North Carolina – Republicans
The Job Chase
A TAPster who spent many years as a private-sector economic developer offers this: The myopic, confused and naïve approach of North Carolina Republicans to the state’s business recruitment efforts continues to baffle experts who toil daily to bring good jobs here. Our Republicans are opposed to incentives as “corporate welfare,” and they don’t…
Read MoreSecond Fiddle to South Carolina
This is about as good a tale of conniving as I’ve heard: I can’t remember why but forty years ago back in 1976 the state legislature moved our Presidential primary up from May to March – then the unexpected struck and Ronald Reagan whipped Gerald Ford. It was the first time Reagan won a…
Read MoreCalling More Less
It rang a little jarring to open the newspaper and read, Stam Introduces First Bill of New Session – To Limit Eminent Domain. No doubt Representative Skip Stam was right but it was a little like watching a knight errant tilting at a windmill – because, after all, Eminent Domain isn’t one of the…
Read MoreTata on Ice
The saga of Tony (Thriller) Tata continues. You can just hear that guy who does the movie trailers: “By day, he’s the powerful commander of DOT. At night, he’s A.J. Tata, mild-mannered novelist.” Tata’s two roles collided last week when icy roads caused thousands of accidents back home while Thriller was in Chicago flogging…
Read MoreShuttering the Center
The fur’s flying over in Chapel Hill – Dean Boger (at the Law School) along with a cohort of professors have lit into the Board of Governors saying closing the Law School’s Anti-Poverty Center leaves them with only one conclusion: The Board is for poverty. The Dean lamented the Board was guilty of every…
Read MoreSnow Day MIAs
Something was missing from the usual snow day TV fare. Bill and Renee ran down the shutdowns. Elizabeth and Greg kept predicting the snow would end any minute. Gilbert was giddy. Various teams showed us various roads. But…something just wasn’t there. Oh yes! The Governor’s snow briefing! Where was Governor McCrory warning us not…
Read MoreMoney Talks
We’re in the Great Mentioner season of the political cycle, when the names of potential 2016 candidates start floating through the rumor mills, media and blogosphere. And nothing talks like money. An enterprising TAPster looked at the year-end cash-on-hand numbers for potential statewide candidates and Council of State incumbents. Not surprisingly, at…
Read MoreTata Tweets
Yesterday we talked about Senator Jeff Jackson’s tweets. Today’s Twitter topic is Tony Tata. Specifically, his two Twitter identities: DOT Secretary Tata and Thriller-Novelist Tata. This week, Thriller Tata posted tweets touting his books while DOT Tata backed up Governor McCrory at snow-emergency briefings. Earlier this month, Thriller Tata tweeted while DOT Tata…
Read MoreValentine’s Day
When the State Ethics Commission ruled that a lobbyist having sex with a legislator didn’t violate the ban on gifts to legislators because sex acts do not constitute “things of value,” it got the attention of the redoubtable Ira David Wood, who’s surely NC’s most respected artist. Woods posted the entire newspaper article on…
Read MorePure Baloney
Reverend William Barber went down to the newspaper and sat down with Ned Barnett to have a chat about the state’s soul. Now the main problem with the state spiritually, according to Reverend Barber, is Republicans. He’s thundered from podiums from Asheville to Wilmington that Republicans are heartless varmints who stomp on women, children,…
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