North Carolina – Republicans
McCrory’s Core Test
Will Governor McCrory stand up to the rising Republican revolt against Common Core (they call it “Obamacore”)? Rushing to pander to the Tea Party, Republican legislators who once embraced the standards now denounce them. The philosophy seems to be: “Everybody should be as dumb as us.” Chris Fitzsimon at NC Policy Watch summed…
Read MoreMore Tillis Scandals Ahead?
Thom Tillis is already vulnerable over the sex scandal in his office, and he will invite more scandals if he remains Speaker in the short session. Those scandals will be about legislation, campaign contributions and pay-to-play. It’s obvious why he wants to stay as Speaker: So he can raise money – either for a…
Read MoreNarrowcasting
Watching the Republican Senate debate, it would not have been surprising if all four candidates had sworn that the earth is flat. Because they went right over the edge. You saw four candidates who would pay any price, bear any burden, destroy any branch of government, defend any outlandish right to have a gun…
Read MorePrimary Meddling?
Democrats are no doubt playing in the GOP Senate primary, but some of the parallels being drawn may be exaggerated. Rob Christensen compared Democrats’ strategy against Thom Tillis to what Democrats did in Missouri in 2012 to help re-elect Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri. There, Republicans nominated a Tea Party nut who promptly…
Read MoreTeacher Exodus
When hundreds of teachers leave in the middle of the school year – in one of the nation’s best places to live and one of its best school systems – we have a crisis. But Republicans are in denial, and Democrats have a winning issue for this fall. About one out of every 15…
Read MoreGame Changer
Harry Reid’s new ad is hardball with a thud. Here’s Reid’s story in a nutshell: He says Thom Tillis shared an apartment with his Chief of Staff, who had an affair with a married lobbyist, and then resigned. And Tillis said he knew nothing. Then, a week later, another Tillis staffer resigned after having had…
Read MoreTeachers and Taxes
While Governor McCrory and his patrons at the John Locke Foundation were bragging about tax cuts on Tax Day, Republicans in the Legislative Building were digging an even deeper teacher-pay hole for themselves and McCrory. The N&O’s page one headline said: “Broad teacher raises unlikely.” McCrory proclaimed, “we’re leaving a little extra money in…
Read MoreTillis, the GOP and God
Thom Tillis is a lot like Mitt Romney, and he learned one big thing from Romney’s 2012 campaign: Don’t get on the same stage and same page with the nuts in his party. So Tillis may be making the right strategic decision by ducking the WRAL debate. It’s better to look chicken than to…
Read MoreSon of Speaker Ban
“Will no one rid me of this troublesome professor?” (Paraphrasing King Henry II on Thomas Becket.) Fifty years ago, the legislature brought shame on North Carolina, dishonor on themselves and harm to UNC when the honorables passed the Speaker Ban Law to protect college students from a feared invasion of pro-Communist speakers. Eventually, wiser…
Read MoreDeadly Politics
Misery loves company and right here, in Raleigh, it’s led to a pretty strange alliance. Governor McCrory’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources and President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency have joined arms. To whip the ‘coal ash’ problem. According to the newspaper reports the Governor is “pleased” but, so far, the EPA hasn’t…
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