Three key things that state lawmakers should remember as they negotiate a final budget bill
It’s never easy putting together something as complicated and important as a state budget. Contrary to the image conjured up by anti-government zealots of cigar smoking, fat cat politicians happily carving up pork in posh surroundings, a majority of it is actually time-consuming drudgery carried out by serious and sober men and women.
Corrections reform experts to speak here next week: Will leaders heed their advice?
One of the single biggest problems to confront state lawmakers when it gets down to balancing the budget is this: Where can they find hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts that won’t cause terrific harm?
The governor’s six-month review (and recommendations for improvement)
Public opinion polls tell us that voters are a disgruntled group these days – especially when it comes to state-level politicians. That figures. Times are tough and many a governor has had to be the bearer of bad news about the need to cut services and raise revenues in order to balance their state’s budget. It’s a lot easier to be popular when state coffers are full – even if you had little or nothing to do with it.
How poor media coverage of the budget debate is misinforming the public
Covering the ins and outs of government and the political sausage-making that goes into the construction of state law and policy is, admittedly, a tough job. Even for Legislative Building veterans it can be a real challenge to grasp and keep up with the intricacies and vagaries of the lawmaking process. To produce accurate and informative stories that enlighten and make any sense to the general public? Well, that’s even tougher – especially given the pressure of deadlines and limited time and space.
North Carolina’s hypocritical approach to criminal sentencing continues to produce bad results
Few things are more irresistible to a politician contemplating reelection than a good old “get tough on crime” bill. Whatever your political party or constituency, there’s something intoxicating about having one’s name attached to a new law that “cracks down” on a particular class of criminal offenders. It’s almost like pulling a string in front of a cat: Shop such an idea around the legislature and chances are that you’ll have a dozen lawmakers begging to be your champion.
It’s time for the Speaker of the House and his team to stand up and do the right thing on the state budget
It’s one of the great philosophical questions of democratic government and college political science classes. It goes something like this: To what should elected officials look when staking out their positions on the issues they confront – the desires of their constituents or the dictates of their own consciences? Is it better to do what one knows will please a majority of the voters tomorrow (or in the next election) or what one knows in one’s heart is “the right thing?”
It’s time for the state’s business establishment to get Blue Cross Blue Shield back on track
It’s hard to explain (especially to newcomers who haven’t lived here long), but there are few more important components in North Carolina’s political system than its moderate business establishment.
Hint: It ain’t jumpstarting the death penalty
This was a strange week of conflicting developments and mixed emotions for North Carolinians who care about building an effective, fair, and color blind criminal justice system.
Why an equal mix of spending cuts and new revenues is the best response to the state budget shortfall
The news on the state budget was bad again this week. According to the General Assembly’s Fiscal Research Division (and as Governor Perdue had made pretty plain the week before), April income tax figures were abysmal.
A North Carolina congresswoman strikes a blow for ignorance and hatred
More than half century ago, in one of the great moments in American political history, a lawyer by the name of Joseph Welch helped put an end to the mad ravings and witch hunts of Senator Joseph McCarthy in a brief exchange on national television.
An expert explains why, now more than ever, we need a new approach to job creation and retention
Here at NC Policy Watch, we’ve reported on many occasions about the flaws and foibles of the state’s traditional approach to “economic development.” To a distressingly large extent, state efforts in this area have been dominated by large, unfocused tax breaks like the wasteful and ineffective Bill Lee Act (now known as “Article 3J credits”) and large giveaways to individual companies (like Dell or Goodyear).
Why conservatives are responsible for so much government red tape
Over the last few decades, you would be hard pressed to find a major conservative political figure in the United States who didn’t regularly make government bashing a central theme of his or her campaign. You know the rap – most of us could recite it in our sleep:
In all the world of public policy, it’s hard to find a more controversial, hot-button issue than the public schools. If a “liberal” can sometimes be defined as “a conservative who thinks his rights were violated during a traffic stop or whose daughter has an unwanted pregnancy” then one definition of a “conservative” must be “a liberal whose kids don’t get assigned to the perfect, walking distance public school.”
The news has been full of disturbing stories of late about innocent people being sickened – some grievously – as the result of shockingly callous behavior on the part of corporate profiteers. Last year, it was product after product (pet food, toys, etc…) from the People’s Free Market Republic of China. In recent weeks the issue has hit closer to home. First it was Georgia peanut butter, and then this week, medical syringes from Raleigh. [Continue Reading...]
How polluters and ideologues are attempting to block the clean-up of a vital water resource
In case the recent deregulation-induced meltdown of much of world capitalism wasn’t enough to convince you, here’s another reminder of why the myth of the infallible “free market” is just that – a myth: It’s a little thing called “the environment.”
