Everybody’s second choice
The GOP primary for U.S. Senate in North Carolina is starting to look really interesting. Yesterday’s campaign announcement by former Shelby Mayor Ted Alexander makes six people vying for the nomination. If all six actually file next month, the path to a clear victory...
Wos: The weight around Republican necks
Last week was full of bad news for the embattled Department of Health and Human Services and its leader, Secretary Aldona Wos. The Department sent 49,000 letters containing personal information to the wrong people. The U. S. Department of Agriculture threatened to cut...
New entry into GOP Senate primary increases odds of a runoff
Today, former Shelby Mayor Ted Alexander is announcing his entry into the GOP primary for U. S. Senate. According to The Shelby Star, Alexander said, “you feel God’s compelled you to do it.” Alexander served as mayor for two terms and is currently chair of the...
Just another politician
Phil Berger, Jr. sure is fond of signing pledges and pandering to special interests. I realize he’s chasing money and trying to establish his conservative credentials in his bid to replace Howard Coble in Congress, but he could use a little subtlety. Right now, he...
Goolsby’s retirement may keep his seat safer for Republicans
Wilmington State Senator Thom Goolsby announced today that he’s not running for re-election. Goolsby has been a bit of a lightening rod in the Senate. Last summer, he referred to the Moral Monday protests as Moron Mondays. He’s known for his combative tone and sharply...
Tell Thomas: The advice column
Dear Thomas: I have a friend who has been a big help to me. She’s smart and rich and popular. At least everybody I know likes her. So, last year I hired her for a position I had open. She’s smart and rich and popular so certainly she could do the job. I mean, it's a...
Heckuva job, Ricky
It’s 2014. Ricky Diaz leaving the Department of Health and Human Services is the least surprising story of the day. It was the obvious end to his tenure. Diaz is a campaign hack. He’s 24 years old. He was always going back to campaigns when the cycle heated up again....
The Gospel of Antoinette
The fight over extending unemployment benefits is a good one for Kay Hagan. While special interests groups are pounding her over Obamacare, she’s able to make the case that she’s the candidate who cares about Americans who still need help recovering from the Great...
You say job growth, I say job loss. We’ll work the whole thing out…or not.
So, Pew Charitable Trust says North Carolina will be the eleventh best state in the country for job growth in 2014. According to a list sourced as the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we were 25th in 2013. So that’s a nice jump. However, Kipplinger predicted that we would...
Can this boy’s death begin the dialogue necessary to fix our mental health system?
Is mental health a place where we can find bi-partisanship to help people? And is the tragedy down in Brunswick County the catalyst that can bring people of all persuasions together to find solutions? Last weekend, police shot to death an 18 year-old, 90 pound boy,...
