NC SPIN Online

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck….
Senator David Hoyle, one of the more powerful and effective Senators in the General Assembly, has come under fire for voting to fund a parkway in Gaston County near land he owns.

Hoyle invested in 327 acres two years ago near a proposed exit for the planned Garden Parkway. He lobbied his legislative colleagues to fund it, voting for the funding proposal himself three times. But Hoyle told the Charlotte Observer he didn’t even think about the road when he bought the land two years ago and didn’t realize the exit was so close.

Yeah, and Mike Easley is Santa Claus. Come on David. You served on Jim Hunt’s DOT board for how many years? You know perhaps better than any legislator (except Marc Basnight who also served on that board) how this process works, how lengthy the road planning process is and how to go about determining the routes of the road and where exits will be placed.

But Hoyle says he consulted with Walker Reagan, the legislative staff attorney who advises lawmakers on ethics, whether or not his actions were a conflict of interest. This just in….Reagan said there was no conflict. Did his lips move?

That dog won’t hunt, David. Sell the land for what you paid for it, then we’ll come closer to believing you. By the way, Walker. Just what do you consider a conflict of interest?

Price gouging?
What makes Attorney General Roy Cooper believe some gas stations were gouging customers? When gas increases from $3.80ish to $5.49 in two or three days? Go gettem Mr. A.G.

North Carolina in a recession?
Nope, not according to John Connaughton, economist at UNC Charlotte. With financial markets in free fall and lots of concern over debt, Connaughton says North Carolina’s economy is expected to grow by 1.7 percent this year, weaker than the 2.4 percent seen last year. The state should add about 23,920 jobs, or 0.6 percent of its employment, in 2008.

In case you are having trouble distinguishing between a recession and a depression, a recession is when your neighbor is out of work. A depression is when you are.

When the going gets tough, the tough play the lottery
One area which hasn’t been affected by a slowed economy is the state lottery. Tom Shaheen, director of the North Carolina Education Lottery, reports a 25 percent increase in receipts in July and August compared to last year. Shaheen says it is because we are paying out more money. Just so, but in this environment of higher gas prices and uncertainty, more people obviously put their faith in striking it rich playing the games.

Offshore drilling bill passes House….sort of
Democrats, tired of being pounded by Republicans about drilling offshore, decided to do something about it. The House passed legislation Tuesday that allowed states to decide whether or not to drill offshore for oil and natural gas. Problem is the legislation would only allow drilling 50 or more miles off the coast. Most experts believe the vast majority of reserves fall closer than the 50 mile limit. Virginia Foxx says the bill was a “hoax.” Spot on.

News flash: Teachers unhappy with cut in bonus
Teachers got what amounted to a 30 percent reduction in their bonuses from the ABC Accountability program this year. Why? For starters, 82 percent of them were eligible for the bonus, including one school that was performing so badly the state threatened to take it over. Never mind the determination for the bonuses was made based solely on scores from the state math test. Reading test scores were not in so administrators just went ahead and decided to hand out the bonus checks. The legislature assumed the number of schools would not equal 82 percent and cut the funding for the bonus program from $134 million to $94 mil.

Even we can do the math. More qualifying teachers minus less available money equals smaller bonus checks. Teachers are not happy. Stand in line. Neither are taxpayers and parents. It’s past time to get real about education reform and accountability.

For more on this topic be sure to catch this week’s NC SPIN.

Want a real report card on our public schools?
A new report titled “Diploma to Nowhere” reports that one-third of all American college students have to enroll in remedial classes at colleges and community colleges. The bill for this remediation runs between $2.3 and $2.9 billion annually. But that’s not even the real cost. The students are the ones who pay the big price

“But I got a 3.0,” one student lamented. That and 99 cents will buy you a value meal at McDonalds.

Wanna talk about Education reform, now?

Big Brother is watching
Folks in Elizabeth City installed six neighborhood security cameras last year to provide closer scrutiny of what goes on in their community. These “eyes on the poles” helped police make arrests in two shootings, a hit and run, and a car burglary. (Sound like your hood?)

Buoyed by the success the city is planning to purchase 18 more at a cost of $171,000. Betty Meiggs, one of the City Council reps, says the cameras make people feel safer. One neighborhood activist says there needs to be a camera on every corner.

Does George Orwell know about this?

Did you get a call?
September 23rd is the last day parents of sixth graders have to get their students a booster shot for tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis. The Center for Disease Control recommended the shot after they saw a spike in the number of whooping cough cases in our state. Some 210,000 students must be immunized within 30 days after the start of school or face suspension.

Another mental health hospital loses federal funding
Cherry Hospital is the second North Carolina mental health hospital to lose federal funding. Last year, Broughton Hospital in Morganton lost about $1 million per month because it was considered unsafe. The funding was restored just in time for Goldsboro’s Cherry Hospital to join the list. Cherry will lose some $800 k per month until it is found to be safe.

One of the problems is that the patient advocates hired to watch what’s going on and make sure rules are followed and patients are safe are hired by the same management they are supposed to be watching. Is this like letting the inmates run the prison?

But y’all go ahead and close Dorothea Dix now, ya hear.

When all else fails, punt
The 21st Century Transportation Committee recently met in Asheville, talking about that $65 billion shortfall in meeting our road needs over the next few years. One of the more obvious conclusions they have reached is to transfer responsibility and funding back to cities and counties across the state. The chair of the group said this was because “the magnitude of the problem is so great.”

In case you need a translator, this is government-speak for “we’re clueless here so we’re gonna punt.”

AAA wants drivers to pay more attention
Concerned about the increasing distraction of drivers, AAA Carolinas has started a campaign asking drivers to pay attention while under the wheel. They are hanging posters on gas pumps in 50 gas stations in 5 counties.

They might have been better served to text message drivers. That’s the big thing now. The cell phone battle has been lost. You almost feel sorry for someone when you glance at the car next to them and they aren’t talking on the phone….poor underprivileged folks. They either can’t afford or don’t know how to use one. The other day we saw a driver holding the steering wheel with the palms of both hands while their thumbs were flying over the text message keyboard.

Lawmakers on TV
House Speaker Joe Hackney says he is forming a committee to consider airing House sessions on TV, sort of a NC-Span. Wait a minute. That sounds too much like NC SPIN. Anyway the Speaker thinks people should be able to watch what goes on.

Three thoughts. Most of it is boring. Much of it isn’t flattering to legislators. And what this is most likely to produce is more long-winded speeches from people who already think everything they have to say is important. If they had to actually hear what they had to say they would (or should) be appalled. On second thought, maybe this isn’t such a bad idea.

Tar Heels should get discounts on tires
The state has just given Goodyear Tire and Rubber in Fayetteville and Bridgestone/Firestone in Wilson $30 million each in incentives to stay where they already are and improve their plants. Since the taxpayers are footing the bill for this $60 million in gifts to these companies, they should both do the right thing and give every North Carolinian employee discounts on tires bought in this state. Every man woman and child is contributing $3.33 to these two companies. It only seems right we should a better deal on tires, doesn’t it?

Parting shot
Doesn’t the truth have any place in modern political campaigning? You certainly can’t find it in many of TV ads being shown…from both sides. I guess winning with honor is as old fashioned as buggy whips.