For the first time since the 19th century:

Quote :

"RALEIGH, NC (WECT/AP) – For the first time in more than a century, the Republican party has seized control over the North Carolina General Assembly. Unofficial results Tuesday show GOP candidates winning at least 27 seats in the Senate and 61 in the House, ensuring they will have more seats than the Democrats. The last time the GOP had a majority in the state Senate was in 1989 when their Fusion coalition with farmers was defeated. They controlled the state House as recently as 12 years ago. The flip likely means Senate leader Marc Basnight and House Speaker Joe Hackney won't be banging the gavels in their chambers in January. Basnight has led the Senate for a record 18 years. There are reports a Republican-controlled legislature would set priorities to live within a smaller budget, as the state faces an estimated $3 billion deficit in the coming year."

http://www.wect.com/Global/story.asp?S=13434773

What does this mean? Well, for one, it's another step towards eliminating the "good ole boy" network of Democrats in NC, though I doubt we're anywhere close to doing that for good. I'm also not convinced that replacing a bunch of Democrats with social conservatives is a whole lot better, but here's what does matter: redistricting takes place this year.

11/3/2010 11:27:53 AM

Whatever will Beeeeeev do?

11/3/2010 11:43:18 AM

^^ I am sure they will do what they can to bring us back to the 19th Century

11/3/2010 11:53:41 AM

I hope fiscal responsibility for our State takes place this year. First and foremost.

11/3/2010 12:20:07 PM

Fiscal responsibility is one thing... Short term vision is another.

This is the problem as I see it.

Imagine we had a perfectly efficient government before this crisis. We had perfect tax levels, and there was no waste. When the economy goes in the crapper, revenues go down. That leaves you with 3 choices. 1) raise taxes to pay for needed services, 2) cut critical services, or 3) a combination of the above.

what that means, is that no matter who was in power, we would have been in the exact same boat as we are today. Maybe taxes would be a slight bit lower, but I dont think it would have been huge. So, what I am concerned about, is the GOP majorities ability to see the 'forest through the trees'. For example, lets say they do across the board 15% spending cuts, as opposed to keeping the half a cent sales tax in place. Lets say that 15% goes to universities as well. Not only will that 15% hurt this year, it could have long term negative effects on the quality of education in the state, even after the economy recovers. The higher education system is one of the few things that lures employers here. Its not like you can rebuild a lost reputation overnight when things improve. And given the sad state of our k-12, less money isnt going to make things any better (yes, I know that money doesnt necessarily make things better, but classrooms are most certainly going to get bigger, and that IS proven to produce poor results).

And what it means for students, is that the universities are going to raise tuition a lot more, because they are going to be forced to. There is only so much more you can cut out of education before it causes serious harm.

Personally, I was fairly happy with the way things were with the state. The balanced budget requirement means we can only get so far out of control, and our state taxes (I believe) are about average compared to the rest of the union. I am worried now that the state will cut off its nose to spite its face.

What I would like to see is the half a cent sales tax extended for 2 more years, no other taxes, and cuts of about 1.5 billion.



[Edited on November 3, 2010 at 2:28 PM. Reason : .]

11/3/2010 2:19:00 PM

^I am sorry I disagree. This state hasn't been run efficiently for at least 12 years if not longer.

I think Democrats in the GA have run this state into the ground with useless projects. You are right that budget shortfalls have hit the state due to the economy. But lets be honest this state has bankrolled awful things (such as the road to nowhere and the Teapot Museum.

Unfortunately everybody is going to have to tighten their belts. Nobody wants tax increases so that means budget cuts and its never easy. Add on Obamacare to the budget and I see no way around big tax increases everywhere. Don't you Dems worry the GA will be yours again soon enough, just like Congress because people are going to be pissed when things are cut.

Honestly I think this may have been the Democrats and Obama's plan all along, the big picture is 2012.

11/3/2010 2:36:29 PM

the idiot dems have been running this state down for a damn century. hopefully the elephants can turn this shit around.

11/3/2010 2:38:34 PM

First of all, I didnt say the state was efficiently run. The point I was trying to make is that if you value critical services, there comes a point where tax increases are necessary to maintain them. The motto to always 'cut' when there is a shortage is really short sided. Does it make sense, for example, to cut 1 billion from a valued service, when we will need 3 billion to repair the service in a couple of years? And for the record, I am not saying raise taxes to make up a 3 billion hole. We need to cut. However...

What I want to see is that state preserve the parts of government that are performing well or that we cant risk getting any worse, and cut areas of government which are aimed at entitlements.

And I am not a democrat. Believe it or not, I'm a republican. If we were running deficits like the federal government, you'd hear no complaints from me about 'cut-cut-cut'.

That stated, no new taxes, but I'd like the half a cent sales tax extended to contain the damage. I dont want alcohol or cigarette taxes increased, and I sure as hell dont want services to be taxed.

[Edited on November 3, 2010 at 2:49 PM. Reason : .]

11/3/2010 2:46:45 PM

Quote :

"First of all, I didnt say the state was efficiently run."

no, but much of what you stated was predicated upon the notion that everything was being run perfectly.

11/3/2010 6:54:54 PM

I'll wade into this thread with this collection of posts from various points defending NC as not as shitty as people might think. But the reigns are in the GOP hands now, so none of this really matters now, its up to them now. (for anyone who might wont to argue, lets skip ahead, you win, dems bad, gop good, i concede that point... for now my focus on the wave of social conservatives we just put into office w/ their nearly unanimous opposition to comprehensive sex ed, to not amending the constitution over marriage, & and the list goes on)

-------------------

I'll start off by admitting that alot of things about government are less than ideal, especially during a weak economy, but I think there are some points to be made in defense of government. I'd also point out the government agencies can have the multiple and opposing stakeholders problem.

-------------------

the externalities bit was also mean to cover situations like if, say, someone advocates to massive cuts to all gov spending w/o regard to their impact, but maybe having a drug rehab program, and jobs training center on the gov dime ultimately cost gov & thus tax payers less than locking up drug users & paying unemployment, then we shouldn't make the cuts willy nilly just b/c cutting spending is the right-wing thing to do even if it results in more tax payer money being spent in the long run.

-------------------

2010 Business Climate Rankings:

Quote :

"For the ninth time in 10 years North Carolina has been declared the state with the best climate for business by the highly regarded Site Selection magazine. As part of the ranking, the magazine surveys corporate executives that help businesses select new locations."

North Carolina's municipalities do extremely well getting more AAA bond ratings than most which saves tax payers on interest.

-------------------

Quote :

"Most towns that do free downtown wifi services pass a cost-benefit analysis and can do it cheaper than priv orgs to provide the same service. And a lot of what government does is non-excludable so its service effectiveness isn't anywhere near the same realm as private industry profits and thus the frame of references many people who don't know much about government is apples to oranges. The army seems to run a pretty tight ship. NCSU is one of my favorite public universities. And I gotta say, I'm a fan of Pell Grants. Public libraries have served us well for a long time, and public cybraries are starting to come into their own these days too. On the whole we're a lot healthier thanks to having the FDA do their job effectively rather aiming for profit. North Carolina has consistently better roads because they are run by a state agency that ensures more even roads across the state than most states. Places like Georgia have municipalities in charge of roads, and a lot of contracting out, and rural areas don't come close to the quality that a state government agency does in delivering decent roads across the state. We also depend on a state government agency to do most of education funding, which while imperfect gives us decent schools across the state as compared to places like texas that depend on municipality funding and private schools so you have some really rich schools, and some really poor schools that put even the worst school in Goldsboro to shame. The LGC has on the whole made our state relatively financially stronger and more stable because of its existence. I'm sure we get more CAFR's than most. On the other hand, the more we outsource prisons to private companies, the more we build the corporation lobbying arm for stricter 3 strikes you're out, and anti-marijuana laws. The private sector is right in so many situations and is the engine of our economy. But some services benefit from regulation (heck the stock market could have benefited from more a few years ago is probably the most obvious example to prevent market failure)"

----------

http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/cms/2010/04/20/five-things-to-remember-during-the-budget-debate/

Quote :

" Here are a few things to remember as the budget debate begins to help navigate your way through all the distortions. 1) North Carolina's current budget woes have not been caused by out of control state spending. The N.C. Budget & Tax Center finds that state government spending per person is now lower that it has been in 13 years. And that is after last session's tax increase passed to keep budget cuts to merely devastating levels. 2) North Carolina is not a high tax state. A conservative columnist recently concluded that overall state and local taxes are about average. The right-wing Tax Foundation says the state ranks 28th in state and local taxes per capita. Even the Foundation's deeply flawed "Tax Freedom Day" analysis found North Carolina slightly better than the national average, ahead of neighboring states like Georgia and Virginia. 3) North Carolina business taxes are among the lowest in the country. Anti-government forces like to cherry pick individual tax rates to claim that state taxes on business are too high and responsible for driving jobs out of the state. It is simply not true. 4) North Carolinians are not buried in public debt. The folks on the Right want you to believe that state lawmakers have over borrowed to pay for infrastructure projects at universities and community colleges, but that is simply not true either. The conservative Tax Foundation says North Carolina ranks 40th in the country in per capita state debt. 5) Last year's budget cuts inflicted damage on public education and human services that will take a decade to repair. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education recently voted to lay off 600 teachers and that number may rise to 1,000. Education Week ranks North Carolina 11th of the 12 Southeastern states in spending for public education."

http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2010/04/nc-voters-think-they-have-higher-taxes.html

Quote :

"NC voters think they have higher taxes Tuesday, April 20, 2010 Every week it seems there's a new study or statistic that some interest group or other can use to claim that North Carolina does or does not have an unusually high tax burden. When it comes to the perceptions of voters though it's no contest- North Carolinians think they pay higher taxes than people in other states. 59% of voters in the state feel that way compared to 26% who think North Carolina's taxes are about the same as other places and 10% who feel that the state has lower taxes. It's a sentiment that there's bipartisan consensus on- 70% of Republicans, 56% of independents, and 52% of Democrats think that residents of the state pay more than average."

We have a constitutional requirement to balance to budget, and we have LGC which has made our state a model for many other states around the country. Governments are never run perfectly, but NC isn't actually one of the bad ones.

We are in a weak economy. We have to cut services or increase tax revenue (increase taxes, increase tax collection rate, or find new revenue sources to spread the pain)

We have a thread with arguing against the firing of people who work for the school system. [also against combining the undergrad zoology & animal sci programs]

We've had dozens of threads it feels like against paying more taxes

We've had a thread recently about how evil it is for government to publish the names of people who aren't paying their taxes (a common mechanism for municipalities to increase the collect rate rather than raising taxes over all).

And now we've had a thread saying don't try to find new revenue sources, even if that revenue source is mostly luxury items that wont affect hurt vulnerable populations like the poor & the elderly who don't do lots of online purchases of DVDs.

As a unit, TWW has opposed decreased spending, increased taxes, increased tax collection rates, and new tax revenue sources. Individually we all have our own positions, but we have elected officials that have to serve units that are much larger and less educated on average than TWW.

I still oppose this measure mostly because of the potential retroactive aspect, but on the whole NC is run pretty well, and a lot of the difficulties are because the public as a whole demands impossibilities, and we need more constructive and fine tuned criticisms of how government works than "fuck the DOR" whenever they try to confront reality.
-------------

11/5/2010 5:24:38 AM

Quote :

"Honestly I think this may have been the Democrats and Obama's plan all along, the big picture is 2012."

I don't buy that, not in a redistricting year. Redistricting helps lock GOP gains into place for 10 years. The Citizens United ruling will help lock GOP incumbents into place as well. And if the economy slowly improves towards 2012 it will help lock incumbents in too.

I don't think the Democrats secret plan was to damage the party for at least a decade by intentionally losing hard in 2010 so that they can make a partial come back in 2012.

11/5/2010 5:28:04 AM

Quote :

"1) North Carolina's current budget woes have not been caused by out of control state spending. The N.C. Budget & Tax Center finds that state government spending per person is now lower that it has been in 13 years. And that is after last session's tax increase passed to keep budget cuts to merely devastating levels. 2) North Carolina is not a high tax state. A conservative columnist recently concluded that overall state and local taxes are about average. The right-wing Tax Foundation says the state ranks 28th in state and local taxes per capita. Even the Foundation's deeply flawed "Tax Freedom Day" analysis found North Carolina slightly better than the national average, ahead of neighboring states like Georgia and Virginia. 3) North Carolina business taxes are among the lowest in the country. Anti-government forces like to cherry pick individual tax rates to claim that state taxes on business are too high and responsible for driving jobs out of the state. It is simply not true. 4) North Carolinians are not buried in public debt. The folks on the Right want you to believe that state lawmakers have over borrowed to pay for infrastructure projects at universities and community colleges, but that is simply not true either. The conservative Tax Foundation says North Carolina ranks 40th in the country in per capita state debt. 5) Last year's budget cuts inflicted damage on public education and human services that will take a decade to repair. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education recently voted to lay off 600 teachers and that number may rise to 1,000. Education Week ranks North Carolina 11th of the 12 Southeastern states in spending for public education.""

Well unless our own government has being lying to us for years...

1) The budget problems are related to out of control spending; we haven't had a balanced budget in forever (without major spending cuts, tax increases, etc); taxes have been increasing; temporary increases have been permanent.

2) Not a high tax state? Ha. Nationwide taxes are already too high; sales/luxury item taxes in this state are high; these people say 28th? fine. too high.

3) Maybe they got this one; not familiar with business taxes... but considering our state is trying to sue out of state businesses for sales data and trying to collect past-taxes... I wouldn't say this government has been exactly tax/business friendly across the board

4) Eh... yeh... budget hasn't been balanced; major cuts to vital government areas; tax increases... enough said

5) This is laughable.

[Edited on November 5, 2010 at 7:44 AM. Reason : .]

11/5/2010 7:43:07 AM

^ without commenting on all of that, a few points...

1) The state has reacted, I think, about as best it can with a difficult to read economy. Figuring out exactly how much money the state will have at the end of the year given our uncertain times, has been an impossible effort.

2) If you honestly think its laughable that the cuts to our already poorly performing K-12 schools will not take a long time to correct, I think you have been missing how slowly the state has been turning around the school system. It was tough enough to do with the teachers we had, and laying even more of them off will most certainly have long term consequences.

11/5/2010 10:07:30 AM

As soon as those douchenozzles start constructing sea walls I am coming to Raleigh and burning down the Capitol.

11/5/2010 10:18:41 AM

About time that the democrat establishment got the boot within the NC legislature.
No matter what your affiliations are, having the pendalum swing back and forth is overall good for the electorate. If one party is always running the show than those representatives get content and more prone to corruption.

I for one voted straight Republican (except for Jim Leutze) for any of the state partisan seats. On the other hand i voted Mike McIntyre for congress adn the libertarian for senate.

11/5/2010 12:15:38 PM

^^^our state government and budget has been shitty for decades; this latest recession is not the cause of all our problems.

#5 is laughable because our state's solution to budget constraints are jacking up taxes and/or firing teachers; in addition to being ranked 11th or 12th for highest education spending in the southeast. that is laughable. that's not a good score.

[Edited on November 5, 2010 at 12:30 PM. Reason : ^]

11/5/2010 12:29:44 PM

Quote :

"No matter what your affiliations are, having the pendalum swing back and forth is overall good for the electorate. If one party is always running the show than those representatives get content and more prone to corruption."

Are you kidding me? Seeing as how both of these parties operate within roughly the same set of interests, how do you imagine this is good for the electorate? If anything this marginalizes the public's influence on public policy.

11/5/2010 12:38:09 PM

Quote :

" 4) Eh... yeh... budget hasn't been balanced; major cuts to vital government areas; tax increases... enough said"

The state is required to have a balanced budget. You might want to know about what you are talking about first.

11/5/2010 1:01:42 PM

you might want to read all of the words that I wrote

11/5/2010 1:03:14 PM

Actually I did. You said the budget isn't balanced. That is patently false.

Quote :

"#5 is laughable because our state's solution to budget constraints are jacking up taxes and/or firing teachers; in addition to being ranked 11th or 12th for highest education spending in the southeast. that is laughable. that's not a good sco"

1. Define the South East

South East Education spending

South Carolina: $9,090
North Carolina: $7,798
Virginia: $10,664
Georgia: $9,718
Tennessee: $7,820
West Virginia: $10,059
Kentucky: $8,740
Florida: $9,084
Mississippi: $7,890
Alabama: $9,197

We actually were 47th out of 51 in per-pupil spending. That means 4 States in the entire country spent less than us.

http://febp.newamerica.net/k12/

[Edited on November 5, 2010 at 1:37 PM. Reason : .]

11/5/2010 1:11:17 PM

Dollars don't necessarily turn into grades.

Also just because they cut teacher jobs, does not mean that there isn't other fat to cut. It means that they are going to cut what will motivate taxpayers to pay more money.

IE If I promise to save 200 a month to my wife, and I don't want to do that.

I say Okay, but to save 200 a month I can only go on 2 date nights a month instead of 4.

Now realistically I could stop buying a case of beer a week, bring lunch to work instead of eating out, and cancel the gym membership that I never use, or the collection collection of garden gnomes that will one day fetch $1000s on ebay.

But by saying our date nights are going to go, I do so in the hope that she will relent. Thats really important to her, so she wants me to save money, so I target something she will miss, and cause outcry.


[Edited on November 5, 2010 at 4:03 PM. Reason : They could have found the $$ other places...They choose not to.]

11/5/2010 3:59:07 PM

I saw an old budgeting professor yesterday who I haven't seen in about a year, and he was talking about the election results. He's a pretty conservative guy, but he still seemed a little bummed about the results b/c he felt the GOP wont give the university system special consideration when doing the cuts, they'll be as vulnerable as everyone else.

11/5/2010 4:12:24 PM

^even then, sometimes its good to evaluate and make cuts, It forces you to again trim the fat, if you look at it as an opportunity to do so.

While the university's do have a very critical and important role, to say that a certain % cut could not be made without impacting the education of the students may not be true. You can cut amenities, activities, social activities.

It also forces you to evaluate staff that isn't perhaps cutting it. Sure some teachers are there struggling with 4 classes 1 TA, and 5 grad students.

Another Professor has 1 grad student, hasn't published since his PHD, and has zero research money coming into the university. They are currently wanting a semester off to do research on Shakespearian theater for the next year for the book they said would be out next year (for the last 10)

Now im not going to say that a 5% cut will not impact education, however, the impact can be minimized if done correctly.

The same can be extended to the school systems, save money by busing kids shorter distances, reduce auditors and paperwork positions instead of teaching positions. Cut down on electricity costs by lowering minimum and maximum temperatures. Utilize textbooks for another year (Sorry kids, your going to not learn the great advances in calculus since 2007!)

Cut some of the services that are high in cost but service very few individuals.




[Edited on November 5, 2010 at 4:30 PM. Reason : dd]

11/5/2010 4:22:43 PM

At least our coaches, when all things are considered (including other coaches salaries), work for cheap......

[Edited on November 7, 2010 at 9:06 PM. Reason : w]

11/7/2010 9:05:34 PM

Cutting the education budget (both grade school and post-secondary) is stupid, long-term econmically detrimental, and irresponsible by either democrats trying to balence the budget or by the new GOP majority trying to cut back spending.

My favorite analogy is cutting the education budget to save the state money is like cutting your 401k contribution in order to save you some "paycheck" money. Meanwhile your are wasting money on the unlimited text cell phone plan, a new car payment, and going out to eat 7 days a week.

11/8/2010 5:07:34 PM

^ that is exactly how I think of it... Also for once people are not saying "think of the children!!!!!"

11/8/2010 5:43:08 PM

I can't stand how whiny overly protective mothers try to use ' think of the children' as the trump card for any and every argument.

11/8/2010 5:46:23 PM

^^^ That's something every voter, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian and otherwise should call their representatives out on whenever cost cutting comes up. Every time there's talk of cutting the budget, the first thing that comes to the minds of the politicians are "essential" services like education. Bullshit. There isn't a single government so efficiently run that the only place to make cuts is in essential services. And even then, there's no essential service provided by any government that can't trim some fat somewhere.

[Edited on November 8, 2010 at 5:47 PM. Reason : klj]

11/8/2010 5:46:36 PM

I don't know how to feel about this in regard to K-12 education.

On one hand, I'm hopeful that they might cut out the piles of bullshit and overhead. On the other, they might throw the baby out with the bathwater, if they're anything like the national GOP.

11/8/2010 7:48:26 PM

The question there is whether or not you trust an NC GOP legislature to be able to determine which public school programs and practices actually improve educational quality and which do not.

Honestly I don't trust the NC GOP or the NC Dems to make that kind of a decision, but they're who we've got to look to on this one.

Hell, I don't know who I'd trust on a federal level to do it either. They've been screwing up the schools for decades now and the downhill momentum seems impossible to reverse.

11/9/2010 11:55:52 AM

You can't just look at education as a big bucket, that you throw money into and always get a return.

You made a 401k example above, well thats fine, education is investing in our future, however the 20% of my 401k that was going to real estate in Florida, would have been better sitting in my paycheck.

11/9/2010 12:59:42 PM

The examples that wlfpk4evr put out there is pretty good...

I wholeheartedly agree that there is wasteful spending inside essential services.

Employee's pay is incentiveized by longevity and education. This is regardless of effectiveness and requisite. If a position does not require a Master's degree, why must the state pay a premium for an employee that pursues a Master strictly for the pay bump?

Teachers/Professors/Administrators/Managers/etc. who are under performing make more than their counterparts that perform well, if they have been a teacher/professor/administrator/manager/etc longer. This is counter-intuitive.

If I was to go to work with a large corporation directly out of school and outperformed other employees that had been there longer, I would expect to be compensated directly proportional to my performance level, not necessarily my longevity.

11/9/2010 1:18:23 PM

Quote :

"EXAMPLES ... IS"

11/9/2010 1:24:24 PM

Quote :

"If I was to go to work with a large corporation directly out of school and outperformed other employees that had been there longer, I would expect to be compensated directly proportional to my performance level, not necessarily my longevity."

It'd be great if it actually worked like that. In most large corporations, borderline retarded old people that can barely use a computer will get paid more, and will never get fired.

11/10/2010 12:45:11 PM

http://www.americanindependent.com/156495/nc-berger-says-theres-no-time-for-independent-redistricting-commission

Quote :

"Sen. Phil Berger, the likely president pro tem of the state Senate next session and an advocate for removing partisanship from the redistricting process, says Republicans don’t have time to enact his previous proposal that an independent commission redraw the electoral map in 2011. Berger, an Eden Republican, co-sponsored a bill last session calling for a constitutional amendment that would require that the redrawing of district lines every ten years be done by an independent commission. But he said in an interview with North Carolina Independent News Friday that such a commission “probably would not be feasible for the upcoming round of redistricting.” Berger said time demands are too tight to pass a constitutional amendment and get a new map of districts ready for judicial review in time for the 2012 elections. While there’s not time for a constitutional amendment, the General Assembly could adopt provisions of previous GOP proposals for taking politics out of redistricting. One step would be to appoint a commission to oversee the dividing the state into 120 house districts, 50 senate districts and 13 — and possibly 14 — congressional districts. ... “We’ll see how folks feel once we get through this transition phase,” he said. ... “We’ll see how people think we do, or have done,” he said, adding that any decision wouldn’t be his alone. “I’m only one member of the Senate,” he said."

Hey Mr. GOP, now that you're in charge, are you going to do that independent commission redistricting thingy you've been advocating for?

Mr. GOP: No. There just isn't time to do a constitutional amendment in 2 years.

Well what about the non-constitutional amendment option you've been advocating for that could be done quickly?

Mr. GOP: Well, now that we're in charge, we really want to try our hand at gerrymandering, and see how people feel about it. Besides, I'm only one senator (in a leadership position) so its really out of my control.


Not that the Dems don't deserve this. They absolutely do. They had every opportunity to implement fairer redistricting rules when they were power.

But at the same time the GOP threw away their principles the second they were elected, before they have even officially taken office & taken control. Also, the GOP has now unofficially elected their leadership in the state House & Senate. Both chambers led by sponsors of the state constitutional amendment to ban gay couples from getting married.

11/21/2010 6:55:34 PM

http://ncfef.org/NCFEF_News/Entries/2010/11/23_Outside_Spending_Impacts_2010_Elections_in_N.C..html

"Outside Spending Impacts 2010 Elections in N.C."

Quote :

"Six groups in particular utilized electioneering communications or independent expenditures in North Carolina legislative contests: Real Jobs NC, Real Facts NC, Civitas Action, Americans for Prosperity, Driving NC Forward (NC Automobile Dealers Association), and NC Homeowners Alliance (NC Realtors Association). The investment of these groups ranged from just over $80,000, spent by the NC Homeowners Alliance, to approximately $1.5 million, spent by Real Jobs NC"

Quote :

"However, with the expanded free speech rights recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court in the January 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, a special focus on the growth of electioneering communications and independent expenditures in North Carolina is warranted."

Quote :

"The outside groups that invested significant sums to the benefit of Republican candidates (primarily Real Jobs NC, Americans for Prosperity and Civitas Action) spent money in 29 districts, and the GOP won 22 of these races - a nearly 76 percent win rate. "

Quote :

"While it may be hard to quantify the exact impact spending by these outside groups had on the final outcome of the 2010 legislative elections in North Carolina, it would be hard to argue that their involvement didn't play an important role. As a result, we can only expect to see more activity by outside groups in future elections."

11/30/2010 11:07:29 PM

http://www.news-record.com/blog/53964/entry/108384

Quote :

"Tillis is also making two hires out of the network of conservative groups funded by former Rep. Art Pope and others: Chris Hayes (policy adviser) of the Civitas Institute and Jason Kay (general counsel) of the Institute for Constitutional Law."

First they immediately gave up all their long standing calls for an independent commission doing redistricting, favoring having the GOP redraw the lines instead. And now they are hiring from conservative advocacy and interest groups and putting them on the public’s dime.

1/4/2011 6:38:05 PM

My biggest beef with NC government has been judicial corruption. I don't know if a new general assembly will fix that, but it probably won't hurt.

1/5/2011 9:24:36 AM

http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/01/nc-groups-backed-by-top-political-benefactor-push-to-kill-state-campaign-finance-reforms.html

"NC groups backed by top political benefactor push to kill state campaign finance program"

Quote :

"Over the last decade, the state's "good government" groups have pushed through tough ethics legislation, same-day voter registration and a Voter Owned Elections program aimed at lessening the influence of private interests by offering candidates the option of using public funds to run their campaigns. But with Republicans now in control of the state legislature for the first time in over a century, NC conservatives -- already hostile to publicly-financed campaigns -- are ramping-up calls for abolishing the program, which now applies to select judicial and state offices."

Quote :

"As Facing South revealed last October, since 1994 the Locke Foundation has received over 80 percent of its funding from one single source: A family foundation run by Raleigh retail magnate and leading Republican donor Art Pope. Indeed, between 1994 and 2008, Pope's foundation showered more than $14.5 million on the group (the foundation's records for 2009 and 2010 are not available). Pope also sits on the Locke Foundation's board of directors. Art Pope was also the single most influential campaign benefactor in North Carolina's historic 2010 state elections. As Facing South was the first to document, three outside groups backed by Art Pope, combined with personal contributions from Pope family members, spent over $2.2 million targeting 22 key state races in 2010, playing a decisive role in the GOP's capture of the house and senate chambers."

1/5/2011 2:48:18 PM

http://www.americanindependent.com/165564/n-c-right-to-life-coming-to-capital-expecting-passage-of-informed-consent-abortion-law

Quote :

"N.C. Right to Life coming to capital expecting passage of informed consent abortion law North Carolina Right to Life, Inc., will converge on the capital for their annual rally Saturday, but this time they will arrive confident in gaining passage of an informed consent law for abortion. The proposed law, which the North Carolina Right To Life organization calls “A woman’s right to know” bill, would require abortion providers to ensure that women considering an abortion are fully informed. That information would likely include a review of a state-supported website that describes the process of gestation and the risks of abortion. An informed consent abortion bill won House approval in 1997, when the House was controlled by Republicans, but it was blocked in the Democratic-controlled Senate. With Republicans now in control of both chambers for the first time in over a century, anti-choice advocates think the bill’s time has come. The incoming House Majority Leader Paul “Skip” Stam began his political career as an anti-choice advocate. Incoming House Speaker Thom Tillis is scheduled to attend the group’s breakfast in Raleigh Saturday. Republican Senate leaders are also expected to support the bill."

1/15/2011 5:31:36 PM

could be interesting, i bet a bunch of programs get cut to BEV PUUUUURRRDUUUUUEE can claim SHE BALANCED THE BUDGET! again......

1/16/2011 2:44:48 AM

1/16/2011 4:11:18 PM

Quote :

"^even then, sometimes its good to evaluate and make cuts, It forces you to again trim the fat, if you look at it as an opportunity to do so. While the university's do have a very critical and important role, to say that a certain % cut could not be made without impacting the education of the students may not be true. You can cut amenities, activities, social activities. "

Here come the cuts. Is 15% of NC State just fat to be trimmed?

http://www.ncsu.edu/about-nc-state/chancellor/index.php

Quote :

"The state's universities have been asked to prepare for budget cuts of as much as 15 percent. For NC State, that translates to almost 80 million dollars. Taking a one-time, 15 percent reduction is not an easy or painless task. But there's an even more pressing reality: every signal indicates that this is not a one-time reduction but a long-term readjustment to our state funding. While much is still unknown about the state budget, we cannot wait for the final outcome of legislative budget discussions to take action. As part of our ongoing strategic plan discussion, the Resource Strategies Task Force has already recommended a broad review of our budget and business operations. I agree with this recommendation. What we are facing necessitates fundamental changes in the way we operate the university. We must be smart, creative and think broadly and long-term about the best interests of our institution. In short, everything is on the table. Over the next few weeks, we will carry out the work of responding to this budget crisis. Our response should be to take every effort to restructure our organization with the assumption of a shrinking state budget going forward. "

1/19/2011 7:56:15 PM

might as well embed the video we put up

[Edited on January 19, 2011 at 8:00 PM. Reason : +]

1/19/2011 8:00:19 PM

^I first heard about that, since I rarely go to NCSU's homepage, was by way of a department e-mail saying basically "Since so many people are asking me about this, I thought I should address this, and I realize this is causing panic, but don't worry too much, it'll hurt the undergrads a lot more than us"

http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2011/01/19/unc-president-further-cuts-may-be-devastating-to-academic-reputation/

Quote :

"President Tom Ross says the 17-campus University of North Carolina system has cut $620 million in the past four years, and no longer has any easy budgetary choices. Having pared down the administrative side of the university-system, Ross says the only place left to find efficiencies is by eliminating duplication on the academic side. Ross, who took over the helm in January, says if lawmakers insist on another round of deep cuts, it will mean fewer instructors and fewer class offerings."

Sounds like they've already cut out much of the "fat" in the statewide system.

1/20/2011 2:44:03 PM

http://www2.acs.ncsu.edu/UPA/enrollmentdata/f10enrol/index.htm

Hmmm......goodbye College of Design?

[Edited on January 20, 2011 at 3:01 PM. Reason : wtf quotes]

1/20/2011 3:01:15 PM

goodbye why?

1/20/2011 6:06:04 PM

^^yeah, goodbye why?

1/20/2011 6:10:30 PM

i'm really glad i finished up before all of these cuts

1/20/2011 6:11:59 PM

^yeah, I'm kind of happy this is my last semester too.

http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2011/01/21/republican-legislators-already-dispensing-special-favors-to-friends/#more-20275

Quote :

"According to the post, people can enter a contest (it doesn’t say how the “winner” will be selected) to win two passes to the opening day ceremonies in the General Assembly (an event that’s open to all members of the public and to which access has traditionally been granted on a “first come, first served” basis). To enter the “contest” one must agree to sign up to receive emails from the private and partisan NC GOP group – that is, to receive their propaganda and get hit up for political contributions on a regular basis. No word on whether one might enhance one’s chances to win by offering up a nice contribution to their partisan cause. Got that? The GOP isn’t even officially in power yet and they’re already raffling off access to “the People’s House” to those who will join their propaganda/fundraising list."

1/22/2011 12:04:28 PM