Archive for May 2007
The Answer to Rising Gas Prices
In the last week gas prices have risen seventeen cents. They’ve risen thirty-four cents in the past month. The last time that happened the oil industry said it was Hurricane Katrina. Which made sense. The Gulf of Mexico is full of oil rigs. So the solution was to grin and bear it. But why are…
Read MoreDid Democrats Cave In?
Speaker Pelosi and her leadership team sure looked beaten when they went before the press to explain – and defend – their deal with President Bush and the Republicans on Iraq. It’s easy to see why: they had surrendered on the fight for troop-withdrawal deadlines. Pelosi said she might vote against it herself. Congressmen Obey…
Read MoreA Nice Word for Russ Stephenson
Russ Stephenson, the at-large Raleigh city councilman, told my mother he hopes I’ll say something nice about him in my blog. So here goes. I’ve had some criticism of Russ. I think he – and too much of the current council – is too downtown-focused. As a Democrat, I’m concerned that Russ and some of…
Read MoreStep Up, Mr. Speaker
The stables badly need cleaning in the North Carolina House of Representatives. And Speaker Joe Hackney needs to step up to the job. So far, he hasn’t. It’s past time he did. In a way, the situation is unfair to Hackney. He spent decades building a reputation as a clean, hard-working legislator. He finally achieved…
Read MoreBush and Nixon
Two more reasons why George Bush reminds me of Richard Nixon more and more every day: His aides pressured an ailing and hospitalized Attorney General John Ashcroft in 2004 to sign off on a domestic-eavesdropping plan that the Justice Department believed was illegal. (I never thought it was possible to make Ashcroft a hero, but…
Read MoreMeeker Goes Halfway
Last week something unusual happened on the City Council. Mayor Meeker recused himself from a vote. Why unusual? Well, for years, the Mayor’s been voting on city agreements with the downtown developer his son works with. So, what changed? The Mayor says the problem is his law firm is representing ‘a Fayetteville Street building owner…
Read MoreBoundless Passions
Mayor Meeker’s passion for spending money downtown knows no bounds. It tests the borders of the infinite. First, he gets the city council to increase spending on his pink elephant Convention Center to $220 million. No sooner is that done than he gets the Council to spend three or four million on his English-style Roundabouts…
Read MorePolitical Justice
As the Bush administrationâs politics-in-Justice scandal mounts in Washington, one would be naïve not to wonder about recent federal prosecutions in Raleigh. No, Iâm not defending Jim Black, Michael Decker or Kevin Geddings. They clearly broke the law, betrayed the public trust and deserve punishment. But the harshness of their sentences does raise your antennae.…
Read MoreReturn of John McCain
Watch for a John McCain comeback in the Republican presidential campaign. Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney have taken their star turns. And the social conservatives who dominate the Republican Party can’t be happy. Giuliani is taking them on directly. He says his support for abortion rights, gun control and gay rights should not matter. Good…
Read MoreJohn Edwards’ Transparency
The other day two radio commentators on NPR were joking about a survey they’d taken of presidential candidates. One of the questions each candidate was asked, What is your dream job? The first commentator said, I love Congressman Tom Tancredo’s answer best. Tancredo – a dark horse candidate – when asked what his dream job…
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