jpearson's blog

In 2003 a tuition grant clause was slipped into the state budget favoring certain students by granting free tuition at UNC campuses for graduates of the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics, the prestigious state boarding school in Durham. The provision was slipped in during budget planning by a Senator chairing the appropriations committee.

Sen. Kay Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat, is the driving force behind the tuition grant. She used her influence as chairwoman of an appropriations committee to insert the grant into the budget.

North Carolina's Auditor needs to decide which job he prefers and resign from one of them. Merritt is the elected state Auditor and draws a full time salary of over $100,000 a year along with state benefits. He also remains involved in a personal venture as a retirement investment consultant.

Continuing with both jobs places him in a conflict of interest situation and he could be getting clients as a result of his state Auditor position.

Read the N&O editorial comment...

News and Observer
March 22, 2007
Editorial

Merritt in the moonlight

Les Merritt needs to resign. Oh, not from his elected post as state auditor, where he's been doing a good job watchdogging government. No, Merritt needs to bag his moonlighting as a retirement investment consultant, something he's been doing with his son, Dale.

First, the state auditor's position is full-time, paying over $100,000 a year, and Merritt should give it his undivided professional attention. Second, he should recognize the unseemliness of appearing to use his position as a high state official to attract private clients, whether he advertises in that fashion or not. Third, there is a potential for a conflict of interest if he ended up with a client who was a state employee. Read more...

Ten eastern NC counties lost population from 2005 to 2006, continuing an alarming trend. Of the counties that lost population, a dozen had fewer people than in 2000. Ten of the 12 are in Eastern North Carolina.

Lost industry and jobs in those areas has fueled the migration of people away from these areas and efforts to draw new businesses to the region has not helped as expected even after the state spent millions of dollars to attract new companies and jobs.

The N&O report paints a gloomy picture for that part of the state. "We keep hoping things are going to get better, but it hasn't happened," said Claudia Cahoon, a Hyde County native who works nights at Hyde Correctional Center and runs a struggling seafood business during the day. "You've got to love it to stay here."

The article further states that "eastern North Carolina leaders say the biggest challenges lie ahead for counties that are too far from the coast to attract tourists and retirees and too far from urban centers to attract commuters. Without the textile plants and small tobacco farms that once fueled their economies, some say, there are few prospects for growth."

According to a study by the N.C. Budget & Tax Center in a March 21, 2007, article by Jonathan Cox at the N&O, the method NC uses to estimate benefits to be gained from large give-aways to lure business to NC is flawed. This means lawmakers making key decisions to give away future income and tax benefits to companies in exchange for building in NC are based on misleading information that does not accurately predict the benefits of the deals.

"Instead of pumping millions of dollars into state coffers, some economic development deals might actually be costing revenue and hurting taxpayers, according to the study by the N.C. Budget & Tax Center, a non-profit group that advocates for the poor."

Read the complete article...

News and Observer
March 2q1, 2007
Jonathan B. Cox, Staff Writer

Report challenges N.C.'s incentives formula

State officials overestimate the benefits gained from companies that get rich incentives to expand in North Carolina, a report says.

Instead of pumping millions of dollars into state coffers, some economic development deals might actually be costing revenue and hurting taxpayers, according to the study by the N.C. Budget & Tax Center, a non-profit group that advocates for the poor.

More alarming news from the office of Les Merritt, our state auditor working on the state payroll and in his own personal business.

North Carolina has issued some 27,000 licenses on invalid social security numbers. Why is this a big problem? This means that thousands of drivers licenses accepted for identification and access in all sorts of situations can't be traced back to known US citizens and could be used for virtually any purpose and could allow holders to gain access to places they should not be allowed into, cash checks or withdraw funds illegally, etc.

In a state audit report released March 20th it has been stated that "auditors don’t know if the invalid Social Security numbers were intentionally used to obtain licenses" according to Chris Mears, a spokesman for the auditor’s office. “We’re assuming that some of those simply will be keypunch errors [by DMV clerks], but we thought that 27,000 was a big number,” Mears said.

Yeah, right. This is a pretty large blunder to simply write off to possible data entry errors. This means we could have hundreds or thousands of unscrupulous people loose in the state that have accepted means of identification that could now gain access to many places where they can do harm or proceed to arrange further means to obtain funds or illegal accounts or whatever might serve their purposes without anyone knowing it.

Read the report out today..

News and Observer
March 20, 2007
Dane Kane

27,000 licenses on invalid Social Security numbers

A state audit released today has found that North Carolina has issued roughly 27,000 drivers licenses to motorists based on invalid Social Security numbers.

State Auditor Les Merritt said the problem lies with licenses issued under an older system that the state Division of Motor Vehicles now uses. The new system, which the division began using in August, checks Social Security numbers automatically before issuing licenses. The old system did not.

This is just a personal observation, but BlueNC is one hot place to blog. If you check here often you will ALWAYS see fresh,breaking news items and comments.

The site has new items posted throughout the day and most, if not all, are right on top of breaking news. Many are tied to breaking news from state newspapers but often you will see news here not yet available covered by the media!

JP

bumped, because, well, he's right!!! (Robert P.)

Also, we haven't had a Frappr drive in awhile, so this gives me an excuse. I hate their new maps, so if anyone has a suggestion for another functionality let me know.

North Carolina is again discussing the idea of using higher pay to attract good teachers. Since Math and Science teachers are such a hot item the legislature is considering increasing pay for these teachers in three school districts by $15,000 per year.

Three years ago in 2001 the state's experiment of offering an extra $1,800 a year to math, science and special education teachers at high-poverty schools or those where student performance lagged ended in disappointment. The N.C. Association of Educators says "differential pay kills teacher morale". Representative Ray Rapp, a Mars Hill Democrat who will help assemble the state education budget, doesn't think it is right to build a pay scale based on teacher specialty, when a school's English teacher may be working just as hard as the math teacher. "It has the potential to create a situation that is terribly demoralizing and destabilizing."

Read the article...

News and Observers
March 19, 2007
Lynn Bonner, Ataff Writer

More pay weighed for some teachers
Lawmakers are talking about raises for math and science instructors, or those at high-poverty schools

Math and science teachers are such hot commodities these days, legislators are considering offering them extra pay to fill North Carolina's classrooms.

The state has a spotty history with offering extra money to teachers-in-demand, but influential supporters want to try again.

The State has confirmed a questionable appointment to the NC Utilities Commission. After numerous letters were sent to Governor Easley, Edward Finley's nomination to the post by the Governor, as well as the reappointment of commission member Samuel "Jimmy" Ervin IV to another eight-year term has been confirmed.

The article cites that a letter sent to Easley by 17 environmental groups said Finley's employment and legal practice exhibited an "extreme one-sidedness" through his work on behalf of utility companies. Does the Governor or his "trusted" advisors ever listen to the public?

Commission wasting taxpayer dollars? The solution here is pretty straight forward. Just get rid of the Surplus Property Commission. Seems like a no-brainer...

In the photo at left by John Rottet... James Lamm, an Alamance County farmer, has offered $400,000 for 112 acres that the state owns next to his farm, but his proposal was rejected. The N.C. National Guard says it plans to use that land, although it has not done so in 15 years.

If this commission was created in the Jim Black era and hasn't produced any results then it should not exist. This is yet another example of waste in North Carolina's government and needs to be eliminated as soon as possible. According to Jim Troxler, a Republican who has worked with the commission on several properties "Members of the public shouldn't have any confidence in a commission that deals the way this one does."

The commissioners recently dismissed the director and hired one of their own to replace him -- and gave their colleague a jump in pay.

News and Observer
March 18, 2007
J. Andrew Curliss, Staff Writer

Surplus property panel raises doubts

Three years ago, in tight budget times, legislators came up with an idea few argued over: A new commission would seek help from real estate interests to sell land and buildings the state doesn't need.

The sales would add millions to the state's treasury. Properties would return to local tax rolls. Brokers and agents who spotted the surplus properties would get a cut of the action.

North Carolina's university system must undergo massive planning to accommodate up to 300,000 students by the year 2017. In the next ten years the annual high school graduation rate is expected to increase by 30,000 students, and almost 22,000 of those will be Latino students.

New programs and methods must be implemented to allow the university system to be flexible and accommodate the growth. Read more from the news release from today with remarks from UNC President Erskine Bowles...

News and Observer
March 15, 2007
Jane Stancill, Staff Writer

UNC system plans for growth

GREENVILLE - By 2017, the number of students enrolled in North Carolina’s public universities could reach nearly 300,000, with no majority race among high school graduates by then.

The future UNC system will be substantially bigger and more diverse, according to projections presented today to the UNC Board of Governors.