North Carolina – Republicans
Art Pope the Moderate?
A Republican lobbyist wondered: “What has the world come to when Art Pope is a voice of restraint on cutting taxes and spending?” Art Pope? The Democrats’ favorite demon? The radical, anti-government archfiend? Has he become a big government liberal? Or is this just a sign of how far off the edge of the…
Read MoreUp, Down, or About the Same
The Republican powers-that-be in Raleigh – the House, Senate and Governor – locked horns last week in a three-way tug-of-war, each offering their own road to economic salvation. In a matter of hours the conflagration (over tax reform and whose loopholes to close or not close) spawned a welter of statistics and charts even…
Read MoreEnd Games
Having bullied their foes all session, legislative Republicans now have turned to bullying each other. And Governor McCrory did what he does best: he left town. As legislatures often do at the end of session, this one has deteriorated into disagreement, dissension and mutual disgust. Chief Senate Bully Tom Apodaca took all House…
Read MoreRestless Natives
Gary is taking a break from blogging. Our guest blogger filling in for Gary is a Tapster. The recent dustup about so-called ‘outside’ agitators spear-heading the Moral Monday protests has spotlighted a significant trend in North Carolina: the state actually is being run by outsiders. Each of the last two Gov’s were born in other states, and…
Read MoreThe Last Thing Pat McCrory Needed
All last year Democrats hammered away at Pat McCrory saying, Disclose, disclose, disclose – demanding McCrory disclose the clients he worked with at the Charlotte law firm of Moore and Van Allen. Apparently, no one gave a toot and, after the election, the Governor may well have thought and he’d heard the word disclose…
Read MoreMean Hallways
The word that keeps popping up when people describe the atmosphere at the legislature is “mean.” “Everybody you pass in the halls is either somebody who screwed you or somebody you hate,” said one aide to a Republican leader. “It’s all about revenge, Republicans getting even for all those years out of power,” said…
Read MoreA Wobbly Kind of Conservatism
Thom Tillis said he was running for Senate and as soon as he got the words out of his mouth Greg Brannon, the Libertarian doctor who’s also running, let fly with a broadside calling Tillis “yet another in a long line of career politicians eager to take the next step on the ladder of political…
Read MoreRollback Backlash
Looking at the Great Republican Rollback, Democrats are tempted to attack on every front: taxes, Medicaid, teacher pay, jetty ban, Jordan Lake, Child Fatality Task Force, Rural Center, Racial Justice, voter ID, jobless benefits, campaign financing, etc., etc. Focus, people. In politics, to say 10 things – or even two things – is…
Read MoreGood Ole Boys
The newspaper set out to land a Democratic shark. And landed a Republican whale instead. The roots of the News and Observer story run back 26 years – to when Jim Martin was Governor. Back then the Democrats in the legislature decided, instead of letting Martin pass out what’s euphemistically called ‘Economic Development Grants,’…
Read MoreJim Holshouser
They don’t make Republicans like Jim Holshouser anymore. Big pay raises for teachers? Statewide kindergartens? Coastal Management Act? Rural health centers? Expansion of the state park system? More African-Americans and women in government? Help for black business enterprises? They’d throw him out of the party today. Actually, they did in 1976. As Rob…
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