Not Joshing Around
2014-07-03 - by
I know that people in the Governor’s Office read this blog. So please pass this message on to Governor McCrory: Josh Ellis needs some time off.
Josh, the Governor’s communications director, responded rather sharply to my blog yesterday about McCrory’s new Governor’s Teacher Network (GTN). (See “McCrory’s Make-up Test.”)
Josh’s email is below, but first some background. I’m gratified when important people in government read our blog and take time to respond in writing. Art Pope has done so a couple of times. Most always, I post the response in full, without tagging on my usual ad hominem sarcasm. (Don’t try this at home. I am a trained professional.)
But I can’t do that here.
This is Josh’s response, in full: “Gary, I hope you’re doing well. I just read your latest post. I probably shouldn’t be surprised that a consultant is criticizing a plan that would pay teachers instead of consultants. Josh.”
Help me here. I have no idea what consultants have to do with GTN. I don’t know GTN from GNP. Plus, I was quoting criticism from TEACHERS. Talk to them, Josh.
But I feel Josh’s pain. I sat in his seat for eight years, and I’ve done the same thing more times than I care to remember. Josh spends every day caught between a hypersensitive boss and a hypercritical pack of reporters, bloggers and political opponents. Even fellow Republicans like Senator Berger & Co. go out of their way to make life miserable in the Governor’s Office.
Maybe Josh had been looking forward to some time off this weekend. Then comes Hurricane Arthur, and he has to go into Storm Communications Mode. All hands on deck – and to the cameras!
(By the way, one reader asked: “Why does Governor McCrory always tell us not to do anything ‘stupid’ during a storm? Does he think we’re stupid? And if we are stupid, would we listen?”)
Anyway, Josh needs a break. As do a lot of people in Raleigh.
So, the spirit of the holiday and of national unity, I wish Josh, Governor McCrory and all of you a Happy Fourth. I hope your plans (and ours) survive the storm. Enjoy some dogs and burgers, a cold beverage and that great American pastime of watching stuff blow up.
And listen to your Governor. Don’t do anything stupid.
Posted in General, North Carolina - Republicans
Not Joshing Around
2014-07-03/
I know that people in the Governor’s Office read this blog. So please pass this message on to Governor McCrory: Josh Ellis needs some time off.
Josh, the Governor’s communications director, responded rather sharply to my blog yesterday about McCrory’s new Governor’s Teacher Network (GTN). (See “McCrory’s Make-up Test.”)
Josh’s email is below, but first some background. I’m gratified when important people in government read our blog and take time to respond in writing. Art Pope has done so a couple of times. Most always, I post the response in full, without tagging on my usual ad hominem sarcasm. (Don’t try this at home. I am a trained professional.)
But I can’t do that here.
This is Josh’s response, in full: “Gary, I hope you’re doing well. I just read your latest post. I probably shouldn’t be surprised that a consultant is criticizing a plan that would pay teachers instead of consultants. Josh.”
Help me here. I have no idea what consultants have to do with GTN. I don’t know GTN from GNP. Plus, I was quoting criticism from TEACHERS. Talk to them, Josh.
But I feel Josh’s pain. I sat in his seat for eight years, and I’ve done the same thing more times than I care to remember. Josh spends every day caught between a hypersensitive boss and a hypercritical pack of reporters, bloggers and political opponents. Even fellow Republicans like Senator Berger & Co. go out of their way to make life miserable in the Governor’s Office.
Maybe Josh had been looking forward to some time off this weekend. Then comes Hurricane Arthur, and he has to go into Storm Communications Mode. All hands on deck – and to the cameras!
(By the way, one reader asked: “Why does Governor McCrory always tell us not to do anything ‘stupid’ during a storm? Does he think we’re stupid? And if we are stupid, would we listen?”)
Anyway, Josh needs a break. As do a lot of people in Raleigh.
So, the spirit of the holiday and of national unity, I wish Josh, Governor McCrory and all of you a Happy Fourth. I hope your plans (and ours) survive the storm. Enjoy some dogs and burgers, a cold beverage and that great American pastime of watching stuff blow up.
And listen to your Governor. Don’t do anything stupid.
Posted in General, North Carolina - Republicans