NC SPIN Online

Big news week
The news has come fast and furious this week but we will attempt to share with you what we know, what we heard and what we think about what we think we know.

Sad day in North Carolina
The events culminating in the resignation of NC State Chancellor Jim Oblinger and the firing of Mary Easley are sad. As one source said it is a sad day when a federal Grand Jury subpoena forces officials to finally tell the truth about what they did and didn’t do. Oblinger had to go. Easley had to be fired. NC State had to get some new direction.

Here’s the real irony in the entire affair. There was nothing illegal in what Oblinger and Provost Nielson did in giving Mary Easley a job. Some might say it was perhaps inappropriate but it certainly wasn’t illegal. What got these folks in trouble was what they did to cover what they did. That is generally the case in matters with public figures.

By the way, be sure to read our “My Spin” column "What we learned this week" on this page dealing with the NC State affair as well as the state budget.

We want to believe UNC President Erskine Bowles, who essentially told Jim Oblinger he had to resign, in saying that he had believed the chancellor when Oblinger said he didn’t remember having anything to do with Mary Easley’s obtaining a job and that it was only when presented with the “smoking gun,” the subpoenaed e-mails, that he recognized that he had been lied to. But if there is more incriminating evidence now is the time to tell us. The Grand Jury will be meeting next week, we understand, and NC State officials will be testifying.

We have one piece of advice to President Bowles and everyone else connected with this affair: Tell us now, tell us all and tell us truth.

Kevin Siers, the talented cartoonist for The Charlotte Observer, has put together a gallery of Easley cartoons worth viewing. We also suggest you might want to read Rick Martinez’ column in today’s News and Observer regarding the NC State situation, calling for a thorough review of education in our state.

And for more complete discussion on this topic be sure to catch this week’s NC SPIN program.

House drama continues
Last week we reported to you that House Speaker Joe Hackney couldn’t put together a coalition to pass a budget. That drama continued this week and even as we go to press might be the case. Hackney had hoped to pass a budget this week so that conferees might have time to iron out differences in time for the July 1 start to the new fiscal year.

After several weeks of whipping up angst about draconian budget cuts the House presented a finance package that originally would raise almost $1 billion in new taxes. It included increased taxes on cigarettes, beer and alcohol in addition to a sales tax hike and hike in the taxes for upper income residents of the state. As the week wore on it became obvious that the so-called “sin taxes” wouldn’t pass and were dropped from the budget.

Working late in the night Wednesday night the House Democratic Caucus essentially put together a package they hope will hold for the floor fight that is sure to begin today. Fees for many services provided by state government are being hiked. Services are being taxed. These revenue “enhancements,” a.k.a. tax increases will amount to more than $870 million dollars and, coupled with the $1.3 billion in federal stimulus money, will help fill the projected $4.6 billion deficit from the projected continuation budget. But doing the math it is easy to see that another $2.4 billion in cuts will be needed to balance the budget. There will still be significant job and program service cuts in North Carolina’s budget.

Hardly anyone is happy with the House budget. If politics is the art of compromise this document is a tribute to desperation politics. We hear criticism over the House leadership for not decisively stating what they wanted and what they would support, then presenting it to the Democratic Caucus and pressing them to vote it out. One source said this was a case where the Indians were telling the Chiefs what to do, suggesting that he never thought he would pine for the days of Jim Black’s leadership.

Hardly mentioned but soon to be realized is a proposal by both House and Senate leadership to remove the cap from the state’s gas tax. Come July we are likely to see an increase in gas taxes and another to follow in January. This is sure to raise a storm of protests.

Many Democrats are worried that the final budget, especially including the gas tax cap removal, will provide ammunition to the Republican Party that will come back to haunt them in the 2010 elections. They say that Democrats have done a poor job of messaging on the cuts they have made; cuts that will remove some marginal and lower priority programs. Telling citizens the cuts they have made can only demonstrate that they are willing to reduce the size of government. Meanwhile, groups are already taking to radio and forming opposition messages to the tax increases, saying that citizens have had to tighten their belts and the state should do the same, not impose more taxes on them.

No less than The Charlotte Observer is criticizing the House budget proposals editorially, saying “But the problem with tinkering with a tax code written more than seven decades ago for a manufacturing economy based on tobacco, textiles and furniture is that much of that economy no longer exists. The remaining tax code is unreliable.” Once again our legislators will “tinker” with the tried and true raising of sales and income taxes rather than addressing the real issue of that “unreliable” tax code.

For more discussion on this topic be sure to tune in next week. NC SPIN will cover this subject like the dew covers Dixie.

Meanwhile the House is debating this budget and Speaker Hackney has indicated he might hold session Friday and perhaps even Saturday to get the budget passed. If there is no Friday session, it can only mean that Hackney still doesn’t have the votes to pass a budget. It could get interesting.

Civitas poll demonstrates frustration
The newest Civitas poll, released Tuesday, shows how the recession and negative publicity from NC State and former governor Easley are affecting citizens. Governor Perdue’s popularity in this poll, similar to a recent poll by Public Policy Polling, has greatly declined. 47 percent approve of the job she is doing while 44 percent disapprove, a reading within the sampling error of the poll. 42 percent approve of the job she is doing handling the crisis in our state. 49 percent disapprove. 66 percent approve of the job President Obama is doing while only 28 percent disapprove. North Carolina Senators Hagan and Burr score in the 40-41 percent approval level, about the same as Congress. 48 percent say that North Carolina is going in the wrong direction while 42 percent think it is headed in the right direction. The full results of the poll are available here.

Here we go again
While the House argues over the budget and the rest of the state awaits the latest on the Easley stories, Governor Perdue continues to hand out economic incentives. This morning she announced the state will be giving $1 million to Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, a nationwide nonprofit, community advocacy and homeownership organization to expand the group’s Charlotte operations. The group plans to create 1,000 jobs over the next 5 years. For this they get a $1 million grant from the One North Carolina Fund.

Memo to leaders: Listen and you shall learn
Our state leaders would be well advised to read the Civitas poll (mentioned above) showing that North Carolinians prefer giving across-the-board tax cuts to small and medium sized companies rather than a few targeted tax breaks to a few big companies. The results weren’t even close. 87-7 percent favor the small business support.

Legislature honors Helms
There’s no question that former U.S. Senator Jesse Helms was (and still is) one of the most polarizing public figures in our state. He died almost one year ago. With his family sitting in the gallery, the legislature paid tribute to the former Senator through a joint resolution.

What was sad to many was that more than two dozen legislators, mostly black Democrats, boycotted the vote to honor Helms and one Senator, Julia Boseman (D-New Hanoover) actually voted against it. To be sure Helms said and did things that many didn’t like but the fact remains he was a significant political figure in our state and our country. He is dead and paying tribute to him would have been a magnanimous and grace-filled gesture for his opponents. It isn’t the first time a controversial person has been so honored.

Someone suggested that if these Democrats are so outraged by what they consider to be racial prejudice by Senator Helms why aren’t they also boycotting the Vance-Aycock Dinner staged each fall by the Democratic Party? Charles B. Aycock was a major figure in the overthrow of black Republicans in power in North Carolina at the turn of the century and had a hand in the Wilmington race riots.

Three ways to catch NC SPIN if you miss the broadcast
1. You can video stream this week's show from our website.
2. Listen to the radio edition of NC SPIN on your local radio station or listen online.
3. You can subscribe to the podcast of our show and have it downloaded to your player, courtesy of our friends at WRAL. Click here to subscribe.