Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory is asking people to flash their photo ID when they show up to vote in the primary election. McCrory says in a campaign video that ID is “necessary to protect the fair, democratic vote.” His election gimmick is allegedly designed to remind people that he supports legislation passed [Continue Reading...]
It’s not often that legislation introduced in the General Assembly comes with a slickly produced 12-page color brochure, but that’s what the office of Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger sent out Monday to accompany Berger’s introduction of the “Excellent Public Schools Act.” Berger released his education package at a news conference at [Continue Reading...]
15—number of days until voters in North Carolina will decide the fate of the marriage discrimination amendment to the state constitution (N.C. State Board of Elections) 27—number of words that appear on the ballot to describe constitutional amendment—“Constitutional amendment to provide that marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic [Continue Reading...]
Republican leaders in North Carolina get very agitated when their party and their agenda are described as extremist, though it’s hard to think of a word that fits any better given the General Assembly’s performance in the last year. Lawmakers passed the one of the most extreme and intrusive anti-choice bills in the [Continue Reading...]
One of the least discussed destructive decisions made by the General Assembly last year was the approval of a budget provision that opened the door to for profit virtual charter schools in North Carolina. And it didn’t take long for a company to try to take advantage of the new law. Officials with [Continue Reading...]
The biggest political story in Raleigh this week has not been the debates between the candidates vying for the Democratic nomination for governor. It has been the troubles at the N.C. Democratic Party. Executive Director Jay Parmley resigned Saturday after news accounts that the party had paid a former staff member as part [Continue Reading...]
Today is tax day, when most of the media report on the last minute rush at the post office and how to file an extension to give yourself six more months to send your forms to the IRS. It’s also a day when the anti-government crowd swings its propaganda machine into overdrive to [Continue Reading...]
The debate over the Affordable Care Act (ACA) continues in this election year. The Supreme Court will rule this summer on a lawsuit challenging the law even as millions of Americans are already benefiting from its provisions. Insurance companies can no longer deny coverage to children with a preexisting condition. Children can stay [Continue Reading...]
The forces hellbent on writing discrimination in the North Carolina constitution must be getting a little nervous these days. The momentum in the battle over the marriage discrimination amendment is clearly not on their side. Not only did former Charlotte mayor Richard Vinroot, a prominent Republican, come out against the amendment, this week [Continue Reading...]
You would think that an ideological move by some conservative state lawmakers to overhaul a major health care system in North Carolina run by the flagship university would command a serious discussion and a transparent legislative process. Not in this General Assembly. A House study committee voted for legislation Tuesday that would change [Continue Reading...]
Republican legislative leaders and the propaganda outfits that support them are scrambling these days. Their spin machines are in overdrive trying to convince voters that the budget the Republican-led General Assembly passed last summer did not damage public schools. There’s the $500,000 television ad campaign from Americans for Prosperity and the Pope Civitas [Continue Reading...]
682.2 million—amount in dollars of cuts to the University of North Carolina system in the 2011-2013 budget approved by the General Assembly last summer (“Underpreparing for the Future: North Carolina’s Divestment in Post-Secondary Education,” N.C. Budget & Center, April 2012) 235 million—amount in dollars of cuts to community colleges in the 2011-2013 budget [Continue Reading...]
If there were any lingering doubts about the damage the budget passed by the Republican-led General Assembly is doing to public schools, they were removed emphatically Tuesday by people who know the truth, 26 school system superintendents who told their stories to the State Board of Education. They talked about closing schools, firing [Continue Reading...]
It is now just a month before voters in North Carolina will decide if discrimination will be written into the state constitution and thousands of families, gay and straight, will lose benefits and rights because of the broad, sweeping language of the amendment approved by the Republican-led General Assembly last year. Polls continue [Continue Reading...]
1.5 billion—amount in dollars spent on lottery tickets in North Carolina in 2011 (“Prosperity seen as a scratch ticket away in poorest counties,” NC Policy Watch Investigates, March 29, 2012) 212—amount in dollars in per capita spending on the lottery in North Carolina in 2011 (Ibid) 516—amount in dollars in per capita spending [Continue Reading...]
