Archive for NC Legislature
Priorities
Posted by: | CommentsYour North Carolina General Assembly is back for their short session. You can see Nelda Holder’s preview of the session here. These headlines jumped off the page yesterday and today:
In North Carolina, the GOP is intent on maintaining short-sighted cuts to our children’s education system, but increasing revenue for roads is a-ok. WRAL:
“My guess is it’s (gas tax) going to be something that’s focused on freezing at whatever rate that it’s projected to go down to in July and then freezing it.” Current plans, he said, call for freezing the gas tax for one year and then rewriting the gas tax law as part of a comprehensive tax reform plan the GOP wants to roll out next year. “We have inadequate money going to road projects,” Tillis added. “We’ve got to think about how tolls, gas tax, and other sources of revenue can help us overcome that gap.”
James O’Keefe made a video to bolster the case for NC Voter ID laws. O’Keefe has become notorious for his disinformation campaigns in efforts to further restrict voting. Think Progress:
NCDP Hijinks in Greensboro
Posted by: | CommentsSaturday’s events in Greensboro proved it takes more than business acumen and holding elective office to control a rowdy state Democratic Party meeting. It takes gravitas, stage presence, and experience — more than just the support of top party elected officials.
When outgoing North Carolina Democratic state chairman, David Parker, resigned as promised at a meeting of the State Executive Committee (SEC), the six-hour meeting dissolved into near-chaos soon after he left the room. As is often the case, there was more going on than meets the news camera’s eye.
Not Your Garden Variety 501(c)3
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After finding that two of Thom Tillis’ staff members were literally in bed with lobbyists, it makes perfect sense to investigate whether ALEC is in flagrante delicto with legislators. News and Observer:
An advocacy group is asking Attorney General Roy Cooper to investigate the tax status of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative group that counts House Speaker Thom Tillis as one of its top members.
Common Cause sent the letter Tuesday just weeks after it filed a whistleblower complaint against ALEC with the IRS, saying it is operating as a tax-exempt nonprofit while lobbying state legislatures across the country.
“Common Cause has discovered compelling evidence that ALEC is a corporate lobby masquerading as a charity. ALEC’s compliance with state tax, gift, solicitation and lobbying laws should be reviewed by your office and/or appropriate state regulatory authorities,” the letter states. “As attorney general, you’re charged with responsibility for ensuring that North Carolina laws are properly applied and enforced. In view of the overwhelming evidence that ALEC is engaged in lobbying, I urge you to review its compliance with all applicable state laws or to refer this matter to the appropriate state regulatory authorities for their action.”
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ALEC named Tillis, a Republican from the Charlotte area, as one of its state legislators of the year in 2011. The organization is holding a task force meeting in Charlotte on Friday and Saturday to consider “model legislation” for lawmakers to introduce.
Sex and Candy
Posted by: | CommentsAnother lobbyist sex scandal in Speaker Thom Tillis’ office. Nothing to see here.
House Speaker Thom Tillis said Tuesday a second staff member will resign this week after admitting to having an inappropriate romantic relationship with a lobbyist.
Tillis would not identify the staff member or the lobbyist, but he provided enough details to indicate that they are Amy Hobbs, a policy analyst, and Dean Plunkett, a lobbyist who represents several clients in the state legislature.
Calling a Spade a Spade
Posted by: | CommentsIn today’s Asheville Citizen-Times, John Boyle says,
“After observing the last year or so in local politics, I’m going to throw this out there: It looks to me like conservative Republicans are exacting their pound of flesh from Asheville.”
“By preferring historical interpretations to present realities, the study committee used a rear-view mirror to drive public policy.”
Go read ‘em both.
Let’s Just Say It
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I recommend reading this entire article, though you’ll run the risk of having some area Republicans and equivalency fetishists gnash their teeth when you share it with them.
Thomas E. Mann is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Norman J. Ornstein is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. This essay is adapted from their book “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism,” which will be available Tuesday.
We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years, and never have we seen them this dysfunctional. In our past writings, we have criticized both parties when we believed it was warranted. Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party.
The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.
When one party moves this far from the mainstream, it makes it nearly impossible for the political system to deal constructively with the country’s challenges.
“Both sides do it” or “There is plenty of blame to go around” are the traditional refuges for an American news media intent on proving its lack of bias, while political scientists prefer generality and neutrality when discussing partisan polarization. Many self-styled bipartisan groups, in their search for common ground, propose solutions that move both sides to the center, a strategy that is simply untenable when one side is so far out of reach.
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Charles Thomas, Tillis’ Chief of Staff, Resigns
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The chief of staff to state House Speaker Thom Tillis has been in an intimate relationship with a lobbyist for the North Carolina Home Builders Association, a special interest group that often seeks help from the legislature and provides money to political campaigns across the state.
Charles Thomas, Tillis’ chief of staff, resigned Thursday evening after being questioned about the relationship by The News & Observer.
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State ethics laws seek to ensure that public officials exercise their authority “free from impropriety, threats, favoritism, and undue influence.”
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But such laws do not specifically address the type of romantic relationship that has developed between Thomas and Hayes. In general, though, public officials are required to identify actual or possible conflicts of interest between their personal and public lives and take steps to resolve them, such as making public disclosures or recusing themselves from being involved in matters.
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Thomas said he believes someone is out to get him, probably connected to a local issue in his hometown of Asheville, in what the former Army soldier called an “assassination.”
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The N&O on Thursday requested email, text messages, phone records and other correspondence between Thomas and Hayes. The newspaper is also seeking expense reimbursements filed by Hayes internally with the home builders association.
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Thomas said he does not have a role in Tillis’ re-election campaign. The campaign started paying $500 per month to Thomas last year, with a listed purpose of rent. That coincides with when the two began sharing an apartment unit in Raleigh.
Delicious Tort Reform
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Shifting gears a little, I read this story yesterday and thought it was interesting despite the fact it had nothing to do with The Gays or the water system. I don’t fully understand it all but thought I would bring it forward for some discussion here in the public square. So many smart people on here — Shirley there’s a lawyer or two who read this blog.
From the Charlotte News & Observer:
Medical malpractice insurer cites new law for lower rates
A medical malpractice insurer has lowered its premiums and is crediting what is often called tort reform in this and other states. Mag Mutual Insurance Co., the second-largest such firm in the state, credits the new laws with almost half of its recent 7.4 percent average cut in insurance premiums for doctors.
The legislature last year overrode Gov. Bev Perdue’s veto of a bill capping “non-economic” damages at $500,000. Trial lawyers counter that the cost of medical malpractice insurance is declining anyway.
The Triangle Business Journal first reported on the development earlier this month, and conservatives quickly pointed to it as proof that the reform they’ve been calling for was already paying off.
State Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger sent out this remark this week:
“We stood up to the trial lawyers’ interest groups and the governor to make sure doctors would be able to stay in our state without the fear of baseless, exorbitant lawsuits. The costs of those lawsuits were being passed along to patients, and in an already broken health care system, we had to act. Our bipartisan efforts are paying off, and North Carolinians are now seeing some initial benefits. There is more to do, but this is a start in providing more accessible and affordable health care.”
Sunday Morning Music
Posted by: | CommentsAnd now, for your Sunday Morning Music pleasure… here’s Councilman Gordon Smith (and the Barry Summers Trio) with that delightful Bossa Nova standard, Água de Beber.
Rep. Tim Moffitt: Busy, busy, busy
Posted by: | CommentsRep. Tim Moffitt, R-Buncombe, has been a busy fellow. A privatization study committee he is on has strayed from studying into legislating. WRAL reports:
The Republican-led House Select Committee on State-Owned Assets was supposed to consider the sale of some of the state’s more than 11,000 assets. Instead, the panel narrowly approved the nine-page draft bill that would radically alter the operations of the Chapel Hill-based hospital system [UNC Health Care].
Members of the committee (13 Republicans and 6 Democrats) voted 8-7 on the proposed bill, some admitting they did not know what they were voting for. According to reports, Moffitt sponsored the bill.
But members of the committee were not given a chance to read the bill before the meeting, said Rep. Becky Carney, D-Mecklenburg, who voted against the proposal.
