Archive for April 2011
Goodbye, Brad?
Democrats are speculating that Congressman Brad Miller won’t run again in 2012. He’s raised only about $30,000 this cycle – less than most any Democratic incumbent. And he has told friends he expects that – just as he drew himself a good district when he chaired the state Senate redistricting committee – the Republicans…
Read MorePutting Pocketbooks First
Sometimes you have to rise above principle. That’s what Rep. Leo Daughtry and several Republican House members did this week when they voted to weaken the tort reform bill. Normally, tort reform is an article of faith for Republicans. It’s not only in their platforms, it’s in their genetic code. But that…
Read MoreBonehead Plays
It’s baseball season, and all across our land fans are enjoying hits, runs – and errors. So it is in politics in North Carolina. Herewith, our Top 3 of the week. Number 1, of course, has to be the pileup of errors by Governor Perdue and her staff over her whereabouts when the…
Read MoreObama’s Missing Story
On the off-chance Republicans don’t nominate Donald Trump and hand him reelection, President Obama needs a better story. Not a better story about where he was born or how he grew up. A story line that explains the times we live in and where he thinks we should go. All great Presidents develop…
Read More$4.1 Million
For years auto insurers have locked horns with Insurance Commissioners over raising car insurance premiums, but, now, Republican legislators are about to solve their problem – by getting the Insurance Commission out of the auto-insurers hair – a move the Commissioner says is dead certain sure to bring higher car insurance premiums. The newspaper,…
Read MoreOff to the Races
Governor Perdue & Staff are wrapped up in an unnecessary kerfluffle over where she was Saturday when deadly tornados struck North Carolina. It turns out she was in Kentucky, maybe – or maybe not – at a horse race. Which led one TAPster to look past the political flap to the economic possibilities of…
Read MoreBridge to Nowhere
A TAPster calls attention to a bill before the General Assembly titled “Upgrade Security Services-Government Complex” and observes: “It calls for x-ray machines and metal detectors for state buildings downtown. It calls for EMTs on staff. This is all sounds really good. But it allows up to 1 million dollars to cover the walkway…
Read MorePR Disaster
I was out of town this weekend and had difficulty following news about the tornados and their aftermath. But that was nothing compared to the difficulty untangling the PR disaster surrounding Governor Perdue’s whereabouts Saturday. An obliging TAPster summed it up this way: “Governor Perdue should fire her entire communications team after their…
Read MoreLast in Education
Republicans have opened the doors of opportunity for Governor Perdue. And missed a golden opportunity for themselves. Perdue can now say – according to State Board of Education Chairman Bill Harrison – that the Republican budget cuts would make North Carolina LAST in the nation in per-pupil education funding. We can’t even say…
Read MoreA Breath of Fresh Air
For the last ten years – girding their loins for this year’s redistricting battle – over in the State Legislature Republicans have been telling anyone who’ll listen that the Democrats should set up an ‘Independent Commission’ to draw new House and Senate districts. What they had in mind was simple: They didn’t want Democrats to…
Read More