Capital Corruption

Corruption will be big in North Carolina politics in 2024. As soon as House Speaker Tim Moore (pictured) announced his run for Congress, his Republican opponent Pat Harrigan, a former Army Green Beret who won two Bronze Stars in Afghanistan, ambushed him: “Tim Moore carries a legacy of corruption, from being bought and paid for…

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A Sign for the Speaker

N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore’s petty vengeance backfired. Moore exiled Rep. Terence Everitt, a Wake County Democrat, to a tiny office in the basement of the Legislative Building. Everitt posted this sign (photo) in his new office: “I asked prosecutors to open an investigation into credible allegations that Speaker Tim Moore used taxpayer money to…

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Office Politics

Why are House Speakers from North Carolina obsessed with office size? N.C. Congressman Patrick McHenry, the Interim U.S. House Speaker with the big gavel and little bowtie, kicked former Speaker Nancy Pelosi out of her Capitol office. He was mad because Pelosi and the Democrats didn’t rescue House Republicans from their circular firing squad. In…

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Moral and Political Failure

The casinos-for-Medicaid deal collapsed in the state legislature partly because it was an epic political miscalculation. It was also profoundly cynical and morally wrong. The Republican leaders, Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger and Speaker Tim Moore, did the impossible: They united Trump Republicans and almost all Democrats against the deal. Democrats were outraged by…

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Fired Up!

Less than 24 hours after I blogged that Democrats in the legislature seemed “beat down,” I got corrected. One of the House Democratic leaders called Saturday morning to tell me that caucus members are fired up, energized and getting organized for 2024, 2026, 2028 – and for taking the majority by the end of the…

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How Much Hate?

Frank Bruni wrote in The New York Times this week that Lt. Governor Mark Robinson’s candidacy for governor would raise “the question of how much bigotry and divisiveness Republican and independent voters in North Carolina are willing to endorse, indulge or be persuaded to overlook.” Well, North Carolina elected Jesse Helms (pictured) to the Senate…

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Coop’s Coup

Last week Republican legislators stripped Governor-elect Roy Cooper of power. This week Cooper showed he still has the power to beat them. Cooper’s strategy was simple and elegant: If the Republicans repealed HB2, he won. If they didn’t, he won bigger. They didn’t. He won. Big time. The Republicans had said – over and over…

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