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Raleigh
Carter Wrenn posted on May 22, 2013 16:35
Republican legislators, for years, have stood up and spoken up for free markets. It’s part of their creed. They don’t like government picking ‘winners and losers.’ But when a group of Republican legislators in Raleigh decided to sponsor a bill to break the hospitals’ monopoly on outpatient surgeries and put the free market to work – it didn’t appeal to the Hospital Association at all.
Right now, before, say, an orthopedic surgeon can do outpatient surgeries in his office instead of in a hospital, he has to get a permit called a ‘Certificate of Need’ from the state. And his chances of getting that certificate are slim to none.
Now hospitals, naturally, believe ‘Certificates of Need’ are a good thing – they say they protect consumers, prevent duplication, and hold down medical costs.
But those free-market-loving Republican legislators disagreed – they concluded what ‘Certificates of Need’ really did was grant the hospitals a monopoly by limiting their competition. So they introduced a bill that would let doctors do outpatient surgeries without getting a state permit.
As far as the hospitals were concerned, that crossed the line – so they came out swinging, setting up a website and running ads defending ‘Certificates of Need.’ They also dispatched lobbyists to the General Assembly to show legislators the error of their ways. And, when the smoke cleared, the legislators’ free market bill ended up in the elephant’s graveyard of legislation – a study commission.
Afterwards, commiserating with a legislator serving his first term, an old hand in the General Assembly said, Well, now you’ve seen how government works first hand. The younger legislator bit his lip, shook his head wryly, and said, Yep. And it sure looks like the money changers have gotten inside the Temple.
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Carter Wrenn posted on May 21, 2013 15:22
There’re a lot of clever politicians and smart politicians but there’re not many politicians with the courage to take a stand they know is unpopular.
The other day, baffled by the raft of tax reform plans floating around the State Legislature, I asked an economist to explain the virtues of ‘consumption taxes’ to me – and he did in a simple way even an economic illiterate like me can understand: He said, Income is good, investment is good, saving is good – so tax them less; spending (consumption) is not so good – so tax it more.
Senate Leader Phil Berger sees eye to eye with that economist and he means to reform North Carolina’s tax code to base it on ‘consumption taxes.’
Now, if you’re an average guy studying the tax code, it looks like an irrational muddle. But if you’re a politician studying that same tax code it doesn’t look so irrational at all – instead it looks like the labyrinthine result of legions of smart politicians, over years, carefully calculating which taxes they could raise without getting voted out of office.
For example, those politicians decided not to tax food because everybody eats. They decided not to tax prescription drugs because a lot of older people vote. The income tax code is ‘progressive’ because there’re fewer rich people than poor or middle class people. Farmers get the loopholes when they buy a tractor because rural politicians want to be friends with farmers.
The whole tax code, politically, is highly practical.
And that’s a problem Senator Berger ran into head-on. Because to cut taxes on income and savings, but to do it he had to raise taxes consumption. And to do that he had to close what my economist friend calls tax ‘loopholes.’
That’s logical. But it left Senator Berger facing a helluva fight. Because a senior citizen not paying sales taxes on his blood pressure medicine doesn’t see that as a ‘loophole.’ And neither do a whole welter of other groups who enjoy tax exemptions.
For instance, the Association of Realtors doesn’t see the home mortgage deduction as a loophole. And it doesn’t see switching to consumption taxes as a cure to the housing industry’s doldrums. So it’s running one ad saying folks will pay 25% in sales taxes (consumption taxes) when they buy a home and another ad with a young man saying, It’s wrong to take away my money for tax reform.
The Hospital Association doesn’t see exempting hospitals from paying sales taxes as a loophole either – so it’s weighed in, too, with an ad and website saying hospitals are fighting for their survival and closing their ‘loopholes’ is the worst kind of news for their patients.
And, of course, the Democrats don’t like Senator Berger’s plan – they let fly roaring his idea of tax reform is ‘regressive’ and will tax the rich less and the poor more.
So Senator Berger’s got a tiger by the tail. Before he’s done ‘closing loopholes’ there’s a fair chance he may be the most vilified elected official in North Carolina. But, anyway you look at it, you have to give Phil Berger credit: He’s no finger to the wind politician. People may be arguing for years whether he’s right or wrong – but, either way, you have to admit he’s got the rarest trait in politics: Courage.
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Gary Pearce posted on May 20, 2013 09:51
One word can say a lot. So it was with last week’s heated meeting between the Wake County commissioners and school board.
That “victory” was Senate passage of a bill taking control of building schools away from the Democratic-majority school board and giving it to the Republican-led commissioners.
First, Bryan was giving himself a lot of credit: “the victory we had.” Given the partisan lineup of the Senate, it wasn’t much of a contest.
Second, the comment betrays an underlying theme in this legislature. It’s not about good public policy. It’s not about good ideas. It’s not even about ideological consistency.
It’s about payback. Political revenge. It’s about: “We’re going to undo everything Democrats did, just because we can.”
Wake County voters will have a chance to ponder whether Republicans are putting their party’s interest above the public interest. What does Bryan’s quote tell them?
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Gary Pearce posted on April 28, 2013 15:00
If you need comfort or inspiration, take an hour to watch the moving memorial service for Jamie Kirk Hahn. If you’re pressed for time, watch Nation Hahn’s remarkable eulogy (at 34:00) and Anthony Quillar’s powerful rendition of the Lord’s Prayer (1:04).
Looking at the oversized portrait in the sanctuary, you’re overwhelmed by the impact that beautiful, lively, smiling girl had on people. (Yes, I said “girl.” When you’re a parent, you can’t help but see a little girl.)
I commend the video to you regardless of your politics. Republicans, you may grit your teeth once or twice; just substitute your own beliefs. For all of us who care about politics and public service, it’s a testament to the difference one person can make – and why we’re in it.
Democrats, take heart from it. That church was filled with many, many young people just as dedicated and just as idealistic as Jamie. There are thousands more across the state. They are an army waiting to be mobilized, and they have an arsenal of mobile weapons with which to mobilize.
Nation gave us this advice from Jamie:
1. Be kind to others. Lift other people up.
2. Be a helper. That is true power.
3. Work at it. Because it’s hard work. Stick to it.
Jamie brought a lot of people together. She’s still doing it. And she’ll be doing it for a long time.
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Gary Pearce posted on April 24, 2013 11:51
Absolute good met absolute evil in a quiet Raleigh home Monday evening. Early Wednesday morning, Jamie Hahn lost her fight to live.
Her husband Nation and her family are devastated. But, as always happens at times like this, the best in people comes out. All day Tuesday, friends streamed into WakeMed to do what they could, say what they could and simply be with her family and with each other.
Mid-afternoon, their friends decided there should be a prayer vigil. Less than four hours later, hundreds of people jammed into Pullen Memorial Baptist Church. We lit candles for her. Nation spoke. We hugged, and we wept.
Together, Jamie and Nation had a unique quality that people responded to. They liked people. Their home was a familiar gathering place. People had fun.
Jamie liked politics, and she was good at it. She exemplified all that is good in politics. Nation is familiar to readers of this blog. He has been a guest blogger and will again, I trust.
This is one of those times when what unites us as people is so much bigger than what divides us in politics.
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Carter Wrenn posted on April 15, 2013 14:27
Republicans and Democrats over in the legislature have been battling hammer and tongs but, still, it raised eyebrows last week when the News & Observer reported Republicans have declared war on the cities.
House Speaker Thom Tillis explained the new conflagration philosophically, saying ‘Part of the conflict is due to a different world view of the role of government.’ Other legislators were blunter, saying ‘Cities are getting too big and too powerful’ and ‘Cities are too arrogant.’
The mayors (who’re mostly Democrats) tried to fight back but the legislators (who’re mostly Republicans) had them over a barrel: The General Assembly had the power – legally – so it rolled happily forward redrawing school board districts, rewriting local housing regulations, and taking the airport from Charlotte, the water system from Asheville and Dix Park from Raleigh.
But, a year from now, this war may take a turn that surprises the General Assembly: Years ago, when Jesse Helms first ran for Senate, most of the voters lived in small towns and rural crossroads not big enough to be called towns. But those days have long-since vanished. Cities are now the political dynamos and cities and suburbs decide elections and mayors (like Raleigh’s Mayor Nancy McFarlane) are popular – more popular than, say, a Republican legislator from Raleigh.
So what began as a legal fight may spiral into a political fight and, next election, if Mayor McFarlane decides to lead one of those independent Super PAC campaigns, Republican legislators in swing districts in Wake County could become casualties.
There’s also another more nuanced problem. Legislators changing government policies – like cutting spending or reforming the tax code – is one thing. But Republican legislators passing laws to weaken Democratic mayors is another thing entirely. Voters are pretty tolerant of politicians’ foibles and clay feet and hardly a soul believes anymore American Democracy is an exercise in selflessness or clean hands – but sometimes when a politician goes too far he runs afoul of a political current that runs bone-deep – then the wind changes and tolerance ends and a bedrock American spirit (that cannot abide a politician who grabs for too much power) breaks loose and wreaks havoc.
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Carter Wrenn posted on April 10, 2013 11:10
My grandmother used to say, ‘Idle hands are the devil’s workshop’ – and while legislators are waiting for the Senate to introduce its budget over in the General Assembly, they’re making a strong case that temptation and too much time on your hands is as deadly a combination as ever:
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One legislator sponsored a bill to make teaching cursive handwriting mandatory in public schools, saying teaching cursive would develop brain activity in third graders and help them read historical documents like the Constitution – which a Google search shows, is available in print on the Internet in 123,000 places.
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Two legislators declared the 1st Amendment (and the Freedom of Religion Clause) of the Constitution doesn’t apply to North Carolina, and that under the 10th Amendment, the legislature can nullify federal laws they don’t like – but they missed one crucial fact: The last time the state legislature tried to nullify the Constitution it didn’t work out too well.
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A Senator filed a bill to prohibit male students and female students from rooming together in dormitories at UNC – it’s hard to argue with that, but a better question to ask might be how on earth UNC ended up with a Chancellor who could be gulled into believing it made common sense to allow gay men to room with straight women in UNC dormitories?
So, with the time they had on their hands, legislators wrote bills that enraged women, nullified the Constitution, stimulated brain activity, separated gay men and straight women at UNC, and threatened FBI agents – is it any wonder (according to the latest polls) only 23% of the voters approve of the way the state legislature is doing its job?
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Gary Pearce posted on April 05, 2013 09:41
Roy, who died this week, was one of North Carolina’s great reporters and editors. He was founding editor of the Fayetteville Times. Back in the 1960s, he was a political reporter at The News & Observer – and a classic newsroom character.
Terse and sardonic, Roy would stalk in late in the day and go into a manic two-fingered typing trance, turning out page after page of copy. He had more sources and more scoops than any reporter in Raleigh.
In those days, Under the Dome ran on page one every day. It was a place for rumors, trial balloons and gossip that would never get in the paper today. Legend had it that Roy made up some of the items but, to give them credibility, would walk over to Capitol Square, mutter to himself: “I heard such-and-such today,” then go to the newsroom and write, “It was heard on Capitol Square today that ….”
One governor’s press secretary told of a particularly effective technique Roy used. He would stalk into a state official’s office, sit down across the desk and … say absolutely nothing. He would sit silently and stare at his poor prey. The silence was unnerving. Soon his victim would start talking, anything to ease the tension. Before long Roy would have a Dome item, some inside poop or a front-page exclusive.
Roy left the N&O to work in Skipper Bowles’ campaign for Governor in 1972. After Skipper lost, Roy went to Fayetteville to start the Times, and he offered me a job. I said no because I didn’t want to move to Fayetteville. But I thought so much of Roy I thought about it hard.
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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 27, 2013 08:49
When President Gerald Ford nixed financial aid for New York City back in the 1970s, the front page of a brassy Big Apple tabloid blared: “Ford to City: Drop Dead.”
Which brings us to the Republican bill undoing the Dix deal. Which brings us to two GOP Senators from Wake County who cut and ran from their party.
Chad Barefoot and Neal Hunt got what Senator Josh Stein was getting at when he said Republicans are killing the park plan because Raleigh is “a city you don’t like.”
Barefoot and Hunt might look safe politically. They have good districts. They have a big money advantage.
But, to keep winning, they have to win moderate Independents. The kind of voters who don’t like partisanship. The kind of voters who might see the legislature as a bunch of rural Tea Party extremists who hate cities in general and Raleigh in particular. The kind of voters who see Republicans nationally as a gang of vengeful, angry old white men.
Barefoot and Hunt have to worry that a future opponent might figure out that there are a lot of well-heeled people in Raleigh who are mad enough to give big money to a Democrat – or to a super-PAC helping Democrats.
They also have to worry that, in 2014, President Obama’s OFA might pump a lot of money into North Carolina. Or that, in 2016, Hillary Clinton might set off a Democratic tidal wave among moderate Independent women in their districts.
Hunt and Barefoot have no control over a lot of that. They could control how they voted. So they voted with Raleigh and against their fellow Republicans.
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