mike easley

We needed a new Open Thread

I was on CNN.com, looking at an article about potential ticket-mates for Barack Obama, and guess who I saw.

Shouldn't $1.6 million dollars of your hard earned North Carolina tax money give you the right to know and refuse exposure to hazardous pesticides, herbicides, and chemicals? If Governor Easley can spend $1.6 million tax payer dollars on a pesticide plan to protect farmworkers shouldn't the plan also include protecting the citizens of North Carolina as well. The plan should be comprehensive and not discriminate between industries, companies, workers, and citizens. Tell the Director of the State Office of Rural Health and Community Care, Mr. John Price to implement a plan that protects everyone's right to know when being exposed to hazardous pesticides, herbicides, and chemicals.

Thank goodness Facing South is doing the media's job by digging into the scam and dirt behind the outbreak of robo-calls in recent weeks. Here's the story, from Chris Kromm:

Facing South has confirmed the source of the calls, and the mastermind is Women's Voices Women Vote, a D.C.-based nonprofit which aims to boost voting among "unmarried women voters."

Cross-posted at dKos

I'm trying to get my head around Mike Easley's endorsement of Hillary Clinton. Quite frankly, I'm mystified.

As most of us know, Hillary on the top of the ticket effectively cedes most of the former Confederacy (except for Virginia and Florida) to McCain. Obama, on the other hand, has committed to fighting for North Carolina in November. I would think that this would be a no-brainer for the de facto leader of the North Carolina Democratic Party. He should have his finger on the pulse of this state.

I'm writing to request that you take an hour out of one of your busy days to visit with us here at BlueNC. We have some questions, and apparently some of the people who work for you are incapable of answering them on your behalf.

We have questions about what you're doing to clean up the mess you and Carmen Hooker Odom created for the mental health system in North Carolina. We want to know what you've privately told the US Navy about the possibility of building an OLF in eastern North Carolina. And I personally want to know if you will work for legislation that would prohibit the use of military weapons in training by private contractors in our state.

Leslie's great post about the role of super delegates reminded me of a Dome story about a governor who apparently considers himself wiser than the people who elected him.

Gov. Mike Easley will not base his endorsement on the state vote. At a meeting of the National Governors Association, Easley said he did not expect super delegates to decide the Democratic nomination, according to Media General News Service.

But if they do, he said he will not base his vote at the Democratic national convention for either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton on how North Carolina Democrats vote in the primary.

Easley steps up to the plate

Based on "no comments" earlier this week, I mistakenly assumed Governor Easley was on the wrong side of the community college issue. I was wrong, and I apologize for criticizing his silence. In an interview with Jack Betts today, Mr. Easley showed what leadership looks like:

Amidst all the hullabaloo surrounding immigrants who are subsidizing NC citizens in our community college system, it's reassuring to know that the Gov has weighed in with a clear position on the dispute.

Easley, a Democrat, tried to distance himself from the rising controversy over the community college system's order that all 58 campuses must admit undocumented applicants who meet admissions requirements. He refused to say whether or not he supported the new policy.

..

While Easley said the community college officials misread the 1997 letter, he refused to stake out a position on the admissions mandate. Asked if the state government should do anything to change the practice, he suggested that the state's current attorney general, Roy Cooper, be asked for an opinion. Cooper's office on Wednesday refused to offer an opinion, saying community colleges had not asked for one.

I wonder, does it count if We the People ask for one? Probably not.