Carolina Politics Online

Raleigh resident Paul Terrell III has thrown his hat in the ring to bring a challenge to Representative Dan Blue to represent North Carolina’s 33rd House District covering part of southeastern Raleigh. I sent Mr. Terrell a few questions about his ideas and views on the issues and was pleased by his responses and impressed with their detail. There is no doubt that if elected Mr. Terrell would be an agent of sorely needed change in the state’s capitol.

Q. Why do you feel the voters of District 33 would be better served by yourself rather than the incumbent?

A. I am running to represent all of the citizens in the 33^rd North Carolina State House district. I will focus on reigning in our state government’s attitude of buy now and pay later. Dan Blue and the democrats have participated in the disintegration of our states reputation. It has been proven that we do not have an open and honest government. We should not be focusing on having state employees and lobbyist raising money. We should be focusing on creating a government that is transparent and fair to all of its citizens.

Q. You mention on your Web site reforming NCDOT. Living in the Greater Charlotte metro area I know firsthand the growing congestion problem we are experiencing and many people feel our area is not getting the attention it needs from Raleigh. What changes would you propose to see to it that transportation issues are being addressed properly throughout the state?

A. The corruption of the North Carolina State Department of Transportation is criminal. I will push to have the NCDOT abolished as it is in its current form. My model of a new NCDOT would have the governor nominate a chairman to be confirmed by the North Carolina Senate. Then I would break the state up into 10 regions based on population to elect a member to sit on the NCDOT board. The chair would serve a four year term and each district member would serve a two year term. Term limits would be 2 terms for the chairman and 5 terms for each district member. This would require at least a 6 to 5 vote to pass any one project.

Q. On your campaign site you say “We can tax smartly and easily pay for the responsibilities required of all of us.” What is your proposal for “smart” taxation for North Carolina?

A. Taxing “smartly” is a common sense factor that I will bring to state government. The temporary taxes have got to go. A recession is threatening the ability of hard working North Carolinians to put food on the table. I will propose a bill to eliminate these taxes and publish all the names of legislators that oppose it. We have been punished enough by over taxation and government spending. I will support a rule that requires all earmarks to be voted on independent of other bills in an open House floor vote. I will propose a law that forbids borrowing against our states future unless there is a two-thirds vote by both the House and Senate. This would allow us to borrow money in the event of disasters. Having the North Carolina state government living within its means is common sense “smart” taxing policy.

Q. How do you feel public education can be improved throughout North Carolina and do you feel that the education system is receiving appropriate funding?

A. Having our children’s education system’s progress called flat is unacceptable based on our budget. The ability of certain school officials to temporarily get away with fraud shows there is not enough over sight within the school systems. I know here in Raleigh the school board has been under constant criticism. This is for being very inefficient in the spending of money to build schools. I am for the county commissioners tightening the purse strings on building schools. Also here in Raleigh the school board is not using its full allotment of maintenance money for maintenance. Therefore the schools are falling apart way before their time. Instead of wasting this money, the school boards should be ensuring that the principals and teachers receive the resources they need but are not getting. Any additional money that I believe the schools need should go straight to the educators, not the inefficient school boards.

Q. The drought has taken a major toll on North Carolina. With North Carolina being one of the fastest growing states in the country what can the state do to address this problem when faced with a rapidly increasing population?

A. The state of North Carolina is in one of its worst droughts in memory. The state of North Carolina needs to create new reservoirs using up to date technology. We need to help coastal and engineering universities speed up the progress on affordable desalinization. It is common sense given that we have a big body of water next to us called the Atlantic Ocean. Using the stick instead of the carrot is often not called a very good approach. Localities really should always be trying to find better ways to supply water to the citizens of North Carolina. The water shortage created by the drought falls on the shoulders of our leaders who did not react to the enormous growth experienced in North Carolina. The voters need to send a message and remove these failed leaders from state and local government.

Q. Corruption has been a serious problem in state government involving several members of the state legislature, most recently Thomas Wright, Jim Black, and Michael Decker. Are there changes that can be made to prevent future incidents of such corruption?

A. Corruption has become a widespread disease within our state government. I printed all of the articles concerning indicted, convicted and audited state officials and elected leaders. And a not so surprising thing happened, my printer ran out of paper. It does not help when the governor tells NCDOT officials raising money for his reelection to ignore disclosure laws. When numerous others are caught using their state or charity computers to write speeches and raise money, they need to be censured. Even a perceived conflict of interest should disqualify an official from serving on a board or cause them to recuse themselves from a particular vote. I know that is common sense, yet our politicians just don’t seem to have any. The only real way to fix this problem is to levy heavy fines and jail time for each offense. Make it so there is no doubt that violating the citizens trust will not be taken lightly.

Summerville lawyer and businesswoman Jenny Horne lost the District 94 State House race to Rep. Heyward Hutson less than four months ago, but she will try again this year in hopes that a higher turnout will lead to a different result.

“Special elections are very low turnout races, and in that particular race, it was an odd time of year,” she said of the vote just before Halloween. “The polling places were moved. It was very inconvenient for voters to get to the polls. I think this time the turnout will be greater. I have had a lot of my supporters asking me to run again.”

Horne said she thinks it’s time for new people to get involved in Dorchester County’s politics and said her message about attracting economic investments and improving education and roads would remain the same. “This is not a single-issue race,” she said. “There are so many issues facing our very rapidly growing county.”

Hutson and Horne will meet in the June 10 GOP primary.

The Post and Courier

COLUMBIA — The voices calling for an investigation into Gov. Mark Sanford’s involvement in a Port Royal land deal grew louder Thursday, when a legislator introduced a Senate measure calling for its own investigation.

But Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell said he didn’t think a Senate investigation would be appropriate because the body’s role with any gubernatorial impropriety — and McConnell wasn’t alleging one — is to serve as jury, not top cop.

The Charleston Republican doesn’t expect the issue to die quietly. Rather, he expects the matter to play out in other venues as a fire storm surrounding the State Ports Authority unfolds.

The Post and Courier

 

Under pressure from Gov. Mark Sanford, the director and deputy director of the state Department of Public Safety resigned Friday.

Public Safety Director James K. Schweitzer and Highway Patrol Col. Russell Roark resigned after tapes surfaced showing officers using racial slurs against black motorists. The Legislative Black Caucus complained to the governor on Thursday after learning that the troopers involved in three incidents captured on video were punished with only 12-hour suspensions.

The governor suggested that Schweitzer and Roark would have been fired if they had not resigned.

The Post and Courier

Just minutes after the Wilmington Democrat filed for re-election 130 miles away, a Wake County judge Thursday afternoon rejected state Rep. Thomas Wright’s request to delay a House ethics case because it could ruin his chance for a fair criminal trial.

The ruling clears the way for the House ethics committee to begin its evidentiary hearing Monday, although Wright’s legal team didn’t rule out appealing the decision today.

Wilmington Star

Let the games begin!

His own party has called for him to quit. He’s facing six felony charges. And his peers in the General Assembly are speeding through an ethics hearing that could make him the first member of the state House to be expelled since 1880.

But Rep. Thomas Wright is running again. The beleaguered Democrat filed Thursday for a ninth term, ignoring the fallout from allegations he bilked business and campaign donors out of $350,000.

Accompanied by his wife, Wright entered the New Hanover County Board of Elections shortly after 3 p.m. paying the $207 filing fee with a money order. He refused comment.

Wilmington Star

Oh, I’m sure he doesn’t have much to say.  Does this guy have some gall or what?  Fortunately, he’s not unopposed.  In addition to a Republican challenger in November, Wright has to fight the Democratic nomination out with two others in the May primary.

To face Goolsby, Wright would first have to win the Democratic primary in May where he is facing Sandra Spaulding Hughes, a former Wilmington City councilwoman, and Hollis Briggs, a community activist. He’s unlikely to receive much support from party officials, who have urged him to step down.

   

Republican Bobby Crumley, founder and chief executive officer of the law firm Crumley & Associates, filed for the attorney general seat. Cooper, a Democrat and Nash County native, is seeking a third term.

Upon filing Thursday, Crumley said the state needs an attorney general who will focus on solving problems and not playing politics, according to a press release.

Rocky Mount Telegram

Dr. Robert A. Coats of Rocky Mount filed Thursday to run against Rocky Mount Councilman W.B. Bullock for the GOP nod in the N.C. House District 25 race.

Coats said his decision to run stems from seeing – as an employee of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services for the last 21 years – the corruption in upper management and waste of state government resources.

The Rocky Mount native has a doctorate in psychology and is a program manager at the O’Berry Neuro-Medical Center in Goldsboro. This is his first run for public office.

On Thursday, Coats said he’s still outlining his platform; but if elected to the N.C. House, he hopes to standardize the paperwork between all state hospitals and change the prison system to be solely for punishment and not rehabilitation.

Bullock has said immigration and veteran affairs are two areas he’d like to address. In response to that, Coats said the state should examine the quality of health care given to veterans, and illegal immigrants should be reported after receiving the proper health care.

The Rocky Mount Telegram

Both have acceptable positions.  It should be a good race to follow on both sides of the aisle.

Democrats Carnell Taylor and former Nash County Commissioner Randy Stewart also are seeking the N.C. House District 25 seat, which will be vacated by N.C. Rep. Bill Daughtridge, a Republican who is running for state treasurer.

The Rockingham County Republican Party scheduled their 2008 convention for 9 a.m. March 15 in the Whitcomb Student Center at Rockingham Community College.

Party members will elect precinct officers, select delegates for the state convention and meet local candidates for office, according to a release.

“Our County Republican Convention is an opportunity to get to know and meet other Republicans who care and want to be involved in the process of helping to better our government,” Dan Zeller, chairman of the county’s Republican Party, said in the release.

The News-Record

EAGLE SPRINGS — Former state Rep. Richard Morgan of Moore County announced Friday he has filed for state superintendent of public schools.

The former House co-speaker’s announcement came just days after his wife, Moore County Commissioner Cindy Morgan, announced she was filing for state senate.

“My plan for the department is very simple,” Richard Morgan said in a press release. “I will work every day, all day for our children. To do anything less would be wrong.”

Fayetteville Observer

I don’t see success in Morgan’s future.  He has a connection to disgraced former House Speaker Jim Black as he supported him during Black’s battling of his corruption charges which eventually lead to him currently serving in prison.  Morgan lost his House seat over it in 2006 to a Republican primary challenger.  His opponent, Joe Johnson, will certainly make this an issue and I don’t see how Morgan will overcome that.

Charlotte attorney Nick Mackey filed today to run as a Democrat for N.C. House seat District 99, which covers northern Mecklenburg County and is currently occupied by Rep. Drew Saunders.The two will meet in a primary May 6.

“My experience in running for sheriff has shown me there is a spirit in our community that longs for change from the status quo,” Mackey said, reading from a prepared statement. He declined to answer any questions.

The Charlotte Observer

I guess he decided against judge. Just what we need, another corrupt politician in Raleigh. More power to Saunders to fight off this challenge.

State Insurance Commissioner Jim Long had decided not to seek a seventh term. He is instead backing his deputy for the job.

Assistant Commissioner Wayne Goodwin filed this morning for a spot on this year’s ballot. The filing period for candidates in all of this year’s elections closes at noon.

Asheville Citizen-Times

Doesn’t a judge have to have respect for the law in order to enforce it?  This guy just doesn’t go away.  Let’s see if the lemmings will follow him over the cliff again.

Charlotte attorney Nick Mackey plans to file for office today, according to a news release from a Democratic Party official.

It was unclear what office he would seek, though sources say he may run for judge.

Michael Lawson, president of the African American Caucus of the N.C. Democratic Party, said in a news release that Mackey will file at 11:30 a.m. at the Mecklenburg County board of elections. Filing closes at noon.

Charlotte Observer

And the African American Caucus of the N.C. Democratic Party by bolstering this is showing that they have absolutely no credibility.

Christina Jeffrey, an academic and local GOP activist, officially kicked off her campaign Wednesday for Smith’s seat in state House District 32. During the event, Jeffrey said she favored tax credits and rebates “for parents who believe that a good education is going to cost them money. … That is the best way to provide the best educational choice.”

Later, when asked for clarification, she said tax credits and vouchers for parents who send their children to private school were two different things. She said she was not in favor of vouchers.

“If you’re paying taxes, you’re paying taxes for the schools,” said Jeffrey, 60. “But you also have your own child, who may have special needs. You should be able to use your taxes for your child. It’s very specific. It’s not a matter of giving people money to do whatever they want to with.”

The Herald-Journal

I agree with Ms Jeffrey and I too oppose vouchers for the same reason.

Cole, 30, said in a phone interview that he was a product of public schools and didn’t want to do anything “that’s going to harm our successful schools.”

As for the question of vouchers versus tax credits, Cole said, “I believe they’re similar concepts, and the real issue is whether money that would otherwise be directed to these schools is being diverted away. And that’s the potential problem I see. I certainly am in favor of competition in schools, and I think parents deserve choices in where they send their children to school. Whether it’s a tax-credit based proposal or voucher-based proposal, the key issue to consider is whether it harms successful schools. And we have successful schools here in Spartanburg County.”

Cole brings up a good point as well.  Parents should be able to choose where to send their children.  I think this problem could be solved if school funding was at the state level rather than local and the allocated money per child followed that child to whatever school he went to, creating schools that compete for your kids.

Fast growing school districts in York County and across the state are starting to feel the pinch of tax reform established by the state General Assembly in 2006.York and Clover are each predicting a $1 million or more shortfall, compared to what they would have collected without the act.Under Act 388, people who own and live in their house do not pay school property tax. To replace that funding, the state implemented a 1-cent sales tax.But the formula for distribution of the 1-cent tax doesn’t take into account the differences in district population growth and, as a result, growing districts don’t get their fair share, local officials say.

“All of the districts were given a formula to use to do some preliminary estimates regarding the impact of Act 388,” said York Schools Superintendent Russell Booker, who said York came up about $1 million short.

Clover is predicting to receive about $1.2 million less, said Ken Love, finance director for Clover’s school district.

Booker said it’s unclear right now which programs will be affected, but it won’t allow them to expand their programs as needed.

Enquirer-Herald

What programs and are necessary? Case and point, while York County Schools are facing this million dollar shortfall, Fort Mill, which is in York County, has a bond referendum on the ballot Tuesday that includes money for expanding athletic facilities.  Is that really a priority?  While there are certainly poor school districts there are also many that are rife with bureaucratic waste and misplaced priorities. School boards get addicted to tax dollars just like Washington.

State Sen. Wes Hayes said it’s clear there will need to be some adjustments to how the money is distributed.

“We’re working on legislation that would change the formula to make it more equitable, so that the fast growing districts are not penalized,” he said.

The problem is the General Assembly members from the slower districts don’t want to change it because they gain from the way the formula is now.

“We can probably convince some people that it’s not being done equitably,” Hayes said. “The problem is when they have to go back and tell their districts, which are often the slower growing districts, that they are going to get less money than they would under the old formula, it’s going to be very difficult for them to vote for it.”

Overall, the act has probably caused more harm than good, Hayes admits.

Also, becoming reliant on a sales tax can be risky, he said.

“Sales tax goes south very quickly when the economy goes down,” he said. “Now our schools are much more dependent on the sales tax, which means we are much more dependent on the economy.”

And when the economy is up sales taxes are a boom. Sales taxes are the fairest way to fund the schools because everyone has to contribute: the rich, the poor, the drug dealers, the illegal aliens, everyone that might escape the normal taxation. Furthermore, when did it become acceptable to have property owners bear the burden of paying to educate other peoples’ children? How is that fair exactly?

But it now appears that there may actually be more to Sanford’s dealings with Chaffin than the governor initially admitted.

The Palmetto Scoop has discovered that Chaffin and his wife gave $4,000 to Sanford over a one-year period prior to the finalization of the port deal. A search of the state Ethics Commission’s Website yielded a Nov. 18, 2005 contribution from Chaffin to Sanford in the amount of $2,500 as well as a $500 donation on Sept. 28, 2006. His wife Betsy gave an additional $1,000 on the same date as Chaffin’s first contribution.

Those donations cast serious doubts on Sanford’s claims that his involvement with Chaffin was simply an attempt to better understand the port deal and that he did not act in an unethical manner. At the very least, he had a clear conflict of interest. At the very worst, he took a bribe.

The new insight also reflects the Sanford Administration’s ill-advised gamble in taking a “bring it on” approach to dealing with the issue. When state legislators and others questioned the governor’s involvement, his spokesman Joel Sawyer brazenly encouraged further exploration to exonerate Sanford.

“We would welcome any objective look at the governor’s involvement in this issue,” Sawyer said. “What we know is that an investigation would unequivocally show that the governor was acting in the best interest of the taxpayers, and in the best interest of the people in Port Royal who want a vibrant town center and access to the water.”

The Palmetto Scoop

We’re innocent until proven guilty and Sanford has welcomed all discussion on the issue so I am not going to throw him under the bus just yet, but the circumstantial evidence here does not look good at the present moment.  Hopefully the campaign money played no part in the governor’s Port Royal dealings.

COLUMBIA (AP) — A House panel has approved a bill banning smoking in restaurants statewide, despite opposition from smoke-free advocates.

The proposal from Representative Todd Rutherford would prohibit smoking in restaurants, bars, lounges and recreational facilities, but include exemptions for cigar bars and private clubs.

Subcommittee Chairman Murrell Smith says he admires the Columbia Democrat’s tenacity. The measure came within several votes of passing in the House two years ago.

The Aiken Standard

It failed before and it should fail again.  As someone who does not smoke and quite honestly enjoys going out to places where smoking is not allowed, this is an issue of private property rights.  The government is trying to encroach on the rights of property owners by telling them they are not permitted to allow a perfectly legal activity on their property.  Being a public place does not make it public property.

Where will these nanny laws end?  You can look all across the country and see how these smoking bans have opened the door to further government oppression of private property rights.  New York City banned trans-fats in all restaurants.  Belmont, California banned smoking in private homes!  Other cities have banned smoking in your automobile if you have a child in the car.  How did they get the gumption to go this far?  It all started with one state that one day decided to ban smoking in public places (note, not public property) and the others began jumping on the bandwagon of infringing on our rights.

What about the argument of the health of the employees?  Well, what of it?  Show me a death certificate where the cause is listed as second hand smoke.  Show me just one.  Second hand smoke is nothing but another bogeyman the authoritarians of our society are using to enforce their will on the rest of us.

And Murrell Smith admires the tenacity of a man who insists on stepping on our rights?  I hope that was sarcasm on his part.

DURHAM — Democrats in the central and northern portions of the city will go to the polls on May 6 to chose a nominee in Senate District 20, thanks to a candidate filing that occurred Wednesday.

Ryan Echoles, 41, told the county Board of Elections he wants a place on the ballot. He’s challenging incumbent state Sen. Floyd McKissick, D-Durham, a mid-term appointee who’s seeking his first full term.

Echoles said Wednesday that the county and the state need “more voices and outlooks” among their elected representatives.

He added that his three main issues are community development, early childhood education and health care.

The Herald Sun

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte City Councilman Michael Barnes says property crimes need their own court.

He’s asked the city manager to conduct a feasibility study about what it would take to institute it.

His inquiry comes amid another police report of men apparently trying to get inside a house near Park South and Archdale Drive.

Charlotte Observer

I’m surprised for a city this size there isn’t already a type of housing court in place.  Pittsburgh, for instance, a city half the size of Charlotte, has a housing court that deals with mostly property code violations.  Barnes’ idea would seem to handle more crimes involving personal property.

“A lot of people were wondering why we have to come back every year,” said state Rep. Harold Mitchell, a Spartanburg Democrat and the bill’s chief sponsor. “I think it was more about the assumption that there they would be some controversy with it.”That’s likely because the Confederate flag flies just outside the Statehouse and South Carolina has a Confederate Memorial Holiday in May.

The state also was often seen as the epicenter of the slave trade, and the first shots of the Civil War were fired here.

But there was no debate Tuesday on the bill. The proposal should get a routine third reading Wednesday before heading to the Senate.

“One of the biggest problems we’ve had with it is we still have a lot of the old residual effects left here in South Carolina, which is one of the reasons it was so hard to get it done,” said Richard Belin, head of the state Juneteenth Celebration Association.

“I knew it was going to take time,” said Belin, who added that supporters have worked on the legislation for nearly 10 years.

“We’ve got over half the country passed and we’re just now getting South Carolina passed and we’re excited,” Belin said.

While five other states, including Alabama and North Carolina, have passed measures expressing regret or otherwise apologizing for slavery, those proposals have not gained much traction here.

“I don’t think that’s something we should do,” said House Speaker Bobby Harrell, a Charleston Republican and co-sponsor of the bill that would recognize “Juneteenth.”

The State

Why does the state have to apologize for something that ended over 140 years ago? Nobody who was a slave in this country is still alive. Nobody who owned a slave is still alive. If we are truly to achieve a color blind society then people need to stop living in the past, but the same people that keep preaching to us are the same ones who keep dredging that past up. These resolutions are nothing more than a politically correct pandering to groups who perpetuate permanent victim status on themselves. It achieves nothing other than continuing to bridge the racial divide that still lingers in this country.