By Scott Mooneyham
Published: August 26,2011
RALEIGH — In private and public, legislative Republicans have been pushing the notion that Gov. Beverly Perdue’s ongoing fight over prekindergarten education is as much about scoring political points as it is helping 4-year-olds. The fight follows a ruling from Wake County Superior Court Judge Howard Manning that the cuts to the program, begun by [...]
By Scott Mooneyham
Published: August 22,2011
RALEIGH — While on vacation, I struck up a conversation with a roadside vendor. As the talk veered into local politics, I confessed that I was a journalist who followed the goings-on at the North Carolina General Assembly. “Oh, you poor thing,” she replied. “You have to listened to that all day.” Then she offered [...]
By Scott Mooneyham
Published: August 19,2011
RALEIGH — Stephen Colbert has it wrong. The comedian/satirist/host of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” recently rolled out his newly formed super PAC’s first campaign ad, aimed at Texas Gov. Rick Perry and the Iowa straw poll. His political action committee is called Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow. The narrator in the one-minute ad, [...]
By Scott Mooneyham
Published: August 16,2011
RALEIGH — Last year, soon-to-be state House Speaker Thom Tillis began sporting a wrist ban reading, “Think Jobs.” The wrist ban was actually part of a campaign from the state’s top business group, the North Carolina Chamber. After the recently completed legislative session, Tillis and business leaders had something to crow about on the jobs [...]
By Scott Mooneyham
Published: August 12,2011
RALEIGH — Butch Davis never seemed to recognize that the blood in the water was always his own. His bosses and supporters never seemed to recognize that, no matter how many lawyers you hire, neither the laws of physics nor the laws of scandal are magically suspended at the Chapel Hill city limits. The laws [...]
By Scott Mooneyham
Published: August 9,2011
RALEIGH — Who would have thought that you could qualify for a public pension and not be a public employee? Some goings-on during the final days of this year’s regular session of the North Carolina legislature exposed that fact, although certainly a few state government insiders were aware of it. A provision appeared in a [...]
By Scott Mooneyham
Published: August 5,2011
RALEIGH — Unless your name is John Edwards, candidates for federal office very nearly enjoy open season these days when it comes to violating all but the most clear-cut federal election law. That’s not because of court decisions, although rulings opening the spigots for corporate money to flow into election campaigns have made sorting out [...]
By Scott Mooneyham
Published: August 2,2011
RALEIGH — Maybe it’s appropriate that, as legislators in the state capital considered legislative and congressional redistricting, the real problems associated with the redrawing of electoral districts lines showed up in the nation’s capital. Those problems are really simple: Politicians elected from gerrymandered political districts don’t represent the wider interests of the electorate, particularly growing [...]
By Scott Mooneyham
Published: July 29,2011
RALEIGH — More than 20 years ago, some fellow angry about something or other whacked a window of the North Carolina legislative building with a hammer. When you ask old-timers about violence that’s occurred at the legislative building, that’s about the worst that they can come up with. The building has seen some protests that [...]
By Scott Mooneyham
Published: July 26,2011
RALEIGH — All those who beat the drum so loudly for less government regulation during the recently completed regular session of the North Carolina General Assembly might want to pay attention to a drama unfolding in Morehead City. It seems that PCS Phosphate, which mines phosphate in Beaufort County, wants to open a sulfur melting [...]
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