Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
In Defense of Incentives
All the candidates for Governor – Democrats and Republicans – now say they support Governor Easley’s veto of the Goodyear incentives bill. Are incentives that politically radioactive? I’m not sure they are. But the supporters of incentives are doing a damn poor job of making the case. The way to win the argument is to…
An Inconvenient Truth
There are hucksters in just about every business. But science is sort of a, modern sacred cow. Scientists are generally accorded to respect once reserved for Popes and Bishops when it comes to the purity of their motives. So it comes as a shock that one of the corner-stone scientific ‘proofs’ of Global Warming turns…
Dole-drums
A well-placed North Carolina Republican has been telling friends lately that he doesn’t think Senator Elizabeth Dole will run for reelection if she draws a tough opponent. As Richard Nixon said to Dwight Eisenhower in 1952, there comes a time to get off the pot. The Democratic candidate who comes out strong first may find…
Corporate Democrats, Unite!
Another sign that North Carolina Democrats aren’t taking the increasingly anti-corporate tone of the national party is a fundraiser Richard Moore is holding in Raleigh this month. The host is John Kane, of North Hills fame. (Now that Moore has come out against incentives for Goodyear, maybe Kane can lobby him for his parking-deck subsidy.)…
Attacking Hillary?
Sometimes political campaigns are counter initiative. What you’re sure makes sense turns out not to make sense at all. John and Elizabeth Edwards are part of one campaign, but both seem headed in different directions. John Edwards wants his campaign to be about getting out of Iraq and if he can make that the dominant…
Bush’s Political Surge
The military surge may or may not be working in Iraq. But George Bush’s political surge appears to be working at home. His surprise Labor Day visit demonstrates the power of the President – even a poll-ravaged lame-duck President – to command the political heights on foreign affairs. How can this be? How can a…
Brave New World of the Gubernatorial Veto
I blogged not long ago about the veto being Jim Hunt’s gift to Mike Easley – and all future Governors. Now – with Easley’s veto of the Goodyear-incentives bill – we begin to see what veto power really means. Brave New World, Chapter One: So much for being a lame duck. Easley may be ineffective…
Picking Up the Pieces
In 200 years no President has ever had his legal powers taken from him. But, in addition to his legal powers, a President must also have a political mandate to govern, and a case can be made that three of the last seven Presidents lost that mandate before they left office. And George Bush may…
Subsidies and Skyscrapers
Developer John Kane’s back, asking the City Council to give him $75 million in public money (tax breaks) to subsidize the expansion of North Hills Mall. (I guess he’s figured out he can undercut his competitors if the city goes along with the county commissioners to allow him not to pay 75% of his property…