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Issues
Carter Wrenn posted on May 06, 2013 10:14
Who’d have thought it was possible – the Internet sweepstakes poker parlor folks have offered ‘to put $500 million’ in the state treasury – if the legislators will just see the light and let them stay in business.
Whoever heard of anybody volunteering to pay half a billion dollars in taxes? You have to wonder how much people in North Carolina are spending while sitting in Internet sweepstakes parlors? A billion? $2 billion? $5 billion?
The story started last year when legislators voted to close down the sweepstakes parlors and put ‘em out of business;---of course the sweepstakes parlor operators didn’t much like that so they sued and took their lawsuit all the way to the State Supreme Court. At the same time, in case their lawsuit didn’t work out, the parlor operators got a couple of friendly legislators to sponsor a new bill to let them stay open – and that’s when they dangled that $500 million carrot in front of legislators.
And that’s not the only carrot: The newspaper reported sweepstakes operators also contributed $520,000 to politicians. And, a sweepstakes parlor operator told the News and Observer how, since last year, they’ve been spending $40,000 a week to pay lawyers and lobbyists.
That’s eye opening too. The politicians received $520,000 in contributions – while the lawyers and lobbyists were paid $2 million. Four times as much. What does that say about the ‘market value’ of politicians as compared to lobbyists?
The whole thing’s such a tangle it’s bound to land some of our well-meaning, church going Baptist legislators in a quandary: Righteousness must be whispering it’s wisest to shut the sweepstakes parlors down but temptation must be whispering $500 million is a lot of money to say No to.
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Carter Wrenn posted on April 30, 2013 10:10
Up in Washington, Senate Leader Harry Reid and House Leader John Boehner and a handful of politicians have been sequestered in secret meetings, trying to agree on a solution to one of Washington’s most burning problems: How to exempt Congressmen and their staffs from ObamaCare.
Then, to their surprise, word of the meetings leaked – landing on the front page of Politico – and in the next breath, facing an awkward question and needing a quick explanation, the politicians stumbled, sheepishly telling the press they were worried about putting their staffers under ObamaCare because it would lead to a ‘brain drain’ on Capitol Hill – and, of course, one wit immediately wrote the newspaper, How could that be? There hasn’t been a glimmer of a brain on Capitol Hill for years.
Next Politico treed Democratic House Leader, Steny Hoyer, asking where he stood on exempting Congress from ObamaCare – like a man weaving through a minefield Hoyer put out a carefully scripted statement saying he was studying “all the policies in the Affordable Care Act, to ensure they’re being implemented in a way that’s workable for everyone, including members and staff.”
After cornering the Democrat next Politico descended on John Boehner and Boehner’s spokesman, with equal care, announced, “If the Speaker has the opportunity to save anyone from ObamaCare, he will.”
What those two bits of carefully parsed political-ese meant – when translated into plain English – was simple enough: Both Hoyer and Boehner had said Yes.
So in all the great breadth and sweep of America, from the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters, one sacred patch of ground may be untouched by ObamaCare – Capitol Hill.
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Carter Wrenn posted on April 26, 2013 09:29
A legislator looked at a bill, winched, looked at another legislator and said, ‘Well, if I don’t vote for it I guess I’ll land in a primary.’
‘You think,’ the second legislator said, ‘that Republicans in your district are for people carrying guns in bars?’ The bill allowed people carry guns in bars, restaurants and on college campuses (as long as the gun is in a locked box).
‘Looking at the emails I’m getting,’ the first legislator said, ‘I’d say they do.’
‘How many emails are you talking about?’
‘Over a hundred.’
‘And how many Republican voters are in your district?’
‘About 20,000.’
‘So, because you got a hundred emails, you think you’re hearing the voice of 20,000 Republicans saying they support people carrying pistols in bars?’
The first legislator bristled. ‘You think that’s wrong?’
‘I think if you want to know what voters think you should take a poll.’
The first legislator, his mind made up, scratched his head. ‘You ever try that?’
‘Yep.’
‘What did it show?’
‘It said Republican voters have more common sense than legislators give them credit for.’
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Carter Wrenn posted on April 17, 2013 11:44
Last week Gary thoughtfully wrote a squib (below) urging people to visit young Thomas Mills’ new website PoliticsNC – so I did. And got a surprise. Young Mr. Mills was – genially – taking me to task for writing how the Democrats passing voter laws (over the years) to elect Democrats, had led to Republicans (once they had power) doing the same thing to elect Republicans, which, taken altogether, was a pretty good example of how one sin begets another – the political version of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth with no remorse anywhere.
Mr. Mills didn’t mind me criticizing my own party but he didn’t particularly like me criticizing his party – the way he sees it, Republicans have done all the sinning while Democrats have done none at all. He made his case this way: Republicans are trying to pass laws that discourage people from voting while the Democrats, back in the days when they had power, had pursued a loftier goal: They’d passed laws to encourage more people to vote. Which sounds fine. Except that argument collapses in the face of one fact: Right in the middle of their lofty crusade to get more people to the polls, Democrats passed a law to make it more difficult for people to cast absentee ballots – because Republicans were more likely to vote that way than Democrats.
There’re other examples of Democrats changing laws to elect Democrats – like in the 1980 election: Locked in a tight race for US Senate, Democrats decided if a voter marked the block next to Republican John East’s name in the race for U.S. Senate, but, then, also marked the Straight Democratic ticket block on the same ballot, they wouldn’t throw the ballot out as spoiled – they’d count it as a vote for Democratic Senate candidate Robert Morgan.
Toward the end of his blog, Mr. Mills wrote, “Carter should know politics is about perception and the perception here is...” – well, the perception here is Republicans are “old, bigoted white guys.”
I don’t know of an idea that has done more harm in politics than the thought, Perception is what matters...it’s like saying, If I lie, cheat and steal, it doesn’t matter so long as people think I’m a walking breathing paragon of moral rectitude.
There's also an easy way to prove it’s a fiction to say ‘perception’ has the power to save a politician from the older truth that bad deeds breed consequences – just look at what’s happening in front of our eyes (over voter laws): Democrats sowed the wind and now they’re reaping the whirlwind and, in time, Republicans may reap an indigestible harvest as well.
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Carter Wrenn posted on April 16, 2013 10:32
For years Jesse Helms wrote every speech he made, typing each on an old reporter’s typewriter, then one year when he was unusually harried he decided it was time to hire a speechwriter – so we hired ‘John.’
John was an unusually gifted writer but for all his virtues he had a peculiar view of politics (and the world in general). John saw politics as one tiny pinnacle of pure white light populated with saints, surrounded by a pitch-black engulfing darkness filled with goblins and liberals who had to be exterminated and, since the saints were badly outnumbered, the way John saw it there was no room for the luxury mercy.
Of course the fearfulness of his vision meant he was angry a great part of the time and naturally, over time, his anger turned him mean.
For six months John diligently labored writing passionate and articulate speeches for Jesse then one day in December, as we walked to my car to go to lunch, John handed Jesse a speech and launched into a tirade about Christmas – he said Christmas was a greed-ridden desecration of the story of the Christ child, an abomination reeking of materialism, then tore into Santa Claus, saying Santa Claus was a hobgoblin invented by greedy shopkeepers to con little children – then he stepped in front of Jesse, turned to face him, and said, Somebody needs to stand up and tell those children the truth about Santa Claus – and pointed to that speech.
Not with the white-hot passion (born of fear or betrayal or meanness) of a common murderer but with the cold-calculated passion of a Grand Inquisitor ticking off the names of heretics John had proposed the murder of St. Nicholas.
Jesse stopped dead in his tracks, rocked back on his heels, looked back at John, and grinned, Well, if you don’t mind, I believe I’d as soon pass on running for the Senate by telling children there’s no Santa Claus.
Back in those days you could usually find a fellow like John in almost every town of any size but given the limits of geography and communications in those days it was nearly impossible for John to find (or share fellowship with) his natural political soul mates. He was sadly isolated and fought his political battles alone.
John passed on a decade ago but today his lineal descendents (not in blood but in politics) are happier because they’re no longer alone – modern day Johns build websites then with the click of a button other ‘Johns’ can find them and they form a tribe as bellicose as Huns.
The other day, without meaning to, a soft-spoken lady from Charlotte who’s one of the four Republican leaders in the House – Representative Ruth Samuelson – sent one of those Hun-tribes into a white-hot fury.
Back to 2007 a previous state legislature passed a bill to encourage companies to produce ‘renewable energy’ – like solar power – in North Carolina; hardly a word has been said about the bill for six years, until last week when State Representative Mike Hager stood up in a House Committee and announced that utility companies using solar power was adding millions of dollars to electric bills and he was going to put a stop to it by repealing that six-year-old bill.
Those two words – renewable energy – reverberated across the Internet with the power of a magnet and hit a tribe of Johns right squarely between the eyes. Because the one person they knew who favored renewable energy was Barack Obama. And that’s all they needed to know. No sooner had Mike Hager sounded the war tocsin than a full-throated battle cry filled the air and charges flew about the evil of government subsidies and the worse evil of government interfering with the free market – which in a way didn’t add up because utility companies are monopolies and there is no free market for selling electricity.
Then just when it looked like Representative Hager’s bill was sure to sail through that committee Ruth Samuelson stood up and politely said that it might be a good idea for legislators to stop and do a little research before voting.
About an hour after that one Hun-like tribe put a picture of Samuelson and a picture of another Republican legislator on its website alongside a picture of Obama then added a headline over the pictures roaring: They voted with Obama!
The way that tribe saw it Ruth Samuelson had gone over to the Dark Side or, worse, become a liberal – which didn’t add up either because how on earth could an Obama-liberal be one of the four Republican Leaders in the State House?
So I looked up that 2007 bill and an odd fact popped up right away: George Bush was President when that bill passed. Then a second fact leaped off the page: The most rock-ribbed conservative in the legislature, Phil Berger, had voted for that bill. As had Thom Tillis, Tom Apodaca, Skip Stam, Robert Pittenger and just about every other Republican in the General Assembly.
Whether that Hun-like tribe’s attack on Ruth Samuelson was cold-blooded calculation or hot-blooded rage there’s no getting around one more fact: It was an act of pure meanness – like when John told Jesse, You ought to tell little children there is no Santa Claus.
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Gary Pearce posted on April 11, 2013 08:00
Today I yield my time and space to Nation Hahn, my social-media guru and guide to all things New Politics. He’s one of the state’s bright talents and one of my prime hopes for the future. He offers a timely and telling warning to Democrats:
“Gary called for a Democratic Moses recently. It is an apt comparison because we are in the desert as far as the eye can see. Every time I see a key legislative debate it feels as if Senator Josh Stein and Representative Deborah Ross are largely alone in offering a counter narrative. It is disconcerting that we also have little infrastructure in place to allow Eric Mansfield, Cal Cunningham, Grier Martin, and others the ability to offer their response to the current actions of the folks on Jones Street.
“Beyond Moses, however, we need new ideas. I am concerned by the number of progressives who believe that the way that we will win in the future is to simply bash Art Pope, slam the Governor and the General Assembly as out of touch, and attack their ideas. Simply being a Cassandra ain’t going to cut it. We’ll be as disregarded as she was in the myths of old.
“We have to offer new ideas and a new narrative for North Carolina. And North Carolina isn’t alone — this is an issue in states across our country. After fifty years of gains created by progressives on the federal and state level we have retreated over the last fifteen years. We have found ourselves protecting our gains as they fall under an all out attack by conservatives which has led to a dramatic shift of our standing on the spectrum.
“Traditionally conservatives fought to defend and conserve, while progressives advocated for new ideas and bold solutions. That tradition has been turned on its head and that is one reason we’ve been losing of late. People are hurting economically in rural North Carolina, for example, and my fellow progressives have found themselves stuck defending the status quo while conservatives call for change. When you are hurting, a new idea, even if it is a bad idea, sounds better than the status quo.
“It is time that we move beyond the tired narratives and beyond simply calling for our progress to be protected. It is time to call for real progress once more. It is time to offer new ideas and reach for the brass ring. The genius of Governor Jim Hunt is that he always offered a bold vision for the future. I believe that many of us still turn to him for leadership because even now, more than a decade and two administrations removed from his last term, he still has bold new ideas for the future.
“It is time that we follow Hunt’s lead and develop the big ideas of the future. Otherwise, we’ll be an ineffective, marginalized Cassandra as the folks on Jones Street dramatically reshape our state.”
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Gary Pearce posted on April 10, 2013 09:15
The more you hang around, the more things come back around. Like controversial Dix land transfers and privatizing the Department of Commerce.
At the dedication of N.C. State’s new Hunt Library last week, one visitor took note of a Duane Powell cartoon in Governor Hunt’s office. It poked fun at his hotly debated plan to transfer land from Dix to NCSU (for what become the Centennial Campus, a jewel for the school and one of the world’s most outstanding university research campuses.) That was in 1984, almost 30 years ago.
This week, Governor McCrory proposed privatizing the Department of Commerce. Exactly what Lt. Governor Bob Jordan proposed in 1988, exactly 25 years ago, when he was running against Governor Jim Martin.
By the way, Martin and his Republican allies denounced the idea then. They said it would hurt the industry-hunting efforts of the Department of Commerce (which Hunt had created in 1977).
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Gary Pearce posted on April 02, 2013 10:25
A TAPster offers these observations on “the nasty civil war between the legislature and cities, now manifesting itself in high-profile fisticuffs over the Charlotte airport authority and the fate of the Dix property in Raleigh," as follows:
“First, there have been other disputes like this over the years. Charlotte leaders (including the former mayor and now current Governor McCrory) stayed frustrated for years with former Senate leader Marc Basnight, whom they viewed as an eastern North Carolina rube who had no concept of the challenges of their great city. He wouldn’t send money for transportation projects, much less visit.
“Meanwhile, legislative leaders -- whose core ideology is a disdain for a powerful central government and a passion for John Locke’s theories of individual freedom in civic, economic and religious life -- have abandoned those principles to use their new-found power and authority to micromanage the affairs of local governments.
“Finally, the politics of this mess will be revealed if these issues come to a vote. If the local legislative delegations are split (especially among the GOP members) and the issues advance anyway, then it’s a sign that the legislative leadership has run amok and thinks it is the boss of everybody. If, however, the delegations are unified, then it will be up to voters to decide whether their representatives in Raleigh are reflecting local values or they are mere vassals of the new king in town.”
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Gary Pearce posted on March 28, 2013 09:23
Has public opinion – and politicians – ever shifted so fast on an issue as on gay marriage?
A year ago, 60 percent of North Carolina voters approved a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Yesterday, a U.S. Senator in a tough reelection fight endorsed gay marriage.
Yes, Kay Hagan is one of a lengthening list of moderate Democrats who recently changed her position. Like Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Jon Tester and Mark Warner. And one doubts they recently changed their minds; they probably had come to that conclusion long ago but were wrestling with when to go public.
In a way, they have no choice. A rising tide of young people is moving Democratic, attracted by President Obama and repelled by Republican meanness. For this generation, ending discrimination against gays is their version of Vietnam, civil rights and women’s rights. They know gay teens who were and are bullied. (We all did; we just kept quiet or joined in the harassment.) They believe it’s wrong, and they won’t stand for it. Good for them.
They, in turn, are moving their parents and grandparents. A lot of people who are coming around now long ago concluded the gay-bashing and discrimination is wrong, but they couldn’t get comfortable with gay marriage. What clinches them is a simple argument: You should be able to marry the person you love.
Just for the hell of it, why don’t Democrats in the North Carolina legislature put in a bill calling for another statewide vote on the constitutional amendment? It will go straight to the Republican trash can. And that’s the point.
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Gary Pearce posted on March 26, 2013 09:51
As if Senator Kay Hagan needed Michael Bloomberg sticking his Gotham billionaire gun-control nose in her race.
Hagan already has a tough reelection fight. She’s one of the Obama Class of 2008 Senators. And a President’s second mid-term election historically is bad for his party.
(Not always, though. Republicans thought they would be shooting fish in a barrel in Bill Clinton’s second mid-term in 1998. Especially after Monica-gate broke in January. But, thanks to then-Speaker and philanderer Newt Gingrich, they overplayed their hand. Democrats won big. In North Carolina, John Edwards upset Lauch Faircloth.)
Still, Bloomberg puts a target squarely on Hagan by targeting the state with his TV ads.
So she faces a choice. She could do what moderate North Carolina Democrats normally do: take cover in the middle and hope the NRA crowd doesn’t come at her with guns blazing. (This blog inevitably leads to an excess of gun metaphors.)
Or she could gamble that politics has changed. Maybe gun politics has changed after Newton and other school massacres. Maybe North Carolina politics has changed with Obama’s strong showing and the potential emergence of a new Democratic majority based in urban areas and appealing to women, minorities and young people – the very people who like Bloomberg’s ads. But will those votes be there without Obama on the ballot?
You can bet that Hagan’s advisers are puzzling over this now. All politicians and political operatives are control freaks; they hate anything they can’t control. And nobody can control Bloomberg and his billions.
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Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
The Charlotte Observer says: “Carter Wrenn and Gary Pearce don’t see eye-to-eye on many issues. But they both love North Carolina and know its politics inside and out.”
Carter is a Republican.
Gary is a Democrat.
They met in 1984, during the epic U.S. Senate battle between Jesse Helms and Jim Hunt. Carter worked for Helms and Gary, for Hunt.
Years later, they became friends. They even worked together on some nonpolitical clients.
They enjoy talking about politics. So they started this blog in 2005.
They’re still talking. And they invite you to join the conversation.
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