Speaker Thom Tillis

Not enough conflicts of interest to go around:

Brawley also implies that Tillis is aware of unethical behavior by another lawmaker: "A Republican-led General Assembly passing a bill giving a monopoly to the family of a Republican legislator. I am sure you know what I am referring to since all conversations I have had with anyone seem to lead back to you."

Brawley was referring to House Bill 738, a law passed in 2012 that requires all bail bondsmen in the state to be certified by the NC Bail Agents Association. The non-profit NC Bail Agents Association is run by Phil Burr, the father of Rep. Justin Burr, R-Stanly, himself a bail bondsman. While Rep. Burr recused himself from voting on the measure, critics say other members of state House and Senate leadership made sure it would pass, including Sen. Tom Apodaca, R-Henderson, also a bail bondsman and one of the founders of the NCBBA.

This is just one of many problems that arise when political leaders discard ethical considerations in favor of self-serving behavior. Those who feel they haven't been able to line their pockets as deeply as others turn bitter, and start singing like a canary. Probably 90% of those serving time for white-collar crimes have found this out, and it looks like the NC GOP is on the verge of finding it out, too.

Never miss an opportunity to fleece your donors:

House Speaker Thom Tillis is using the strategy memo as a way to raise money. The Republican leader sent a fundraising solicitation Friday, less than a day after the story broke. “We are only three weeks into the legislative session and ultra-liberal organizations, in partnership with the Democratic Party and Democratic legislative leaders have vowed to ‘cripple’ me,” he writes.

Dude, if we could actually get the NCDP, Democratic legislative leaders and Progressive organizations to partner on anything, it would be much more newsworthy than this poorly-thought-out memo. And what the hell does "Ultra Liberal" mean, anyway? We don't have "regular" Liberals here in North Carolina with an extremist fringe. We have Dixiecrats and corporate rats, and anybody to the left of them is what I would call "sane and enlightened."

Instead of letting them vote, Tillis pulls a fast one:

House Rule 62, in the back of the rule manual, gives lawmakers the ability to cite Mason's Manual of Legislative Procedure for matters not covered in the rule. Republican Rep. David Lewis invoked it and Tillis rushed a vote on it to prevent the House from considering Ross' amendment. Why the GOP needed to invoke this rule, as opposed to use its own to defeat the amendment, is unclear.

It's clear enough to me. Moving a few hundred thousand around in the Budget, in order to secure over $4 million in HAVA funds, makes way too much sense to allow people (even Republicans) to vote on it. The level of hubris with such a move is breathtaking.

When "being in bed with lobbyists" is not merely a metaphor:

According to confidential documents obtained by WRAL News, the North Carolina State Ethics Commission will investigate lobbyists who had romantic relationships with staffers in House Speaker Thom Tillis' office.

Apparently somebody finally explained the definition of "ethics" to the Commission. "Oh, that's what it means! I thought we were supposed to make sure other races weren't discriminated against." ;)

Good news, yet this is kind of a head-scratcher:

Straightening out those pesky campaign finance reporting issues:

"There's no effort to hide anything. All this will be covered in an amended report. Some information didn't get there quickly enough," said Jordan Shaw, a Tillis spokesman.

In the meantime, here's one of them:

Whining about Liberal bias in the media:

I have concluded that most (but not all) of the mainstream media will not report on a balanced basis. Either through deadline calls, sloppy reporting, and/or momentary memory lapses, many will continue to report with a bias towards a liberal or progressive liberal stance.

You left out "Making them work 20 hour days so they won't miss any of our late-night shenanigans". Here's the rest, including a weird joke about Tillis killing a dog:

Proving once again that he will say anything, however ironic, to score political points:

Now is not the time to raise taxes - especially on single moms, senior citizens and the unemployed.

I think we should create a new category of political propaganda, let's call it "parading your victims", in which you use people you've already abused yourself in an effort to generate sympathy. We'll start with the senior citizens:

So much for the "anti-corruption" GOP leadership:

Per the request of N.C. House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, the assembly’s bipartisan Legislative Ethics Committee is deciding whether to follow the USDA and launch a review of their own.

"Deciding"? The red flags have been waving on this issue for months now, and it's looking like LaRoque's shenanigans may have tainted other Legislators:

Cross posting from Progressive Pulse:

House Speaker Thom Tillis is at again, telling an audience at a town hall meeting in Matthews Monday that the Republican budget cut too much, as if he is powerless to do anything about it.

Tillis also said lawmakers “disproportionately” cut money for early-childhood programs. In the name of efficiency, lawmakers combined a pre-kindergarten program known as More at Four with Smart Start. Both are aimed at helping poor and at-risk students. They cut $16 million from the pre-kindergarten budget and $37.5 million from Smart Start.

Tillis said the money for students in third grade and younger is inadequate.

NC Lawmakers will reconsider PHOTO ID law on SUNDAY Nov 27.(that's HB 351) And other bills. There also have been rumors that fracking would be heard, but there's nothing on the calender for that on Sunday.

HOUSE CALENDAR
101st Legislative Day
Sunday, November 27, 2011
House Convenes at 8:00 pm

Thom Tillis, Speaker
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
RECONSIDERATION OF VETOED BILLS

HB 7 Ingle, Cleveland and McCormick (Primary Sponsors) - COMMUNITY COLLEGES/OPT OUT OF FEDERAL LOAN PROGRAM.
(Vetoed by Governor - 4/13/11) (Ratified Edition)

HB 351 Lewis, T. Moore and Killian (Primary Sponsors) - RESTORE CONFIDENCE IN GOVERNMENT. (Vetoed by Governor - 6/23/11)
(Veto Override Vote Reconsidered - 7/26/11) (Ratified Edition)

HB 482 Burr - WATER SUPPLY LINES/WATER VIOLATION WAIVERS.