Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
Black’s Legal Defense Fund
No one outside of House Speaker Jim Black’s inner circle knows how much money corporations have given to the Speaker’s Legal Defense Fund. But the Charlotte Observer (10-16-06) has reported the name of one donor: The Teamster’s Union. According to the Federal Elections Commission, the Teamster’s PAC gave $5,000 to Black. The union didn’t offer…
Scandals and Gay Marriages
Last session, State House and Senate Democrats passed legislation to prohibit lobbyists giving money to candidates; then, in a political flim-flam, they proclaimed they’d cleaned up the ‘pay to play’ scandal. The Democrats eliminated the, say, 5% of the money lobbyists, personally, give them. But left in place the 95% lobbyists raise for them (mostly…
Base Politics
Two weeks from today, Democrats either win their biggest landslide in three decades (since Watergate) or Republicans celebrate the biggest upset since Truman-Dewey. Either way, both parties will quickly see a war between their respective bases and everybody else. Here are the scenarios: Win or lose, Democrats will start debating What It All Means for…
A Growing Problem – or Solution?
America’s population – now 300 million – could top 400 million by the time my children start thinking about retiring (around 2040). I believe that’s a good thing for our country. Given today’s hostility toward immigrants, that probably wouldn’t be a popular political position. But here’s why I say it: Population growth means economic growth…
Mayor Meeker and the Garbage Truck
For the last couple of weeks Mayor Meeker’s been meeting with unhappy city garbage workers. Last week, in a show of bonhomie and empathy the Mayor spent the morning riding a garbage truck. He told the News and Observer (10-14-06) he “wanted to learn about the job as sanitation workers protest for better pay and…
Un-Audited Billions
The Department of Transportation spends billions, but, in the last three years, its team of nine internal auditors has only produced “one complete report and eight memo’s or letters.” (Charlotte Observer; 10-13-06). The DOT’s chief auditor told investigators that “his staff spent most of 2003 on training and did not produce any new reports after…
Double Amnesia
House Speaker Jim Black was pretty vague at Kevin Geddings’ trial about his meeting with lobbyists for lottery giant Scientific Games the night before he appointed Geddings to the Lottery Commission. But Black wasn’t vague at all about another meeting. He testified lobbyists for G-TECH (another lottery company) “brought an important visitor to his office…
Evidence of a Tidal Wave: Foley Scandal Impacts Election?
The Gallop organization has taken a poll about the impact of the Foley scandal on the election. Dick Morris writes on his website Vote.com that it shows “the Republican base…has moved out.” “The Gallup poll of Oct. 6-8 shows that, in the wake of the Foley scandal, the number of “white frequent churchgoers” who are…
The Grand Old Gay-Bashers
Jesse Helms used to warn about the dire threat posed by the “radical homosexual lobby.” Now it looks like they’ve infiltrated his own party. And a subtext to the Foley story is whether Republicans will start chasing gays out of the big tent. Democrats are excused for taking satisfaction in the irony: The daddy party,…