News and Observer about three affairs, an out of wedlock child, a forged court order, an army investigation and…
Read MoreNC Republicans waving white flag on taxes
The blog below is written by TAPster Daniel Gilligan, a policy consultant from Raleigh who has a keen eye for legislative follies: “New taxes shouldn’t be considered tax increases. That was the message from Republican legislators after they unveiled a state budget that includes over $200 million of new sales taxes over the next two…
Read MoreRoy Cooper’s Lucky Day
Manna doesn’t fall from heaven often and falls on politicians least often of all but after Roy Cooper said he was dead-set against letting Duke Energy add the costs of cleaning up its coal ash ponds to its customers’ electric bills, Governor McCrory pounced – and it was ole Roy’s lucky day. Last fall, in…
Read MoreLeft out
At least Democrats left out of the budget process have company: Governor McCrory. Lobbyists report that, just like them, McCrory was calling around last weekend trying to find out what was in the budget. It wasn’t just that he had no impact. He had no information. Never has a Governor had so little clout with…
Read MoreThe Capitator
Back when the legislature came to town, State Senator Ralph Hise announced Medicaid spending was out of control but he had a solution – Capitation – which worked like this: He was going to hire MCOs (Medicaid HMOs) to run Medicaid then he was going to tell them: This is all you get to spend.…
Read MoreHow the State Senate Works
A handful of Senate leaders sit down in backrooms and make plans then come out of the rooms and a bill pops into a committee then they march over to the Senate Chamber and pass it in the blink of an eye. The same Senate powers-that-be made a plan to ‘transfer’ millions of dollars in…
Read MoreWhere Dollar gets his dollars
Do we want political consultants running our government? We got one: Rep. Nelson Dollar, the chief House budget writer. The N&O reported: “Dollar, 54, is a longtime political and public relations consultant who helps coordinate campaigns for fellow House Republicans and other GOP candidates. His firm, J. N. Dollar & Associates, booked nearly $150,000 of…
Read MoreA Democrat’s Dollar dilemma
A diehard Democrat faced a dilemma after reading about House budget leader Nelson Dollar in the N&O. “Should we be helping him?” she wondered. What caught her eye and caused her soul-searching was Dollar saying the Senate budget “makes it difficult to pay for…a 2 percent raise for state employees, additional money for teacher pay…
Read MoreBack to school
Seventeen years ago, our daughter went to her first day of kindergarten in the Wake County public schools. This week, she went to her first day as a student teacher in the Wake County public schools. Seventeen years ago, Jim Hunt had just been elected to his fourth term on a promise to raise teacher…
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