nc policy watch

This guy makes the word "charlatan" seem like a glowing compliment. Hat tip to NC Policy Watch.

Rob Schofield today has some welcome words of wisdom for Governor Perdue.

One of the main reasons that progressives have always felt a little leery of Beverly Perdue is their concern that she represents the politics of the past — the conservative, good ol’ boy wing of the Democratic Party that was/is more concerned about winning elections and holding onto power than advancing the causes of social, economic and political justice.

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So, today’s message to Governor Perdue: Run, don’t walk, to the good government progressives and demonstrate once and for all (and repeatedly) that you want to be of them and among them in the months to come and during the second term you hope to have.

Similar advice from the past.

Chris Fitzsimon's excellent summary of yesterday's election results.

The election results in October and Tuesday’s reinforcement of them also may explain why Republicans in North Carolina are now publicly trying to distance themselves from many of their own decisions, from firing teachers to abolishing popular programs like the N.C. Teaching Fellows to threatening services for seniors and people with disabilities by slashing Medicaid funding.

The more people learn about that extreme right-wing agenda, the less willing they are to support people who espouse it. And they are learning plenty.

My take? People in North Carolina got a close look at Thom Tillis' "divide and conquer" approach to governing ... and decided they don't much like it.

The expression probably seems like an oxymoron, even more so in today's corporatist environment. The Chamber of Commerce lobbies policy makers to get lots of goodies, and then when it's time to pay the piper, they turn to the general public, taxpayers like you, to pick up the pieces. A case in point is featured today in a column by Scott Mooneyham. Hat tip to Policy Watch for digging up the story.

They won’t say it, but it’s obvious what is wanted by a portion of the business community in North Carolina and their backers at the state Legislature. It’s that most volatile of words in the political world these days, a word sure to rile up conservatives and liberals alike. Dare I even tap out the seven letters?

B-A-I-L-O-U-T.

There, the deed is done. Oh sure, they’ll deny that’s what they want. But what else do you call a desire to make up for a $2.5 billion debt with general tax dollars — either from federal or state taxpayers — especially when that debt is largely the result of earlier financial irresponsibility? The $2.5 billion is how much the state has borrowed from the federal government to pay out unemployment benefits since 2008.

It's the free market at its finest: The North Carolina Chamber of Commerce buying politicians to get public policies that reward businesses while shifting all the risks to citizen taxpayers. It must be god's will.

Even if you're not a citizen of Wake County, you have to be proud of the results delivered yesterday after a full-court press in their local elections. Sanity prevailed in mayoral and city council races, as well as in the Wake County School Board elections. Progressives carried the day on almost every front.

There will be much written about whether these results signal trends that will influence the 2012 elections. So far, the main thing I've learned is that Art Pope Republicans can win elections, but they can't govern. Their instinct to divide and conquer spills into their policy agenda, pitting people against one another in ways that most fair-minded citizens won't tolerate. That's what happened on the Wake County School Board with the dramatic ouster of Ron Margiotta. With any luck and a lot of hard work, that will happen with Thom Tillis, too.
I sure do miss Joe Hackney.

We the people of North Carolina should have Rob Schofield and Al Ripley negotiating on our behalf:

No one expects Duke, Progress or a new combined statewide monopoly to solve all of North Carolina's energy and poverty woes. The problems have been long in the making and will not be solved overnight. Still, the notion that North Carolina might allow such a huge and unprecedented event as a Duke-Progress merger to take place without requiring more of a regulated monopoly that exists to serve the public interest than a token, one-time contribution - say, 10 to 20 times more - is shocking.

It is often said that one can judge the strength of a person's character by observing their behavior in the face of a moral dilemma. If that is indeed the case, the silence by Art Pope's minions at the John Locke Foundation says all we need to know about their political perversion. Kudos to Rob Schofield for calling them out.

In the final analysis, this kind of hypocrisy has emerged as the defining quality of the free-market right in North Carolina. Cowards one and all.

Full video (31 minutes) of the press conference yesterday at the NC General Assembly where Republican Representatives Dale Folwell, Speaker Pro-Tem, and Paul "Skip" Stam, Majority Leader, announced the upcoming introduction of a state constitutional amendment to ban something that is already banned in North Carolina: gay marriage. Meanwhile President Barack Obama declared federal disasters in seven NC counties as Hurricane Irene destroyed more than 1,000 homes, decimated NC Highway 12 and croplands were flooded, with initial damage estimates of over $70 $190 $400 million. Glad to know they've got their priorities straight.
 

"Those Lefties are picking on me!"

A state lawmaker said Tuesday that he is the victim of a "hit piece" in a liberal-leaning publication over the way he runs two nonprofits. NC Policy Watch ran a story two weeks ago about a two-month investigation of the East Carolina Development Co. and Piedmont Development Co., which are operated by Rep. Stephen LaRoque, R-Kinston.

Well, considering neither Less-than-he-appears-to-be Merritt nor Civitas' Don Carrington (claims to have brought down Jim Black) seem to be interested in, you know, government corruption enough to pursue a Republican, someone's gotta do it. Sarah is a bonafide, roll-up-your-sleeves investigative journalist, not a "hit-piece"-er, and LaRoque knows it. Which is why he's scrambling.

US Rep. Renee Ellmers is no stranger to stretching the truth. But now that she is on the defensive for supporting the budget proposals of Rep. Paul Ryan, proposals that would turn Medicare into a voucher program, she is telling some of the biggest whoppers of her career. In this short clip she tries to revive the death panel lie, telling her audience in Rocky Mount that a physician will have to submit a request to a 15 person panel before performing surgery. Video below.