North Carolina – Democrats
Jim Hunt at 80 and 40
Former Governor Jim Hunt celebrated his 80th birthday last week. And this year marks 40 years since his first year as Governor. Last Thursday evening, Governor and Mrs. Cooper hosted Governor and Carolyn Hunt, their family and about 200 “Hunt alumni” – from 16 years of staff, Cabinet and campaign teams – for a wonderful…
Read More2 Tyrants, 1 Leader
Trump saw the FBI on his trail. So he fired Comey. Senate Boss Berger was enraged that Democrats had the gall to propose amendments to his budget. So at 3 am he rammed through an amendment taking money away from schools in Democratic districts. Those were the actions of tyrants. There’s another way. Governor Cooper…
Read MoreKatie-Bar-the-Door
He leaned forward pouring over page after page of numbers, searching for a lodestar, then stopped: ‘Republicans are dropping. Democrats are dropping. Independents are going up. There’ll be more registered Independents than Republicans by the end of the year,’ he said and I asked, ‘Did you see Pat McCrory’s TV interview?’ ‘You mean where…
Read MoreBeer, Politics, a Quick Death
Years ago, around the time of Prohibition, the politicians in Raleigh passed a law that said, A brewer can’t deliver his own beer. And with that one law the politicians created a new industry which blossomed: The Beer Wholesalers (or Beer Distributors). Eighty-odd years passed and that old law, still on the books, put hand-cuffs…
Read MoreSellout or Step Forward?
Governor Cooper’s office calls the HB2 repeal “an important step forward for LGBT rights” even though it “wasn’t a perfect compromise or the Governor’s preferred solution.” LGBT leaders call it a “sellout” and an “insult.” This is the oldest debate in politics. Not liberal/conservative. Or Democrat/Republican. But “compromise” versus “all or nothing.” The Governor had…
Read MoreSports and HB2
Roy Williams won another NCAA title. And Roy Cooper may have won us more NCAAs. Which highlights the big part that sports played in the HB2 repeal. Give the NCAA and ACC credit for an assist. Point to them. They stood up and spoke out against HB2 from the start. For that they got grief…
Read MoreHB2 courage
Governor Cooper and Democratic legislators showed something last week that is so rare in America today we hardly know it when we see it. Political courage. Political courage is when you do what you believe is right. Even if it disappoints your strongest supporters. Even if it could cost you an election. Name another politician…
Read MoreHB2 bracket busters
Predicting politics is like filling out NCAA brackets: Your predictions and your brackets will get busted. EG: Who predicted the Republican debacle on health care? Nobody. Which explains why Republicans and Democrats alike are thrashing on an HB2 compromise. Republicans already were wrong about it once. When they rushed it through last March, they thought…
Read MoreRolling Downhill
It’s peculiar: My memory is far from perfect but I can’t recall either Jesse Helms or Jim Hunt spending taxpayers’ money to sue another politician – but these days it happens all the time: We’ve got packed courtrooms where one group of government lawyers are battling another group of government lawyers in front of judges…
Read More122 Professors
It’s one of the oldest temptations walking around on two legs: A man will try most anything to get his hands on a dollar – and the other morning 122 professors proved they’re no exception. Over in Chapel Hill at a Board of Governors meeting one of the trustees stood up and said it was…
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