Governor Perdue

Thank you, Governor.

Last week the US Supreme Court heard arguments from Montana and PPL, a hydroelectric power producer regarding who owns the riverbeds on three Montana Rivers. According to US law, if a river is "navigable" it is owned by the State and should be held in Trust for the people of the State. If the river is not navigable, then it is owned by the federal government for the people of the United States. The case began as parents of school children in Montana got tired of budget cuts to schools, and noted that the State had not been charging millions in riverbed rent for several rivers over the past several decades. They sued the state claiming the State had not been managing its public trust responsibly because it had not been charging rent for the use of the public land.

Good coverage by Bob Geary of the Independent Weekly about the Racial Justice Act vote by NC Senate

It was a straight party line vote on Tuesday. McKissick of Durham says he thinks a VETO would be sustained in the NC House, if Perdue were to use the big red stamp.

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No chance of supporting a veto in the Senate with the numbers of GOP having a 2/3 majority there

The Yadkin River is one of our state’s greatest wealth generators. For instance, a thirty-eight mile stretch of the river provides 940 million kilowatt hours of valuable hydro-electricity. Unfortunately, for the past decade, the majority of the wealth generated by the river has flowed out of our state’s economy rather than into it.

Laura Leslie has the best round-up of the Governor's signing frenzy yesterday. I would have preferred peremptory vetoes of the entire pile of crap, but nobody elected me, so I'll simply pass along the news for your edification. Guess how many of the GOP bills had anything to do with economic recovery?

3,200 UNC System employees lose their jobs under the budget that currently sits on Governor Perdue's desk.

Backers of the budget cuts argue that at a time where unemployment is at near record levels and the state is facing a 3 billion dollar deficit cuts need to be made. By slashing education and other vital public institutions instead of keeping the current sales tax level, the legislature claims to be protecting economic development in NC. They fail to recognize the fundamental role education plays in economic development.

Veto. Veto. Veto. Veto. Veto. Veto. Veto. Veto. Veto. Veto. Veto. Veto.