Talking About Politics

$6,700 Each

Carter Wrenn — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:53:00 GMT

Last week a chill just stole out of the State Board of Elections and settled over the Republicans in the State House – Democrat Leader Joe Hackney filed his campaign’s financial report. And he has a healthy $418,000 in the bank – while Republican Leader Skip Stam has just $13,000.

Representative Stam made the best he could of a bad situation. “We’re on track,” he said, adding that rather than asking people to give to his campaign fund he’s urging them to give to another special fund to elect Republicans. He may mean the NCGOP’s House Republican Campaign Fund. It has $54,000 in the bank. Its Democratic counterpart has $152,000.

Up to now House Republicans have been pretty hopeful about the upcoming elections – but in politics dollar bills are the equivalent of soldiers. And Hackney and the House Democrats have 570,000 of them. While the Republicans have 67,000. Even General Lee couldn’t whip those odds.

This adds up to a tough picture for Republicans: Winning ten Democratic House seats (to take control of the House) with only $6,700 to spend on each election is going to be well-nigh impossible.

Democrats have given us the Easley scandal, the Tony Rand hustle, the Marc Basnight pier, a trillion dollar deficit and 11% Unemployment – but they’ve gotten one thing right: Money.

Funding a campaign is the hardest work in politics. A successful candidate spends a good part of his life asking for money – Jesse Helms served in the Senate 30 years and just about every day he asked someone for money. House Republicans don’t need any more issues but they do need cold hard cash. So, here’s a question for the Republicans in the House: Who did you ask for money today?

Governor Perdue on (Mis)Management

Carter Wrenn — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:44:00 GMT

I have stumbled across a state agency that’s more mismanaged than Lanier Cansler’s.

The Virtual Public Schools agency is (theoretically) leading North Carolina into the New Age of Internet education; students in rural areas will be taught in ‘Virtual Classrooms’ where they can learn anything from Chinese to Sanskrit – it’s technological innovation at its highest and it’s happening right here in the Old North State except for one small problem: The agency has a computer glitch.

The problem’s unusual: Public school teachers are paid a monthly salary – the State writes them a paycheck once a month; other state employees are paid either weekly or bi-weekly; but Virtual Schools instructors are paid quarterly – which has led to a terrible mess.

For example, let’s say Jane is a ‘Virtual Classroom’ instructor earning $5,000 a quarter; when the state fed her salary information into its computer, instead of calculating that Jane was making $20,000 a year and withholding accordingly the computer jumped the tracks and decided she was making $5,000 a week or $260,000 a year – and withheld as if she were making a quarter million dollars.

Which came a shock to Jane.

The obvious solution would have been to pay Jane monthly like all the other teachers, but the folks at School Superintendant June Atkinson’s Department said that would require more paperwork than they could bear.

The other obvious solution was to reprogram the state computer but the folks in charge of that (who work for Governor Perdue) said it was too much trouble and would cost too much.

Eventually, the powers that be got together and came up with a solution: To lie.

They told the Virtual Schools instructors they should claim more deductions on their withholding forms than they really had – which in theory would fool the computer into withholding less from the instructors’ paychecks so say, Jane, would be paid the right amount.

That a bit sounded unorthodox and a little unethical (after all, they were lying to the IRS) but, at least, it had the virtue of convenience – until the poor instructors went on line to fill out their withholding forms.

That’s when they found out instead of telling one little white lie and claiming, say, ten dependents they also had to provide names and addresses and social security numbers for each of their fictional dependents – which, of course, seemed outright dishonest. The instructors balked.

At that point it surely looked like the best solution was to fix the computer glitch – but the logic of government bureaucrats never runs in straight lines; instead of fixing the problem they jury-rigged the computer so the instructors could claim the dependents without giving social security numbers.

Over in Secretary Cansler’s department the Governor’s cutting medical care to elderly and disabled patients while she and Cansler can pass out $250 million in no bid contracts and over in the payroll department the Governor’s minions are telling Virtual Schools instructors to claim false deductions to get paid. Maybe the Governor ought to try that herself – telling the IRS she has ten dependents that don’t exist on her tax withholding forms.

Election 2010

Gary Pearce — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:05:00 GMT

Republicans have reason to be confident as filing opens for the 2010 elections. But I’m yet to be convinced this will be another 1994.

That year, Democrats – in Raleigh and Washington – were supremely overconfident, all the way to Election Day.

Not a problem this time.

Still, the cycle favors Republicans. Democrats have won big in the last two elections, so a change is due.

Also, Independents – the unorganized third party nationally and in North Carolina – tilt Republican. They’re unhappy, and they’ll probably take it out on the Ins.

But there are hopeful signs for Democrats.

President Obama is back in campaign mode. He challenged Republicans to a televised debate, in effect, on health care. Don’t underestimate him.

Statewide, while the cycle favors Republicans in the legislature, the money and the relative quality of the parties’ campaign teams favor Democrats. But will corporate money change that?

Locally, schools will dominate the Wake commissioners’ races, and the school board seems hell-bent on imposing its agenda, regardless of what parents said in the recent survey. That’s a sure-fire way to go over the cliff. Plus, three Republican incumbents are up this year, and only one Democrat.

On today’s money, I’d bet on Republican gains, but no replay of the ’94 revolution. And WakeCounty could be the outlier that goes Democratic.

Just Say No

Gary Pearce — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:01:00 GMT

It’s the one thing you can count on in politicians: hubris.

Exhibit A: John Edwards.

Exhibit B may be the newly reenergized Republicans in Congress.

They’ve gone gaga over Scott Brown – and their new-found ability to block anything President Obama wants. They’re convinced the November elections will be a rerun of 1994.

Not so fast.

The Republicans may be headed over the same cliff as when they shut down the federal government – and left Raleigh without passing a budget – after 1994..

They look like nothing more than a collection of grim, grumpy old men.

Obama has this clearly in focus. And his biggest weapon is his own smiling, confident persona.

His strategy is taking shape. It will be Yes We Can versus Just Say No.

You Couldn't Make This Up...

Carter Wrenn — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:16:00 GMT

20/20’s story the other night about John Edwards and mistress Rielle Hunter was brutal; after watching Edwards die the death of a thousand cuts I thought, This fellow needs a break and if he doesn’t get one this may end more badly than anyone’s imagined.

You couldn’t make up what’s happened to Edwards: Sitting in a bar in New York a blonde yoga teacher turned New Age Spiritualist spots him across the room and is struck dumb because he’s bathed in ‘aura’ of light – or so she described it later. Next they end up in his hotel room.

A month later the blonde spiritualist is on Edwards’ payroll making a hundred thousand dollars and traveling to Africa with him and advising him on how to get elected President based on her reading of the alignment of his stars.

Edwards returns from Africa, receives the ‘Father of the Year Award,’ renews his wedding vows with his wife and his mistress gets pregnant.

He moves Rielle to Chapel Hill, gets her an alias, provides her a house and a BMW and in an act of unabashed audacity talks his thirty-three year old aide (who has a wife and three children) into saying he’s the one who got Edwards’ mistress pregnant.

Just before the Iowa Primary a National Enquirer reporter blows their cover and the mistress, aide, wife and three children go on the lamb dodging reporters, hiding out in a hotel penthouse in Hollywood, Florida, a $14 million mansion in Aspen and a rented $20,000 a month estate in San Diego.

With the bills adding up Edwards arranges for a ninety-six year old heiress to send checks of between $10,000 and $200,000 in chocolate boxes to pay to keep his mistress under cover.

The baby’s born, the New Age Spiritualist mother decides the infant’s destined to save the universe – and the father asks the aide and a lawyer friend to fake a paternity test to prove the child’s not his.

Next the aide finds a sex tape starring Edwards and his mistress, the mistress sues the aide to stop him publishing using the tape and the aide – with the checks from heiress Bunny Mellon no longer flowing – in effect uses the tape to blackmail Edwards for welching on a promise to support him for life.

John Edwards tops any character you ever read about in a novel: For a decade he lived for the limelight but now his world’s crashed down around him and he can’t turn on a TV set or open a newspaper without seeing himself being ridiculed. His wife’s given him the boot, who knows what his children are thinking, and he’s paying a battery of lawyers because a Grand Jury’s investigating the checks in the chocolate boxes.

Not long ago John Edwards was the Golden Boy of politics waltzing across the stage – now the music’s stopped but it hasn’t hit him yet the dance is over but it will and when it does he may just come apart in front of our eyes.

So before that happens let’s step back, give him room to breathe and hope he has enough sense to ride quietly off into the sunset or go into a monastery and make the most of obscurity.

Democrats Reforming Again

Carter Wrenn — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:53:00 GMT

The pictures of young Ruffin Poole being led into the federal courthouse hand-cuffed has sent Democrats into a frenzy to pass another round of Ethics Reforms – and it’s like ‘déjà vu’ all over again.

After every scandal (from Jim Black fixing the Lottery Commission to Mike Easley’s wife getting a $170,000 a year job at State University) the poor Democrats have reformed but none of their ‘reforms’ work and there’s a reason: The Democrats reform the wrong things.

Mike Easley gives tax breaks and state contracts to campaign donors and the Democrats’ solution is to ban lobbyists buying legislators dinner.

What Easley (and Ruffin Poole) pretty clearly were doing this time was swapping State environmental permits for donations to the Democratic Party to elect Easley.

So what are the Democrats going to do to stop that? Limit contributions candidates give each other. The Democrats are dead-set on reforming – the wrong thing. All they really need to do is pass one simple law that says: No one doing business with the state can give contributions or gifts to elected officials. Period.

So why won’t Democrats do it?

Because they raise millions from people doing business with the state.

And one thing Democrats aren’t about to do is vote for a ‘reform’ that leaves them poor as Republicans when it comes to campaign cash.

Mystery Solved

Gary Pearce — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:55:00 GMT

Now we know why Mike Easley was so, well, weird. He wasn’t just Governor. He was Secret Agent Man.

Instead of a number like 007, he had a nom de guerre: Ckin Regnad.

This explains the need to keep his whereabouts secret and constantly change his schedule. It’s why he had to conduct much of his work in the middle of the night, leaving furtive phone messages for even his closest aides. And have a secret email account.

To further confound nefarious foes, he wrote backwards. Of course!

One mystery remains. It’s the Firesign Theater connection. Back in the day on campus, listening to Firesign Theater was a favorite pastime of those who, as they used to say, “experimented” with drugs. And not the kind of experiments that went on in chem lab.

I’m just saying.

But it’s a relief to have everything else explained.

Case closed.

Corporations and Politics

Carter Wrenn — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:24:00 GMT

I’ve been reading about the recent Supreme Court decision that says corporations can spend as much as they want to elect politicians.

Now, pragmatically, there’s not much to doubt this ruling is going to be a financial windfall to anyone in the political consulting business. And, theoretically, I’ve got to say more freedom of speech is almost always a good idea.

But I’ve begun to suspect there’s a missing piece here. It seems the court approached this case as a choice between two views: First that corporations are amalgamations of individuals and so it naturally follows restricting their freedom of speech restricts individuals’ freedom of speech – versus – Second that the public harm of allowing Wall Street corporations to spend millions to elect politicians beholden to them is just too horrible to contemplate.

But it seems to me this choice – between logic on one hand and common sense on the other – sidesteps a fundamental question: What is a ‘Right’?

Looked at that way the case changes completely. For two reasons: Because the Declaration of Independence says ‘Rights’ flow from God, and because it’s clear in Genesis God created man but nowhere in the six days of creation did He say, Let there be corporations.

So it seems like automobiles and flying machines and the Pyramids corporations were created by man (not God) and have no more rights than say a Chevrolet – which means the Supreme Court in its wisdom has just given an Impala freedom of speech.

A Titanic Issue

Gary Pearce — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:41:00 GMT

People who care about North Carolina’s economy are closely watching Governor Perdue on an issue that will say a lot about her leadership.

It’s the proposed Titan concrete plant near Wilmington.

Fans say Titan, based in

Greece

, is one of the best companies in the world, ranking high on corporate accountability, environmental responsibility and as a good place to work.

The plant will employ 160-200 people at $70,000 a year. It will pay a lot of taxes. It will generate other jobs, like at the state port. And there will be construction jobs building the plant.

But Titan is bogged down by environmental complaints. And opponents are trying to taint it by association with Mike Easley.

Perdue’s Commerce Department supports the project. Commerce leaders worry that stopping the plant will send a bad signal to international companies – and hurt North Carolina when it tries to recruit other industries.

But Perdue’s environmental officials apparently want to kill it.

The governor’s job is to referee this dispute. She has to decide who is right. She has to lead.

If she thinks the plant is unacceptable environmentally, she should say so.

And if not, she should stand up and say we need the jobs.

Right now, Perdue seems to be letting the project die slowly by a thousand cuts, hoping it will go away and spare her the burden of making a decision that makes somebody mad.

North Carolina’s unemployment rate is at its highest level since the 1970s. Too often, people think we can get all the jobs we need from pristine companies like Dell and Apple. But you see how well that works out.

America

’s economy – and lots of jobs – has always been based on making things. Concrete is one of the things we need to make a lot of, especially for roads and other projects supported by federal stimulus money. And it would be cheaper to make the concrete here, rather than shipping it in.

When Jim Hunt was governor, he had to make this call again and again. When a project satisfied the state’s environmental requirements, he would put everything he had behind getting the jobs for people.

This is an important test for Perdue. She can either let things happen, or she can lead.

Brad and the Banks

Carter Wrenn — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:47:00 GMT

Here’s another example of a politician trying to have his cake and eat it too: The other day Congressman Brad Miller bemoaned the Supreme Court ruling on corporations spending money in elections then wailed he’s in hot water because he’s made the banks mad, saying, “I’ve made a real nuisance of myself to the most financially powerful industry in the United States” – in other words he thinks the banks may try to defeat him this fall.

But that just won’t hold water.

The Wall Street banks aren’t mad at Brad Miller – they’re tickled to death with him. He voted to bail out every New York bank from Goldman-Sachs on down. He gave the banks billions in bailouts and, as a result, hardly missing a paycheck they’re back to passing out million dollar bonuses. The banks – including Fannie Mae and the American Bankers Association – and Wall Street wheeler-dealer types have contributed over $200,000 to Miller’s campaigns.

Brad Miller’s shedding crocodile tears is an old political game: Up in Washington he snuggles up to the banks then he comes home and tells everyone who’ll listen he’s fighting the banks and so they’re out to get him.

Blaming Bush

Gary Pearce — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:04:00 GMT

I have a real problem with the way President Obama blamed George Bush for the budget deficit in his State of the Union speech.

But my objection is directly opposite Republicans’. I don’t think Obama blamed Bush enough.

As I recall, Ronald Reagan was still blaming Jimmy Carter and the Democrats for everything that was wrong as late as 1984. Obama has another three years to match that.

Politically, Obama would be a lot better off if he kept hammering that he inherited an economy that was about to go under – and a budget that already had. Bush, by contrast, inherited a booming economy and a budget surplus.

Blame away, Democrats.

Just Another Washington Politician

Carter Wrenn — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:17:00 GMT

Over the last year with every breath he’s taken the President’s shown a burning faith in government (led by enlightened politicians) as the engine of progress – his faith has been so overwhelming he’s fearlessly taken government into recesses of American life where no President ever dared tread.

But, the other night, Obama the Liberal Warrior vanished halfway through his State of the Union speech.

He didn’t fight for his faith – instead, skating over this political ice, hearing ice cracking beneath his feet, the President who fearlessly increased the deficit to over a trillion dollars to save the economy stopped, about-faced and announced he’s going to cut spending and freeze what he calls ‘domestic discretionary spending.’

Except what the President said doesn’t exactly mean what it sounds like. Because he’s not going to freeze spending for a year. And because the ‘domestic discretionary spending’ he is going to freeze amounts to only a tiny fraction of the budget.

In other words Obama the Liberal Warrior has tried to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes.

And once he took that first step the contradictions flowed like water.

Barack Obama has increased the national debt more in a year than any President in history – now he’s castigating the Washington Political class for saddling the next generation with ‘a mountain of debt.’ Suddenly, the biggest spender in history – is blasting Congress for passing earmarks. The appointer of lobbyists is excoriating lobbyists. And the bailer-outer of Wall Street is blasting Wall Street.

There was much to respect – even when you didn’t agree with him – about the old Barack Obama. But all it took was losing one election for the Liberal Warrior to turn into just another Washington politician.

Sex in Juvenile Prison?

Carter Wrenn — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:31:00 GMT

Awhile back the newspapers were running horror stories about patients in state mental hospitals being sexually attacked, beaten and even dying due to neglect – the whole thing sounded like a nightmare straight out of 19th century mental asylums.

Now the newspapers are running horror stories about juvenile prisons for young girls – and it’s worse: One-third of the teenage girls in Samarkand State Juvenile prison in Moore County who were part of a recent study told the Obama Administration they have been sexually molested by guards.

The Perdue Administration says that’s not true and believing accusations by young girls with checkered pasts is just plain silly; and the head warden of the women’s prisons (who was appointed after making over $10,000 in contributions to Governor Perdue’s campaigns) went over to the General Assembly and told legislators the young women were “highly sexualized” when they got to prison which sounds like if there was sex the girls may have been the culprits and not the guards.

I guess that could be so – but allegations of sexually abusing teenage girls in women’s prisons isn’t your run of the mill political scandal where taxpayers got ripped off or politicians got discounts on beach front lots, and you’d expect any responsible Governor wouldn’t leave a stone unturned to be absolutely certain it isn’t true – but, instead, as she usually does (with political scandals) the Governor’s buried her head in the sand. She not only didn’t do anything to investigate the allegations she stopped the News and Observer dead in its tracks by refusing to release records about past charges of sexual abuse in the juvenile prisons.

If the allegations in the Obama Administration’s report are canards a single SBI agent could prove it – so why hasn’t Governor Perdue ordered an investigation? If it turns out the young women are telling the truth it’s hard to imagine a more damning example of neglect.

Shelter From the Storm

Gary Pearce — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:22:00 GMT

A reader was not impressed by Governor Perdue’s performance this weekend: “She returned from her warm weather vacation to be a leader and then didn’t look much like one.”

At least she came back.

I don’t begrudge a governor ever taking a vacation. But you take a chance when you go someplace warm during winter. If you don’t or can’t get back, you could get snowed under politically.

By keeping her destination secret, Governor Perdue also drew some unwanted comparisons with Governor Easley.

The only time Easley ever looked in command was during a hurricane. And Bev did not quite muster command presence.

But being behind the mikes is just the start. Governor Hunt had three rules for his role in disaster response:

1. Take charge.

2. Find out what’s really happening in the affected areas.

3. Make sure the bureaucrats are responding, not just talking.

Another Victim

Gary Pearce — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 15:00:00 GMT

I told myself I wouldn’t post another word about John Edwards.

But then I spent an hour on the phone with a disillusioned former staffer from Edwards’ presidential campaign.

This young man now finds himself unemployable. “Former John Edwards staffer” doesn’t look so good on a resume.

He began to have doubts about Edwards’ honesty back in 2006. But he’s an idealist – like many young people in politics – and thought he could help elect a President who would be good for

America

. So he hung in there.

Now he’s beating himself up over what he should have known – and done.

He’s wondering if he’ll ever trust another politician – or work in politics again.

And he hasn’t heard a word from Edwards in months.

There are a lot of others like him. Edwards went through staffers like potential jurors. He had a different chief of staff almost every year in the Senate – and a different set of campaign consultants every couple of years.

When I say Edwards still owes people an apology, I’m talking about the young man who called me.

But, as I told this fellow, don’t hold your breath.

A Young Man in a Political Maze

Carter Wrenn — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:59:00 GMT

When Ruffin Poole was twenty-five years old and fresh out of law school he went to work for Mike Easley; he’s thirty-seven now and indicted for 51 counts of everything from extortion to racketeering and could go to prison for 85 years.

What went wrong – for a small town boy from Kinston? For twelve years Poole watched Mike Easley taking free trips, enjoying free perks and making real estate deals with supporters who wanted something in return from state government – and before long Poole started aping his mentor.

Easley took free trips.

So did Poole. Six trips to Costa Rica.

Easley got a $130,000 discount on a beachfront lot at mogul Lanny Wilson’s Cannonsgate development.

Poole invested $100,000 in Cannonsgate – and made a $30,000 profit in four months.

Easley took free golf outings.

So did Poole.

Poole got a free trip to New Orleans for a bachelor’s party, a free engagement party, a free beach weekend at a Figure Eight Island resort and free liquor for his wedding reception – he watched Easley, served Easley and copied Easley and now Poole’s indicted. So what does his old mentor say?

Walking what sounds like a very uneasy line Easley’s attorney carefully explained the Governor has no knowledge about the allegations against Poole but “he has faith in Ruffin Poole and finds it hard to believe that he would ever intentionally violate the law.”

Translation: ‘I know nothing but Ruffin, while you’re talking to the prosecutors, remember I’m still your friend.’

Mike Easley may know nothing or he may know quite a lot but either way Mike Easley made his own unique contribution to Ruffin Poole’s downfall. Our children learn the most from us not by what we tell them or teach them but what they see us do. It is how we live and act day to day and not our words that permeates their lives.

Ruffin Poole was twenty-five – he was a young man from a small town in an intoxicating political maze and he should have known better but a different mentor might also have led to a happier outcome.

Mirror, Mirror...

Carter Wrenn — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:36:00 GMT

No one was much surprised when John Edwards fessed up and said he was the father of Rielle Hunter’s daughter – but nothing involving John Edwards ever seems to run along the straight and narrow path and sure enough there was an odd line in Edwards’ confession that twisted contrition into a knot.

Here’s what the News and Observer reported: “Edwards finally admitted Thursday he had fathered Francis Quinn Hunter, the daughter of his former mistress Rielle Hunter. The day before, he pulled on a pair of blue jeans and headed for Haiti. "He took a sleeping bag; he had no return ticket.”

Now, why on earth would John Edwards – in the middle of a confession – have his P.R. people tell the press he was headed to Haiti with a sleeping bag and no return ticket?

I suspect it is because John Edwards’ cardinal sin isn’t adultery – it is vanity. He can’t stop praising himself – or paying P.R. people to paint a portrait that has him possessing a spirit and compassion so noble and profound and burning he rushed to Haiti with no way to return home.

But what happened to that same compassion when it came to the simpler and more profound duty of acknowledging his own daughter?

John Edwards hasn’t turned over a new leaf. He’s simply demonstrated he’s the walking, breathing, talking caricature of a vanity so boundless it would make Snow White’s stepmother blush.

Handcuffed

Gary Pearce — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:00:00 GMT

I don’t know Ruffin Poole well, but he never struck me as a fellow who posed a physical danger to the populace.

So why did the feds force him to make a well-photographed “perp walk” in cuffs?

I put that question to a Democratic lawyer friend of mine who has done considerable work in the federal courts.

He said the feds are sending a message to anybody who works in state government: Violate the law – and the public trust – and this could be you.

That would get my attention.

Bev's Buzzwords

Gary Pearce — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:35:00 GMT

“The jobs governor.”

“Setting government straight.”

“Career and college – ready, set, go.”

“Safe communities.”

You may as well get familiar with all these phrases. You’ll be hearing them from Governor Perdue – presumably for a good while.

Team Perdue has carved out those words as her roadmap to political recovery. They’re putting into practice the most fundamental political-message lesson: focus and discipline.

The media, of course, won’t like it. Their job is to find something new to report every job. Perdue’s job is to say the same thing over and over. Therein the tension.

Democrats should welcome the Governor’s course. And hope she pursues it relentlessly.

Still Waiting...

Carter Wrenn — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:59:00 GMT

When Ruffin Poole was indicted for 51 counts of extortion, bribery, racketeering, fraud and money laundering Governor Perdue chirruped: “The people of North Carolina are tired of this. It’s just wrong for North Carolina.”

The people of North Carolina are also tired of waiting for Governor Perdue to do something about it.

A Formidable Opponent

Gary Pearce — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:39:00 GMT

President Obama showed anew Wednesday night why he got elected – and why he remains the dominant political talent in

America

today.

His speech was masterful. His tone was perfect. And he smilingly skewered a range of targets – Republicans, Democrats, Supreme Court, big banks, you name it.

But his positioning was even more important than his performance.

The key to his speech was a warning to Republicans in the Senate. In effect, he said that, if Washington doesn’t produce this year, you’re to blame.

Republicans have been in high spirits since the Massachusetts election. If they have any sense, they’ll realize they’re on the court with the political version of LeBron James.

The Artful Dodger

Carter Wrenn — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:23:00 GMT

I don’t recall hardly ever seeing eye to eye with State Representative Mickey Michaux but the other day he hit the nail on the head.

Governor Perdue’s favorite Cabinet Secretary Lanier ‘The Artful Dodger’ Cansler traipsed over to the legislature for a meeting and after a fair amount of hemming and hawing admitted he had miscalculated his department’s budget by $250 million.

Representative Michaux shot back, ‘So, now, you’re telling us that money we put in the budget for you, your figures, are not going to happen?’

That’s exactly what Cansler’s telling legislators and they might as well get ready – because the bottom line may turn out to be a lot worse than Cansler’s ready to admit.

Last summer Secretary Cansler promised legislators if they’d let him pass out $250 million in no bid contracts he’d be able to cut his department’s budget. Well, he’s passed out the contracts but there’re no cuts. Instead, by coincidence, Cansler’s budget is in the red $250 million.

What went wrong? Cansler gave legislators two explanations at the meeting.

First, he said, He just never figured in a recession unemployment would go up and more people would need Medicaid.

Second, he blamed the Obama Administration.

Washington, he said, has been painfully slow in signing off on the Medicaid cuts he wants. (Of course, what he didn’t tell to legislators is the Obama Administration told him last summer it wouldn’t go along with his plan to cut thousands of elderly and disabled patients’ health care by expediently declaring they were no longer – ‘legally’ – sick.)

So, now, the horse is out of the barn.

The $250 million’s spent, the Obama Administration’s done just what it told Cansler it’d do and legislators might as well get ready for more bad news: The $250 million Cansler admits his department is over budget – is probably just the tip of the iceberg.

Prime Time Player?

Gary Pearce — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:46:00 GMT

Once you get past the dishing about Sarah Palin, John Edwards, et al in the book Game Change, you learn a few things.

Like about President Obama.

That he’s like a basketball player who wants the ball when the game is on line.

That he has supreme confidence he can rise to the moment.

That he especially has confidence he can give a speech that changes the game.

He came through throughout his campaign – the speech on race, his performance in the fall debates, his cool response to the economic meltdown that caused John McCain to melt down.

Can he do it tonight?

One caution: Don’t rush to instant judgment tonight or tomorrow. Wait a few days. Instant analysis often proves wrong later.

Bill Clinton’s first State of the Union after the 1994 election – which lasted about 17 hours, as I recall – was panned at first.

Later, it turned out that Americans watched it all. And liked it.

Two weeks ago, Scott Brown was a game-changer.

Tonight, the reigning king takes his shot.

That's His Story...

Carter Wrenn — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:49:00 GMT

Coming out of a meeting over in the state legislature Senate Kingpin Marc Basnight ran head on into a gaggle of reporters and right off someone asked if it wasn’t a bit underhanded for Basnight to appropriate $25 million for a new fishing pier at Nags Head and then have his own construction company build it.

No sir, Basnight said, There wasn’t one thing wrong with that.

Why not, the reporter asked.

Because, Basnight said, He hadn’t had a thing to do with Basnight Construction in ten or fifteen years.

What’s more, Basnight added, Last August when his cousin Jimmy had told him the company was going to bid to work on the new pier he (Senator Basnight) had uprightly and immediately resigned as President of the company.

Resigned, that is, as President of a company he’d just said he hadn’t had anything to do with for fifteen years.

About an hour later from after Basnight’s perspective things went from bad to worse.

Researchers at the Civitas Institute issued a ‘Research White Paper’ that showed Basnight Construction Company was awarded a contract to work on the pier nine months before Basnight resigned.

So Basnight’s been President of a company for fifteen years – but he now says hasn’t had anything to do with it; and he told the press he resigned before the company bid on building the pier – but now it turns out his company got the contract months before he resigned.

Well as the comedian on television used to say, that’s his story and he’s sticking to it.

Brad, Bernie and the Banks

Gary Pearce — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:18:00 GMT

Congressman Brad Miller is never the happiest of warriors. But this year could raise his angst to new levels.

Miller worries in the Greensboro News & Record that – thanks to the Supreme Court’s corporate-campaign ruling – he might be the target of bank-sponsored attacks.

“I’ve made a real nuisance of myself to the most financially powerful industry in the

United States

,” Miller told Mark Binker.

Banks wouldn’t be his only worry. He’s also got Carter Wrenn running Bernie Reeve’s campaign against him.

Democrats facing Carter always ask me: “What’s he going to do?” Like it’s a mystery.

Carter will do the voodoo he always does.

Bernie’s campaign will do the research, they’ll raise the money, and Carter will have Bernie chewing on Brad’s leg from the get-go.

Memo to Brad: Don’t sit around waiting for it. Get going now. Define Bernie before he defines you.

Miller should win his race. After all, he drew up his own district.

But he won’t be having a lot of fun.