Raleigh
The New Chief
No sooner did the state legislators vamoose out of town than the pundits begin publishing post-mortems and obituaries. Republicans, they opined, had a ‘breathtaking session,’ marched right off the right end of the earth, passed bills that hurt everyone from the poor to the lame, halt and maimed, and got pounded for their wicked…
Read MoreNo Trust, No Peace
The powers-that-be at William Peace University need to learn the basic lesson of leadership: If you want people to trust you, you better tell them the truth. Instead, three years of secrecy and closed-door decisions are putting the school’s future at risk. Full disclosure: My PR partner Joyce Fitzpatrick and I have counseled…
Read MoreA Quirk of Human Nature
The other morning there was a picture on the front page of the News and Observer of a hundred angry women, every one of them mad as blazes, carrying signs, shaking fists and chanting, ‘Shame, shame, shame’ at Republican Senators who’d just passed a new abortion bill (that required abortion centers to meet the same…
Read MoreBranding Politics
“Employers must go where employees want to be” – Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst. Raleigh City Councilman Randy Stagner quoted that line this week. It sums up the challenge that Raleigh and all North Carolina face today under the state’s new management. Rob Christensen captured it in his strikingly strong column Sunday: “North…
Read MoreHard Day
Monday was a hard day for Reverend William Barber. For months, Reverend Barber has been leading ‘crusades’ for the poor, the needy, against racism, and against Republicanism. But Monday, the Civitas Institute put a dent in his image – it reported the groups sponsoring Reverend Barber’s ‘Moral Monday’ protests have received over $100…
Read MoreShooting the Reasonable Fellow
Colon Willoughby, the District Attorney, is catching it from all sides. Faced with the chore of prosecuting hundreds of ‘Moral Monday’ demonstrators, Willoughby suggested to the protestors they were wreaking more havoc on the Wake County Courts than on Republicans and politely suggested maybe they ought to reconsider the virtues of getting themselves arrested…
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 MoreMaking Legislators Look Reasonable
The Democrats have gotten plenty fired up about the ‘Moral Monday’ protests down at the state legislature – even an old war horse like Gary, catching a whiff of grapeshot in the air, rode to the sound of the guns, defending the protestors from a broadside by Governor McCrory. But, in another way, all…
Read MorePat Ducks, Blames Obama
Maybe it’s the heat, the humidity or just that it’s June. A reporter gets arrested. Senator Tom Goolsby has 60s flashbacks. Governor McCrory sees “outsiders” when they’re not there. The Democratic Party debacle deepens. But the flap over the Governor’s game of catch – and his spokesperson’s bizarre statement – still stand out in…
Read MoreLust and the Professor
Lust has undone more men than most any other sin and, about a year ago, over in Chapel Hill, it turned an aging professor into a drug runner. Professor Paul Frampton was born in a working class family in a working class neighborhood in England, earned three degrees from Oxford, earned a Ph.D. in…
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