Beverly Perdue

Senator Murkowski recently introduced a resolution that would strip the EPA of its power to regulate carbon emissions. This legislation comes three years after the Supreme Court upheld the EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, and after the EPA proved that greenhouse gases pose a danger to public health and the environment. Senator Burr is a co-sponsor of this legislation, but today the more important issue is a letter that will be circulated at the National Governors Assoc. this weekend. The letter which was written by Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour supports Murkowski's effort to weaken the Clean Air Act.

StarNews has published a letter dated yesterday detailing the reasons why Governor Perdue should halt permitting for Titan Cement's Castle Hayne project:

Governor Perdue, with the recent scandals uncovered by the news media, the public has lost confidence in the objectivity of regulatory decisions by the Department of Energy and Natural Resources ("DENR"), and questions whether the agency is acting in the public interest.

Joining with four other Dem Governors and one Republican Governor, Bev added her signature to a letter fighting the expansion of generic drugs:

Six governors -- five Democrats and one Republican -- wrote Obama Tuesday in opposition to his consideration of scrapping language in the healthcare bill granting brand-name biotechnology companies 12 years of market exclusivity before their products face competition generic versions of their products, known as biosimilars or follow-on biogics . Obama is weighing a shorter period, perhaps 10 years, as favored by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and other liberals.

I recently resubscribed to my local newspaper, Raleigh's News & Observer. It's only been about two weeks now and I'm thinking about dropping my subscription again.

Yesterday, I marched with about 150 other people in the rain as part of the International Day of Climate Action. We went to the Governor's Mansion to ask Beverly Perdue to stop Duke Power from building the Cliffside Coal Plant and to ask President Obama to take strong action to stop global warming.

The News & Observer reported that six people were arrested. No mention of the rest of us chanting across the street to show our support and gratitude for those were arrested. No mention of global warming. No mention of the other 5,200 plus events around the world. Our local TV station, WRAL, did a much better job.

Follow me below the fold for a discussion of local news coverage and what we should do about it.

I admit it. I was wrong about Beverly Perdue. Instead of being a forward-looking leader, she's just another "business as usual" insider, more worried about her own political future than something as basic as the rule of law. At issue is the imminent release of 20 prisoners, as required by the North Carolina Court of Appeals.

"Everybody that I have talked to understands that letting them out is not going to be the answer that I am going to be able to live with," Perdue said. "In other words, if I go to jail, are you going to visit me? Somebody said they were going to bring me cookies."

With all due respect, Governor, this isn't about you and what you can or cannot live with. This is about your responsibilities in upholding the law. If you don't like the current rules, work to change them. Until that happens, do your damn job.

Since vetoes are a fairly new (1997) and rare (less than 15 since establishment in the late 1990s) in North Carolina, it is noteworthy that a veto by the Governor of North Carolina has occurred today.

Multiple sources are reporting on the veto, but the official information is at the links below.

Governor's veto

Text of vetoed bill

History (drafts and votes) of vetoed bill

Note in this last link, this bill passed both chambers of the legislature without a dissenting vote.

Only three senators (absent) and Speaker Hackney (by tradition, the presiding House officer rarely votes) never voted on this bill.

Last week Richard Moore quietly closed out the campaign account for his unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign. He had loaned the campaign $1,250,000 in personal funds of which $288,232 had been repaid. The final report to the State Board of Elections dated 4/7/09 listed $3,055 cash on hand before expenses and $961,768 in forgiven loans. Moore is often mentioned as a potential contender for Richard Burr's Senate seat but reportedly has no plans to run.

At this very moment, our pal Justice Bob Orr is announcing his representation of Superintendent June Atkinson in a lawsuit against Governor Perdue to determine who will actually control North Carolina's education system:

When: April 3, 2009 at 11:00 am

Where: 333 E. Six Forks Road • Suite 180 • Raleigh, North Carolina

Purpose: Media briefing by Justice Robert F. Orr (retired) concerning litigation that will be filed Friday, April 3, 2009, by Dr. June St. Clair Atkinson to challenge the constitutionality of certain legislative and executive branch actions taken to usurp the Superintendent of Public Instruction’s constitutional authority to administer the North Carolina public school system.

The mood in North Carolina is mixed these days. While polls show high levels of citizen satisfaction with Governor Perdue, they also show continuing support by half of all North Carolinians for bigotry and state-sponsored killing.

None of this is surprising, in my view, given the top dog we elected. Instead of seeing policies that reflect a deep understanding of complex policy issues, we get tough-gal rhetoric, short on evidence of expertise.

The complete prepared text of Gov Perdue’s State of the State Address follows.

Gov. Bev Perdue State of the State

March 9, 2009, Raleigh

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Speaker Hackney, President Pro-Tem Basnight, Lt. Gov. Dalton members of the General Assembly and honored guests.