News 14 Carolina - Political Connections

Rudy G is coming to Raleigh. The former New York Mayor and now Republican Presidential candidate is a lunch speaker at the Conservative Leadership conference late next month in downtown Raleigh. The conference, in its second year, is set up by the Civitas Institute-an arm of the Pope Foundations.

It appears the battle over the right to smoke or the right to clean air will continue. Bills banning or allowing local governments to ban smoking were steam rolling through the legislature. Now there's a bit of a hold up. I'm hearing Democrats are a few votes short in the House for a full ban including restaurants and bars. It appears Rep. Holliman is having a hard time getting anyone to switch sides too. He doesn't want to water down the bill at all but bars might get an exemption, however that will upset the Restaurant Association who would likely officially oppose the bill after remaining fairly quiet about the current one. They say they just want an equal playing field.

The home sale transfer tax is in full "testing the waters" mode. I'm getting asked by many different groups if I've heard anything about what lawmakers think about it. Several lawmakers I've talked to don't necessarily oppose it because they feel it's a good tax to help deal with the state's growth considering there's so many other needs out there and needs that want bonds.

What was supposed to be a fairly mundane session has created many interesting bills already!