Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
So is this the direction North Carolina wants? More restrictions on voting and on women’s health care – and fewer on trash-hauling, landfills and fracking? Less help for people out of work, less health care for the sickest and poorest – and more tax cuts for people on top of the pile? Most of…
The N&O’s striking front-page photo of Speaker Thom Tillis looks like a caricature of a pompous, puffed-up politician. Now, all of us have been captured on film in less-than-flattering poses. But not on the front page. And not at a time and in a way that seems to capture all the things that people…
It’s hard to be an all-star when your team is getting steamrolled every day. Still, a number of Democratic legislators have fought hard, stood their ground and spoken eloquently. But I’m awarding this coveted honor (the TAP MVP) to the Democrat whose star has risen fastest and farthest this session: Senator Josh Stein of…
Over a week ago in a newspaper story – after a day of women chanting “shame, shame, shame” – a Republican consultant declared bluntly House Speaker Thom Tillis had better support the Senate’s abortion bill or just about every Republican was going to be mad with him. Next, in the same story, a Democratic…
The Republican team’s best player this season is – the envelope please – Senator Phil Berger. Now, this is a judgment about political skills, not philosophy. I disagree with Berger on probably every issue. But as I look at all the Republican players on the field this year – particularly compared to Governor McCrory…
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…
Carter and I taped “Who’s Talking” with D.G. Martin on WCHL FM 97.9 for this weekend. It is scheduled to run this Saturday and Sunday at 6am, 1 pm and 11pm. You can also hear it at http://chapelboro.com/category/wchl/lifestyle-weekly/whos-talking/ . We talked with D.G. about the legislature, the size of government, Moral Mondays and…
Because it’s about a big electoral prize that Democrats dream about – and because it has some salience to North Carolina – this long article in Texas Monthly is worth a read for Democrats. (Sorry, Republicans, it’s banned for you.) The article addresses this proposition: “Democrats once ruled Texas. Then came five decades of…
Thankful yet? You get a tax cut. And North Carolinians get more jobs. At least, that’s the theory. Cary Republican Rep. Nelson Dollar called it the “jobs bill of a generation.” Sen. Josh Stein, a Raleigh Democrat, called it “tax breaks for the wealthy and out-of-state corporations.” Here’s the economic question: Will…
North Carolina voters don’t like either the Democratic or Republican parties. But Independent voters – who…
How do you get your news? Our statewide poll asked North Carolina voters what their primary…
Thom Tillis and Phil Berger fed the MAGA alligator. Then it ate them. Thomas Mills wrote…