Just released...the decision by the Administrative Court over the Council of State's rights to make the decision on death penalty protocol...here's part of the ruling itself signed by Judge Fred Morrison.

DECISION

That the Council of State reconsider its approval of the Execution Protocol.


ORDER AND NOTICE

The North Carolina Council of State is the agency that will make the Final Decision in this contested case. Prior to the issuance of its Final Decision, the Council of State is required to give each party an opportunity to file exceptions to this decision, and to present written arguments to the members of the Council of State who will make the Final Decision. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 150B-36(a).

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 150B-36(b), (b)(1), (b)(2), and (b)(3) enumerate the standard of review and procedures the agency must follow in making its Final Decision, and adopting and/or not adopting the Findings of Fact and Decision of the Administrative Law Judge. The agency shall adopt the decision of the Administrative Law Judge unless the agency demonstrates that the decision of the Administrative Law Judge is clearly contrary to the preponderance of the admissible evidence in the official record. In accordance with N.C. Gen. Stat. § 150B-36 the agency shall adopt each finding of fact contained in the Administrative Law Judge’s decision unless the finding is clearly contrary to the preponderance of the admissible evidence. For each finding of fact not adopted by the agency, the agency shall set forth separately and in detail the reasons for not adopting the finding of fact and the evidence in the record relied upon by the agency in not adopting the finding of fact. For each new finding of fact made by the agency that is not contained in the Administrative Law Judge’s decision, the agency shall set forth separately and in detail the evidence in the record relied upon by the agency in making the finding of fact.

Pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 150B-36(b)(3), the agency is required to serve a copy of its Final Decision upon each party personally or by certified mail and to furnish a copy to each attorney of record and the Office of Administrative Hearings, 6714 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-6714.

Here's more...

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

1. The Office of Administrative Hearings has jurisdiction to hear this case pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 150B-23.

2. The North Carolina Administrative Procedure Act confers upon any “person aggrieved” the right to commence an administrative hearing to resolve a dispute with an agency involving the person’s rights, duties, or privileges. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 150B-23(a); See also Empire Power Co. v. North Carolina Dep’t of Env’t, Health & Natural Resources, 337 N.C. 569, 584 (1994).

3. A “person aggrieved” means any person or group of persons of common interest directly or indirectly affected substantially in his or its person, property, or employment by an administrative decision. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 150B-2(6).

4. Petitioners, as human beings sentenced to die according to the method described in the Execution Protocol, are persons aggrieved within the meaning of the statute. They are entitled to the presence of medical personnel who are appropriately placed, trained and qualified to help ensure that they are unconscious and unable to feel pain prior to and at the time of the administration of any pancuronium bromide or potassium chloride. Although a sentencing court has determined that Petitioners have no right to life, they retain a right to die without the risk of undue pain and suffering.

5. As persons aggrieved by Respondent’s decision to approve the protocol, Petitioners bear the burden of proving by the preponderance or greater weight of the evidence that in making its decision the Respondent: (1) exceeded its authority or jurisdiction; (2) acted erroneously; (3) failed to use proper procedure; (4) acted arbitrarily or capriciously; or (5) failed to act as required by law or rule. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 150B-23.

6. Petitioners failed to persuade me that Respondent exceeded its statutory authority or jurisdiction; acted arbitrarily or capriciously; or failed to act as required by law or rule in approving the Execution Protocol. Pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15-188, the Governor and Council of State have the authority to approve the warden’s provision of the “necessary appliances for the infliction of the punishment of death and qualified personnel to set up and prepare the injection, administer the preinjections, insert the IV catheter, and to perform other tasks…”

7. Respondent’s decision to approve the Execution Protocol was not erroneous for including limited involvement of a doctor in the face of the Medical Board’s Position Statement. Angel of mercy, not agent of harm, is the role inmates seek for the doctor. They want help, not harm, from a doctor. Palliative care from a doctor to prevent unnecessary suffering, prior to a person being injected with lethal drugs which can cause excruciating pain, is not unprofessional or unethical. To threaten to discipline a doctor for helping in this manner is not regulating medicine for the benefit and protection of the people of North Carolina. The oath of office taken by members of the North Carolina Medical Board binds them to support our constitutions and constitutional authorities(the Council of State). Our state and federal constitutions authorize the death penalty. Our General Assembly has authorized it for those convicted of first degree murder. It is part of North Carolina’s public policy, which is not to be stymied by a non-binding position statement.

8. Petitioners persuaded me that it was erroneous to approve the provision in the protocol allowing the warden to determine unconsciousness after injection of pentothal solely upon a reading of 60 or below on a BIS Monitor, especially without involvement and consultation with a licensed registered nurse and licensed physician as approved by Judge Howard. Unless a nurse and doctor fully trained on the BIS Monitor are participating in the Warden’s decision, the later sentence in the protocol stating that the doctor will monitor the prisoner for signs of undue pain or suffering could be meaningless for if the inmate remains conscious and is paralysed he or she could not show or send such signs.

9. Petitioners persuaded me that it was erroneous to include the sentence “The Warden will then stop the execution.” under Section III of the protocol, especially without further explanation. The Warden is not given such authority as G. S. § 15-188 says in part “the mode of executing a death sentence must in every case be by administering to the convict or felon a lethal quantity of an ultrashort-acting barbiturate in combination with a chemical paralytic agent until the convict or felon is dead.” The Warden could pause the process so medical personnel could return an inmate to an unconscious state per Judge Howard’s ruling. There is no need for a recovery room or crash cart.

10. ESSE QUAM VIDERI is our North Carolina State Motto—“To be, rather than to seem”. Prison officials through their attorneys seemed to be telling a federal judge that a licensed registered nurse and licensed physician would be: observing the inmate lying on the gurney while also monitoring vital signs via BIS and other monitors to be sure of unconsciounsness before injection of painful drugs. This persuaded the judge to let them execute Willie Brown. The doctor did not observe the inmate nor did he monitor vital signs. The proposed protocol seeks to modify what was presented to Judge Howard. Petitioners have persuaded me that the proposed protocol does not ensure that inmates will be rendered unconscious prior to and throughout the period during which lethal drugs are injected into their bloodstream, such that they will be prevented from perceiving pain during their execution.

11. The essence of due process is the right to be heard. It was not proper procedure to consider only documents and comments from those proposing the protocol and not hear from counsel for the condemned inmates. This error can be corrected by members of the Council of State reviewing this Decision, the Transcript of the May 21st hearing, Exhibit notebooks introduced by Petitioners and Respondent, as well as Exceptions and written arguments filed by the parties, prior to making their final agency decision.

This isn't exactly politics...but interesting. I was doing a story today on concerns about the future water supply with the population surge expected by 2030.

As a part of making various phone calls I talked with Brian Long from the NC Ag department. We were talking about how recent droughts have affected crops in recent years. It seems the extreme conditions are making it worse (freezes, floods, droughts, etc.) than droughts alone.

Even more interesting, apparently this was supposed to be a killer year for corn. 1.1 million acres were planted compared to 700,000 last year - a 39% increase. Turns out corn is a pretty sensitive crop and the drought is destroying some of the crops.

Yet another blow for North Carolina farmers.

Speaker Hackney's office sent out this release this afternoon.
----------
Remarks of Speaker Joe Hackney upon receiving the Excellence in Legislative Leadership Award from the National Conference of State Legislatures and the State Legislative Leaders Foundation. Hackney was recognized for his work to pass sweeping ethics reform in North Carolina last year and then successfully leading the House through this session. Hackney received the award Tuesday, Aug. 7, during NCSL's annual meeting in Boston. A photo of him with the award is available for download at http://www.ncsl.org/annualmeeting/joehackney.jpg.
"I am very grateful for this recognition and to all who played a role in my being here today -- House Principal Clerk Denise Weeks, who nominated me, others who wrote in support of the nomination, including Howard Lee, Franklin Freeman, Dr. William Friday and Gerry Cohen.
I want to thank Mr. Bulger, Steve Lakis and Bill Pound for their part in this award. I want to thank Prof. Marty Linsky from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, who chaired the award committee, and the other members of the award committee for their consideration of my nomination.
I want to thank my colleagues in the North Carolina House and Senate, who worked together with me to respond to the crisis we faced. In this regard, I especially want to recognize Rep. Deborah Ross, Rep. Julia Howard and Sen. Dan Clodfelter and Sen. Tony Rand.
I would like to thank the dedicated members of our legislative staff, especially Walker Reagan, Erika Churchill and Laura DeVivo for their contributions in this effort.
I would like to thank my family, especially my wife Betsy, for putting up with me when times were bad. It is my hope that you, my colleagues from across the country, will never face the situation we faced in North Carolina -- that of having decades of reputation for good government endangered by the unlawful conduct of one or a few. But if you do, I hope that you will find in your state the same incredible determination that we found among our North Carolina colleagues, House and Senate, Democrat and Republican, a determination to come together and craft a response worthy of convincing a skeptical public and a skeptical press that we were serious about addressing their concerns and changing our culture.
My colleagues and I responded with new laws, new legislative rules, new ethics education and training, new enforcement and new reporting requirements.
But most of all, my colleagues did what most all of us have tried to do for our entire legislative careers. We faced each day with a determination to act honestly and ethically and with careful thought that day and every day that follows."
____________ Excerpted remarks from William M. "Billy" Bulger, former Massachusetts Senate president and former University of Massachusetts president. He was the first recipient of the award and it is named in his honor. He presented the award to Speaker Hackney.
"The Excellence in State Legislative Leadership Award was established in 1995 and first presented in 1996 to honor a legislative leader who serves to maintain the honor and integrity of the legislative institution in a manner befitting the founding fathers that David McCullough will discuss in a moment.
The recipient receives this engraved award as well as a $10,000 donation to a charity or organization of their choice. The Honorable Joe Hackney, speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, and winner of the 2007 Excellence in State Legislative Leadership Award, is most definitely such a leader.
Taking over as Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives following a criminal investigation and indictment of his predecessor, Representative Hackney worked hard to restore public trust. Speaker Hackney, a 26-year-veteran of the North Carolina House, served as Majority Leader and Speaker Pro Tempore before becoming speaker in 2007.
Known for his patience and quiet leadership style, Hackney led a session that was among the most open and fair in recent memory.
Under his leadership, the North Carolina General Assembly opened ethics hearings, regulated legal defense funds and passed legislation denying pensions for legislators convicted of official job connected offenses.
Noted one traditional critic of the North Carolina General Assembly, "By all accounts, the process is more open and inclusive than it has been in many years."
Much of this change can be attributed to the leadership of Joe Hackney."

Cooper not happy. Attorney Roy General and the SBI Computer Crimes Unit picked up an award today from the National Law Center for Children and Families. It's dubbed the Child Defender of the Month Award. It's for their effort to nab criminals who use the internet to pick up kids.

Anywho, Coop was pretty blunt about his disliking of how lawmakers treated his child protection act bill. It passed the Senate and did nothing in the House. He was particularly mad about the social networking parental permission part of the bill that was axed and penalties that were lessened. He said high paid lobbyists for the industry convinced lawmakers to do it. The bill does remain alive for the spring.

The Computer Crimes Unit chief says he gets 20-30 calls a week directly from parents asking for help to catch someone preying on their child.

More on that in my story this afternoon.

I also asked about a death penalty update and well..not much of one. I'm told to expect another hearing in front of Judge Stephens at the end of this month but it's only to take up a few motions.

Cooper not happy. Attorney Roy General and the SBI Computer Crimes Unit picked up an award today from the National Law Center for Children and Families. It's dubbed the Child Defender of the Month Award. It's for their effort to nab criminals who use the internet to pick up kids.

Anywho, Coop was pretty blunt about his disliking of how lawmakers treated his child protection act bill. It passed the Senate and did nothing in the House. He was particularly mad about the social networking parental permission part of the bill that was axed and penalties that were lessened. He said high paid lobbyists for the industry convinced lawmakers to do it. The bill does remain alive for the spring.

The Computer Crimes Unit chief says he gets 20-30 calls a week directly from parents asking for help to catch someone preying on their child.

More on that in my story this afternoon.

I also asked about a death penalty update and well..not much of one. I'm told to expect another hearing in front of Judge Stephens at the end of this month but it's only to take up a few motions.

An insane week comes to a close for me. I"m off for a couple days because I'm helping out this weekend and it's nuts right now with the legislature and other things going on.

Therefore, I have little time to write much but please check out my story at news14.com on bridges today. Very interesting stuff...

Also, this week on Political Connections we take on Youth and Politics. Pretty cool stuff there as well.

Have a great weekend!

To tax or not to tax..that is the question. It remains unclear how quick and if counties will take advantage of the new ability to raise taxes. The land transfer tax and 1/4 cent sales tax options must be approved by voters as well.

It seems counties are unsure of what they can do. Todd McGee from the County Commish Assoc. says some counties want to put both on the ballot and then pick which to use (counties can only utilize one not both). However, it's not clear if that's legal. Others don't know if they can get it all together and give the State Board of Elections proper notice. All in all, it seems as though most will wait til next year.

Numbers from McGee show it's a mixed bag as well when it comes to potential revenue. Some counties would gain more from the sales tax increase and others would do more with the land transfer tax.

The Realtor's Association already has plans to get locals involved for any potential ballot issue on the topic.

In most cases if the county can make as much or more with the sales tax they will likely go for that just to avoid the fight from realtors.

Should be an interesting 18 months as this hits ballots in many counties.

Don Beason responds..from Joyce Fitzpatrick who says she's representing him (at least in a PR way).

STATEMENT FROM DON BEASON



It is true that I made a loan to Dr. Black seven years ago. In spring, 2007 I provided testimony about this matter to a Federal Grand Jury in Wake County.

I recognize that making the loan was a serious error in judgment and I deeply regret it.

I apologize to my clients, to my fellow lobbyists, to members of the General Assembly and most of all to the citizens of North Carolina.

I am truly sorry.

Donald R. Beason
July 31, 2007

http://www.perdue2008.com/ up and running? Well yes and no. I was just messing around after my story was done and typed in the address and it took me directly to the official Lieutenant Governor's website. I thought that would be a little interesting if perdue2008 was registered to her campaign or someone on it.

So we looked it up and the website is owned by a man named Nathan Tabor from Kernersville. It says he owned it since May 2005 and owns it until May 2008.

What's interesting is Perdue is a Democrat and Tabor is a consevative political activist who ran for Congress at one time.

I'm working to call him to see what the deal is but kind of interesting! Is he looking to make a buck and sell the site?

UPDATE: I talked to Tabor and he says he does own it. He says he owns 2000 sites and many include Republicans and Democrats. It's part of his business ACT Media. He basically buys up the sites and offers them back at a price. He compared it to land development. He also says he does all sorts of of consulting as part of his firm.

Gang laws or not? When you first hear there are anti-gang proposals you would think it's a no brainer right? Not so much.

First, most might think there's already laws referring to gangs. Nope. It's not recognized in laws, only in sentencing guidelines. The Street Gang Prevention Act recognizes gangs as illegal for the first time. It also goes after the "Kingpens" of these gangs who are recruiting members.

The original bill went after kids as young as 12 but has since been changed to 16 when there was an outcry about the possibility of young juveniles facing adult sentences and crimes.

Anywho, it has been slow to move forward and today we learned a little bit more why. After a news conference by mayors, police, and lawmakers in support of the bill, Rep. Alma Adams and several groups stepped in to have a news conference as well. NC NAACP Prez William Barber was there as well.

They are against the bill for several reasons. They are worried it targets blacks and hispanics. They also want to study the issue and find ways to battle the problem at a younger age before these kids are entering gangs.

So what's next? The House and Senate both have versions. The House version gets a hearing in a committee tomorrow. There's a Saturday deadline to get bill through committees in both chambers Saturday. The bill will likely stall unless that deadline is removed.

I'm off until Monday for a little R&R...so enjoy the next few days and see you on Monday!

Lottery update...the following came from lottery headquarters minutes ago...

"RALEIGH- The North Carolina Education Lottery (NCEL) today made its final transfer for the first complete fiscal year bringing the total of the Education Lottery Fund since inception to $375.3 million. The amount of $69.4 million transferred for sales in the last quarter brings the Fiscal Year 2006-2007 total to $313,018,542. This represents a 35% return to education from gross sales of $889.3 million for the fiscal year.

“We think this is enormous that in our first 15 months of operations the NCEL has raised over $375 million of new money for North Carolina’s students,” said Tom Shaheen, NCEL executive director. “We have been hearing stories all across the state about school systems that are using the money for school construction and serving at-risk four year olds.”

According to the Department of Public Instruction, the fund has been used for approximately 70 school renovation projects that include fire alarm system installation, security surveillance system upgrades, roof replacements and more. It also has funded an estimated 2,525 class size reduction teacher positions. Over 18,000 four year olds are served by More at Four, the award-winning academic pre-kindergarten program.

The North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority estimates it will hand out 30,000 Education Lottery Scholarships for college students for the 2007-2008 year. The scholarships go to students who qualify for the federal Pell Grant and can only be used at North Carolina public and private universities and community colleges.

The NCEL made the electronic transfer to the Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM) to be disbursed to the beneficiary programs. The Department of Public Instruction will manage the distribution of the funds for all the beneficiary programs except the college scholarships, which will be handled by the North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority.

Since inception (March 30, 2006) through July 23, 2007, the NCEL has raised over $1.163 billion total gross sales."

School boards with taxing authority? A House Education Committee took up a bill today that allows local school boards to tax property. County Commissions would still be able to tax property as well.

The bill states that the school boards must be elected and county commissioners must also give the school boards permission to tax.

The School Board's Association and Home Builder's Association both spoke in support of the bill. Rep. Rick Glazier says they distribute the funds so they should be able to raise the money. He also says that means board members should face the scrutiny since they make the decisions.

There were no opponents who spoke, but Rep. Daughtridge says that's because no one knew this bill was coming up and say people are trying to push this through at the last minute.

The chairman took no questions and said there was no time to take up the bill so he simply referred the bill to Finance.

Stay tuned!

Busy day in politics for a Friday! The biggest probably centers around a war of words between Gov. Easley and lawmakers.

Easley is mad they don't have a budget. He issued an executive order (using Leandro as legal standing) to give $114 mill to schools for More at 4, reducing class size, etc. Here's a sampling of what he said.

"Currently we're only a month or so away from schools opening and lawmakers need to be on the same real time as schools are."

"Current negotiations, working sheets and discussions we've had with the General Assembly make it clear to me that at least at the moment any budget they were to pass is not something I would be able to sign.""

"I think a lot of the legislators over there are scared of the realtors and they've got to decide, do they want to stand by the realtors or stand by the people they represent." (referring to Senate's refusal to agree to a land transfer tax as part of a deal to take up the county's portion of Medicaid).

Upon hearing the news conference by Easley here's some of Rep. Mickey Michaux responses.

"I heard the comment about wasted time and if he thinks staying here until 11 p.m., 12 a.m. at night and working on weekends is wasting time then I really don't know what wasting time is."

"Iguess folks get antsy when they think things aren't going their way, but we are taking the responsible position -- we are thoroughly going over the budget"

They all hope to get along next week and get a budget signed into law though.

By the way...Rep. Beverly Earle has filed to run for mayor in Charlotte. If she somehow won..wow would that neck of the woods have lost just about all their experience in the GA with a Mr. Black gone now too.

Some interesting tidbits about the state's water infrastructure system. The NYC steam pipe explosion complete with asbestos got us thinking abou water pipes in North Carolina. The Greensboro water break where a car fell in the sinkhole got us thinking as well.

Many of you may know there's a coalition of sorts working to get some big time bonds on the ballot this fall. State leaders often talk about the need for new infrastructure, but piping for water systems in nearly every city is getting extremely old and causing many of the problems-structurally, financially, and health wise as well.

I talked at great length with Patrick Woodie over at the NC Rural Center. This is one of their headline issues and have done plenty of research on the need for water and sewer infrastructure. Anywho, he claims big water main breaks will continue. He also says there's a lot of concrete asbestos piping in this state as well.

But my favorite quote is this below and sorry it took so many words to get to this but here's the hookline for this entry..

"Not too long ago, Asheville was replacing some pipe in the Woodfin area of Asheville and actually discovered wooden pipe still in the ground," Woodie said. "Hollowed out logs that were used for water pipe."

Pipe they were still using! Call me naive but that's just wild to think about. Good thing no one got any splinters.

George Tatum is out at the DMV...we're still waiting to get any reaction beyond the confirmation that it has happened. The spokespeople at DMV and DOT are quiet and say all the "officials" are unavailable.

Here's what our friends at the AP are saying..

"Division of Motor Vehicles Commissioner
George Tatum has resigned amid allegations he sought special
treatment for a friend to get a vintage title for a replica truck.
A Department of Transportation spokesman confirmed Tatum's
departure but gave no further details, calling it a personnel
matter.
A D-O-T spokesman says Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett is
also unavailable.
D-M-V records show that Tatum's administrative assistant sent an
e-mail to staff indicating that Tatum's friend, Robert Kinlaw of
Fayetteville, needed help getting a title for a 1937 Ford truck.
Tatum denies helping Kinlaw get the vintage title, which saves
the owner hundreds of dollars in taxes and makes the car more
valuable.
Kinlaw was denied an antique title after his truck was inspected
in Nash County, but he later received a title after taking the
truck to a Fayetteville inspector.
The S-B-I is already looking into the case at Tippett's request."


Here's an interesting fact I looked at today for my story on the state of lobbying in North Carolina. According to the Secretary of State's office there are 827 lobbyists registered in North Carolina. There are 170 lawmakers. I'm no math major but my calculations put that at nearly 4.9 lobbyists for every lawmaker. There's a joke in there about the .9 lobbyist right? Okay roughly 5 lobbyists per lawmaker.

Can you say competition for their time!

Jim Black makes headlines again today. This time in court papers filed he wants six more weeks before he starts eating prison food. In the documents his attorneys say the Feds need more time to find him a bed. That's not surprising, in fact, many of us were surprised when the judge ordered him to prison by July 30th. It typically takes the Feds around 60 days to find an open bed. He'll likely end up in Butner or South Carolina.

It was also surprising the judge said he was to be in prison by the end of the month because we knew he had to be sentenced in state court as well. We now know that will happen sometime the week of July 30th. That means he can't go to the Pen until after that date as well. Well, I should say wouldn't instead of can't. The courts often work together on these sorts of things.

I'm out of office most of the day tracking down a number of other things so I'll catch up on more later...

A little follow up on Jim Black... During an interview for Political Connections, Black's replacement Rep. Tricia Ann Cotham said she wants to keep her seat and will run in 2008. She also said she believes her consituents have already moved on from Jim Black. She told us the fact she's young and very different from Speaker Black that her district is already beyond the Black scandal.

We also did an interesting interview with Joe Sinsheimer. He says he plans to keep the heat on any potential scandals over the next few months.

Finally, my co-workers in Charlotte say they talked with Black this morning and he plans to be in state court next week. He didn't say specifically for sentencing but that would a logical guess.

Response to Black's sentencing is coming in...here's a few excerpts from a few. More on my experience later in the afternoon. Still waiting for a response from the Gov.

From Speaker Hackney's office
“Jim Black was a valuable servant to this state for many years, but the sort of crimes he has admitted to can never be excused for a public official. This prison sentence sends a strong message to all of us that neither the public nor the courts will tolerate dishonesty by their elected representatives. We have already put measures in place to restore confidence in our House of Representatives. I hope we are on our way to regaining the public’s trust.”

From Republican Party Chairwoman Linda Daves
"Today is a regrettable day in the history of North Carolina. However, today is a also a day of vindication for the citizens of our state. Today, we take back our democracy and send a message to our elected officials that their job is to represent the people. The day of Democrat Jim Black’s power and “pay-to-play” tactics has come to an end.

Despite his attorney’s continued protestations in court today that Jim Black is “not a corrupt man,” we know quite differently. Mr. Black is just another example in a bitter legacy of corruption in our state government. But of fellow Democrats to face prison before him, including Meg Scott Phipps, Frank Ballance, and Kevin Geddings, Mr. Black held the most powerful position, wielded the highest amount of influence, and corrupted his office over the longest period of time. Still, Mr. Black expected to avoid prison time by offering his services as an optometrist in a free clinic. I sincerely wish that the former Speaker had his change of heart and dedicated himself to serving the people of North Carolina before he began accepting bribes from lobbyists. But Mr. Black could not serve the people of North Carolina when he was too busy selling our democracy to the highest bidder in deals conducted in public restrooms.

Our worst fears are realized when we discover that our elected representatives are pursuing money and power instead of the interests of the people whom they represent. When the breed of corruption of which Jim Black is guilty takes place, voters are tempted to lose faith in our system of government and the resulting apathy can become a cancer on our democracy. The North Carolina Republican Party is committed to the highest ethical standards in our state government. Unfortunately, again and again the Democrat leadership in the General Assembly has failed to play by the rules. We must hold accountable those legislators guilty of corrupting our democracy and we must restore honesty and integrity to our state government. We will not tolerate crooked politicians in North Carolina."

Former federal prosecutor Kieran Shanahan believes Jim Black will get all 10 years in prison. He thinks the fact prosecutors say Black was uncooperative and untruthful will hurt him and the judge will throw the book at him.

Sentencing is at 9:00 now instead of 10:00. It appears Judge Boyle disregarded Black's attempt to delay the sentencing. Keep in mind, Black will not go to prison tomorrow. It will likely take about 60 days to find him a spot. He could go to either Butner or a prison in South Carolina.

Shanahan also doesn't think the Judge will be amused by Black's offer to offer a free eye clinic on house arrest instead of prison.

On another note, two releases from the current Speaker's office. Rep. Larry Womble from Winston-Salem was taken by ambulence shortly before session Monday. Here's the latest from the Speaker's office on behalf of Rep. Woble.

"Several people have inquired today about Rep. Womble’s illness. Thank you for your kind interest. He has been discharged from the hospital in Raleigh and is currently in Winston-Salem, where he is scheduling follow-up treatment. He will not be in session today. We will provide more information as it becomes available. Thank you again for your concern about Rep. Womble."

Also, the realtors have been fairly successful in their pricey, all out campaign to fight any land transfer tax. It's no secret the House wants in part of a plan for the state to take over Medicaid for the county.

To help counter the realtor's efforts, the Speaker's office sent out this piece by the NC Association of County Commissioners.

Land transfer tax working well in six N.C. counties Legislation to give all North Carolina counties authority to levy a land transfer tax is meeting resistance, but six counties have levied the tax for years, using the proceeds primarily for capital projects. This legislative session, efforts to extend land transfer authority to all 100 counties, a measure supported by the League and the N.C. Association of County Commissioners, is meeting opposition, especially from the N.C. Association of Realtors® (NCAR).
That association launched a campaign, complete with website, TV ads, direct mail and yard signs, against the land transfer tax. They label the tax as harmful to the economy, unreliable, a tax on home equity and regressive.
Since the 1980s, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Pasquotank and Perquimans counties have had the authority to impose a land transfer tax — an excise tax on property conveyance. Washington County also has the authority from the General Assembly, but has not received approval by referendum for the tax.
According to the N.C. Association of County Commissioners, four of those six counties rank among the state’s 20 fastest-growing counties. Camden ranks second in increase in growth, and Currituck ranks third.
Currituck Manager Don Scanlon said that residents in his county have supported the land transfer tax as a way that growth can partially pay for itself. He added that local builders know that good infrastructure — water and sewer, schools — help market the land and create demand for property.
Describing how Currituck uses land transfer tax proceeds, Scanlon said: “In a word: Schools. Currituck County is recognized as the 17th fastest growing county in the country and like most other communities, this growth challenges our ability to provide public education. If not for the land transfer tax, we would fall further behind in our school capital needs and would have had to raise our property tax.
“We have been able to build a middle school and renovate two elementary schools without incurring any debt thanks in large part by a good working relationship between our commissioners and the board of education, good planning and effective budgeting of the land transfer tax.”
Nags Head Commissioner Bob Oakes, a realtor, finds the tax a benefit to his community. “Dare County and all its municipalities have benefited tremendously from the 1-percent land transfer tax. I don’t think anyone could suggest that this tax has slowed growth and development in Dare. Collecting the tax at closing makes it fairly easy to administer, and that’s the time when the money is on the table. Relatively wealthy counties like Dare and Currituck have had this tool to pay for infrastructure needs for many years, and it’s a shame that less fortunate counties across the state don’t have the opportunity to use this income stream to help pay for the costs of growth, and infrastructure repair and replacement. I hope the legislature can summon the courage to allow this tool to be used across North Carolina to meet pressing municipal and county needs.”
Oakes wrote to N.C. Rep. Tim Spear about infrastructure funding: “I wanted to express my opinion on the need for a source of funding, both short and long term, for the repair and replacement of municipal infrastructure. Towns like Columbia and Creswell across the state have aging infrastructure systems. They need a short-term source, like a bond issue, and a long-term source for capital repairs, like a transfer tax.
“As a realtor, I know I’m swimming against the stream on the 1-percent land transfer tax. But I know the counties and towns need a funding stream for capital projects, and I’ve seen the good it has done in Dare County. I don’t understand why Tyrrell and Hyde shouldn’t have a similar source of funds. I like three conditions: a cap of 1 percent, a split between county and municipalities and its use for capital /infrastructure projects. I hope you’ll consider supporting a bond issue and a 1-percent transfer tax for capital needs.”
Chowan County Manager Cliff Copeland has not observed any negative effect of the tax on the real estate industry in that county. “Chowan County was the third county in the state to adopt the transfer tax. The monies are dedicated for capital outlay purposes. Transfers within the town of Edenton are divided 50 percent – 50 percent. I believe all the real estate agents in the county will confirm that the transfer tax has not impacted real estate sales in a negative manner, but in fact has facilitated sales through improved infrastructure, schools, etc. The real estate industry realizes that we need the infrastructure because without it sales will decline.”
The tax is providing much needed revenues even when the real estate market takes a downturn. Randy Keaton, Pasquotank County manager, reported that the county’s collection is down 32 percent this year because of the downturn in the housing market, but they still expect to receive as much as they did in 2004-05.
Said Keaton: “We are one of the fortunate counties that have had the land transfer tax. I will be glad to provide any information about the success of the tax in our county, if you need it. It has worked very well here and it has not hurt the real estate industry at all. All of the counties in the Northeast (N.C.) that have the land transfer tax are having problems with too much growth instead of the reverse.”
For Camden County, the tax provides about $550,000 in revenue annually. According to County Manager Randell Woodruff: “The land transfer tax has been a tremendous resource for Camden County. Currently the tax is generating about $550,000 per year that the county uses for capital needs. This is a major revenue producer considering this county’s budget is less than $10 million. Even with a subdivision moratorium in place for 3.5 years, the amount collected increased. We are using a portion of it to cover debt service payments on land the county purchased. If it were not for the land transfer tax, Camden would be in a severely financially strapped position. We use these funds for all sorts of capital needs that otherwise we would not have the ability to provide.”
Schools, a critical part of the infrastructure, have gotten a funding boost from the land transfer tax. Randy Darden, Perquimans County Manager, said, “”We rely heavily on our land transfer funds for our school projects. Our county ranks 95th out of 100 in sales tax receipts, and part of those funds as you may know are earmarked for school capital funding. The land transfer tax makes up for that and also for ADM funds that may be withheld from the counties. We are able to make necessary capital improvements that would otherwise have to come from increased property tax or financed over a period of time.
“We’ve averaged almost 30 percent annual growth the last four years. We are issuing about double the amount of dwelling permits now than we were just a few years ago. Due to our proximity to the Tidewater, Va., metropolitan area and the amount of waterfront property, we are seeing more residential development activity than Perquimans County has ever experienced.
“Land transfer revenues have been and will continue to be integral to our school capital improvements.”
Budget impasse imperils Medicaid relief solution Agreement on the details of the state's takeover of the county Medicaid share hit a disappointing stumbling block this week as the House and Senate worked toward finalizing the state budget. For the last several weeks, a special team of House and Senate negotiators, along with the active participation of Gov. Easley and his staff, has been meeting daily to discuss ways to relieve counties of their Medicaid burden. This team spent countless hours crafting a reasonable solution to this complex problem. In short, their Medicaid relief plan realizes all three priority goals of counties in one fell swoop – county Medicaid relief, additional dollars for infrastructure, and additional revenue authority. They are to be commended for their efforts thus far to bring forward a fair and equitable solution.
This county-friendly plan would have the state assume all county Medicaid costs over three years and allow counties additional revenue authority to meet county infrastructure needs. Counties would give up only a half-cent sales tax, a revenue stream less than the county share of Medicaid. What's more, these local revenues would be phased out only as the state phases in Medicaid relief. For the few counties whose Medicaid relief is less than their countywide half-cent sales tax revenue, the state would hold them harmless. Cities likewise would be held harmless and would receive their anticipated sales tax growth as a part of the hold harmless arrangement.
Additional local-option revenue authority would help counties meet their increasing infrastructure demands. Counties could choose to enact – by a vote of the people – either an additional quarter-cent sales tax or a local 0.4 percent land transfer tax, to help meet capital infrastructure needs.
All members of the House and Senate need to be reminded, today and certainly before Monday, that permanent Medicaid relief is critical for the fiscal health of all counties, and additional revenue authority must be granted to handle the 515 new people moving into North Carolina each day! Collectively counties face nearly $10 billion in school capital and $7 billion in water and sewer needs over the next five years. Many communities are under development moratoria due to inadequate water and sewer capacity.
We understand that a few legislators are balking at the land transfer tax option, given the extensive and moneyed campaign the North Carolina Association of Realtors has been mounting against General Assembly members. It is discouraging that they are targeting individual legislators who are attempting to address the infrastructure needs of their communities in a responsible and equitable manner. Clearly, it is short-sighted to limit infrastructure investment needed to manage the daily influx of new residents.
The continuing resolution approved by the House and Senate this week will keep the 2006-07 budget in place through July 31, giving House and Senate budget negotiators another month to work out the final state budget. It is believed at this point that the final Medicaid solution may be included in the state budget, if legislators are able to reconcile how community infrastructure investments are to be supported.

Interesting topic tonight on Political Connections. This week we take a look at women in politics. There are a record number of female lawmakers this year and they are getting more powerful as well.

Rep. Jennifer Weiss and Ran Coble (did a recent analysis on the topic) join us in studio to take a half hour look at the issue.

It airs on News 14 tonight at 6 and again on Sunday at 11am.

Check it out!

By the way, an interesting note from an article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune today. It said Minnesota may lose a congressional seat after the 2010 census. He says they are in competition with Georgia, South Carolina, and you guessed it...North Carolina.

NC got a new seat after the 1990 and 2000 census (after a battle with Utah). It's part of a trend where populations are moving south and west from the midwest and northeast.

A late 2006 study has North Carolina staying at 13 and Georgia picking up one (14) and South Carolina on the border but recent population trends have Minnesota's demographer believing it's close with all these states.

I'm still waiting for our state demographer to call me back!

Lions and tigers and bears oh my! A Senate Committee has their hands full with operators of small zoos and sanctuaries. They are considering a proposed ban on "inherently dangerous" animals. It stems from a 2003 death of a 4th grader from a tiger that was in his aunt's back yard.

It has full approval from DENR and the NC Zoo but does not have the support of the Agri folks. Yep that's created an interesting twist to this story. On top of that, despite months and months and months to come up with this "dangerous" list, several lawmakers on the panel ridiculed the list within minutes and appear to be very skeptical of the law.

20 speaker signed up to speak and all the ones who were allowed to speak were against the bill. These small zoos and sanctuaries believe the changes would put them out of business in time and go much further than preventing the "back yard" tiger cages in our neighborhoods.

The chair, Sen. Hartsell, realized what a controversial mess this was and set up a subcommittee to take up the issue first. He hinted at having another hearing soon.

I think some lawmakers are learning that messing with animal lovers can be just as hard if not harder than a number of lobbyists down there!

Gov. signs CR...Just got a call from the Governor's office that Gov. Easley has signed the continuing resolution letting lawmakers off the hook for not compromising on a budget by July 1st as required by law.

The CR now gives them 30 more days to come up with a plan.

More to come in a bit...

Democats can't even agree on the mood in the infamous "612". The bosses wanted a story on what happens behind the scenes for state budget negotiations.

Check out the difference of opinion of two men who have spent many hours in that room about how tense it may or may not get.

From Sen. David Hoyle, (D) Gaston County
"A lot of tension a lot of friends getting in each other's faces but it's today and tomorrow is a new issue and a new idea. You don't burn bridges, you try to agree to disagree and move on down the road.

From Rep. Jim Crawford, (D) Granville County
10:09 They tell us what we think about it and we tell them what we think about it and then we try to compromise somewhere between. Usually it's not very tense in fact there's a lot of joking and we work real hard.

Of course, if this was the biggest disagreement we probably would have a budget a lot faster. The truth probably is they are both right.

The Senate won't take up the latest Medicaid plan until tomorrow (Wednesday). Meanwhile, despite a House bill offering a continuing resolution *with* temporary taxes, it appears one without it will pass later this week and lawmakers will 30 more days to approve a final budget. Even top House members are admitting at this point the clock is simply against them when it comes to keeping the taxes on the book. They are going to need Senators to collapse at the last second and it appears from all accounts they will not.

As the Dome blog points out, lawmakers can get their sparklers ready because if they want to watch the fireworks it's either going to be sparklers at the GA or some nearby celebration.

Brad Miller is running.....for the House. Just got back from meeting with the U.S. Representative. He has decided not to run against Senator Elizabeth Dole. He says it's because he doesn't want to put his family through a potentially nasty campaign.

But how close was he to running??? Here's a quote from my interview with him.

"As recently as last week I was leaning pretty strongly toward doing it, now I think I'd probably have to drag my wife to the announcement not quite kicking and screaming. Obviously I wanted to do it."

He says he believes he could have won and Dole is still vulnerable.

Who now?

Names people still are putting in the hat include Sen. Kay Hagan and several folks have mentioned Rep. Grier Martin as someone who is also interested.

Dropout prevention is the topic for this week's Political Connections on News 14 Carolina that airs tonight at 6:00 and replays at 11am on Sunday.

Our guests are Rep. Rick Glazier (Cumberland County Democrat) and Jerry Winkeljohn from Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools (have several troubled high schools).

In the meantime, at least in public lawmakers are extremely far from a compromise on the budget. With just a week to go, lawmakers (including conferees) are still taking the weekend off. Although, I did see Dan Gerlach roaming the empty halls of the General Assembly.

Some watch dog groups are shocked, other believe it was probably necessary to cool off. Medicaid and taxes remain the sticking points. If it's true the House's continuing resolution includes the temporary taxes it sets up a big battle behind the typically closed door meetings. How does the House overcome the fact that all the Senate has to do is not agree and the temporary taxes will go away July 1??? That's probably a question House members are pondering this weekend. Oh but that's just one issue...

Rest well...

Presidential candidate John Edwards continued his push to be a candidate for labor and the working man Thursday.

He met with workers from the Smithfield Foods pig slaughterhouse in Bladen County. He met with them outside his office. The workers have been trying to unionize for nearly 15 years. They say they are abused often, want more pay, and are fired if they speak out.

Workers told stories of the company using Gatoradge powder in the water to cover up the smell and taste of water problems.

Edwards then promptly held a news conference after the meeting. He announced that he sent a letter to the company asking them to allow the employees to unionize. What's interesting is Edwards says he's never been near the plant or in it. He's also never talked company executives and flat out said he's just taking the word of the employees.

Now, the company denies the working condidtions and has run ads to the contrary in fact.

It will be interesting to see how this impacts talks if any between the company and the employees.

Dead people voting??? State Auditor Les Merritt (a Republican) says he thought he was doing the right thing when he asked lawmakers to hold off on approving a bill to allow registration and voting at one stop absentee sites on the same day.

He says he's been investigating the voter rolls since January and reports are he found 1600+ dead people voting, 600+ invalid social security numbers and 25,000+ invalid drivers licenses. He says he just wanted lawmakers to know about it in case they needed the information for debate.

Two problems-he did it just 30 minutes before the vote and his report is not complete and did not ask the Board of Elections for help.

The result was a scolding by lawmakers. The committee room was extremely packed and audience members included the Democratic party chair Jerry Meek who called Merritt incompetent.

The State BOE says they have verified all the claims of voter fraud and they are all resolved. The dead people for the most part registered to vote and did so by absentee but died between that time and election day, according to the BOE.

Merritt was clearly outnumbered and in the end the committee approved the bill again and it will head back to the Senate floor.

Sen. Dan Clodfelter was clearly not pleased that Merritt asked them to pull the bill at the last minute which is unusual to say the least. He was particularly mad that the bill was pulled and Merritt said he had no new information and indicated his final review could result in no evidence of voter fraud.

Most Democrats believe Merritt wanted it pulled because Republicans don't support the bill because Democrats believe the bill will benefit the donkeys in elections.

Oh the partisan politics continues...

Governor Easley held a news conference Monday. It was scheduled with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to talk about their meeting about hurricane preparedness.

With the war and hurricane issues in recent years it was probably the first time a majority of the journalists could care less what he had to say. They were all waiting to hear what Governor Easley had to say about Mike Nifong.

Here's a rundown of what Easley had to say on several topics.

-An interesting comment on National Guard readiness. He says the state can only handle a hurricane 3 or less. Yet, he says the only way the lack of equipment will cause problems is if a disaster affects all 50 states and there's no national help. The reason is there's agreements with other states to bring in their guard members to help. Chertoff says nationwide the numbers are better this year than last.

-On the Nifong issue-he said if it was his choice Nifong would be gone today! Easley is hoping the House passes a proposal as early as this week that would give him the power to kick Nifong out now. Nifong wrote in his resignation letter that he will leave July 13th.

-Easley wants to put investments (bonds) into things the state is soley responsible first. That includes money for prisons, mental facilities, etc. That basically means he believes any bonds for schools construction or land and water issues would be secondary.

-He favors the Senate proposal of finding a long term solution now to the Medicaid issue rather than a "bandaid" $100 one time fix that the House is proposing.

More on all of this a little later...

It's interesting to see how the Presidential candidates are literally flying through North Carolina. Obama and Clinton as well as some of the Repubs are flying in, driving to a private fundraiser, and flying out.

Last night, Obama held a fundraiser at a home in Chapel Hill. When I arrived there, I was promptly told by a police officer that I could not get any closer than a quarter mile. There were dense woods so I could see nothing. On top of that guests were being shuttled in on vans with tinted windows so there were few glimpses of who even attended.

When Obama's entourage came through they wizzed by us with the windows up and we never got a glimpse of him.

Obviously with a late primary and not picking a Democrat since 1976, these candidates aren't here getting votes but using our state as a bank builder. But why can't you stop for two minutes and give a reporter a soundbite? I mean it was myself and one other photographer. It's not like there was a mass of media waiting for something.

Just wanted to give you a glimpse, when they mean private, they mean private!

A day to remember Sandy...

Tomorrow, Sandy Basnight will be laid to rest after passing away from a lengthy illness. I have to say on a personal note, I never knew her but I fell in love in the Outer Banks and got married there recently so I do know the love the Basnights shared with that area.

I have dined at the restaurant so many times and how hard it must have been to know that place burned down. Senator Basnight, despite being President Pro Tem of the Senate, manages to stay out of the spotlight as much as some would expect with the position. He's readily available for a quick interview before session but he doesn't do a lot of in-depth interviews and generally allows the authors of bills and ideas to speak on them instead of him.

Despite that he's in the spotlight as one of, if not the, most powerful politicians in the state.

Tomorrow, the state Senate, many House members, and other state leaders will put Sandy in the spotlight and celebrate her life.

Senator Basnight, our thoughts are with you in this tough time for you and your family.

Not going anywhere for a while? Sen. David Hoyle said today he thinks best case scenario the budget will be finished by mid July but he thinks it will be late July.

Conferees from the House and Senate met again this afternoon. Apparently they are trying to work out the Medicare issue right now. There's an apparent compromise plan between Sen.'s Rand and Clodfelter that's on the table. That plus the COPS debt (loans for UNC construction, prisons, etc. that doesn't need voter approval) and the temporary taxes are still up in the air. Negotiations are still in the early stages but it appears it's not going anywhere too fast.

These issues need to be taken up first so lawmakers know how much $$$ is available.

Should be a fun week or two for the conference committee! We'll see how much they want that July 4th vacation.

Sen. Marc Basnight's absence will be interesting to follow. Depending on the length and seriousness of his absence the dynamic of the conference committee to reach a budget compromise to say the least.

His office says he's on temporary leave to deal with a family illness and is in contact with Raleigh several times a day.

He has told leadership what their specific roles are in his absence. That tells me and others I've talked to he may be gone more than just a few days.

There are some lawmakers who are indeed nervous about the impact this may have on both the content and timing of getting a budget passed.

With that all in mind and politics aside, let's keep our thoughts with the Basnight family.

New immigration office - Well, if you thought that the state could build a new office to help illegal immigrants get new citizenship would help discourage illegal immigration, think again.

The U.S. Immigration and Citizenship office (Part of Homeland Security) broke ground on another office in Durham today. Believe it or not it's only the second office now in the state. Charlotte is home to the only office in the state that processes visas, green cards, and citizenship.

They take in 500 people a day and likely over 20,000 a year get citizenship. The process takes at least six months and several trips to the office. That means those people looking to legally become citizens would have to take several days off work, spend the money to get to Charlotte, and wait for hours and hours if not days to get processed each time they went.

My question? Could this help encourage those who give up and live here illegally to do it right now that they don't have to go as far and it could be easier now?

Quick answer from Rep. David Price and USCIS Director Dr. Emilio Gonzalez-NO!

They say it won't make a difference on that topic. They do believe it could go quicker for those seeking citizenship but it's more or less a move to ease the burden on Charlotte.

The new office opens off Miami Boulevard in March 2008.

Miller decision soon? Just had U.S. Representative Brad Miller in our studio to do several interviews. Of course, I asked him about his decision to run against Elizabeth Dole in the Senate. His response was a chuckle, then basically said he's having a hard time making a decision and the indecision is stressful on him and his supporters. He said he plans to make the decision soon. Soon is a vague word though so we'll have to wait and see.

Interesting though, during taping I asked him about his decision and his answer took about 15 seconds and then without any questioons from me he continued on for three minutes stating why Elizabeth Dole is a bad Senator and needs to go.

Sounded like a candidate for the spot to many of us????

Is the environment next? I was thinking back to a little media pow wow Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight held just before the session got underway.

Before he took questions, he talked for about 10 minutes. It started with a surreal story from back home that weaved into the need for big time changes when it comes to the environment. He went from light bulbs to biodiesel in a matter of minutes and pledged it must be a big issue this session.

On numerous occasions, House Speaker Joe Hackney has also mentioned the need to work on environmental issues from this state.

Here we are looking at June in front of us and very little has been done. I'm not advocating environmental issues, I'm just wondering with a tough budget battle ahead whether we will have to wait until next year to see how these issues are taken up or if they will be taken up at all.

Senate Democrats and Republicans sittin in a tree...yep. Never thought we'd see a budget with this kind of vote huh? With a 47-2 vote, the Senate tentatively approved its version of the budget.

Don't get me wrong, Republicans have plenty of problems with it (spending, COPS, etc.) but several times today we've heard the R's say it's the best budget they have ever seen.

Namely, two temporary taxes are cut and there's some ghost positions eliminated, and Republicans admit they are initiatives they've been pushing for years and that's why they agree.

A real interesting point was Sen. Fred Smith not only voting for it but speaking on behalf of the budget after the vote. Why is that interesting? He's running for governor and he's a Republican. I'm sure his opponents will have something to say. However, he told reporters no matter how he would vote he would be critiicized.

The two no votes came from Sen. Andrew Brock and Sen. Eddie Goodall. Sen. Brock said he would have voted yes if it was for the $1.2 billion in COPS for universities.

It will be interesting to see how the House reacts to this now as the two sides meet to "compromise"!

Let the budget battle begin! The Senate unveiled its initial version of the budget this morning. As expected it does not include the temporary taxes the House included. It also leaves out the $100 million for Medicaid but says it will work on a comprehensive plan. More on that in a minute.

Several leaders in both chambers have deep concern that unless a compromise happens quickly on those taxes we could be in for a long summer at the legislature.

Back to the Medicaid issue. It appears this issue will be taken up outside of the budget. There are two proposals or compromises. One includes sales taxes and another includes a long list of changes to fund it 100% for the counties. The state would be clear for up to three years but would then end up around $120 million short in that department. Still getting details on the plan but it seems to be getting a good reception from both sides of the aisle.

Stay tuned!

McCrory for Governor? During an interview this morning for Political Connections we asked Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory about his future plans and his thoughts on running for governor. He said "I'm not going to say no" and that he'll make a decision in the next month.

The Republican is very popular in Charlotte but can he get momentum state wide?

McCrory is just one interesting part of this week's Political Connections (Friday 6pm, Sunday 11am).

Stay tuned!

Rand vs. Long--Expect an interesting battle on Tuesday morning. Got a call this morning making sure I headed to the Senate Commerce committee meeting Tuesday morning.

Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand has an insurance related bill being heard in that committee.
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2007/Bills/Senate/HTML/S901v1.html

The bill essentially strips the insurance commissioner of his current duties to set auto insurance rates and hear the cases put forth by insurance companies. The law appoints a special judge to take the commissioner's spot doing that job.

Jim Long, current commissioner, is obviously strong against it and will be there Tuesday. It's an elected position so insurance companies feel the commissioner denies higher rates because of his need to keep the people happy. The commissioner will likely tell lawmakers to expect higher rates if this law passes.

Interesting that Tony Rand is taking this to task and just as interesting his only co-sponsor is a Republican.

Stay tuned!

Another well written blog by Laura Leslie at WUNC (http://wunc.org/news/Isaac-Hunters-Tavern) got me thinking today.

A few days ago she wrote about how Governor Mike Easley has been all over the place. He was in DC to talk National Guard and dropout rates in schools recently. CSPAN invited him to do a call in show. Then he and Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy held a national "press conference" over the phone. It was well attended by very prominent news organizations in Washington DC.

It got me thinking though. Why so much national media attention and those of us in Raleigh can't even get an interview with him in our own state??? As a television station, sound by itself isn't exactly compelling. So, we put in a request to videotape his "press conference" with Sen. Leahy. Denied.

We then asked for an interview afterward and some time with all the local media in person. Denied.

We've had a standing request to do a one on one interview in our studio with the Governor for more than a year. We offered him 30 minutes of air time that would air in the Triangle, Triad, and Charlotte. Denied. We've never even been granted a one on one interview in his office. In fact, the only time I've interviewed the Governor in a sit down situation was during the campaign.

I'm not mocking or ripping on the Governor or his staff. It just makes you think.

Tourism and corruption-quite a day! The annual pit crew challenge took place outside the General Assembly today. It pitted lawmakers from the House and Senate against each other to change the tires on a race car.

It's all aimed to celebrate tourism in North Carolina which is now the sixth top state in the nation for tourist destinations.

When researching a little futher, what's interesting is the beaches and mountains don't bring in the most bucks. Mecklenburg, Wake, and Guilford counties bring in the most visitor spending dollars. Dare and Buncombe (beach and mountain) counties follow those as the first counties you would think about when it comes to tourism.

It makes sense when you think about it, simply because of all the friends and families of a large city population come and spend at restaurants, malls, etc. But it provides an interesting perspective when you think about how everyone does just about anything for beach and mountain communities because they are the lifeline of tourism.

Don't get me wrong, I just got married at the beach, these areas are vital for tourism but it does put everything in a different perspective when you look at the numbers.

Oh and by the way...Rep. Thomas Wright could find himself in a heap of trouble. The Board of Elections handed over allegations against him to the Wake County District Attorney for potential campaign finance violations. Word is from experts he's going to prison and several other lawmakers are feeling the heat and this is no where near the end.

Stay tuned!

Married and tan-ahhh! Well after two glorious weeks away from work, I am back. Not that I don't like my job, but who really wants to work on a regular basis!

Got married in the Outer Banks and honeymooned in Aruba. An amazing time to say the least and I'm truly blessed!

I see I missed Decker and Geddings getting sentenced as well as House budget approval. I must admit, I didn't think about it at all and it was great, but I am glad to be back!

Just a quick entry to let you know I'm back and will begin with blog entries tomorrow that are much more interesting than my personal life!

Married and tan...ahhhh! Just a quick entry to note of my return from two glorious weeks away from work. Don't get me wrong, I like my job but who wants to work right?

Got married in the Outer Banks and honeymooned in Aruba. Both were spectacular!

I missed Decker and Gedding sentencing and the House budget approval. Big stuff, but I must admit I didn't think about any of it once!

It's been a crazy first day back but just wanted to say howdy and the blog will continue with more interesting things than my personal life tomorrow!

To budget or not to budget that is the question. House Democrats are now backing off their claims that the budget would be approved by the end of next week. There's apparently some questions about the latest tax revenue numbers.

On a much brighter note (for me). I will not be posting on this here blog for a couple weeks. I'm getting hitched and taking a week for the wedding and a week for the honeymoon.

So, enjoy the budget, Decker's sentencing, Gedding's sentencing, and all the fun in between. My first day back is the day Black will be sentenced. What a way to get back into the swing of things!

Be good and I'll be writing you soon!

Interesting news about the state lottery just released. Curious how lottery opponents feel about this.

"RALEIGH -- The N.C. Center for Missing Persons and N.C. Education Lottery have partnered to spread the word when children are abducted or endangered. Beginning next Tuesday, May 1st, emergency notifications will appear on every lottery terminal in the state when an AMBER Alert is issued.
“The first few hours after a child is abducted are the most critical,” said Secretary Bryan Beatty of the N.C. Department of Crime Control and Public Safety. “And the more people you have looking for the abductor and child, the better our chances are of finding them safely. Spreading the word through the lottery terminals is an easy way to reach thousands of people almost instantly.”
The electronic crawl message will first appear on the retail location’s lottery terminal alerting the employee that a child has been abducted. The employee will be able to print out the details to provide to customers so they, too, can be on the lookout for the missing child. In addition, an electronic scrolling AMBER Alert message will appear on the video screen at the terminal that can be seen by every customer.
“We are so pleased our services will aid in expanding the reach to thousands of people when trying to get the word out about a missing child,” said Tom Shaheen, NCEL executive director. “While we always hope the alert won’t be needed, we believe that adding this very large line of communication will only enhance the extremely important process. It also is another way that the NCEL’s services will benefit the citizens of North Carolina.”

North Carolina established the AMBER Alert program in June 2003 under the N.C. Center for Missing Persons, a division of the N.C. Department of Crime Control and Public Safety. The center issues notifications to the public and media when a child 17 years of age or younger has been abducted or is in serious danger. "

I was attacked by talk radio! Okay not really, but something rather strange happened to me today. I was driving back from Chapel Hill. I had just finished shooting my story which was on John Edwards' appearance on the Ed Schultz show. Schultz is a Democrat so it was a very friendly crowd for Edwards. I was listening to the tail end of the show since I was just there.

As I got about halfway to Raleigh, I began to hear a voice mixing in with the Schultz show and some static. The voice was Rush Limbaugh.

It was insane to hear them talking over each other (not intentionally obviously since it was a radio mishap).

It just shows I'm meant to hear and report on BOTH sides of the story. Or someone is keeping a check on who I'm listening to???

Well, campus leaders here in North Carolina say they will review safety at our universities. We've had our fair share of violent incidents, but overall most admit it's nearly impossible to lock down an entire campus that's big.

Regardless, it's now going to be a big issue here. This afternoon, Attorney General Roy Cooper's office sent out this news release.

"Raleigh: Attorney General Roy Cooper and North Carolina college and university officials will hold a media availability on Wednesday April 18 at 2:00 PM to discuss next steps in campus safety in light of the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech University.

Cooper will be joined by University of North Carolina System President Erskine Bowles, UNC Board of Governors Chairman Jim W. Phillips, Jr., President of North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities Dr. Hope Williams, and North Carolina Community College System President Martin Lancaster."

We'll be there so stay tuned to find out what they think could work!

Sorry it's been a number of days. I was covering DA Mike Nifong's ethics hearing in downtown Raleigh, Friday and it ran late. Well, it ran late in the world of television news.

National crews were still on hand to cover the story. It's always funny to watch how pushy the national press is covering these stories. Locally, I have to say we're all generally courteous to each other and work out ahead of time how we will handle each situation.

After Nifong's hearing camera's surrounded the door and when Nifong walked out, a network reporter instantly began screaming questions at him even though he was just two feet away from him and all the cameras clearly had him cornered where he was forced to say something.

It always amazes me, despite going through it a number of times, how pushy those crews are. I can't blame them I guess though since it is probably a little crazier in New York and Washington D.C.

Anybody else just numb thinking about this Virginia Tech nightmare? Hard to even put it in words.

Not sure if you heard but the charges have been dropped in the Duke Lacrosse case?? Ha ha..

I spend yesterday covering Roy Cooper's news conference. It was quite interesting behind the scenes. Randomly the national media has come to North Carolina to cover the case. As most of you know, the local media has covered nearly once a week or more for a year now and often several days a week.

Well, the AG's office reserved the front two rows for local media. That meant Katie Couric the rest of the "big" names were stuck in the back. On top of that once Coop started taking questions he allowed local media to ask the first 7-8 questions ignoring Couric's eager hand waving in the air.

It's a small, unnoticable victory for local media but a big one in our hearts. See, no matter how much we cover a story, when the national outlets get here we quickly get pushed aside typically. It happened during the Michael Peterson case, and in many ways it happened during much of the coverage of the Duke story. But, not on this day at this news conference.

The shock on the faces of the national reporters and producers was priceless and something I will never forget. Look, they are great at what they do and I'm not knocking them, but for this reporter who's been ignored many a times because a national outlet was covering the story it was a great day!

On another note, Sen. Rand and Clodfelter already have a bill filed giving a governor the chance to suspend a DA if they are being investigated by the state bar. I'm told one relating to Cooper's request for the State Supreme Court to remove a "rogue" DA could be coming soon if they meet with Cooper's staff soon.

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory met with Sen. Basnight today. McCrory brought along his police chief, Meck. County's Sheriff, DA, and a judge to push for his public safety initiative. Sen. Basnight actually requested the meeting. Contrary to a few other reports, I'm told by both parties it was scheduled for last week and scheduled before the shootings took place.

It was a follow up to the Mayor's caravan where hundreds of people rallied outside the GA to get more money for more courts, jails, DA's to help prevent the same people getting arrested over and over.

Getting an hour with Sen. Basnight is a big deal and they took full advantage. Basnight appeared very interested and asked lots of questions.

Most of the discussion centered on how to find the money. Everyone and everything needs money. If you give it to public safety then some other area like mental health, education, or transportation suffers with less money.

The biggest idea floated around was raising court fees (currently $110) and making sure that money goes directly back into the court system. Talk was about raising the fees $25 and it could bring in $25 million more for the courts. This system has the advantage of the ability to actually raise revenue unlike other systems such as education and mental health.

Sen. Dan Clodfelter said the money is there now but appropriations consistently take that money out of the court budget and use it for the general fund.

Clodfelter has a bill ready to go and Basnight seemed keenly interested in getting it through after today's meeting.

Basnight said during the meeting that raising fees makes sense because the people who commit crimes and are put through the system should pay for it.

Stay tuned!

Another poll shows North Carolinians support a smoking ban. This poll comes to us from PPP or Public Policy Polling. By most, it's considered a pretty even handed polling outfit. 67% approved of a smoking ban in restaurants and work places. In the meantime, the actual bill in the legislature keeps getting watered down. It exempts bars who only allow 21 year olds in and allows local governments to make the work place decisions.

Keep in mind only 461 people were interviewed for this survey which isn't a small sample necessarily but still something to keep in mind.

The poll also shows 58% approve of the tax break/incentive packages to lure in companies like Dell for jobs. BUT, 46% didn't approve of the Google $260 million package. Very interesting to say the least.

Word is appropriation subcommittee chairs will get their hands on preliminary House budget next week.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Speaker Hackney held an interesting news conference this morning. A parade of leading House Democrats filed into the press room and Speaker Hackney stood in front of them to make a big announcement about the state's poor graduation/dropout rates.

What was that announcement? They will hold two public hearings about the issue. Not to downplay public hearings but to hold a press conference about that?

Now don't get me wrong because we in the press always appreciate any opportunity to speak with the Speaker, but many of us were just surprised.

Hackney did say some money would be put aside in the House budget to fund pilot programs that come out of these public hearings.

It is interesting though that these lawmakers are reaching out to the general public for solutions. Not always the case!

Well if you want to see a lawmaker run in the other direction just ask them about the proposed resolution to apologize for the state's role in slavery.

While they have many opinions, wow, are they reluctant to comment on the record. It's an interesting story to say the least. Just like most other bills, there's politics involved.

Think about this though..it officially apologizes. Does this open the door for lawsuits? Keep that in mind as the legislature moves forward with the resolution in both chambers. There's other proposals underway I'm hearing also.

Stay tuned!

A potpouri kind of day...a lot of interesting things going on at the GA but nothing that jumps at you and says WOW!

Hugh Holliman is trying to pass another smoking bill. This time it would ban smoking in buildings of all the UNC campuses. It would also ban smoking on university health campuses altogether. It passed through the House Health Committee but still has a ways to go. Holliman also wants to ban smoking in restaurants, bars, and work places. It hasn't seen a vote because there aren't enough votes for it to pass. Holliman acknowledges he's 20 short or more.

Got bucks? That seems to be the question you need to answer if you want to run for office. Campaign finance reports released show John Edwards broke records for his $14 million raised in the first three months of 2007. Oh wait, he was nearly doubled by Hilary Clinton with $26 million (she added $10 mill of her own to make $36). Still waiting on Obama.

If that's not crazy enough, consider some of these state numbers. The last two U.S. Senate races have been $22 and $26 million respectively. The gubernatorial bid will likely cost each candidate $15-20 million if not more.

At the state legislature, candidates together raised $1 mill in 1976, 5.6 in 1994, and by 2006 that number jumped to $30+ million.

Can anyone run for office these days? Reformers say not if you don't have the dough or a lot of friends with it. Statistics show 1% give 90% of the money in NC campaigns.

Food for thought, or perhaps money for thought?

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!

I'm not the oldest guy, but wow did I feel old at a news conference today. Several lawmakers and the NC School Nutrition Association want $15mill to help pay for school lunches. NC is the only state in the southeast to not help out. They say new nutrition standards put in place in pilot schools, and eventually all elementary schools, will cost about $12mill more. The reason is healthier foods cost more and they don't make as much revenue.

Why?

Because the kids won't buy Little Debbie snacks, Lance products, etc. Man did that make me feel old, because lord knows I never had the opportunity to buy those kinds of foods. Is this corporate America making their way into schools for a buck? Wow, do I feel deprived. Or perhaps I feel lucky since I'm still thin. It just blew me away. Even in later grades, we had one soda machine that was turned off during school hours.

Times have changed but isn't it funny as times change how we often go back to old times and those ways?

A pretty quiet Monday in politics. News surrounding the death of UNC's mascot dominates the headline as well as some horrific shootings in Durham.

Lawmakers head back to work and just a few things to keep your eye on this week. The full House could vote on Rep. Holliman's smoking ban in restaurants, bars, and work places. Also, there's a public hearing at the legislature Wednesday at 4:00 about the proposal to change back the starting date for school earlier than August 25th.

That should be a really interesting and passionate public hearing. It's a tough subject because both sides feel so strongly and the law was just changed two years ago.

A day of two tales from one news conference. Elizabeth and John Edwards announced that Elizabeth has cancer again. It's in her bone (rib) and is not curable but it's treatable.

It was sort of a strange news conference. This woman who's already had breast cancer now has cancer again and really her prognosis is unknown, yet she's standing in front of 20 cameras live on national television. It's a very private issue she's speaking about, and frankly was very elegant and gracious in her statements to us.

At the same time, the very first question is about the future of the Edwards' Presidential campaign. Naturally, John is the national figure, but wow it's amazing how insensitive it is looking back. Just something to think about as we go to sleep and how we as journalists, you as readers or viewers at home react to situations. My mother had breast cancer so it makes me think back a lot and reflect and I'll be honest I can't truly answer my own question yet but it is something to think about.

It was like, okay Elizabeth wow that's horrible you have cancer, but anyway John what about your campaign? It's our jobs to get all the information and I'm proud of us at News 14 Carolina because our first story by Kenneth Moton is about Elizabeth and her cancer and then I look into the possible political effects.

It is an interesting job we have in many ways and this was another example of the journalistic and moral choices we must make on a daily basis.

Offer incentives or not? That's the question on the mind of many lawmakers. A new study unveiled by the NC Budget and Tax Center (non-profit and not government affiliated) bashes a deal the state made with Dell computers in 2004. It also questions whether the state overbids on luring in these companies to provide jobs.

(PLUG) Watch Political Connections Friday night at 6 and Sunday morning at 11 as we take on the debate of local governments in these incentive packages.

In the meantime here's the link to the study released today if you want to read the whole thing.

http://www.ncjustice.org/media/library/908_mar212007moneyworth.pdf

Is tomorrow National Press Conference day? There are at least seven press/news conferences scheduled for Wednesday. In fact, there are so many that lawmakers are having press conferences outside of the press conference room because they conflict with each other.

This session it seems lawmakers are competing for most press conferences. Republicans are clearly organized and are holding them at least twice a week.

It's smart in many ways, because if there is a press conference, regardless of subject for some reason it tends to get all of the tv stations out as well as other media that might otherwise ignore the issues.

I think the public benefits because there's more attention to more bills that would get no attention. It is interesting though because while these are all important issues the day may come if there is not enough "news" coming out of these news conferences people will just stop going.

This year the press people for the Speaker and President Pro Tem are sending out releases on behalf of other Democrats which didn't happen before. The same is happening from Sen. Berger's office for Republicans.

In the end we all benefit I guess. Lawmakers are getting more attention to more bills. We are getting easy access to the lawmakers to talk about the bills as well as other subjects they may not want to talk about! Hopefully, in the end voters and really non voters at home are getting more information about what lawmakers are doing.

But do we really have to hav all these press conferences on one day! I mean spread it out my friends there's only one of me to cover it all!!!

From hoops to politics! We're back from our political vacation covering the ACC tourney in sunny Tampa, Florida. Never saw any politicians, so they weren't there or had bad seats or were inside a box.

I was thinking the coaches would make great politicians. We sat behind the benches and you should see the coaches work. They argue with the refs even if they know they are wrong. It's all to get their way on another play much like deals politicians make.

Perhaps, refs would make the better politicians though. They get yelled at by fans and coaches yet have a thick skin and come right back. But, getting votes from fan bases from across the state probably would be hard! Their foul calls would likely be dissected as much as a politicians voting record!

An interesting week back. Did a story today about who in the world will run against Elizabeth Dole. Most pundits believe Gov. Easley has the best shot but he continues to deny interest. Bottom line is to have enough money someone is going to have to step up to the plate soon!

Have a great weekend and check back on Monday for an interesting study about congestion in NC. Here's a hint..it's not good!

Anyone can win. That's the theme today for sure. Not only in most cases is it true, but the fans and players believe it themselves. That, within itself, is a strange thing to say about the conference. Typically, there are plenty of good teams but more than two or three that could win? Not usually. ACC commish John Swofford said yesterday he could argue 9 teams from the ACC should make the NCAA tourney. He's obviously a homer, but there's a lot of truth to it. Conventional wisdom around here is 6, maybe 7. That's the beauty of the conference tournament. Pride is not only on the line but so is making the national tournament as well as seeding for teams like North Carolina. Think about it. If UNC wins, they likely get a #1 seed and will stay in North Carolina for rounds 1 and 2. There's a big belief that Clemson and Florida State will be playing today for a spot in the NCAA tournament. Can't get much more on the line for a first round conference game. How about Duke and NC State playing the first round? There is definitely a lot more excitement and buzz about these first round games than in the past. Now, you just have to get people off the beach and into a dark arena? This is truly a test to the pure heart ACC fan, because it is gorgeous here in Tampa! As I sip on my complimentary hotel coffee, it's definitely a good morning. Then again, it's the ACC tournament and if it was held in Siberia, I'd be feeling the same. Take that sunshine! But hey if it's here might as well enjoy it right!

I'm on vacation from politics and covering the ACC tourney in Tampa. Nice, I know. Anywho, doing a different blog for that so here's the latest entry if you're interested. Haven't seen any politicians yet, but will keep you posted! By the way the local stations here in Tampa did a story last night about a big speech from the Republican Governor and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle praised it. Weird, I know! Thought you'd like to hear that one.

It's 6:00pm and it's 72 degrees. Slap me now, I know! What a truly marvelous and amazing weather day here in Tampa, Florida. I'll be honest though, if you took away the warm weather, palm trees, and ACC Tournament it's really not that great of a work trip. Okay slap me again!

We're here and it's a pretty good set up. All you hear about from anyone and everyone is the weather. This is clearly one huge vacation for the fans that are coming.

Let's get right to the juice though shall we? I am dumbfounded by all the people selling books and books of tickets out front. Never have I seen books for sale at the end when teams are losing and leaving let alone at the very beginning of the tournament. A scalper out front told me an NC State alum sold him 40 books of tickets! He had a hundred in his pocket and I know because I saw the books myself. We talked to another guy who had two books and had a last minute issue and couldn't use the tickets he bought. He says he's likely going to sell them for less than face value!!! What makes it even worse for these guys is scalping is legal in Florida!

This is the first time ever for the ACC tournament in Florida. Tampa officials held a special press conference with the ACC commissioner. I'm told by ACC officials no other venue has done that. Both sets of officials are playing up the venue. Swofford says it was necessary to be fair to other schools to move the tourney around especially now with two teams in Florida. It's key they want to push the ACC in Florida for recruiting and tv markets which may still be related to the football issue and expanding the ACC.

The problem is when the tourney is closer to North Carolina, fans from teams that win will drive and pick up tickets from fans of teams that lose. Problem is, it took us 10 hours to drive here and a flight isn't short or cheap and hotels and everything is expensive here. Will there actually be open seats at an ACC basketball tournament final? Wow are ACC officials a little nervous and while everyone is putting on a happy face, I can tell you first hand there are plenty of tickets to be had and the scalpers say they expect it to remain that way.

Tough assignment tomorrow: Leave for ACC Tournament! I know, I know how in the world does a political reporter get that assignment? I convinced my bosses to go down and look for politicians going to the tournament. JUST KIDDING! Although, that could be interesting. The truth is I've covered it many times and am obsessed with college basketball so it's my one week every year to steer clear of politics.

By the way Duke and UNC are not having public practices or media availability at the tournament while the other teams are on Wednesday. Do you think they are avoiding any talk about elbows being thrown?

I'm really excited though and am looking forward to a tournament where any number of teams could win. What's wild is there's a great chance it could be someone from outside of North Carolina. Wild huh?

Guard play and matchups...that's everything this time of year so look for that.

I will be blogging the entire time there so keep any eye out for that and I'll be sure to catch a little sun for all of you!

Let the 2008 Governor's race officially begin..well sort of. Even though Lieutenant Governor Beverly Perdue and State Treasurer Richard Moore have not announced they will run for governor the laces to the gloves are loose and the gloves may come off soon! Both sides are sending emails to supporters about each other.

Moore has been criticizing for doing business with more companies to get more campaign contributions. He held a media briefing Friday morning where cameras and recording devices in the end were allowed. He was fairly defensive in response to questions but was adament that he has done nothing wrong, the contributions are not questionable, and he will keep the money ($736,000).

It's early in 2007, but the two will likely be competing for similar dollars and therefore the battle is underway. Political observers I talked to today say the Democrats better watch it though because if this continues for a year and gets worse voters will be turned off and it could greatly benefit Republicans. However, even those observers admit that would still not be enough to help Republicans win.

Deep down most observers believe the big wigs within the Democratic party really want one of the candidates to move to the Senate race but no one wants to to take on Elizabeth Dole. Democrats don't want to see two of their "stars" have to tear each other apart in a primary.

Should be interesting!

Breaking news! The death penalty issue is headed back to court. In a letter to the State Medical Board, the Attorney General's office says the medical board basically wouldn't answer how or if they would punish a doctor if they participated in an execution. AG's office says it will head back to court and probably sooner than later. Look for talk to heat up at the legislature as well.