by Tom Campbell, Producer and Moderator of NC SPIN, October 19, 2017. If there were one theme that defined North Carolina’s legislature this decade it would be that they are a body of reformers. Lawmakers have reformed elections, taxes, education, healthcare, the courts and state government – and those are just the ones that come […]
Archive for September, 2013
Time to put an end to corporate welfare
By Diane Amos, published in Asheville Citizen-Times, September 29, 2013. Welfare … a word that evokes many emotions. The Republicans rail against welfare for the poor, saying that it creates dependency on the government. To that end, the U.S. House passed a bill cutting $40 billion in food stamps for the poor, and our N.C. legislature […]
Shutdown politics
by Gary Pearce, Talking About Politics, September 29, 2013. The shutdown showdown shows how much worse politics is today than in the 1990s. And it was bad then. Back then, Newt Gingrich shut down the government because…well, nobody can remember why. Except he was mad that President Clinton made him sit in the back of […]
Race to the bottom
by Thomas Mills, Politics NC, September 29, 2013. John Hood recently wrote that liberals dismiss Republican’s tax cuts and deregulation as economic tools because they don’t believe in the relationship between taxes, regulation and economic development. There may be an element of truth to what he argues but he misses the larger point. While high tax rates […]
Mainstream vs. conservative Republicans
by Bill Moore, Beaufort Observer, September 30, 2013. I was in a political discussion when a conservative close to me said “What does it matter what we do? I thought about it for a minute and realized there was a great deal of truth in that simple yet profound statement. When you look at the […]
Burr on Obamacare: Grow up
by Travis Fain, Greensboro News-Record, September 27, 2013. Today, U.S. Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) released the following statement regarding today’s vote on the House-passed Continuing Resolution: “I have voted 56 times to defeat, dismantle, and defund Obamacare. When Obamacare was first brought before the Senate in 2009, my fellow Republicans and I on the HELP […]
GOP must give up demand for defunding Obamacare
Editorial by News and Observer, September 29, 2013 House Republicans on Saturday added a new demand to a bill that would continue funding the U.S. government. They want the Senate to approve a one-year delay in President Obama’s health care law and repeal a medical device tax that will help pay for the law. Democrats […]
Traffic stop numbers show racial bias
by Jim Wise, News and Observer, September 29, 2013. In North Carolina, the numbers show that a black motorist is 77 percent more likely to be searched after a traffic stop than a white driver. ”I don’t want to over-interpret the numbers,” said UNC political scientist Frank R. Baumgartner, who analyzed data from more than […]
U.S. Justice Department suit aims to stop NC voter ID law
by Steve Harrison and Anne Blythe, Charlotte Observer, September 30, 2013 The U.S. Department of Justice will file a lawsuit Monday to stop North Carolina’s new voter ID law, which critics have said is the most sweeping law of its kind, according to a person briefed on the department’s plans. Attorney General Eric Holder, who […]
Supreme court to decide pre-k case
by Barry Smith, Carolina Journal, September 30, 2013. North Carolina’s highest court is about to weigh in — again — on state government’s constitutional role in making sure children considered at risk of failure in school begin kindergarten with the proper tools to succeed. Oral arguments are scheduled Oct. 15 in Hoke County Board of Education […]
Berger is the new Basnight
by Rob Christensen, News and Observer, September 29, 2013. Here is the fallout from North Carolina Senate leader Phil Berger’s decision to forgo a challenge to Democratic U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan next year. It cements Berger’s role as the new Marc Basnight, the most powerful figure in state government. And it sets up a classic […]
