Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
Governor McCrory and Republican legislators were against incentives before they were for them. McCrory is clearly for them when he can bask in the announcement of 2,600 new jobs by MetLife. (Hello, Snoopy!) Or maybe he’s for them when they are negotiated by Moore & Van Allen, his old law firm. But…
Read MoreWhile Governor McCrory prepares a “very, very tight budget” and blocks Medicaid expansion, the Republican governor of another purple Southern state is going in the opposite direction. Governor Rick Scott of Florida was a Tea Party poster boy when he got elected in 2010. Now a Miami Tea Party leader has sent the governor…
Read MoreTaking a deep breath, inhaling a lungful of the highly oxygenated Washington air, celebrity, intellectual, and poo-bah Newt Gingrich announced he, himself, personally, was about to deliver a ‘very-direct, no baloney’ manifesto on Republican politics – then lit into Karl Rove, saying Republican political consultants were arrogant idiots and that the country was better off…
Read MoreWith Carter’s help, George Holding had a simple message last fall that boiled down the Republican mantra: “Cut spending now.” It’s the one message that unites Republicans as they splinter over immigration, gay marriage and guns in the wake of Mitt Romney’s loss. Here’s the challenge for Democrats: What’s your alternative? House…
Read MoreAfter the bell rang ending the Second Round of the Obama versus Boehner Fiscal Cliff-Sequester match-up, Obama danced around the ring arms raised as John Boehner staggered back to his corner wobbly-kneed. Just six weeks ago, at the start of round two, the prim and proper Speaker was popular – viewed favorably by 29%…
Read More“I really don’t see it as an issue,” said Senator Buck Newton. “If it went from County A to County B, I’m not sure why County B would have a major objection to that.” “It” is waste brines and toxins from fracking, which – John Murawski reports in the N&O – could end up…
Read MoreA TAPster says this legislature is like a 15-year-old boy whose parents leave him home alone for the weekend. If a couple of friends come over and they drink a six-pack, he probably gets away with it. If he invites the whole high school to a drunken bash that wrecks the house, wakes…
Read MoreIt’s a fault of human nature: When you spend your own money you look at it one way but when you spend someone else’s money it’s a different story. Once, years ago, I served on a church-school board with a half dozen tight-fisted, hard-eyed businessmen who could squeeze a dollar out of a turnip.…
Read MoreWhat did we learn during the Republican legislature’s “Education Week”? That North Carolina ranks 48th in education spending. Legislative leaders bragged that this was the first time all school superintendents were invited to tell the legislature their concerns. The superintendents promptly warned against taking more money from the public schools and giving it to…
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