More troubling transition rumors

The Raleigh rumor mill is churning out a lot of names these days as possible high-level appointees in Governor-elect Beverly Perdue's administration. The News & Observer's Under the Dome reports that Perdue is considering Senator Clark Jenkins for Secretary of Transportation. 

Jenkins certainly has experience with DOT, having served on the Board of Transportation and chairing the Senate Transportation Committee for several sessions. He has also criticized the management of the department in recent years. 

But he is also a conservative white male Raleigh insider with close ties to Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, which doesn't exactly conjure up thoughts of a new way of doing things in Raleigh. Jenkins support of discretionary accounts at DOT controlled by legislative leaders doesn't bode well for the reform of DOT Perdue has promised either.

The other name mentioned in various reports is Lanny Wilson, a prominent Democratic donor and fundraiser, which ought to rule him out, but don't bet on it. Another possibility being discussed for DOT Secretary but not yet reported is Rep. Becky Carney from Charlotte. Carney sponsored legislation last session to set up a fund to help local governments in urban areas fund mass transit projects, which is not normally on the good old boy list of priorities.

And while serving in the General Assembly makes you at least somewhat of an insider, Carney doesn't have the long ties to DOT or Basnight that Jenkins brings to the table. Not to mention that the state has never had a woman run the department.

Common sense courage from Albertson

Sen. Charlotte Albertson represents a rural, conservative Democratic district in Southeastern North Carolina and has primarily made his mark in the General Assembly on agricultural issues. With a few notable exceptions, he has also evolved into a relatively sane voice on environmental and farm worker legislation.

At a recent breakfast meeting in Kinston, local citizens wanted to talk about immigration and Albertson and other legislators there agreed that the federal government needs to do its job and pass immigration reform.

The Kinston Free Press reports that several people in the audience were upset when Albertson added that "state lawmakers are not in the immigration business,"  and told him that undocumented workers were "flooding our schools" and receiving local services.

The paper reports that Albertson told the somewhat hostile crowd that the state should allow undocumented students to attend community colleges to continue their education, telling the spectators that "illegal immigrants are allowed to get a public education as children and when they graduate do we deny them higher education all together?"

It doesn't make much sense and good for Albertson for pointing it out in a less than friendly crowd.

Reserve for streaming video

House leaders are now considering broadcasting video of House sessions online.  A House committee studying televising sessions was told this week that it would cost $1.3 million to set up the system and then $500,000 a year to keep it going. The Senate has no committee working on televising its proceedings, so it's not clear if the Senate would go along with making government more transparent to the people it represents.

The stories about the meeting focused on the cost, understandable given the current state budget shortfall. Left out of the stories is the fact that the General Assembly had a $15 million reserve in its budget after operating costs.

What better use of the General Assembly budget that making the General Assembly more accessible to the taxpayers who fund it?

Her record had nothing to do with it

Former Senator Bob Dole said in Iowa this week that his wife Elizabeth lost her bid for reelection this year because she didn't have enough money to respond to the negative ads against her.  Dole must have been referring to ads paid for by national Democratic groups.

But it wasn't the money. Senator Dole raised far more money that her opponent Kay Hagan, and even added $3 million of her money the last month of the campaign. When the final spending figures on this race from all sources are tallied, it will show that the two sides spent roughly the same.

Maybe people in North Carolina were simply tired of the policies of the Bush Administration and Dole's support of them.