Archive for December 2005
How’s This for a Scholarly Debate?
Republican State House Leader Richard Morgan says Republican Representative Ed McMahan is a skunk. (Those weren’t Richard’s exact words; he actually said McMahon “is about the most hypocritical person I know. I don’t like him. I don’t like his character. He has no business being National Committeeman or being Republican nominee for a legislative seat…
Read MoreA + B = C
Follow this logic: A. Mayor Meeker’s law firm has received $75,000 for work on the downtown Convention Center. B. Mayor Meeker’s law firm has – for years – represented the Triangle Transit Authority. C. As Mayor, Meeker supports spending $190 million to build the Convention Center and $800 million to build the TTA’s Light Rail…
Read MoreConvention Center Update
The City Council is deciding what kind of tunnel to build to connect Mayor Meeker’s $190 million (and already $12.5 million over budget) Convention Center to an underground parking deck. The choices are a “no frills” $2.5 million tunnel. Or a “spruced up” $3.4 million version. Want to guess which won? The Council voted to…
Read MoreAround Town
The City wants to sell 1.8 acres of land it owns downtown near Mayor Meeker’s Convention Center and Hotel. TMC Associates have already submitted a bid for the property. Duke Realty asked the City Council to extend the deadline for bids sixty days so it could bid too. The question was, would Mayor Meeker and…
Read More‘Smart Growth Democrats’
About a week ago, I got a copy of an email from a group that calls itself ‘Smart Growth Democrats’ urging their supporters to support two candidates – Rev. Renee Bethea and Rev. Paul Anderson – for openings on the Raleigh Planning Commission. The third candidate, according to the ‘Smart Growth Democrats,’ is unqualified because…
Read MoreIt Goes Beyond Jim Black
Newly elected Democrat State Chairman – and Howard Dean supporter – Jerry Meek has sounded off on behalf of besieged House Speaker Jim Black. Meek says: “There have been no allegations of wrongdoing against Jim Black and it’s a shame Joe Sinsheimer [the Democratic consultant who set up www.Blackmustgo.com] put his time and energy into…
Read MoreThe Ayatollahs Who Stole Christmas
Am I the only person who feels conflicted over this fight about how to celebrate Christmas – or, excuse me, the holidays? On the one hand, I’m congenitally offended by the Christian Ayatollahs like Called2Action here in Wake County. They claim to be on a mission from God to instruct the rest of us –…
Read MoreWill PR Solve Bush’s Problems?
Back when I was Governor Hunt’s press secretary in the 70s and 80s, I dreaded Monday morning Cabinet meetings. Every Cabinet secretary would report to the Governor on the wonderful things their departments were doing. There were no problems or foul-ups worth mentioning, of course. Every Monday, the consensus was the same: The people of…
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