Carolina Politics Online

RALEIGH – The first serious threat in years to a state law letting cities add residents without their approval has passed a crucial test.

A nine-month moratorium on annexations started by cities and towns cleared the N.C. House Wednesday on a 98-18 vote.

Just as importantly to its supporters, House members expanded the bill just before final passage to stop cities from taking key steps leading up to expansion.

A committee’s move to take out that part of the moratorium had “crippled the bill,” said an opponent, House Republican Leader Paul Stam.

It’s unclear whether Senate leaders who oppose a moratorium will allow the bill to be heard.

“I wouldn’t bet as much on it,” moratorium opponent Rep. Dan Blue said, “as I would be willing to bet I would be the first man on the moon.”

Asheville Citizen-Times

The passage of this ban, while temporary, just moved the state forward about a 100 years to catch up to the present.  I’ve been baffled for a long time that in a “free” country where private property rights play a large role in that framework (unless you’re a justice on the SCOTUS) how North Carolina could still have laws on the books in the 21st century allowing cities to involuntarily incorporate people’s property.  It’s just anti-American and should be common sense.

What’s with these Senate leaders by the way?  They oppose a moratorium?  Do Basnight and Rand not believe in fundamental private property rights?  Does State Representative Dan Blue also oppose his constituents having control over their own land?  If this is the case these people need to seriously be reexamined by their voters in November.

News&Observer

RALEIGH - The State Health Plan’s executive administrator was abruptly fired Tuesday after lawmakers discovered a $115 million loss in the fund that provides health care for roughly 650,000 employees’ and retirees.

House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman, a Lexington Democrat, and Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, a Fayetteville Democrat, sent a letter to state Insurance Commissioner Jim Long “requesting a change in leadership,” which led to the dismissal of George Stokes. He had led the plan for roughly three years.

“We just felt that we were not informed in the way we should,” said Holliman.

Holliman said lawmakers had expected a $50 million surplus in the plan but discovered last week that there was a $65 million deficit. He said it would not affect the state budget for the current fiscal year that began Tuesday but would need to be dealt with in next year’s state budget.

He said the prior administrator, Jack Walker, has been asked to lead the health plan on an interim basis.

The letter sent to Long said that “we very much appreciate Mr. Stoke’s service to the state and regret that this action is necessary, but believe it to be essential.”

Chrissy Pearson, a spokeswoman for the state Insurance Department, said Long and other staff had no idea there were problems with the fund or with Stokes’ management.

“It has caught us by surprise,” she said.

This writer will remain anon.. This person shows a very adept knowledge of the ElectriCities controversy. The thing that I want to add is that ElectriCities is not a cooperative where every consumer has a vote to decide the direction to go. This is a government created and franchised organization that gives all of the power to the municipalities and none to the people. This is a pet project of State Representative Blue and State Senator Nesbitt. I will sponsor a bill eliminating Electricities and creating a cooperative that serves the people and is responsive to their needs. My name is Paul Terrell III and I am running against Dan Blue.

We need help in eastern NC. After months of denying a rate increase, then denying the rate increase is due to anything other than fuel costs, ElectriCities of NC finally admitted an error. They only admitted it because we showed up and pressured them. But this mistake is very costly to the good people of eastern NC. They finally admitted, after telling us to USE FANS instead of AC to save money.

Jesse Tilton CEO “converted a portion of the debt from fixed-rate loans to variable-interest loans in 2004. The move was expected to save around $10.5 million a year in interest payments, but instead, the collapse of the subprime mortgage market caused those interest rates to climb unexpectedly. Between last December and April, the payments were nearly $4 million over budget. They have since converted that debt back to fixed rates, but the damage was done. NCEMPA’s debt service payments are rising $12 million a year, or equal to a two-percent hike in the wholesale rate.”

http://www.wilsontimes.com/News/Local/Story/Electric-rates-face-August-increase—

How much has the most refinancing of the debt cost us in total? When was it discovered to be a bad deal? Officials in Wilson told us March was when they were told but the CEO knew in October. But the people, the people who have to pay were not told until June and many city officials were not told until June. When did the CEO inform the cities, the board? March some; June most.

How long had he known when he informed them? He knew in Oct. 2007 and did not tell his board until March. He let the costs increase and did not tell.

How much did it cost during that interim? Has the refinancing of the debt been cleaned up - i.e. has it been refinanced again? How much did that cost? What percentage of the rate increase is due to the poorly managed refinancing of the debt?

Why are you not informing the ratepayers of the true costs of the rate increase? They are starting to now after lying for a while to the press and the people and even some city officials.

How much have operational costs increased (%) over the past three years? What cuts will ElectriCities make to demonstrate that they understand the burden they have placed on eastern NC?
Why is the ElectriCities Board continuing to employ a CEO who has mismanaged public money, cost the ratepayers needlessly and hidden the facts? How can you employ a half million dollar CEO who screwed up this badly along with his overpaid managers? How can you lie to the press and people time after time? And how can board members take thousands of dollars in “salary” for being on a board when they are not doing their job? WE NEED OVERSIGHT

Then we find out Sen Martin Nesbitt and Rep Dan Blue (A former ElectriCities lobbyist) get a bill passed for ElectriCities and then get a PAC contribution when they have no electric city in their district. And why would a bill pass letting this group enter into ANYTHING for any longer than 3 years when the ineptness is so OBVIOUS.

So ElectriCities says “Enrolled and on its way to the Governor’s office for signature is a bill that allows joint municipal assistance agencies to make and execute contracts for more than three years. HB 1679 entitled Joint Municipal Assistance Agency Contracts, introduced by Rep. Earl Jones (D-Guilford), was given a favorable report out of the Senate Judiciary I Committee and received unanimous support on the Senate floor.

Senator Nesbitt (D-Buncombe) explained the bill on the Senate floor and stated that he had no idea why anyone would put such a restriction on an organization trying to do business. The bill amends General Statute 159B-44 by removing the three-year limit. ElectriCities will be able to bind its members in contracts for a period longer than three years.The bill is effective as soon as the Governor signs it into law.”

We are too late now. THIS IS NOT GOOD. YOU DO NOT REWARD BAD BEHAVIOR WITH MORE AUTHORITY.

Newspapers tell us their local entrenched people pressure them into leaving this issue alone. Poyner and Spruill has pressured people cause they make millions off this place. The guy that gave the presentation at the Electricities meeting kept trying to put all of the blame on the cost of fuel. However, when confronted with the variable bonds issue and those huge losses, he had to admit that they had made a big mistake and it would take raising utilities rates to “cover” some of the losses. Their bond ratings are now at triple B and not triple A…There are now additional costs because of those lower ratings and interest costs.

There are 14 counties and 32 cities involved. We all understand the higher cost of fuel, but we also understand that there should be consequences for “mismanagement”. How come all of the people who do these things never have to suffer any personal penalties?? It is like “blanket immunity” covers all of those who do wrong and we have to pick up the tab and move on, NOT. I didn’t buy into some of the excuses that were given at that meeting, and unless that guy who is making the $500,000 salary and responsible for the “little error” has to cough up some extra dollars out of his own pocket, then I will continue to “fuss.”

Why should we pay for his mistake? And he not pay? Their salary budget is $6 million and they likely have fluff spending in the millions and that could help cities help people with this rate increase. WHY? WHY does a board keep someone who is picking our pocket?

We need some proposals for oversight. We need pressure to bear on these folks, at least in the form of questions. We hope you can help in your candidate role.

State Rep. Paul Luebke says he’ll press for instant runoffs in 2009.

The Durham Democrat, who sponsored a pilot project for municipal elections in 2005, said the concept was scary to a lot of legislators, but after elections in Cary and Hendersonville, he thinks they may be more open to it.

“In 2009, if I’m back, I expect to participate in a discussion about how we could use instant-runoff voting as a statewide policy,” he said.

Luebke said the traditional primary runoff method has its own risks, including extremely low turnout.

“It’s really not a good idea to have so few people deciding these runoff races,” he said.

The News & Observer

I think Luebke has a good idea here.  Runoff elections are exceedingly expensive and just aren’t worth the cost when you see how the poor the turn out is.  I was very irritated that here in South Carolina we had our Presidential primary separate from our state primary.  Plus, we still had runoffs to deal with earlier this week so we had to pay for three primary elections this year!  Then throw in the general in November with the possiblity of runoffs resulting from that and it becomes an expensive venture.

Under the Dome

N.C. House and Senate budget negotiators have repeatedly said that joint meetings are public. They had such a joint meeting this morning. But when a News & Observer reporter tried to enter, they kicked him out.

Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, a Fayetteville Democrat, could not cite a reason under the public meetings law as to why a reporter would be excluded. But he said the meeting had nothing to do with the budget, reports Dan Kane.

“Because we were just hearing a report from staff,” Rand said. “It had nothing to do with negotiations.”

He said the report was an “economic briefing.”

What did it say?

“We’re not sure.”

Why can’t a reporter listen to that?

“Because we’re trying to determine if there’s something we want to do,” Rand said. “I mean, that was just a staff thing.”

Related to the budget?

“Related to anything.”

Budget negotiators were the only ones attending. A brief glimpse into the meeting showed Dan Gerlach, senior budget adviser to Gov. Mike Easley, and legislative fiscal staff addressing the lawmakers.

Gerlach left several minutes later.

What were they meeting about?

“Talking about the budget,” Gerlach said as he walked away.

After the meeting broke up, Rep. Mickey Michaux, a Durham Democrat and the House’s chief budget writer, said his team had nothing to do with the decision to close the meeting.

“They ran you out of there,” he said of the Senate budget negotiators. “That was their meeting. It wasn’t mine.”

The entire state hasn’t officially reported in yet, but the leaders have a large enough margin that it’s basically over.  Mary Fant Donnan has won the Labor Commissioner runoff so she will go on to face Republican incumbent Cherie Berry in November.  Justin Burr has defeated incumbent State Representative Kenny Furr in House District 67.  That is awesome.  I like Burr and we need more younger people in Raleigh.  Don Davis handily defeated Kathy Taft in the Democratic runoff for Senate District 5.

State lawmakers are considering a plan that would provide a tax credit to parents of special-needs students who send their children to private schools.

Members of the House Education Committee discussed a bill Monday that would provide up to $6,000 a year to such families. Under changes approved by the committee Monday, home schools would be ineligible for the tax credit for tuition expenses.

The Fayetteville Observer

How about go a step further and provide a tax credit to any family that wants to send their kids to private school.  If the government schools don’t begin to actually teach something all of these kids are going to have special needs by the time they graduate.

June 21, 2008

For immediate release

Paul Terrell calls on the state legislature to increase all teachers’ salaries 10%.

Raleigh, NC- Paul Terrell a candidate for State House district 33; calls on the state legislature and Governor Easley to immediately increase all teachers’ salaries 10%.  In addition Paul Terrell calls for a supplement of 5% to be paid to each teacher who signs a five year contract to teach in a district with a 15% turnover rate the previous year.

“Our state invests a great deal of time and money professionally in our teachers.” Paul Terrell said. “We need to ensure that teachers feel appreciated and want to stay here where they can provide a quality education to our children.” Paul Terrell also notes that, “The pay raises that are being proposed for the teachers do not even offset the increase in gas, food, and other living expenses.”

It is time for Rep. Hackney, Rep. Blue, and Senator Rand to actually listen to the people of North Carolina. The number one concern amongst people in a May poll commissioned by the Civitas Institute was “Improving Education”.  This is striking considering a majority of those polled called themselves Democrats.

Although it is not strictly a partisan issue, Republicans in the House and Senate have generally backed immigration-related measures, while Democrats, who control both chambers, have largely opted for the status quo when it comes to immigration policy.

Democratic leaders say they have taken steps in the past five years to tighten illegal immigration controls, including:

* requiring proof of legal status to get a driver’s license.

* requiring state workers and those working for state contractors to be here legally.

* requiring laws so that jailers must determine if those charged with felonies or impaired driving are legal U.S. residents.

This year, measures related to admitting illegal immigrants to community colleges and universities have been the focus of fierce debate. But bills designed to make it easier for the children of illegal immigrants to attend state colleges or enter degree programs are not likely to move forward this year.

“I think it’s a little too hot for this session,” said Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Greensboro Democrat sponsoring one of those bills.

Rep. Hugh Holliman, a Lexington Democrat and the House majority leader, said the state’s actions can only go so far.

“We would all like to see the federal government concentrate and solve the problem,” he said. “But there’s a limit to what the states can do. We can’t build a wall around North Carolina.”

The News & Record

Holliman is attempting to use the Federal Government as a scape goat for his lack of action.  Hugh doesn’t want these bills to pass and that’s not surprising.  The Democratic Party as well as some Republicans like Bush and McCain have a love affair with illegal immigrants.  Bush and McCain think that if they legalize them they will vote Republican.  They won’t of course.  They’ll vote Democrat and the Democrats know that which is why they want them legalized as well.  Then you have the third rail of this issue embodied by Socialists like Pricey Harrison who think that hard working North Carolinians should pay higher taxes, depriving their own family of needs, in order to give a free ride to these alien criminals and their offspring.

Arizona, Oklahoma, and most recently South Carolina have put into place sweeping laws aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration and in the two western states it’s working.  South Carolina’s law is too new to see its effect yet.  Holliman wants to sit on his behind and just make excuses for his for his opposition on this important issue and then lie to the media about it.

Yeah, right…….

RALEIGH — North Carolina driver’s licenses for people under 21 may soon get a new look.

To make it more difficult for minors to buy alcohol, a state legislator from Winston-Salem wants licenses for young people to be formatted vertically, rather than the traditional horizontal licenses that all North Carolina drivers currently carry.

State Rep. Dale Folwell’s bill is scheduled for its final vote today in the N.C. House of Representatives. A companion bill, sponsored by state Sen. Stan Bingham, R-Davie, passed unanimously in the N.C. Senate earlier this month.

Winston-Salem Journal

I really just pee in my pants laughing every time I see one of these self righteous fools in government waste time and money thinking they can stop a 19 year old from drinking alcohol. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it. Making it illegal twenty something years ago is what the problem has been all these years.

This bill will have an absolute zero result on curbing the ridiculously illegal purchase of alcohol among those under 21. I guess Folwell has never seen a fake ID in his lifetime or maybe he never had any friends older than him when he was under the drinking age.

Dale, you’re an idiot.  Stop wasting the time and money of your constituents.

Representative Phillip Frye (R-Spruce Pine) another fine, upstanding legislator caught boozing behind the wheel plans to plead guilty to what I assume is a DWI. He had a blood alcohol content of .18. You can add him to the list of drunken Carolina legislators joining Joe Boylan (R-Pinehurst) and South Carolina State Senator Randy Scott (R-Summerville). Fortunately for Frye, unlike his two compatriots, he has no opposition in this year’s election. Boylan and Scott’s incidents cost them both their elected offices in their state’s primaries.

RALEIGH – On a day when grim economic news dominated national headlines, North Carolina consumers got a dose of more bad news on the home front as well, as Progress Energy Corp. asked for permission Friday to increase residential electricity rates in North Carolina by an average of 16.2 percent, largely to recoup rising fuel expenses.

Asheville Citizen-Times

One of the reasons for the requested rate increase is due to the price of coal soaring.  Bear in mind that just a few days ago, State Representative Pricey Harrison introduced legislation that would massively increase the price the costs on Progress Energy due to the banning of a certain type of coal that Progress uses for much of its energy.  That would be on top this already 16.2% increase.  I bet low income North Carolinians would just love her bill.  I guess that’s how the Democratic Party looks out for the poor.

The state House overwhelmingly passed a $21.3 billion budget proposal today that provides modest pay raises for teachers and most state employees, does not raise taxes and borrows roughly $550 million for construction at prisons and public universities.

The proposal raises spending by 3.3 percent over the current budget, or roughly $690 million. House Republicans said they appreciated the modest budget growth and no new taxes.

The News & Observer

I don’t find this budget acceptable.  They borrowed $550 million to make this budget, so that money has to be paid back over the years with interest.  Out of a $21.3 billion budget, there is absolutely no excuse why the legislature could not find significant cuts in wasteful spending, which are definitely there, in order to fund these other initiatives if they felt they were so necessary.

If the economy is slowing, the legislature should also tighten their belt, not increase their debt.  This is an irresponsible budget.

A House committee today will examine a bill to increase the age from 12 to 16 for riders in open-bed trucks who must wear seat belts. In addition, the bill would remove several exemptions to a 1997 law and increase penalties for violations.

Supporters of the legislation, including Tom Vitaglione of the Child Fatality Task Force, say eight children died and 127 were injured in pickup truck accidents between 2002 and 2006.

Sponsors are Rep. Jennifer Weiss, a Cary Democrat, and Sen. Bill Purcell, a Laurinburg Democrat and pediatrician.

The News & Observer

And exactly what business is this of nanny staters Weiss and Purcell?  Absolutely none.  The only people whose concern this is are the parents of the children riding in the back, not a couple of busy body lawmakers who think they need to poke their noses into every facet of our lives.  I can remember riding in the back of pick up trucks when I was way, way young, like six or seven years old.

House members don’t mind higher fees for divorces, but they’re not crazy about charging more for marriages.

House budget writers had proposed a $10 bump in the marriage license fee, to $60, and $10 in the court fees for divorce, to $65. The money would pay to expand domestic violence shelters.

Asheville Citizen-Times

Why do we even have a marriage license in the first place? I have never understood the purpose this (well, I know the purpose. It’s another revenue stream for nanny). If I want to get married I have to have permission from the government first? What the hell business is it of theirs? How was this ever allowed to happen?

Half the coal burned by Progress Energy’s and Duke Energy’s power plants would become illegal in North Carolina under legislation proposed Tuesday by state Rep. Pricey Harrison.

The Guilford County Democrat wants to outlaw importation of coal that has been extracted by a controversial form of strip mining known as mountaintop removal. The process involves blowing up several hundred feet of mountaintop to expose embedded veins of coal.

The state’s power companies say Harrison’s proposal would force utilities to buy more expensive coal and raise the cost of electricity for consumers. Coal mined from mountaintops is the cheapest coal available to Raleigh-based Progress and Charlotte-based Duke. North Carolina relies on coal for about 60 percent of its electricity.

The News & Observer

Now, where is Duke and Progress Energy Companies going to get the resources they need to provide power to the 9 million people in North Carolina? Paige Sheehan of Duke Energy has an answer for that.

Progress and Duke import nearly all their coal from Appalachian coal mines. About half the coal — about 15 million tons a year — comes from mountaintop removal, while the rest comes from underground coal mines. North Carolina is one of the nation’s top users of mountaintop coal.

But banning mountaintop coal would increase demand for other Appalachian coal and drive up prices for customers, utility officials warned.

“You’d basically cut our market in half where we can get our coal,” said Duke spokeswoman Paige Sheehan. “And you would not stop mountaintop mining because there’s such a global demand for coal.”

So what you would see is an enormous spike in utility bills hitting every income class in the state. Now I have always been told that the Democratic Party is for the little guy, but Pricey Harrison must not buy into that philosophy since her bill would be detrimental to lower and middle income North Carolinians in order to satisfy an extreme environmental lobby.

Harrison said she was prompted to introduce legislation after recently seeing a documentary, “Mountain Top Removal,” released this year by Pittsboro independent filmmaker Michael O’Connell. The documentary tracks two years of the life of a West Virginia family living at the edge of a mountaintop removal site.

So the woman sits down and watches one movie and that’s all she needs to try and make laws that would have a catastrophic financial impact on the people of her district. I guess you get what you vote for.

This sewage has to be one of the most offensive attempts of institutionalized racism I have ever seen in modern day.

State Reps. Larry Womble and Earline Parmon, both Winston-Salem Democrats, are the sponsors of the bill, which is known as the North Carolina Racial Justice Act. It was narrowly approved last year by the N.C. House of Representatives and is pending in the state Senate.

“We want to try to make the system as objective and colorblind as much as we possibly can,” Womble said. “There’s evidence that says it is not completely colorblind.”

In North Carolina, about 22 percent of the population is black, while more than 50 percent of the inmates on death row are black.

If the bill is passed, defendants would be allowed to cite such statistics to try to prove that race was an improper factor in a prosecutor’s decision to request the death penalty. If a judge finds that race was a factor, the judge could overturn a death sentence.

So, if you’re a black man on death row you can have your death sentenced overturned because of the color of your skin. As for whitey, well, screw you. What would Mr. Womble and Ms Parmon think if there were a disproportionate number of white men on death row and a couple of white lawmakers sought to pass a law that would allow them to get off for being white? My God, they’d have Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton down here holding a conference and having a civil rights parade!

Here is a thought for these two racist dung heaps. If these men weren’t murdering people they wouldn’t be on death row! Instead of trying to allow the legal system to discriminate in favor of black men on death row, maybe Mr. Womble and Ms Parmon should be out talking to their constituencies about why there are so many blacks on death row. If they really cared they’d be out there condemning the fact that 3/4 of black children are born out of wedlock with no father in their lives. Children who grow up fatherless are largely at risk for getting involved in drug and alcohol abuse as well as dropping out of school and turning to a life of crime.  They’d be out pushing for school choice so that black families in the inner cities can get their children out of these dangerous schools so they can get a decent education.

Womble and Parmon don’t believe in equality. They simply want to reinstate racism in their favor.

A proposal that passed the House Finance Committee this morning would boost the state earned-income tax credit from 3.5 percent to 5 percent of a similar federal credit.

The state would return an estimated $21 million more to taxpayers per year, for a total of $70 million under the credit.

If the proposal becomes law, legislators drawing up this year’s state budget would have to cut spending or find another way to way to offset that loss of revenue.

The credit is refundable, meaning even workers who don’t earn enough to pay income taxes would receive money.

Asheville Citizen-Times

So it’s a welfare handout.  I’m certainly not opposed to people getting back what they paid, but why are people who haven’t paid any income tax receiving an “earned income tax credit?”  That’s realistically impossible for them to receive a credit on money they haven’t paid so this Marxist transfer of wealth from one class of people to another is wrongly named.