By Scott Mooneyham
Published: July 22,2011
RALEIGH — If politicians want to understand why the public doesn’t hold them in higher esteem, they should probably consider just how often they miss they basic points of the matters before them. It’s those larger, missed points that become the fodder for water cooler talk and lunchtime chats. A few recent examples have made [...]
By Scott Mooneyham
Published: July 19,2011
RALEIGH — Recent Republican successes in eastern North Carolina may not be such a good thing for long-term Republican success elsewhere across the state. That statement makes sense only when you consider the consequences of that success on proposed new district maps for the state House and Senate. One of the keys to the GOP’s [...]
By Scott Mooneyham
Published: July 15,2011
RALEIGH — It seems that the spoils are now well within sight for the victors. The biggest spoil from the 2010 elections in North Carolina was the ability to redraw legislative and congressional districts. The victors, of course, were the Republicans who won majorities in the state House and Senate. By the end of the [...]
By Scott Mooneyham
Published: July 12,2011
RALEIGH — The Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge was created in 1937 along the northern part of Hatteras Island to protect shore birds and the many species of migratory waterfowl that use the North Carolina Outer Banks as a stopover. The 5,800-acre refuge was also created for another purpose, clearly stated on its website: “provide [...]
By Scott Mooneyham
Published: July 8,2011
RALEIGH — North Carolina’s gas tax went up the other day. The 2.5 cents per gallon increase happened not because state legislators or Gov. Beverly Perdue raised the tax. No, this particular tax goes up or down based on the wholesale price of gasoline. When the cost of gasoline is up in any six-month period, [...]
By Scott Mooneyham
Published: July 5,2011
RALEIGH — North Carolina’s foray into public financing of political campaigns may be nearing an end. Supporters won’t want to acknowledge that possibility. They can even point to this state’s campaign financing program for appellate court races being held up as a model when in other states conflicts arise involving judges raising money from the [...]
By Scott Mooneyham
Published: July 1,2011
RALEIGH — Anyone with kids tries to drill into them that their actions carry consequences, sometimes far into the future. The same may apply to North Carolina legislators as they begin redrawing the legislative and congressional district lines that determine who votes for whom. The process can be bloody, with legislative leaders and their map-drawing [...]
By Scott Mooneyham
Published: June 24,2011
RALEIGH — In 2009, a study commissioned by the Council on State Taxation ranked North Carolina and two other states as having the lowest state and local businesses taxes in the country when measured against their state gross domestic product. A year later, the same group gave North Carolina a B-minus when it came to [...]
By Scott Mooneyham
Published: June 21,2011
RALEIGH — Sometimes ideas circulating around the Legislative Building provoke laughter and scorn. So it was with legislation that moved through a state House committee recently which would fund government by tax form check-off. The proposal from House Republicans was ingenious really. If you want to give all or some of your state tax refund [...]
By Scott Mooneyham
Published: June 17,2011
RALEIGH — In the waning days of the legislative session, North Carolina lawmakers may give a big tax break to large, multistate corporations that do business in the state. Not that legislators will say that’s what they are doing. They’ll talk about tax fairness or uniformity. In fact, if the bill in question passes, legislators [...]
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