Carolina Politics Online

It’s easy to chose between State Sen. Robert Pittenger and State Sen. Walter Dalton. Pittenger is a successful businessman who has waged a lonely (and sometimes solitary) crusade against pork and government waste. Above all else, I am a small government fiscal conservative, and Pittenger is my kind of guy.

Dalton? All you need to know about him is that last year alone, he spent $227 million of your tax money in pork projects. Meanwhile, North Carolina’s taxes are the highest in the southeast and we’ve gone into debt.

Questions? I hope not.

Wake County is the second largest county in North Carolina and home to yours’ truly. As of now, 4 of its 7 commission members are Republican, and the other three are Democrat. Democrats see a great opportunity to knock off incumbent Kenn Gardner (R) and take control of the commission. Perhaps the single most important issue in this election, even though it’s never talked about, is the Wake County School Board, which is notoriously incompetent, wasteful, and antagonistic to parents. Republicans have stymied the school board’s efforts to increase its power and take even more money from taxpayers. County Democrats, however, will do whatever the school board asks of them, which is truly a frightening thought. Here’s a breakdown of the races.

District 6- Republican dentist Dr. Larry Tilley is waging an uphill campaign against 20-year incumbent Betty Lou Ward. Ward is a big spender and after 20 years is seriously out of touch. I’ll vote for Tilley.

District 5- I’ve never heard anyone say a bad word about incumbent Harold Webb (D), including his challenger, Venita Payton (R). But Payton, a black Republican who’s been very active in the community, will bring a new perspective (and accountability) to the commission. I’ll vote for her.

District 4- THIS is why I don’t use my real name. By day, I’m an active Republican who helps my party, even the candidates I don’t like. But when I’m on this website I can tell you what I really think without having to worry about ticking off my Republican friends. So here we go…

I cannot give an endorsement to either Kenn Gardner (R) or his opponent Stan Norwalk (D). When I get to this race on the ballot, I will leave it blank. If the Wake School Board asked certified fruitcake Stan Norwalk to parade down Hillsborough St. wearing nothing but a speedo and a smile, Norwalk would do it with relish. He cannot be trusted to stand up to the school board and has tried to force the transfer tax down the throats of North Carolinians for the past several years. He should not be elected.

But neither should Gardner. Though he’s done a good job overall, I have issues with his ethics and judgement. Gardner used his influence to stop a community pool project while he, as part of his day job, was an architect for another pool project. He insists he did nothing wrong and did not misuse his power. Even if I believe him, it shows a drastic lapse of judgement. The GOP has been burned too many times from sticking by “judgement-challenged” incumbents simply because they’re Republican incumbents. Not this time. Kenn- you’re a commissioner in the second largest county in North Carolina. You should know better, and if you don’t, then you’re not fit to serve.

This is how road funding is handled in North Carolina

The next governor will help figure out how to pay for the state’s growing burden of clogged roads and how to change the way decisions are made on road spending.

The 19-member state Board of Transportation, whose members represent districts, oversees spending all the way down to approving stoplights. Money is parceled out through a formula that doesn’t consider factors such as traffic congestion.

“The board has evolved into a shadow legislature,” said David Hartgen, a transportation analyst at UNC-Charlotte who also writes for the conservative John Locke Foundation. “They see their job as bringing home projects to those counties. That’s wrong.”

One board member recently resigned after The News & Observer reported he steered road work near commercial property he owned. The member, Louis W. Sewell Jr. of Jacksonville, raised money for both Perdue and Gov. Mike Easley. Another board member and Perdue fundraiser resigned in January after trying to raise money from country singer Randy Parton and others building a theater in Roanoke Rapids.

The News & Observer

This is how Pat McCrory will handle road funding as governor:

McCrory, a Republican, said he would not appoint someone to the board who raised money for him, though contributors could serve. He wants a smaller board appointed based on expertise.

“It should be a statewide plan that they’re approving, with interconnectivity,” McCrory said, “not ward politics with everyone trying to get their share of the pie.”

Bev Perdue would like to keep things just the way they are:

Perdue would not commit to banning fundraisers from the board. She said any ban would extend to all boards, but she first wants to create an endowment funded by nonprofits that would fund candidates in the governor’s race. That would eliminate the need for fundraisers, she said.

Any questions?

The Hickory Daily Record has given their endorsement to Daniel Johnson (D) in the race for Congress in the 10th Congressional District.  Once again, like in The State endorsements, they refer to those in the Republican Party who opposed the $700 Billion Federal bailout as “extremists.”

The State’s Editorial Board endorsed the incumbents in three South Carolina Congressional race today.  That’s not really surprising and the makeup of South Carolina’s Congressional delegation is unlikely to change after this election, but something stuck out at me as I was reading their article.

Republican Albert Spencer supports term limits and takes the extreme position of having opposed Congress’ rescue of credit markets.

Evidently the writers at The State don’t feel that borrowing $700 billion, when the country was already $9.5 trillion in debt, to give to financial institutions to bail them out, which so far has had zero effect, is not considered extreme, but rather those who opposed this Federal catastrophe with our tax dollars are the ones on the extremities.  Never mind that most Americans didn’t want the bailout passed and never mind that the banks that received the bailout money are not using it for its intended purpose, but rather for acquisitions, raises, and executive bonuses.  You see, it is we who are the extreme ones and the far left leaning “journalists” at The State hold all the wisdom.

One issue both candidates agree on is that the area needs more help getting its students educated. Their plans to make that happen, however, are where they differ.

“We have a lot of funding. I think South Carolina is fourth in the nation for education funding,” Erickson said. “The problem is where those dollars are.”

The Beaufort Gazette

The dollars are unevenly split, for one.  The money a school receives should depend upon the number of children it has and every school in the state should receive the same dollar amount per child so there are no desparities between the rich and the poor.  Furthermore, more dollars need to make it to the classroom and less on administrative bureaucrats who offer little practical value.

Meanwhile, Brown wants to see a change in how those education dollars are first collected. Brown said his plan of using income tax to fund all recurring school operating costs will lower property taxes.

Yeah, that’s just great.  Screw the working people.  Most South Carolinians already pay a 7% income tax.  How much more does Brown think it can be raised before it drives people to Georgia and North Carolina?

In talking about health care funding, Brown got a swipe in at Erickson. Brown supports universal health care and said his opponent voted against a cigarette tax increase that would have helped fund health care.

I guess Brown hasn’t paid attention to the failure of “Romney Care” in Massachusetts and the dismantling of TennCare in Tennessee.  Maybe he could take a lesson from Hawaii which just this month ended their universal health care for children because it was too damn expensive and people were abusing it.

Erickson is the better choice in this race.

Democratic U.S. House Whip James Clyburn made a stop in Oconee County Thursday afternoon to campaign for fellow Democrat Jane Ballard Dyer.

Democrat Jane Ballard Dyer is challenging Republican incumbent Gresham Barrett for the 3rd District Congressional seat and Republican Nancy Harrelson is challenging Clyburn for the 6th District Congressional seat.

“All over this country people feel very strongly that this country is on the wrong track,” stated Congressman Clyburn. “Over 50 percent of Americans polled are now saying that they want to see one party in the White House and one party running the Congress and they want that one party to be Democrat.”

The Independent Mail

Yeah, great idea, because the last time one party controlled everything it was just swell, you know?

It’s good that Barrett has opposition because every race should be contested, but this is not a race anyone needs to pay much attention to.  Barrett has nothing to worry about.

On Wednesday, Governor Sanford was joined by New York Governor David Paterson (D) in speaking before Congress regarding the current economic situation and other proposed Federal bailouts.  Sanford took the opportunity to stress the need for fiscal discipline in Congress while Paterson begged for more handouts for his welfare ridden state.

“Just like the financial services industry, we need a partner in the federal government in order to help stave off an impending financial calamity and stabilize our fiscal condition,” said Paterson, a Democrat.

On Tuesday, Paterson said New York is facing a $47 billion deficit by 2012.

Paterson is seeking higher Medicaid payments to states, greater unemployment benefits, infrastructure spending, and a boost in food stamp benefits to help state budgets.

The Post and Courier

Gee Dave, do you think that could be the problem with your budget??  Stop wasting your state’s money on welfare handouts for God’s sake!  The nerve of this guy.  He blows billions of dollars of his state’s money on welfare trash and then runs to the Feds begging that they hand over our tax dollars when his state falls into the hole $40 billion.

Sanford, a Republican who was also appearing before the committee, contended they should not pass another stimulus package because it will not fix the economic problems but drive the country deeper into debt.

“I’m here to beg of you not to approve or advance the contemplated $150 billion stimulus package,” Sanford said. “This $150 billion salve may in fact further infect our economy with unnecessary government influence and unintended fiscal consequences.”

It’s too bad Mark Sanford isn’t the President.  He’s exactly right.  The massive debt spending is what is hurting this country.  Our government is going to turn this nation into a banana republic for future generations when the debt reaches levels where it can no longer be paid or warrants our currency worthless like Zimbabwe.  These people need to balance the damn budget like we had in the 90s and that balance should include payments on the national debt.

Please join

Governor Sarah Palin

for a Road to Victory Rally

in Raleigh, NC

Saturday November 1st

The Fairgrounds
1025 Blue Ridge Blvd
Raleigh, NC 27607

Doors Open at 4:00 p.m.
Guests Must Arrive by 6:00 p.m.

For more information, please email northcarolina@johnmccain.com or call 919-323-3890

Please click here to RSVP online and print your ticket for this event

Tickets are available for printing online (see link above) and for pickup at our Raleigh Victory Office beginning at 7:00 PM today and at our North Raleigh and Durham Victory Offices beginning tomorrow at 9:00 AM.

Tickets do not guarantee entry to the event, so please make sure to arrive early. For security reasons, bags and signs are prohibited inside the venue.

Ticket Locations

Durham Victory Office
4600 Durham Chapel Hill Blvd
Durham, NC 27707
(919) 539-5928

North Raleigh Victory Office
900 Spring Forest Road
Raleigh, NC 27609
(919) 862-6528

Raleigh Victory Office
1506 Hillsborough Street
Raleigh, NC 27605
(919) 828-6423

Voters in York and Lancaster counties are getting automated phone calls from a phony gay group claiming to support Democratic candidate Mandy Powers Norrell for the S.C. state Senate.

Norrell said Wednesday that the Alliance for the Advancement of Gays and Lesbians does not exist and says the calls that began Tuesday are likely illegal.

A caller introduces herself as “Allison” and praises Norrell for supporting homosexual unions and abortion rights.

Charlotte Observer

This is why I think robocalls need to be banned.  This is absolutely sleazy.  This is even worse than the Dole “Godless” Ad because this is a flat out lie.  Whoever is making these calls should be prosecuted.

A Circle K in Fort Mill was selling gas this evening at $1.99.  The Shell station near my house on Celanese Road was at $2.06.  Just over the county/state line gas in Charlotte is extraordinarily higher as much as 50 cents per gallon.

Moffitt, owner of an executive search firm, said an advertisement mailed to voters by the Democratic Party and candidate Jane Whilden amounts to mail fraud and forgery.

Whilden called the complaint “a desperate attempt to distract.”

The ad she approved is made to look like a postcard sent by Moffitt from New Jersey, portraying the Republican as spending too much time on business outside North Carolina.

A handwritten message begins with, “Sorry I’ve been out of touch for a while!” and is signed with Moffitt’s name.

A fake postal-service cancellation mark covers a postage stamp with Moffitt’s face on it.

Moffitt said he has heard from confused voters.

“People, have come up to me and say ‘Hey, I got your postcard. I didn’t know that you lived in New Jersey,’” he said.

Asheville Citizen-Times

Oh good Lord.  It’s amazing that grown adults behave this way.  It’s just another juvenile, misleading attack ad, just like the Dole “Godless” commercial.  And any people who think that Moffitt actually lives in New Jersey probably shouldn’t be voting.

Shawn Turschak of Chapel Hill was tired of someone stealing McCain-Palin campaign signs from his yard.

So the man with a degree in electrical engineering hooked up a third sign to a power source for an electric pet fence Monday. Turschak also put up a surveillance camera.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reports that Tuesday, a 9-year-old boy with an Obama-Biden sign grabbed the McCain-Palin sign and got a jolt.

Asheville Citizen-Times

The boy was with his father who claimed he just wanted to show the young boy how the sign was put together.  Uh-huh, and hemorrhoids are a blessing.

Good for Turschak.  It’s his property and nobody has any business touching it.

Several years ago I lived across the street from a high school.  On garbage day the kids would always kick my empty garbage can down the street as they were on their way home from school.  I also had a fire hydrant in front of my house.  One day I came home during lunch and turned the empty can upside down over the fire hydrant.  Nobody kicked it down the street after that.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Rebecca Yount

October 29, 2008
(828) 441-2006

National Rifle Association Endorses McHenry

HICKORY - The McHenry for Congress campaign today announced that the National Rifle Association (NRA) Political Victory Fund endorsed the reelection of Congressman Patrick McHenry and awarded him an “A” rating for his pro-Second Amendment voting record.

In a letter to Congressman McHenry, the NRA wrote, “During your tenure in the House, you consistently supported a strong commitment to the Second Amendment and our hunting heritage.  We urge our members and all other gun owners and sportsmen in the tenth congressional district of North Carolina to vote for your reelection to the U.S House of Representatives.”

Last year, Congressman McHenry co-signed an amicus brief submitted to Supreme Court in the case of District of Columbia v. Heller.  The amicus brief argued that the Second Amendment was intended to protect an individual’s right to gun ownership.  On June 26 of this year, the Court permanently enshrined this individual right in overturning D.C.’s ban on handguns.

At the time, Congressman McHenry said, “The right to bear arms is a basic, fundamental right in this country.  I’m glad the Supreme Court made it clear that this right is guaranteed to every individual citizen by the Second Amendment.  Shame on the four justices who blatantly disregarded the explicit text of our Constitution.”

“The sportsmen of Western North Carolina know that Patrick McHenry is a straight shooter.  He can count on our support on Election Day,” stated Monty Woods of Lenoir, Chairman of Gun Owners for McHenry.

Patrick McHenry is a member of the National Rifle Association and the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus, a bipartisan group of allies for sportsmen in Congress.

###

South Carolina GOP chairman Katon Dawson wrote Ketner a letter demanding that she return $54,000 in political action committee contributions, saying that she made a pledge not to take any.

“Failure to keep your campaign promise and refund these contributions would be proof-positive that you will say and do anything to buy a seat in Congress,” he said.

Ketner said she made no such pledge. She said Dawson is referring to a Project Vote Smart questionnaire that someone — she doesn’t know who — filled out on her behalf.

The Post and Courier

Ummm…. yeah…. sure….. someone else filled it out……

She also noted her PAC contributions are but a fraction of Brown’s, whose campaign had listed $234,400 as of Oct. 15, according to the Federal Election Commission.

“They’re trying to divert people in the 1st District from the things that matter,” she said. “People need to stop putting up with this in politics.”

You know what? I agree.  It is a distraction from the issues and nothing more.  Nobody is going to give a shit about Ketner taking PAC money after she allegedly pledged not to do so.  If she is lying does it reflect on her character?  Yes.  But right now people are concerned about actual issues, not political mudslinging.

Also, I dont think Dawson would have taken the opportunity to hit Ketner on this unless he was concerned about Brown’s reelection.

RALEIGH - State Auditor Les Merritt said this morning that trips to France, Russia and Estonia by First Lady Mary Easley and others included “unreasonable and excessive expenses,” including a taxpayer-funded $332 lunchtime caviar cocktail.

Taxpayers picked up hundreds of dollars in alcohol purchases, against state policy. They paid for ballet tickets, and an executive assistant to Easley billed the state $227 dollars for a linen jacket.

Merritt found that the trips to France and Russia — which cost a total of $110,000 — were of questionable value to taxpayers.

The News & Observer

Les Merritt is about the only thing standing between the corruption in Raleigh and the taxpayers.  If the folks of North Carolina do not reelect him on Tuesday they will be doing an enormous disservice to themselves.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Kay Hagan filed a lawsuit Thursday against rival Elizabeth Dole, accusing the Republican incumbent of defamation and libel for running a television ad that questions Hagan’s ties to an atheist political group.

Hagan filed a lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court after Dole declined to remove the ad from the air by a noon deadline.

“Each airing of the advertisement further injures (Hagan’s) good name and reputation in the community,” Hagan’s attorneys wrote in the complaint.

Dole campaign spokesman Dan McLagan dismissed the lawsuit as a “silly political gimmick.”

Dole’s campaign had called Hagan’s earlier warning of a lawsuit an empty threat, and her attorneys said in a letter the ad simply states facts.

“Your client may not like that the ad publicly disseminates information she would prefer to keep quiet in these days before the elections, but the ad is 100% factually accurate and truthful,” the attorneys wrote.

CBS News

And that’s the bottom line.  It is truthful.  As I said yesterday, the ad is somewhat misleading, because Hagan is not an atheist and I think it infers that, but it doesn’t lie about the fund raiser she attended.  She was there and it was hosted by a former board member of “Godless Americans PAC” and she did accept a couple of thousand dollars from that host.  Hagan doesn’t have a leg to stand on with this lawsuit.  She shouldn’t have gone to the event.  It was a stupid decision on her part and the Dole camp is taking advantage of it.

Hagan has made a counter ad:

I just returned from a York County candidate forum at Winthrop University.  There was a six person panel answering prepared questions by the student organization that hosted the event.  On the panel were York County Councilmen Rick Lee (R - Rock Hill) and Buddy Motz (R - Rock Hill), State Senator Wes Hayes (RINO - Rock Hill), Herb Crump (D), candidate for House District 46, Marvin Rogers (R), candidate for House District 49 and a Winthrop University professor.

The main issues focused on were education, school funding, and the state budget.  Surprisingly, the answers from all six really didn’t differ that much from each other.  When it came to the budget and education funding, naturally they all pointed to the recent swap in taxation to fund education with a one cent sales tax rather than the traditional property tax base as being the core problem associated with higher education cuts.  While I don’t disagree that the sales tax is not as static as a tax on property and that there are some fundamental flaws with it, nobody on the panel pointed out that state spending has increased by over 40% over the last three years and that if perhaps the state government had been more responsible with our tax dollars when money was pouring instead of wasting it on earmarks like the Green Bean Museum that nobody visits, the cuts they just had to recently make to higher education may have been less severe.  All of them were opposed to continuing funding schools by sales tax rather than property tax and there was a repeated chorus of a broad based tax code overhaul as a main theme throughout the evening.

Speaking of taxes, Wes Hayes touted raising the cigarette tax again, of which he was a devout supporter of earlier this year when the bill came around, in order to expand the socialist nanny state in South Carolina by addicting more children to government health care.  Now why on Earth, when the state is already struggling to pay its current obligations, would you advocate raising taxes to pay for expanding programs even larger when you can’t pay for them in their current form to begin with?  This is fiscally reckless.  Herb Crump also stated his support for raising the cigarette tax.  Hayes mentioned that he thinks it is likely to be brought up again before the year is over and that House Speaker Bobby Harrell is supportive of the measure and thinks he can get Sanford’s veto overridden this time.  Who needs Democrats when you’ve got Republicans like these?

A funny thing about the cigarette tax too is that earlier when Hayes was speaking about the property/sales tax swap for schooling he referred to the supporters of that measure as “short sighted.”  Well, I would ask Senator Hayes how he intends to continue paying for all of the new kids that would be using government health care down the road when cigarette tax revenues eventually decline over future years due to people kicking the habit?  That sounds rather short sighted to me.

There was also a consensus among Crump and Rogers that K-12 education in the state are not appropriately funded.  As I have pointed out ad nauseum on this blog, the United States spends more money on public education than every other nation in the world and yet most kids in other industrial nations are more intelligent and better educated than American kids.  How will throwing even more money at the school system reverse the turning out of a failed product?  There is no correlation between more money and better education.

Unfortunately, they did not have a Q&A with the audience because these were all questions I was prepared to ask.  I suppose I could have stuck around and chatted with the candidates myself, but I’ve had a long day and I just wanted to make my way home.

I want to thank everyone I met at the Knightdale Pool early voting site for doing just that, voting early. I will also be there tomorrow to visit with the voters.

While most people are focused on the national elections, I want to emphasize the importance of the Governor, State House, and State Senate races. The people elected to these offices will set state spending, taxing, and many other policies in this state. As I have said before, our state has been badly mismanaged by Tony Rand, Marc Basnight, Joe Hackney, and Dan Blue. And I cannot forget to mention the absentee Governor Mike Easley.

I stand here asking that everyone set party aside when deciding if I am acceptable to you and the agent of change that we so badly need in the North Carolina Legislature. I will bring my blue collar work ethic to the General Assembly and will not accept the political nonsense I WILL run into. I am willing to make the hard decisions to get our state back on track fiscally while protecting our special needs children and adults.

While my opponent is too busy campaigning for one of the Presidential candidates to ask for your vote, I am out there wanting to represent ALL of district 33 and North Carolina voters.