scharrison's blog

The line between being coy and outright deception is pretty thin:

Former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, the presumptive Republican nominee for North Carolina governor and favorite for the office in November, brought this issue to the forefront recently when he said he won't release his tax returns this year. He says that he'll release all of the financial data required under state ethics laws but that his return is private.

So much for running on a platform to eradicate the "culture of corruption" in State Government. And this idiotic statement had me laughing outloud:

Making the gap between the Haves and the Have-Nots even wider:

In addition to taking a hacksaw to higher-education funding last year, the Honorables also cut money for financial aid. Some revenue from the tuition increase will go to financial aid, but as the price of admission rises more students will fall through the cracks.

I think it's safe to say that making the UNC System only available to the privileged few was exactly what the framers of our Constitution didn't want to happen:

Matt Dixon will try to knock off one of the Gang of Five:

Elizabethtown attorney Matt Dixon announced this week that he would seek the Democratic nomination in state House District 22. In a statement, Dixon said he will focus his campaign on returning education funding cut under the budget Brisson and Republican leaders crafted.

We asked for it, now we need to back this guy up. I haven't found a campaign page yet, but I'll put up a link when I do.

Plotting with lobbyists to compound the misery of our unemployed:

Next Thursday, February 16, the General Assembly will renew this problematic pattern when it returns to Raleigh for another “special” session on a yet-to-be-disclosed topic (or topics).

An email obtained by NC Policy Watch, however, indicates that legislative leaders have been secretly negotiating with business lobbyists on at least one topic: unemployment insurance.

Hat-tip to Rob Schofield for exposing this information. Here's the text of the e-mail:

If you call them "Professionals", you don't have to pay them overtime:

It's unclear how many programmers, analysts and web designers would be affected by the proposed legislation, but the goal is to make overtime pay for these kinds of workers an exception, not the norm. "Jobs are my No. 1 priority," she said. "I want to do everything I can to make sure employers have the tools they need to hire North Carolinians and invest in the local economy."

Once again, I have to explain the obvious: If you can work one person for 70 hours a week without paying time-and-a-half, there's no incentive to hire a second person to absorb some of the workload. If you're wondering if this would impact you, read the bill:

Leaving 43,000 folks out in the cold:

The map leaves 43,000 residents of the new District 6 without representation in county government for the next two years. State Senate leader Phil Berger, who's responsible for creating this mess, still won't acknowledge that a problem exists let alone move to fix it.

That's because he doesn't consider it a "problem". Republicans in the General Assembly have treated municipalities/county governments with nothing but contempt since they took charge. If they could, they would take away all local representation, leaving everybody to depend on (a useless) state government for their needs. In a perfect world (again, we don't live there), that would equate to 43,000 votes against Berger (or whoever) in the next election.