Carolina Politics Online

Former state Sen. Patrick Ballantine has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, listing assets of $819,937 and liabilities of $6.2 million, according to court records. Under Chapter 7, assets are liquidated to pay creditors.

Star News

Not surprisingly, the North Carolina State Senate almost unanimously decided that you can’t be trusted on how to spend your money.  They have to make that decision for you because they’re better and more intelligent than you.  The Senate passed Senate Bill 38, the companion to House Bill 80, to ban the continuation of Internet sweepstakes in North Carolina by a vote of 47 to 1.  The only member of the Senate that stood up for individual freedom was Senator Julia Boseman (D-Wilmington).

So over the weekend an enjoyable little video made the rounds.

Apparently someone decided his night wouldn’t be complete without a good streaking in downtown Wrightsville Beach. I know that feeling. I’ve often felt that a night at the beach just ain’t finished ’till  I strip down and show my Irish Pride to the world.

Unfortunately for Mr. Streaky, the brief time he spent showing the world his shortcomings will be forever immortalized online- someone with a cell phone camera caught most of it. At least, the part right after the tasing and police gang tackle.

Unfortunately, this must-see tv was ruined by Dep. Barney Fife and his ignorance of the law. Kinda ironic… considering it’s job to enforce the law. Yes, the cameraman was perfectly within his rights to record this incident, and I’m glad Dep. Fife got dressed down by Sheriff Taylor.

The Eighth Senate district is a seat that the Republicans need to pick up if they are going to take over the State Senate.  The seat is currently held by Democrat R.C. Soles who is not seeking reelection due to a lot of bad press he has been receiving over the past couple of years.  He seems to have a penchant for young men, among other things.

The Eighth covers Brunswick, Columbus, and Pender counties.

Raleigh, N.C. – In the election for North Carolina’s 8th Senate District seat, Republican candidate Bill Rabon is leading the race against Democratic opponent David Redwine by 15 percent according to a new SurveyUSA poll released today by the Civitas Institute.

According to the poll of 350 registered voters, 50 percent said that if the election for state Senator were held today they would vote for Rabon who is campaigning to replace retiring Democratic Sen. R.C. Soles. Thirty-five percent said they would vote for Redwine, and 15 percent said they were undecided.

Rabon’s lead is built among strong support from unaffiliated voters where he leads Redwine by a 51 percent-28 percent margin. Also, despite a competitive primary, Rabon has been able to rally the Republican base vote with 87 percent of Republicans saying they would vote for him.

Civitas Institute

I bring this up for three reasons. Whether you like/support/agree with the Tea Party or not, these three things are undeniable:

1) Wilmington is a really nice place and close to the beach
2) Michael Barone will be a guest speaker. Michael Barone is awesome.
3) Mary Katherine Ham is also a guest speaker, and MKH is beautiful and I want to marry her. If it wasn’t for that damn restraining order, I totally would too.

Anyways, it’s from Friday to Sunday and there’s still time to sign up I think. Here’s the link:

http://www.ncteapartysummit.com/ncteapartysummiteast.html

Republican Congressional candidate Will Breazeale wants voters to know that his main primary opponent, Ilario Pantano, only became a Republican late last year, when he switched affiliations from independent.

Pantano didn’t throw stones back when asked what voters should know about Breazeale. He said simply that Breazeale “loves his country and wants to serve the people of the 7th District.”

Pantano and Breazeale are vying for the Republican nomination in the district that includes all or parts of 10 Southeastern North Carolina counties, including Brunswick, New Hanover and Pender.

Randy Crow, who has been unsuccessful in 15 runs for elected office, is also in the race.

The winner of the May 4 primary will face incumbent U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-Lumberton, in the Nov. 2 general election. McIntyre is serving his seventh term in the House. All three GOP hopefuls support term limits.

The Star News

I sent a questionnaire to Pantano and Breazeale, but haven’t gotten a response. So if you’re interested in either Republican in this race, this article will probably be as close as you get to some elucidation.

Curtis Wright was fired Thursday from his job as the host of The Morning Beat talk show on The Big Talker FM, according to a statement from Paul Knight general manager of Sea-Comm, Inc., which owns the station.

Wright, who has hosted the show for three and a half years, said he was fired after Thursday’s show, and that he wasn’t given a reason.

He said he was offered a choice to either resign or be terminated, and he declined to quit.

In an interview, Knight said Wright’s termination was a difficult decision, which the station’s management team made after months of consideration.

During Thursday’s interview, Knight said Wright had built a large audience, but that change is common in the radio business.

The Star News

Update: The House may be voting tomorrow.

Get the lie out first and ignore the truth later.  That is apparently the philosophy that the media and the Democrats are running with today.  You may have heard all the hype this morning about the CBO claiming that the health care bill will cost $940 billion and reduce the deficit by $130 billion over ten years, right?

Not exactly.

Although CBO completed a preliminary review of legislative language prior to its release, the agency has not thoroughly examined the reconciliation proposal to verify its consistency with the previous draft. This estimate is therefore preliminary, pending a review of the language of the reconciliation proposal, as well as further review and refinement of the budgetary projections.

You see, this is a preliminary estimate that does not include all the other changes that are being proposed to reconcile the House and Senate bills, yet the Democrats and their minions in the out of mainstream media are running around quoting this as fact.  It’s just more dishonesty in a long line of lies.

Here is one thing I am fairly certain of, though.  The House does not have the votes to pass this bill as of today.  If they did, they’d have already voted on it.  That doesn’t mean they won’t get them, however, so if you value your freedom and don’t want an unconstitutional government take over of your health care, then get on the phone and tell your Congressman to vote NO on this bill.

The four Democrats in our two states with the biggest potential of voting no on this are Heath Shuler, Mike McIntyre, Bob Etheridge, and John Spratt.  They all represent Republican leaning districts.  Definitely concentrate on them.

Heath Shuler
Phone: (202) 225-6401
Fax: (202) 226-6422

Bob Etheridge
Phone: (202) 225-4531
Fax: (202) 225-5662

Mike McIntyre
Phone: (202) 225-2731
Fax: (202) 225-5773

John Spratt
Phone: 202-225-5501
Fax: 202-225-0464

One the most closely watched races in the battle for the N.C. State Senate will be in Wilmington, where several candidates will attempt to succeed Julia Boseman (D).

The Republican primary is a matchup between two lawyers: Michael Lee, who lost to Boseman in 2008, and Republican activist Thom Goolsby. A friend sent me one of Goolsby’s campaign flyers. Whoever responds first telling us why Goolsby may have to rely solely on early voting gets a free Carolina Politics Online baseball cap*.

*-does not imply that you will actually get a cap.

Meanwhile, Michael Lee has introduced a new web video ridiculing Goolsby’s claim that he’s “not a politician”, despite Goolsby’s somewhat disturbing obsession with getting elected to office.

And no, I’m not endorsing Lee over Goolsby. I postz what I gotz. Goolsby supporters are welcome to respond in kind.

Wilmington’s Juggling Gypsy hookah bar is the first establishment in the area fined for violating the state’s new indoor smoking ban.

The Castle Street bar received two violations from the New Hanover County Health Department carrying a total of $400 in administrative penalties, under the ban that went into effect Jan. 2.

Juggling Gypsy Manager Denny Best said the bar would appeal the fine and ask for a hearing with the health department.

If unsuccessful there, Best said this week the bar would appeal further to the court system and planned on holding a fundraiser later this month to raise money for legal fees if it gets that far.

The Star News

Gasp! Smoking? In a hookah bar?!?! Why… I’ve never heard of such a thing. Surely the benevolent busybodies of government can protect all us peons from the scourge of the dastardly people forcing customers into their bars and exposing them to second-hand smoke.
[/sarcasm]

Good luck to the Gypsy. I’ll keep my on this case and let you know how to donate to their defense fun if it gets that far.

The Obama administration will accept no more public input for a federal strategy that could prohibit U.S. citizens from fishing some of the nation’s oceans, coastal areas, Great Lakes, and even inland waters.

This announcement comes at the time when the situation supposedly still is “fluid” and the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force still hasn’t issued its final report on zoning uses of these waters.

That’s a disappointment, but not really a surprise for fishing industry insiders who have negotiated for months with officials at the Council on Environmental Quality and bureaucrats on the task force. These angling advocates have come to suspect that public input into the process was a charade from the beginning.

ESPN

Of course it was a charade. Obama doesn’t give a damn about what the public thinks about anything. He’s demonstrated that pretty consistently throughout the past year.

So what is the point of this? The states have been managing the use of their waterways with little to no problem for over 200 years. Well, it turns out that this whole unconstitutional power grab is being orchestrated by the radical left environmental movement.

As ESPN previously reported, WWF, Greenpeace, Defenders of Wildlife, Pew Environment Group and others produced a document entitled “Transition Green” shortly after Obama was elected in 2008. What has happened since suggests that the task force has been in lockstep with that position paper.

Then in late summer, just after he created the task force, these groups produced “Recommendations for the Adoption and Implementation of an Oceans, Coasts, and Great Lakes National Policy.” This document makes repeated references to “overfishing,” but doesn’t once reference recreational angling, its importance, and its benefits, both to participants and the resource.

Additionally, some of these same organizations have revealed their anti-fishing bias by playing fast and loose with “facts,” in attempts to ban tackle containing lead in the United States and Canada.

That same tunnel vision, in which recreational angling and commercial fishing are indiscriminately lumped together as harmful to the resource, has persisted with the task force, despite protests by the angling industry.

As more evidence of collusion, the green groups began clamoring for an Executive Order to implement the task force’s recommendations even before the public comment period ended in February. Fishing advocates had no idea that this was coming.

The commercial and recreational fishing industries have already been taking a big hit in both North and South Carolina and the last thing we need is further encroachment by the Federal government.  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has already exhibited plenty of incompetence in the way it enforces U.S. fisheries laws such to the effect that Congressman Walter Jones (R-NC-03) has called for a halt to all prosecutions of fishermen by the NOAA and a complete overhaul of how the laws are enforced.

Morlock fears that “what we’re seeing coming at us is an attempted dismantling of the science-based fish and wildlife model that has served us so well. There’s no basis in science for the agendas of these groups who are trying to push the public out of being able to fish and recreate.

“Conflicts (user) are overstated and problems are manufactured. It’s all just an excuse to put us off the water.”

In the wake of the task force’s framework document, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) and its partners in the U.S. Recreational Fishing & Boating Coalition against voiced their concerns to the administration.

“Some of the potential policy implications of this interim framework have the potential to be a real threat to recreational anglers who not only contribute billions of dollars to the economy and millions of dollars in tax revenues to support fisheries conservation, but who are also the backbone of the American fish and wildlife conservation ethic,” said CSF President Jeff Crane.

Morlock, a member of the CSF board, added, “There are over one million jobs in America supported coast to coast by recreational fishing. The task force has not included any accountability requirements in their reports for evaluating or mitigating how the new policies they are drafting will impact the fishing industry or related economies.

“Given that the scope of this process appears to include a new set of policies for all coastal and inland waters of the United States, the omission of economic considerations is inexcusable.”

This is not the only access issue threatening the public’s right to fish, but it definitely is the most serious, according to Chris Horton, national conservation director for BASS.

“With what’s being created, the same principles could apply inland as apply to the oceans,” he said. “Under the guise of ‘marine spatial planning’ entire watersheds could be shut down, even 2,000 miles up a river drainage from the ocean.

“Every angler needs to be aware because if it’s not happening in your backyard today or tomorrow, it will be eventually.

This is what happens when you put an out of touch ideologue beholden to radical special interests in the highest office in the land. The fact that Obama intends to implement this with an Executive Order completely bypassing Congress gives credence to the accusation that he is becoming an elected dictator, much like Hugo Chavez.

This won’t be used to just regulate fishing either. Rest assured that the bureaucratic entities created to manage all of this will also be used to thwart any oil or natural gas exploration off our coastal waters, thus effectively reinstating the Federal drilling ban that just expired less than two years ago.

There is already talk of a ban on bottom fishing all the way down the North and South Carolina coasts to Georgia.  Thousands of jobs in these states can potentially be effected by this at a time when they are experiencing double digit unemployment rates. That aside, there is also the element of this being yet another chipping away at the block of individual freedom and liberty that Americans have enjoyed for over two centuries and that the President and this Congress spit on daily.

If this is put into place it seems like El Presidente will get to decide when and where you go fishing. With the industry being so large I am hoping this will end up in the Supreme Court with a Constitutional challenge if Obama makes good on this move.

The battle is on for N.C.’s 9th Senate District, which is based in Wilmington. Yesterday local attorney Thom Goolsby, who ran unsuccessfully for AG back in 2004 and dropped out of a state house race in 2008, filed as a Republican.

Later today another attorney, Michael Lee, will also file as a Republican. Lee ran against Boseman in 2008 and narrowly lost this swing seat in a bad Republican year.

Democrat incumbent Julia Boseman announced a few months ago that she would not seek re-election. Democrats have coalesced around former UNC-Wilmington Chancellor Jim Leutze.

District Attorney Rex Gore used public resources to announce his re-election campaign Tuesday, a violation of state campaign laws.

Gore’s executive assistant Libby Carlisle, a state employee, sent the announcement via e-mail shortly after 1 p.m.

State law prohibits public employees from doing campaign activities while at work or using state equipment or resources for political purposes. Violating the campaign law is a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Asked about the violation, Gore said, “That was probably a mistake.”

He said he wrote the press release and forwarded it to Carlisle because he was out of the office and didn’t have his mailing list.

“I didn’t think about it,” he said.

The Star-News

Memo to Rex: “I Didn’t Think About It” probably shouldn’t be your campaign slogan.

The North Carolina FreeEnterprise Foundation has compiled a list of the top ten most competitive State Senate races in North Carolina this year.  It’s pretty much on par with what I have written about as well.  They list the most likely seat to flip being District 43 currently held by Senator David Hoyle (D).  This is a very heavily Republican district and Hoyle has hung on over the years due to his more conservative and pro-business voting record, but he has decided to retire from the Senate this year leaving it an open race.  Two other open seats, Districts 8 and 9 held by Democrats R.C Soles and Julia Boseman are also open seats this year.  Both have decided not to seek reelection and both are Republican leaning districts.

The Foundation also has the following on their radar:

I don’t agree with all of the above. In what is looking like to be a Republican wave year, I don’t see any of the first term Republicans they list as being in trouble unless one of them is a real jag off.

Personally, I would include Marc Basnight as being potentially vulnerable this year. He represents a district that is just barely Democratic and in a year in which voters may throw his party overboard on top of him orchestrating a huge tax increase on the people of this state. The state Republicans would be wasting a colossal opportunity to not recruit a decent candidate against him. They have plenty to beat him over the head with.

So as I’ve said before North Carolina Republicans have an opportunity to capture the State Senate this year for the first time in, well, ever, providing their organization is competent enough to do so. Redistricting will begin next year and the Republicans will want to take control so they can undo the gerrymandering done by the Democrats and turn around and gerrymander it all over again in their favor instead. We really need an independent commission drawing districts in this state.

The cost of building the Wilmington Convention Center is rising, and the anticipated completion date has been pushed back a couple of months to November.

The city’s original construction contract with J.M. Thompson Co., the main contractor, was for $28.5 million. But 16 change orders since construction began have pushed the cost to about $36.2 million, a 27 percent increase, according to city documents.

The Star-News

While that’s going on down in Wilmington, the city of Raleigh is having a wonderful debate on the intelligence (or lack thereof) of raising taxes to pay for a $205 million dollar building:

Mayor Charles Meeker won’t call a vote on the Clarence E. Light ner Public Safety Center at today’s city council meeting, again delaying a formal decision on a controversial project.

Criticism over the likely property tax increase to pay for the proposed $205 million project has stalled momentum in recent weeks.

Several council members, including Thomas Crowder, Bonner Gaylord and John Odom, have raised concerns about the size of the project and the timing of passing a tax increase in the worst economic climate since the Great Depression.

The downtown tower would be the largest and most expensive building the city has ever built, housing police, fire, emergency communications and information technology departments.

The N&O

Raleigh needs the building. Raleigh DOES NOT need a tax increase to pay for a $205 million building. We all have to cut our budgets, Mayor Meeker. I’m pretty sure you can too.

The odds for a Republican take over of the North Carolina State Senate just got a lot better.  State Senator R.C. Soles (D-Tabor City), the longest serving in the Senate has announced that he will not seek reelection.  It’s not that surprising that he has chosen to retire.  Aside from being 75 years old, he has been plagued with two scandals, one that he molested a teen aged boy and he is facing a possible indictment for shooting someone in his home last August.

Republicans need to win six Senate seats to take over the body and Soles is another retirement that may make that possible.  The district has been trending towards the GOP and Soles opponent last year, Bettie Fennell, came considerably close to defeating him.  Soles’ retirement is in addition to a few other Democrat retirements who also represent Republican friendly districts.  Senator David Hoyle of Gastonia represents a heavily Republican leaning district that the GOP will almost certainly pick up.  Senator Julia Boseman of Wilmington who like Soles has been embroiled in personal conflicts has also decided not to run for reelection.  Her predecessor was a Republican.

Who controls the state legislature next year will be vital as he who has the power controls the redistricting after the Census is completed.

Queen Pelosi has set a vote for this Saturday, November 7th for the $1.05 trillion tyrannical health care bill they have pieced together in the House. The Democrats hold 258 House seats; 218 aye votes are needed to pass, which means 41 Democrats need to defect from their party in order to stop this, assuming no Republicans vote for it and I don’t think any will. That might sound like a tall order, but it may not be. The Blue Dog Democrats as well as other more moderate Democrats representing Republican districts are considerably nervous after Tuesday night’s election wins for the GOP in Virginia and New Jersey, so there will be considerable resistance to this bill, mainly on the grounds that it is too expensive.

This can be stopped, but the public has to take action. If your Congressman is a member of the Blue Dog coalition absolutely call their offices and tell them to oppose this bill.  In North Carolina we have two Blue Dog Democrats, Congressman Heath Shuler (NC-11) and Congressman Mike McIntyre (NC-07).

If your Congressman isn’t a member of the Blue Dogs, but still represents a moderate or Republican leaning district, like my Congressman, call them too. They are just as vulnerable to an angry public.  I would recommend contacting Congressmen Bob Etheridge (NC-02), Larry Kissell (NC-08),  and John Spratt (SC-05).  And even if you have an out of touch far left kook “representing” you in Congress, it doesn’t hurt to call them either. You might be surprised. And call the Republicans too, just to be sure.

If you don’t want to be thrown in jail for not buying a government approved health care plan, then you had better take some action. If you don’t you only have yourself to blame when intrusive government comes barreling down on you and your family.

Strickland was arrested Sunday night on charges of fleeing to elude arrest, reckless endangerment and driving without a license. He had just posted a $100,000 bond Thursday after being arrested for allegedly burning his own house.

The house on March Avenue was paid for, at least in part, by Soles.

Strickland posted a bond of about $8,000 set by a magistrate Sunday night. But during the teenager’s first court appearance on the charges Monday morning, the state asked the judge to revoke what Strickland posted and raise the bond, District Attorney Rex Gore said.

The chase that led to Strickland’s arrest spanned several streets on the west side of Tabor City and reached speeds of at least 75 mph, officials said.

Soles, 74, is facing his own investigations by the State Bureau of Investigation. One stems from another young man’s allegation, which was later retracted, that Soles attempted to molest him years ago. The other inquiry, police say, is into Soles’ shooting of another young man who confronted him at his home in Tabor City on Aug. 23.

Wilmington Star

Wow!  This has to be the juiciest political scandal in the country right now.

So let me see if I can recap all of this.  Alan Strickland, a 17 year old boy who manages to own his own house, burns it down.  It is discovered that the house was bought for him by State Senator R.C. Soles (D – Tabor City) even though there is no family relation here.  No, nothing weird about that.  Soles is now under investigation concerning his rather unusual “relationships” with several young men in the area.  There’s more.

Then another young man comes forward and accuses Soles of molesting him when he was 15 years old.  Then he retracts it.  Attention then focuses to the Corvette that Strickland drives which he claims he paid for himself, yet he has no job and is under 18 and not in school which means by North Carolina law he is not even allowed to have a license.  Soles says he never bought him the car.  Strickland was jailed after a lengthy police chase on a half a million dollars bond which is evidently going to be posted by his “people.”

There is one of two things going on here.  Scenario number one, the kid is a drug dealer.  That explains the money for the car. Scenario number two, Soles did buy him the car along with the house because there is clearly something in the closet Soles wants to remain hidden.  Throw in the accusation from the other kid of being allegedly molested by Soles and well, I think you get the picture.  Then, of course, there is the possibility that both are true and this kid is going to need some serious therapy.

LUMBERTON — As the battle over health care reform rages across the country, U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre is standing firmly against the Obama administration-backed plan.

“Although health care reform is needed, this bill, H.R. 3200, is not the way to do it,” McIntyre, whose 7th Congressional District encompasses much of Southeastern North Carolina, told The Robesonian last week. “It costs too much and is being done too fast and too soon.”

The bill, known as “America’s Affordable Health Choices Act,” is far from the solution to the nation’s health care woes, contends McIntyre and other opponents of the more than 1,000-page document. It is a plan, the congressman insists, that cannot successfully address health care problems.

“I am concerned that this proposal, which is currently the leading proposal in the health care debate, will not solve the problem. I’m concerned that it will actually exacerbate the problem.”

The Robesonian

Well Congressman, well over half of the country shares your concerns about this bill and we’re glad to hear you are listening to the American people rather than the moonbat fringe of your party.