Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
Ethics Reform – House Style – Chapter 1
I’ve not often had a kind word to say about Senate Democratic Majority Leader Tony Rand. I do today. It seems hard to believe but House Speaker Jim Black has made Rand, the man who removed the crosses and Bibles from the Senate Chapel, look like a paragon of public virtue when it comes to…
Ethics Reform – House Style – Chapter 2
Here’s the State House version of Ethics Reform: Members can take secretly ‘gifts’ of up to $500 from people seeking favorable legislation. They can take bigger gifts if they report them. Hard to believe? Democrat Representative Verla Insko, who voted against the secret gifts said “she didn’t like the thought of being able to keep…
Strange Logic II
I asked a retired friend, who occasionally serves as a substitute teacher, why the School Board was determined to push for a tax increase when three independent polls show it losing overwhelmingly. He told me an interesting story about the dress code in the Wake County Schools. He said students ignore the dress code and…
The Taxes Just Keep on Coming
Wake County Manager David Cooke wants to increase property taxes three cents. The way the politicians describe this type of tax increase, they say it’s “only” a $45 increase on a $150,000 home. Let’s look a little closer. On top of Mr. Cooke’s three-cent tax hike, the Wake County Board of Education wants a 3.9…
The Still-Shrinking President
President Bush’s immigration speech showed just how far he has fallen. And it happened when – in my opinion – he actually is trying to do the right thing. (There, that’s my nod to bipartisanship this week.) On gay rights, Bush is the monkey to the right-wing organ grinders. Even though Laura disagrees – publicly!…
Strange Logic
WRAL-TV and The News and Observer have taken a poll on the Wake County School Bonds. They found voters: Favored a $625 million bond with no tax increase 64% to 28% Opposed a $998 million bond with a tax increase 59% to 27% Opposed a $1.15 billion bond with a bigger tax increase 57% to…
Democrats Getting Bluer?
Us Southern Democrats have worried a long time about being totally abandoned by the national party. This election could accelerate that trend. Especially if Democrats win control of the U.S. House by knocking off vulnerable Republicans in the Northeast. Various reports show that districts won by John Kerry – but that still have GOP congressmen…
Sneaky
Governor Easley’s sneaky streak breaks out every now and then. To hear the Governor tell it he’s going to do two things with the State’s $2 billion surplus: increase some needed spending and cut taxes. What’s sneaky – and what he’s not talking about much – is that his tax cut is only a fraction…
Bombs Away
Congressman Brad Miller’s opponent, Vernon Robinson, last week sent out one of the wildest, most over-the-top, most clever, most irresponsible, most expensive and – I hope – least effective mailings I’ve ever seen. And I thought nobody could top the stuff Carter and the Congressional Club used to send out about Jim Hunt. Now, Brad…