Archive for Democrats
State Takeover Fight Moves to Triangle
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Opponents of a state measure to take over the Asheville city water system and forcibly merge it with the Metropolitan Sewerage District of Buncombe County met in Durham Saturday with members of the State Executive Committee of the North Carolina Democratic Party. State, city, and county legislators from every corner of the state were among the hundreds of delegates at the meeting to elect new state party officers.
The merger bill cosponsored by Reps. Tim Moffitt (R-Buncombe) and Chuck McGrady (R-Henderson) is expected to force a merger of the Asheville city water system with the Metropolitan Sewerage District of Buncombe County. It will be introduced within days and likely fast-tracked through the committee process. The House Standing Committee on Regulatory Reform, chaired by Moffitt, could review the bill.
Jake Quinn, a DNC member from Buncombe County, went to the microphone to address the assembly about the legislation.
Five Reasons Not to Miss the Majority
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Photo credit: stgermh, from flickr
Well, Raleigh’s already getting cranked up for the great GOP-ageddon. But as we we move into a legislative session that’s likely to strip Asheville of its water system, “reform” our tax system so that the poor pay more and the rich pay less, and start a debate over whether we should simply starve our public school system out of existence or just go ahead and privatize it as fast as possible, I think it might be edifying to reflect on all the ways things actually were not so great while the Democrats controlled Raleigh.
Don’t get me wrong: I mean today’s Democrats. I’m not faulting the NCDP for a forced sterilization program that started in the ’30’s. Or for the violent repression of Black Republicans and their white allies back in the 19th century. You may as well blame Susan Fisher for the acts of secession. Parties change over time: coalitions shift, members die off, new members arrive with different ideals and goals. But there are instances where today’s generation of Democratic legislators—and the ones who lost their seats two years ago—need to be held to account for all the skill they showed over the past few decades in thwarting progress when they held the house, or the senate, or the governor’s mansion, or all three.
So I decided to compile this list of the top five reasons that I won’t miss the late, lamented Democratic majorities in the North Carolina General Assembly.
1. The glacial pace of change.
Let’s start with the Racial Justice Act, passed in 2010 (and then essentially repealed by the GOP last year). Read More→
Welcome To The Middle Class, Top 2 Percent
Posted by: | Comments“… whereby the Democrats would agree to make a baldfaced lie out of two years of presidential campaign rhetoric …”
Writing for Esquire, Charlie Pierce welcomes the top 2 percent to the Middle Class:
It was going to be people making over $250,000 a year. That was the line in the sand. You couldn’t go 15 minutes at an Obama rally anywhere in America in the year about to pass from us without his expressing an ironclad committment to that number. And, as Jonathan Cohn and others have pointed out, even that was probably too high, but I gave him some slack in that $250,000 was probably the best deal he could blackjack out of the Congress once he got re-elected.Little did I know that the line in the sand was adjustable by 60 percent. Personally, I’d like to welcome every one of you making over $400,000 a year to The Middle Class. Never thought we’d see you all around here. (Nice shoes. Payless?) C’mon over and bowl a couple of frames, will you? Next bucket of Buds is on you, by the way. We got room in the RV when we go to Talladega next summer. You in? This old thing? Hell, Costco, $8.95. Pass me the cheese fries, will you, Trip? And, for Chrissakes, loosen your tie.
Commissioner Ellen Frost by 18
Posted by: | CommentsFrom Ellen’s FB page (and via Jake Quinn): “It is official we won the hand/eye count!!” By 18 votes.
Republican candidate Christina Merrill will appeal her election challenge in Raleigh next week. To win now, she will have to get Warren Wilson students’ votes thrown out. Barring a successful appeal, Ellen Frost takes second place in District 2 and Democrats retain control of the County Commission.
UPDATE: And now via the AC-T and Mountain Xpress.
2012 Democratic Candidates redux
Posted by: | CommentsI posted this way back on October 18th, and I’ve had enough folks asking me for a list that I thought I’d put it atop the page again. Go vote, people!
You probably know just who to vote for in the Presidential race and the Congressional race. Maybe you even have your legislators and County Commissioners figured out. How many of you have the County School Board or statewide judicial races sussed? To help you sort out who’s who, the Buncombe County Democratic Party has put together a handy list of Democratic candidates. Use it if you want it, leave it if you don’t!
Friday Open Thread
Posted by: | CommentsBiden Time – With the Presidential race tied in NC and amazing Dem turnout in early voting, Jill and Beau Biden are coming to AVL.
Nathan Ramsey sent out a mailer touting his opposition to marriage equality, and a Ramsey advisor used an anti-gay slur against Ramsey’s opponent.
Buncombe women running for office threw a press conference:
recent communications coming out of the Buncombe County GOP have gone from heated to downright degrading, despicable, and unethical. It is one thing to oppose someone’s policy, it is quite another for an official political organization to release photo-shopped filth and false insinuations of phony scandals through their official Facebook and Twitter pages.
Donate to the Power of 5 campaign today to support these outstanding female candidates! They need one last financial push to get across the finish line.
UNC-Asheville hosted a Food Day event on Wednesday that was packed! I had the opportunity to appear as a panelist.
I voted six days ago, and I’ve been wearing an I Voted Early sticker every day.
The Pumpkin Pedaller is Saturday. Come ride the city with us.
What’s happening with y’all?
Off The Blog, On The Street
Posted by: | CommentsHi, all. With early voting in high gear, it’s vital that folks get off their computers and down to their early voting sites. Our Buncombe County Democratic Party is doing a great job staffing the polls, but there are a few sites that still need some support. Email scrutiny hooligans AT yahoo . com if you can offer some noontime or afternoon hours to help do voter education!
A Tim Moffitt Retrospective, Part 2
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When Rep. Tim Moffitt was elected as part of the Tea Party wave of 2010, I think most of us knew that a new day had dawned in Raleigh. With the Republican Party controlling both houses of the legislature for the first time since Reconstruction, citizens had the good sense to recognize that the landscape had shifted. We expected a philosophic turn that would result in cutting revenues and reducing services. What we didn’t expect was the radical degree to which the Tea Party ideology would be executed nor the aggressive bullying and the absence of intergovernmental cooperation that would be the hallmarks of Rep. Moffitt’s term. After the jump you’ll find a brief history of Rep. Moffitt’s second dramatic overreach, unilaterally seeking to seize the public’s water system over the objections of most of the people and of every other elected official in Buncombe County, putting our most precious natural resource at the center of another Moffitt initiated controversy.
