Rep. Deborah Ross

Former 4-term legislator Grier Martin will run for the House District 34 seat being vacated by Rep. Deborah Ross. Ross will resign to take a position as General Counsel with the Triangle Transit Authority.

“It was my privilege to represent the people of District 34 for 8 years. After being double bunked with my friend Rep. Ross in abusive redistricting, I made the decision to step aside. I had no doubt District 34 would be well served by Rep. Ross, and it has been. She will be an outstanding addition to the Triangle Transit Authority,” Martin said.

“Today I am announcing I will seek to serve the people of the 34th District again, and I’m honored to have the support of Rep. Ross. I look forward to speaking with members of the Wake County Democratic Party Executive Committee, and all interested constituents about how we can continue to make our community the best place to live and work in America,” Martin concluded.

How is this for an odd couple: Deborah Ross and Skp Stam of Wake County? Actually co-sponsoring a bill on elections? Really.
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From The Charlotte Observer:

RALEIGH A bipartisan effort is underway in the legislature to change the way North Carolina draws its congressional and legislative lines, creating districts based more on geography and compactness rather than on parties, politics and personalities.

A bill introduced this week creates a nonpartisan redistricting system in time for the 2020 U.S. census. The measure has the backing of Republicans such as Rep. Paul “Skip” Stam of Apex and Democrats such as Rep. Deborah Ross of Raleigh.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/04/10/3974685/bipartisan-bill-woul...

On the Record: Reps. Deborah Ross, Jim Fulghum of Wake County

Rep. Deborah Ross, D-Wake, and Rep. Jim Fulghum, R-Wake, go On the Record about what has already happened in the early stages of this legislative session and what appears to be on the horizon

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Roundtable discussion with Laura Leslie of WRAL.com and David Crabtree of WRAL with their invited guests from the NCGA. (Video)

And the stakes couldn't be higher:

“In their fervor to impose their ideological views on the people of the state of North Carolina, they weakened the safety net for women and children in our state at the very time when we should be working to strengthen it,” Rep. Jennifer Weiss of Cary said of the legislature.

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The only way to stop the clock from rolling backwards is to remove these idiots from office, or at least put them back in the minority where their crazy 19th Century ideas won't do any harm.

From an AP story on WRAL.com:

"County legislators who want to delay closure at the hospital that opened in 1856 will need the support of other colleagues during the 2011 session. Many argue Dix exemplifies the failings of mental health reforms in North Carolina that haven’t made up for a 44 percent reduction in the number of institutional beds."

“Several years ago the mental health reform process was assumed to work, and it hasn’t,” said Rep. Deborah Ross, D-Wake, who plans to file a bill to try to prevent the closure if she’s re-elected.

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The Perdue Administration’s statement: