Barry Smith - In the Loop


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My crystal ball is still cloudy

December 22nd, 2011, 7:07 pm by

As the end of the year approaches, it’s time to take another look back to a column/blog post I made in January. I tried to take on the role of prognosticator. From the results, I think that Punxsutawney Phil and North Carolina’s own Sir Walter Wally are better than predicting the future than I am.

Here’s a look how I did on my predictions:

1. Republicans will try to repeal the healthcare bill adopted last year, but they’ll fail. Two things will stand in their way. First, the GOP is still in the minority in the Senate. Second, even if repeal did get through the Senate, President Obama still has the veto stamp.

Bingo! I got this one right. But really, knowing politicians, this one was a no-brainer.

2. The year will come and go once again without Congress agreeing on comprehensive immigration reform. Sooner or later, Washington is going to have to own up to its responsibility and modernize the nation’s immigration system. But this won’t be the year.

Right again! I doubt 2012 will be the year either. So far I’m two-for-two.

3. Republicans in the N.C. General Assembly will work with Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue to pass a balanced budget that doesn’t raise taxes.

Republicans, with the help of a handful of House Democrats, did keep their promise of crafting a balanced budget without increasing taxes. Perdue vetoed the budget. The veto was promptly overridden.

4. Changes are in store for alcohol and gambling across the Tar Heel state. Lawmakers will privatize the state’s liquor sales system. And video poker/Internet sweepstakes will make a comeback, all with the blessing of the powers that be in Raleigh.

Wrong and wrong again. Now I’m two-for-four.

5. The GOP majority will approve a bill requiring a photo ID to vote. But they won’t have enough support for the bill to override a governor’s veto.

I get a check mark on that one.

6. This won’t be the year for social conservative legislation, such as a proposed amendment to the N.C. Constitution to ban same-sex marriages. Lawmakers will spend their time working on the economy and the budget.

What was I thinking? See you at the polls in May.

7. Four teams from North Carolina will make the NCAA basketball tournament, with at least one making it to the Final Four.

Only three made it to March Madness. None made it to the Final Four.

8. The Carolina Panthers will have a losing season again in 2011. Meanwhile, their former head coach, John Fox, will land a job where he’ll have a winning season.

The Panthers, while improved over last year, won’t have a winning season. Fox’s new team, the Denver Broncos, need just one more win in their final two regular-season games to have a winning season.

9. The Panthers won’t sign a No. 1 draft pick either.

They signed Cam Newton. I’m glad I got this one wrong.

10. The Carolina Hurricanes will, on the other hand, continue to improve and make the Stanley Cup Playoffs this year.

Wrong again!

I went four for 10. That’d make a good baseball batting average, but that’s about it.

Posted in: Alcohol • Bev Perdue • Budget • Constitutional Amendments • Gambling • General Assembly • Government spending • Health • Immigration • Politics • Same-sex marriage • Social Issues • Sports • State government • Taxes • Veto | Post a Comment »

Jim Crawford draws a primary challenge from Jason Jenkins

October 17th, 2011, 4:12 pm by

One of the five House Democrats who sided with Republicans on the budget earlier this year has drawn a primary challenger.

Jason Jenkins of Creedmoor announced on his Facebook page that he was running for the House District 2 race, challenging incumbent Rep. Jim Crawford, D-Granville.

Crawford was one of five Democrats who voted for the budget in May and voted to override Gov. Bev Perdue’s veto of the budget in June.

Those actions didn’t go unnoticed by Jenkins.

“For you all that do not remember, Crawford was one of the five Democrats who voted with the Republicans for the budget,” Jenkins wrote. “He voted with the Republicans to override the governor’s veto and he also was a primary sponsor of the anti-gay marriage amendment!”

Crawford and Rep. W.A. “Winkie” Wilkins, D-Person, were both drawn into the same House District 2 when redistricting maps were approved in July. Those maps are awaiting approval from the U.S. Department of Justice under the Voting Rights Act.

Neither Crawford nor Wilkins could be reached for comment on their plans for 2012.

Posted in: 2012 Election • Budget • Elections • General Assembly • Politics • Same-sex marriage • Social Issues • State government • Veto | 2 Comments »

Battle over Pre-K is political, not judicial

October 11th, 2011, 4:21 pm by

Gov. Bev Perdue’s request for funding to pay for adding 6,300 children to the pre-kindergarten program formerly known as More at Four is more of a political move than an administrative attempt to comply with a judicial order.

While Wake County Superior Court Judge Howard Manning did order the state to beef up the North Carolina Pre-Kindergarten Program back in the summer, a higher state court has already ruled that such an order amounts to judicial interdiction that “infringes on the constitutional duties and expectations of the legislative and executive branches of government.” That’s what the N.C. Supreme Court said in 2004 when it ruled on Manning’s previous order to establish a pre-K program in what is known as the Leandro ruling.

Perdue references Manning’s order and acknowledges that a notice of appeal has been filed on the order. However, Perdue says that the General Assembly should redirect state funds to pre-K programs regardless of the outcome of the appeal.

The pre-K dispute is a continuation of the budget battle that Perdue, a Democrat, had with the Republican legislative majority earlier this year. Perdue vetoed the GOP-backed budget, which allowed tax increases adopted two years ago to expire on June 30.

Five Democrats joined 67 Republicans and one then-independent to override the veto in the House. The veto was overridden in a party-line vote in the Senate.

It’s unlikely that the appeals courts will uphold Manning’s order, unless they decide to abandon precedent and somehow find a way to say that the N.C. Constitution requires the state to provide pre-kindergarten opportunities to North Carolina children.

I’ve been wrong before. But I’ll be stunned if the N.C. Supreme Court reverses course on this one.

The real debate has more to do with political philosophy than constitutional requirement. The real question: Is it the responsibility of the state or the parents to make sure their children are prepared for school?

In the past, the N.C. Supreme Court has said that’s a question to be decided by the governor and the General Assembly, not by the courts.

Posted in: Bev Perdue • Budget • General Assembly • Politics • State government | Post a Comment »

Speaker Tillis responds to Democrats ‘NC Forward’ tour

September 26th, 2011, 5:18 pm by

House Speaker Thom Tillis has responded to last week’s Democratic leaders’ tour of North Carolina in which they were critical of Republicans for allowing a sales tax increase they imposed two years earlier to expire while cutting state programs at the same time.

Tillis, a Mecklenburg County Republican, said that the Democrats were begging to raise taxes.

House Democratic Leader Joe Hackney of Orange County along with a number of other House Democrats – including fellow Orange County Rep. Bill Faison – traveled the state last week lamenting the effect of budget cuts adopted during the 2011 session of the General Assembly.

Click here to read a Charlotte Observer story on the tour, which they dubbed the NC Forward tour.

“With a stagnant economy and an approach that’s never worked before, you have to admire the audacity of the Hackney/Faison bus tour to bet our state’s taxpayers for more of their hard-earned money – while our taxpayers are hurting the most,” Tillis said.

Tillis said that raising sales taxes would turn “a blind eye to the taxpayers,” adding that it would also hurt businesses trying to balance their budgets.

“Fortunately for North Carolinians, their failed approach of higher and higher taxes, for more and more government spending, doesn’t reflect the overwhelming, bipartisan majority of the House that passed a budget restoring over a billion dollars to N.C. taxpayers,” Tillis said.

Posted in: Budget • Education • General Assembly • Politics • State government | Post a Comment »

Increase in jobless rate brings out the finger-pointing

August 19th, 2011, 3:25 pm by

Politicians in Raleigh were quick to point fingers Friday after new unemployment figures came out showing that North Carolina’s jobless rate jumped to 10.1 percent.

Rep. Joe Hackney, D-Orange, the House minority leader, said:

“North Carolina Republicans have again failed our families. Since their budget plan passed two months ago, more and more of our citizens have been put out of work. They have already directly eliminated nearly 20,000 public sector jobs, many if not most of them in education, and left our children without the resources they need to build a stronger economic future. Instead of fighting to keep more children out of pre-school and laying off educators, it is time for the Republican leaders to come up with a real plan for recovery.”

David Parker, chairman of the N.C. Democratic Party, also weighed in:

“The increase in North Carolina’s unemployment rate is a direct result of the destructive agenda being pushed by Republicans in the General Assembly. The numbers don’t lie: despite the second straight month of private sector job growth, thousands of educators lost their jobs as a result of the Republican budget. Imagine what a penny could have done for these teachers and their students. Laying off teachers, school counselors and other public school employees is bad for our economy and bad for our students.”

Parker’s GOP counterpart, Robin Hayes, responded by pointing the finger at Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue, saying she could learn something from Republican governors at the Southern Governors Association’s annual conference:

“This weekend is a great opportunity for Governor Perdue to learn about leadership and effective measures to combat unemployment. Nine out of the 10 ‘most pro-business; states are governed by Republicans, so she should take the time to study solutions that actually result in job creation. It becomes clearer by the day that the Governor knows nothing about job creation. Her focus is only on protecting her own job by blaming others for years of failed Democratic policies.”

Sen. Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, that chamber’s majority leader, also responded:

“The only solutions Bev Perdue and other liberals have proposed to create jobs are more taxes and more government spending – the same failed policies that drove our state into a financial ditch. Even with unemployment rates in double digits, Perdue is recklessly fighting for higher taxes and $360 million in new entitlements. The private sector will lead us out of the Obama-Perdue economy, and we’re confident the tax relief in our budget will continue to help North Carolina’s job creators put people back to work.”

Posted in: Bev Perdue • Budget • General Assembly • Government spending • Politics • State government • Taxes | Post a Comment »

Perdue responds to GOP pre-K request

August 16th, 2011, 1:58 pm by

Gov. Bev Perdue’s office has responded to a request by Republican legislative leaders for Wake County Superior Court Judge Howard Manning to clarify a recent order.

The order had to do with the state’s pre-kindergarten program previously known as More at Four.

Said Chris Mackey, Perdue’s press secretary:

“The Republican leadership in the legislature is trying to slam the door in the faces of 4-year-olds who are eligible for this program. The Republicans slashed the budget for pre-kindergarten by 20 percent. They imposed a new tax on financially stressed families who want to enroll. They limited the number of slots available to at-risk children. They took steps to reduce the academic content; and, now that a judge clearly ruled their efforts as unconstitutional, the Republican leaders are pretending this isn’t what they were trying to do. The truth is they are trying to defund academic pre-kindergarten, put up barriers to it and reduce the academic content.”

Posted in: Bev Perdue • Budget • Education • General Assembly • Government spending • Politics • State government | Post a Comment »

Legislative leaders ask Judge Manning to clarify pre-K ruling

August 15th, 2011, 4:07 pm by

Speaker Thom Tillis

President Pro-tem Phil Berger

House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, and Senate President Pro-tem Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, are asking Wake County Superior Court Judge Howard Manning to clarify a recent order regarding the state’s pre-kindergarten program previously known as More at Four.

Last month, Manning ruled that the state cannot limit at-risk children’s enrollment in the pre-kindergarten program. Last week, Gov. Bev Perdue ordered the program to accept all eligible 4-year-olds without easing previous academic standards.

The two GOP leaders say they’ve urged Perdue to seek clarification in Manning’s ruling, but she hasn’t. They say that instead she has mandated the state create a “massive, multi-million-dollar entitlement anyway – a blatantly unconstitutional move.”

The leaders say that Perdue is picking a political fight.

Posted in: Bev Perdue • Budget • Courts • General Assembly • Government spending • State government | 1 Comment »

Reuben Young tapped to be new Public Safety secretary

August 11th, 2011, 12:09 pm by

Reuben Young, the current secretary of crime control and public safety, will become the new secretary of the consolidated Department of Public Safety.

The consolidated department combines three current departments – Crime Control and Public Safety, Correction, and Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention – into one. It takes effect Jan. 1, 2012.

Gov. Bev Perdue made the announcement Thursday morning.

Perdue proposed the consolidation last December. It was approved by the General Assembly.

The consolidation is expected to save several million dollars by eliminating or consolidating functions such as human resources, purchasing, training and administration, Perdue’s office says.

“Reuben Young led North Carolina’s state law enforcement and emergency management communities over the past two-and-a-half years through many challenges,” Perdue said in a statement. “He knows North Carolina and is respected up and down the ranks of law enforcement. He is the right person to guide this new agency.”

The announcement says that Young’ salary will retain his current salary. Cabinet secretaries’ salaries are set by the General Assembly at $120,363.

Future roles for the other two Cabinet secretaries whose departments are being consolidated – Correction Secretary Alvin Keller and Juvenile Justice Secretary Linda Hayes – have yet to be determined.

“Secretary Young will choose his new leadership team,” said Chris Mackey, a spokeswoman for Perdue.

Posted in: Bev Perdue • Budget • Crime • General Assembly • Government spending • State government | Post a Comment »

New budget prompts increased parking fees, curtailed library hours

June 21st, 2011, 12:39 pm by

We’re already beginning to see some of the effects of the budget, which becomes law July 1. So far, notices have been sent out that rates will go up at visitors’ parking lots and some services will be curtailed.

Hourly rates at the state-operated visitor lots in downtown Raleigh will double, effective July 1. The money will be used to pay off bonds used to finance the Green Square parking deck in downtown.

Beginning July 9, the State Library and State Archives will curtail its Saturday hours. The doors will be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday hours have been from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The budget cuts will also mean that the N.C. Council for Women’s Northeast Region Office will be shut down on June 30.

Posted in: Budget • Government spending • State government | Post a Comment »

You can prod cattle; people, not so much

June 17th, 2011, 12:35 am by

House Speaker Thom Tillis is not the boss of the remaining 119 members of the state House. The Mecklenburg County Republican is not even the boss of the remaining 66 members of the GOP caucus. He can’t prod them to action.

He has excellent skills as a time manager. But he has to realize that they are not his subordinates the way he could in a business setting.

For three weeks, House members have been prodded to pass bills, often times burning the midnight oil. A couple of weeks ago, the House was putting the finishing touches on a compromise budget that hoped to get to Gov. Bev Perdue by week’s end.

They accomplished that goal after debating the budget bill well into the evening on that Friday. They then took their final vote on the budget moments after midnight on that Saturday morning.

Then came crossover week, when House members found themselves in early morning committee meetings and late evening floor sessions.

This week, as the General Assembly barreled toward a conclusion of the regular session, late-night floor debate was once again the rule. Their agenda was heavy. On Tuesday, the House met into the night, adjourning moments before midnight, only to take up an override of the governor’s veto of the budget.

Finally, later Thursday night, things came to a head. An exhausted Rep. Edgar Starnes, R-Caldwell, took to the floor to express his frustration of the relentless prodding. Members were tired, he said, and a deliberative body was being asked to do too much too quickly.

Now legislative leaders who had hoped to be leaving town by the wee hours of the morning Friday will have to wait. The new target time for adjournment is midday Saturday.

Posted in: Bev Perdue • Budget • General Assembly • Politics • State government • Veto | Post a Comment »

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