Fight for our democracy
Gerrymandering districts in North Carolina is old hat. Democrats gerrymandered districts for years to ensure they kept majorities in the state House and Senate and Congress. Now, the GOP has virtually unassailable districts in a state that is evenly divided between...
It’s time to run
Yesterday, Holly Jones, a candidate for Lieutenant Governor and a client of mine, launched a program called Crowdsourcing candidates. The goal is to encourage Democrats to run for legislative seats against Republicans. As Holly noted, forty-four Republicans won...
Winding down the two-party system
The party system in this country is dying. It’s been killed off mainly by a weird combination of laws meant to restrict money in campaigns and ones meant to allow more. A bill passed by the legislature in North Carolina just created four new state parties to compete...
Let the races begin!
Let the races begin! The governor signed into law a bill moving primaries for all elections from the first Tuesday in May to March 15. Filing begins in two months. With the legislature out of town and the federal quarterly deadline passed, expect to see announcements...
They’re finally gone
They’re finally gone. Early this morning about 4:30 or so, the General Assembly adjourned. They left a lot of damage in their wake, but it could have been worse. On the down side, our pubic schools continue to be underfunded and our teachers underpaid. In a blatantly...
Make ’em own the damage
The damage that Republicans are doing to public schools is on full display. Our per pupil spending is among the lowest in the nation. Our teacher pay ranks down there, too, and a new study lists North Carolina 50 on its list of best states for teachers. Now, the...
Taking UNC down the road to mediocrity
Nothing the Republicans have done in North Carolina is quite as disturbing as watching their handling of the University of North Carolina system. They stacked the Board of Governors with ideologues and put an obviously incompetent lawyer in charge of it. They’ve fired...
Primary kicker
Well, the North Carolina primary has been moved to March 15 for all elections. It’s probably not a huge deal but it does mean that election season is going to start the second the legislative session ends. Filing is December 1 to December 21. In politics, the period...
Fixin’ what ain’t broke
Republicans couldn’t have found a better target than Medicaid. It’s everything they hate—a huge government program that serves poor people and is administered by a nonprofit instead of private sector. Unfortunately, it was also working extremely well. Community Care...
Driving Harold
Rob Christensen’s article today reminded me that my older brother worked for Harold Hardison on his campaign for lieutenant governor. Somehow, Fetzer got to be his driver. I’m not sure whose idea it was, but it wasn’t a very good one. Fetzer is one of the worst...
