Shut Up
December 2, 2013 - by
So long as politicians exercise – and abuse – power, we need the press and professors around to question power. But it looks like Republicans in Raleigh want to shut down questions and shut up critics.
This after Governor McCrory promised to run an open, transparent administration.
First, McCrory’s highly paid PR flacks say they aren’t being paid enough to fulfill their legal obligation to provide public records – that is, records about how our government is working and how our tax money is being spent. No, they want to charge extra for that.
Then, McCrory’s political allies at the Civitas Institute demanded emails from Gene Nichols, a UNC law professor who is prone to castigating the Republicans. Maybe Nichols, like the Governor’s flacks, should charge Civitas a few thousand dollars for his time and trouble.
Suspicious minds wonder whether the next story will be about pressure on UNC to get rid of Nichols. (“Will no one rid me of this troublesome professor?”)
Which would be a modern reprise of the Speaker Ban Law. Which will damage the reputation of North Carolina’s universities. Which will discourage bright, entrepreneurial people from coming to North Carolina.
History is replete with the shattered careers of puffed-up politicians who tried to silence their critics. Whatever short-term gains McCrory & Co. think they’re getting here, they will pay a high price down the road. That’s a truth they can’t suppress.
The question is whether any Republican leader in Raleigh realizes how wrong-headed – and ultimately self-defeating – this course is.
Posted in General, North Carolina - Republicans
Shut Up
December 2, 2013/
So long as politicians exercise – and abuse – power, we need the press and professors around to question power. But it looks like Republicans in Raleigh want to shut down questions and shut up critics.
This after Governor McCrory promised to run an open, transparent administration.
First, McCrory’s highly paid PR flacks say they aren’t being paid enough to fulfill their legal obligation to provide public records – that is, records about how our government is working and how our tax money is being spent. No, they want to charge extra for that.
Then, McCrory’s political allies at the Civitas Institute demanded emails from Gene Nichols, a UNC law professor who is prone to castigating the Republicans. Maybe Nichols, like the Governor’s flacks, should charge Civitas a few thousand dollars for his time and trouble.
Suspicious minds wonder whether the next story will be about pressure on UNC to get rid of Nichols. (“Will no one rid me of this troublesome professor?”)
Which would be a modern reprise of the Speaker Ban Law. Which will damage the reputation of North Carolina’s universities. Which will discourage bright, entrepreneurial people from coming to North Carolina.
History is replete with the shattered careers of puffed-up politicians who tried to silence their critics. Whatever short-term gains McCrory & Co. think they’re getting here, they will pay a high price down the road. That’s a truth they can’t suppress.
The question is whether any Republican leader in Raleigh realizes how wrong-headed – and ultimately self-defeating – this course is.
Posted in General, North Carolina - Republicans