Capitol Monitor

Redistricting NC: A Play in Four+ Acts

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:53:14 -0500

Once upon a time, North Carolina had election districts that were drawn without legal problems and voters all knew they were voting in fully constitutional elections. But that was a long time ago.

How Legislators Choose Their Voters
The process known as redistricting officially occurs every ten years. During a redistricting session, sitting legislators convene to draw the legislative districts that will govern legislative elections until the next census.

The problem is that when legislators draw the districts that govern their own elections, the process is inevitably fraught with self-interest, incumbent protection, and gerrymandering. Some have called it a process which “allows lawmakers to choose their voters, rather than the other way around.”

NC Partnership for Children: Helping Hand or Heavy Handed?

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:51:04 -0500

The North Carolina General Assembly has charged the NC Partnership for Children with administration and oversight of its growing Smart Start early childhood education program. But in doing so, have they also created an expensive quasi-government bureaucracy that's usurping the role of responsible parenting during early childhood?

Spanish Flu: Stimulating Unemployment with Green Jobs?

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:21:39 -0500

With the recent spread of the swine flu in North Carolina, affecting hundreds and claiming the life of at least one individual in the state, the media is again reminding citizens of the deadly Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 that killed millions. Not unsurprisingly, however, they’ve been mostly silent about another Spanish flu that’s about to hit – the job destruction that may strike like a wave when the United States copies Spain’s green jobs model.

According to Barack Obama’s Blueprint for Change, if the government spends $150 billion on clean energy over a decade, five million new green jobs will be created. White House economists insist that the $58 billion in energy programs in the stimulus package will create over 450,000 jobs.

Political Body Count Rises in Mary Easley Scandal: NC State Document Dump Gives Inside Peek at How Deal was Done

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:30:29 -0500

The scandal surrounding former First Lady Mary Easley’s employment at NC State University is taking more twists and turns than a typical road in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains.

The latest developments in the case involve the resignation of NC State University’s chancellor, James Oblinger, who later appeared before the grand jury, and the university trustees’ vote to eliminate Mary Easley’s job (as recently as May 21, Marvin Schiller, Easley's lawyer, stated that she would not resign). The former First Lady had signed a five-year, $850,000 contract with NC State in 2008. NC State officials are defending the trustees’ move as a response to state government’s current budget crisis.

Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America: Teachers lose jobs while taxpayers fund non-profit

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:02:36 -0500

At the very same time that the North Carolina House of Representatives was debating, and ultimately approving, a $780 million tax increase for the state’s citizens to cover an unprecedented shortfall in revenues, Governor Beverly Perdue was handing out $1 million in taxpayer cash to the non-profit Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA) office in Charlotte, and Mecklenburg County announced that they were poised to fork over even more.

It’s all in the name of “job creation,” of course, and while the group isn’t native to North Carolina, the fact that the governor selected it for state taxpayer subsidies while North Carolina’s government services are so strapped that leaders are considering enacting the largest tax increase in history makes the organization worthy of a closer look.

Show Them the Money: Film Industry Incentives a Bottomless Pit

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:58:29 -0500

In January, while the state was hurtling into a bottomless pit of red ink, the North Carolina Commerce Department’s Film Office erected a 1000-pound director’s rocking chair at the Salt Lake City Airport to attract the attention of movie producers jetting in for the Sundance Film Festival. Charged with recruiting movie and TV production to the state, state Film Office Director Aaron Syrett explained, “The rocking film director’s chair is a visual reminder to the film industry how easy it is to film in North Carolina.”

But movie moguls are feted with more than a comfortable chair from North Carolina taxpayers. While the average small businessman or woman pays full freight, the Sundance Gang gets special tax breaks.

Jesse Helms Center: Just Say "No"

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:36:44 -0500

“In 1978 the Raleigh News & Observer dubbed me ‘Senator No.’ It wasn’t meant as a compliment, but I certainly took it as one.” – Sen. Jesse Helms

The Jesse Helms Center was established in 1987 to help preserve and promote the values that the late Senator Jesse Helms championed during his colorful careers as a media commentator, city councilman, and as a US senator.

Democracy North Carolina: Public Financing Advocates

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:32:05 -0500

Democracy North Carolina is a statewide nonpartisan 501 (c)(3) organization “that uses research, grassroots organizing and coalition building to promote voter participation and fair elections.” In recent years, the organization has also sought to shed light on the state's culture of "pay-for-play" politics.

Stimulus or Pork? Questionable Projects Slated for Funding

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:57:41 -0500

President Barack Obama has repeatedly said the days of “pork … as a strategy” are over. However he is proposing to spend billions of dollars on an expanded infrastructure in the stimulus bill. He has assured the nation that state governors have identified billions of dollars in worthy infrastructure projects that are considered “shovel ready,” meaning they could be started quickly – though little activity has been seen so far.

Easley Scandal Cast of Characters: A primer on the players in Raleigh's newest political drama

Sat, 23 May 2009 10:38:19 -0500

Free cars, free planes, cheap beachfront property, and high six-figure teaching jobs – Oh, my.

Several people not named Easley – both inside and outside of government – have been dragged into the on-going controversy surrounding the state’s former First Couple.

Jobs and positions have been surrendered, and reputations have suffered. As the saga grows ever more complicated, the Capitol Monitor provides a cast of characters to help readers keep track in Raleigh’s latest bit of political theater.

(We have a sneaking suspicion that frequent updates will be required as the days, weeks and months go by. )

Atkinson Case: Who is really in charge of North Carolina public education?

Fri, 22 May 2009 11:13:38 -0500

Can the Governor transfer the authority for the state’s public school system from the elected Superintendent to a new position created by the State Board of Education?

On November 4, 2008, Dr. June Atkinson was re-elected to a second four-year term as Superintendent of Public Instruction, an office defined in the North Carolina Constitution as the administrative head of the state’s public school system. Having elected Dr. Atkinson by a healthy 54 to 46 percent margin, voters might naturally assume that she would administer and manage public education in North Carolina as head of the Department of Public Instruction (DPI). However, as a wise person once counseled, “Make no assumptions,” for it seems Governor Beverly Perdue had other plans.

Easley Scandal Spurs Move toward Transparency at NC Highway Patrol

Fri, 22 May 2009 09:38:59 -0500

The state and federal probes of her predecessor have spurred Governor Bev Perdue to reform record keeping procedures for state troopers who provide security for North Carolina’s governors.

"This new protocol will provide clear direction," Perdue said in a May 20 statement, "for how the State Highway Patrol executive security detail collects and retains travel records."

The Highway Patrol will keep detailed records of any trip the governor takes outside Wake County when accompanied by troopers. Under the new guidelines, the patrol will keep the records for four years after the governor leaves office and then turn them over to the state archives.

The change follows the public announcement of investigations into former Governor Mike Easley’s free use of private aircraft while in office.

Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics: Stimulus Job Claims

Mon, 18 May 2009 13:24:34 -0500

So where, oh where have our stimulus jobs gone? Oh where, oh where can they be? That’s the hot tune in Washington and Raleigh.

In an April 29th prime time news conference, President Obama declared, "We began by passing a Recovery Act that has already saved or created over 150,000 jobs."

Two weeks later, Vice President Biden amplified the claim in a report, in which he stated that the stimulus has so far "created or saved" 150,000 jobs, and that "over 3,000 transportation construction projects have been funded in 52 states and territories."

Baby Sitter Tax? Legislature May Tax Services

Fri, 15 May 2009 12:15:11 -0500

Are baby sitters going to start charging sales tax?

According to Senate Finance Committee Co-chair David Hoyle, legislators may extend the sales tax to cover services as part of a tax increase package. Hoyle said the Senate may consider tax reform that would include taxing some services for the first time.

In the past, some have suggested taxing automobile repairs and legal services while lowering the percentage rates for sales taxes and individual and corporate income taxes, but former efforts to impose a tax on services have been unsuccessful. Now the state is facing an estimated $3 billion+ shortfall, and a state panel continues to drum that North Carolina's tax system is outdated and doesn't tap into the growing service fields.

Driving Mr. Easley: Feds, state elections officials looking into former governor's business dealings

Thu, 14 May 2009 12:34:34 -0500

There’s an old saying in politics that “if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” Newly opened state and federal criminal probes of former Governor Mike Easley – as well as state legislators’ demands for a special prosecutor – likely have our state’s former chief executive searching for the nearest exit.

Federal and state investigators revealed that they are conducting criminal probes of former Gov. Mike Easley's private air travel and his wife's and son's use of vehicles they did not own.