Bev vetoes bill 'punishing' NC teacher group (The 'group' is a ham-handed trade union in disguise.)

Verne Strickland Blogmaster  June 18, 2011 'Non-partisan' Associated Press ignores NCAE's role as shill of leftist parent outfit NEA. But group looks like a union, waddles like a union, and quacks like a union. By EMERY P. DALESIO  Associated Press Gov. Bev Perdue By NBC-17 and Associated Press Published: June 18, 2011 RALEIGH, N.C.    Gov. Bev Perdue vetoed a bill Saturday that strips the revenue stream from the North Carolina Association of Educators. Republican legislators singled out the Democrat-friendly NCAE to stop it from deducting membership dues from paychecks. “This bill is nothing but a petty and vindictive attempt to seek retribution against a group that opposed the Republican budget,” said Perdue in a written statement. “The bill unfairly singles out this one group for special treatment. The state Constitution requires organizations with similar missions to be treated equally. This bill clearly does not follow that requirement, therefore I veto it.” Republican leaders say the cutoff of dues was not an attack on teachers. They say it was a move against the political activity of the group's leadership against GOP causes. Minority Leader Joe Hackney issued a statement shortly after the governor's veto. "Gov. Perdue made another strong stand for teachers today by refusing to allow this frivolous legislation go into law," Hackney said in a written statement. "Teachers have the right to share their opinions about a budget that hurts our children and should not have to fear political retribution in return. House Democrats will support them and our governor again if we are called upon." ***********  NCAE LOOKING OUT FOR CHILDREN, MEMBERS -- OR ITSELF? Posted May 3, 2011 by Bob Luebke CIVITAS The North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) portrays itself as concerned with the interests of students and public education.  Don’t be fooled by the rhetoric. NCAE represents the interests of approximately 50,000 teachers and public school employees who pay them. NCAE tax documents state the real purpose of its mission: “[Tax] Exempt purpose is to advance the interests of educators and the promotion and protection of welfare of the association’s members”1 “To advance the interests of the teaching profession”2   While Schools Suffer, NCAE is Immune from Current Economic Hardship Over the past several years, NCAE has bemoaned declining average teacher salaries, the loss of ABC Bonuses and rising insurance premiums. However, NCAE seems immune from these troubling trends. In 2009, NCAE took in more than $11 million in total revenue,3 including $8.8 million in membership dues Total NCAE revenue has increased from $10.1 million (2006) to $11 million (2009) According to the NCAE web site, average dues for teachers for 2009-10 were about $370/year 4 Since 2006, the number of NCAE employees has increased from 86 to 135, an expansion of 56 percent NCAE spent $7.9 million on salary and compensation in 2009. Divided among 135 employees, this generates an average salary and compensation: $58,719 5 Compensation as a percentage of total NCAE expenses has increased from 66 percent (2006) to 72 percent (2009) http://www.nccivitas.org/

New abortion rules passed by NC House; Perdue criticizes GOP measure, could veto.

Verne Strickland Blogmaster   June 9, 2011

GOVERNOR SAYS MEASURE RESTRICTS WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL FREEDOMS, BUT PERDUE WANTS TO SMOTHER VOICE OF UNBORN CHILD!

By Jim Morrill - The Charlotte Observer
Modified: 06/09/11 05:28:08 AM

RALEIGH -- Women seeking an abortion would have to first wait 24 hours, get an ultrasound and hear about the risks under a bill passed Wednesday by the state House.

The "Woman's Right to Know Act" passed after a long and emotional debate. It now goes to the Senate and if passed there, to Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue.

The bill passed the House 71-48 largely along party lines. It fell one vote short of a veto-proof majority.

"This is about respecting women," said Rep. Ruth Samuelson, a Charlotte Republican who sponsored the bill. "This bill keeps abortion legal. It keeps abortion safe. And, by golly, we know it helps make it more rare. It is still her choice. It makes it her informed choice."

Opponents called it an unwarranted intrusion on a women's privacy.

"Today we decide we know better than every woman in North Carolina about her body, her mind and her soul," said Rep. Rick Glazier, a Fayetteville Democrat.

Perdue joined the criticism. "The legislature should be focused on what they said they would focus on: creating jobs and strengthening education," she said in a statement.

"Government has no role interfering in the relationship between a doctor and a patient. Legislative leaders who vow to make government less intrusive and to protect individual freedom are advancing a bill that does just the opposite," she continued

The bill is one of several efforts that abortion opponents, buoyed by GOP control of the General Assembly, hope will change North Carolina's abortion policies.

"Choose Life" Tag

 The House gave final approval Wednesday to a "Choose Life" license tag. The budget approved by both chambers would bar Planned Parenthood from getting federal grants that pass through the state for programs such as teen pregnancy prevention. It also would prevent the state employee health plan from paying for abortions.

But one lawmaker called the 24-hour waiting period "the most important bill on the pro-life agenda."

It would make North Carolina the 26th state to require a waiting period for an abortion. Legislative researchers estimate it would result in nearly 2,900 more births a year in a state where more than 27,000 abortions were performed in 2008.

Along with a 24-hour waiting period, it would require a woman to get an ultrasound and learn about the risks and options. A controversial provision requiring minors to get written consent of a parent or guardian was removed.

In a nearly two-hour debate, most comments came from opponents, who questioned its assumptions, its constitutionality and even its purpose.

"Don't lie to the public," said Democratic Rep. Deborah Ross of Raleigh. "This bill is about shutting down the ability of a woman to get an abortion in North Carolina."

Democratic Rep. Martha Alexander of Charlotte said the bill "does not trust women to make personal decisions."

One of the few supporters who spoke was Republican Rep. Pat McElraft of Carteret County.

In a choking voice, she told a story about a pregnant girl who, told her baby would be deformed, planned to get an abortion. But a last-minute ultrasound showed it wasn't. Now the girl is McElraft's daughter-in-law and the baby, her teenage grandson.

"This is not what woman should go through," McElraft said. "This is not about taking away a woman's right to have an abortion. It's about giving her the information she needs."

Democratic Gov. Bev Purdue's administration -- 'Rubble Without A Cause?'

Verne Strickland Blogmaster

Posted by CIVITAS on June 7, 2011  Author Andrew Henson    

If 2011 goes down in North Carolina’s history books for anything, it won’t be for its amount of civil discourse.

Leading up to a budget balancing finale, this legislative session has been pockmarked by a variety of jousting and posturing episodes between the GOP-controlled legislature and Democratic Governor Beverly Perdue, with the media greedily cashing in on every political standoff.

And as far as the public relations war is concerned, the victor has yet to be determined. With Republicans in the General Assembly tasked with the unenviable challenge of reconciling a $2.4 billion budget hole, it was Perdue’s war to lose—and surprisingly, she just might have.

Starting this year with declining approval ratings and the first GOP takeover of the General Assembly in over a century, it was clear that now was the time for Perdue to play hardball. After shedding the perfunctory mantras of cooperation and bipartisanship early in the legislative session, the governor leaped headfirst into the partisan fray.

Early on, she vetoed five GOP-crafted bills, including a bill directing North Carolina to engage in the national lawsuit against Obamacare. It was in the budget, however, that Perdue saw a chance to distinguish herself from the GOP and bolster her numbers against the ominous indicators of a possible rematch against Pat McCrory in 2012.

Perdue recognized in the impending budget cuts that the classroom would be her golden goose – the situation perhaps even lending itself for her to join the ranks of Jim Hunt and Charles Aycock as yet another “Education Governor” of North Carolina.

With her budget’s inclusion of an extension of a ¾ of a cent temporary sales tax, Perdue’s budget was able to provide more education funding than the GOP, who were meanwhile bound by campaign promises of no new taxes.

Perdue intended to launch a media campaign on protecting education and plant her flag on any classroom funding discrepancies between the GOP budget and her own. Her problem was, rather ironically, she won.

The year 2011 was a different game for the GOP altogether. While the budget provided an opportunity for Perdue to wage a war of grandstanding, the GOP treated budget balancing more as an exercise in damage control.

With repeated disclaimers made by Republicans directing the blame towards the minority party for the state’s current fiscal woes, Republican legislators put forth a budget that mitigated the impact on government services, especially those pertaining to education. Seasoned Republicans like Senator Richard Stevens (Wake) lamented the burden of balancing such a budget, claiming this budget was the most challenging in his 30 years in government.

Perhaps detecting early on that a fight with the governor was imminent, the GOP did back flips to ensure that they protected public education funding. They went  so far as to spend more on funding teachers to reduce class sizes and restoring funding for Teaching Assistants that was previously cut out of the House budget.

The GOP’s budget’s total amount spent on public schools ended up differing by half of one percent from Perdue’s proposal, leaving a negligible difference of impact on education.

As legislative Republicans increased funding for public education, the crucial hour arrived for Perdue to take credit for their decision to increase previously proposed funding levels by $300 million. Instead, as the GOP shifted towards the center, Perdue’s rhetoric remained extreme, characterizing Republican efforts to reduce classroom sizes as a 'charade.' “Don’t let them fool you, they are not protecting the classroom,” Perdue told reporters.

Meanwhile, the lack of substance in Perdue’s arguments was causing her own party to crack under her feet. With the increase of education funding and several other bits of horse trading, Republican legislators shored up the support of five House Democrats who voted to pass the final budget and pledged their support to overturn Perdue’s veto.

Perdue’s last ditch effort to win popular support came Friday afternoon as the General Assembly prepared to pass their budget, including the extension of unemployment benefits for 47,000 North Carolinians that have been held up for the past seven weeks due to a political impasse between Perdue and Republican legislators.

She used the occasion to preemptively issue an Executive Order reinstating the exact same unemployment benefits, taking full credit for actions simultaneously proceeding through the legislature. In doing so, she rewrote the law, forcing Republicans  to choose between fighting  her  overreach of power in making a popular decision—or letting the governor take credit for restoring unemployment benefits. Republican leadership indicated that they would not fight Perdue’s action.

Perdue had a clear window to agree with GOP lawmakers when they supported education funding at levels resembling her proposed budget. However, in the process of her political theatrics, her party gave up on her—leaving her searching for some semblance of political victory to rally around.

In one final push, the governor pursued potentially extralegal means by rewriting a funding formula for unemployment benefits to boost public opinion, and attempt to ensnare Republicans in an unpopular battle to uphold the law.

While Republicans have balked at the political trap Perdue created, it remains to be seen whether she can take credit for restoring unemployment benefits. Even if this occurs, Perdue will continue to be dogged by a broken Democratic Party and an embarrassing amount of irrelevance in the budget writing process which doesn’t bode well for the approval ratings she so desperately wanted.

This article was posted in Legislative Activity by Andrew Henson on June 7, 2011 at 4:08 pm.

http://www.nccivitas.org/2011/governor-perdue-a-rebel-without-a-cause/

Civitas Poll: Voters say sign the bill -- keep government open, continue unemployment benefits.

Verne Strickland Blogmaster

April 15, 2011

WHAT WILL GOV. BEV PURDUE DO?  AND WHY DO THEY CALL HER 'BEV'?

Raleigh, N.C. – Sign the Unemployment/No Government Shutdown bill is the message from voters to Democrat Governor Bev Perdue according to a new SurveyUSA poll released today by the Civitas Institute.

According to the poll of 500 registered voters in that district, 53 percent said Perdue should sign the bill while 31 percent said she should veto the bill. Fifteen percent said they were not sure.


Voters also continue to disapprove of her performance with 52 percent disapproving of her performance and 40 percent approving. Eight percent said they were not sure. In a head to head match-up of the 2008 gubernatorial race, Pat McCrory has a 51% to 39% advantage among voters surveyed.

“Governor Perdue has a growing problem with each bill she vetoes,” said Civitas Institute President Francis De Luca. “Perdue alienates a few more voters with every veto, especially independents who want to see spending cut and see politicians get things accomplished,” added De Luca.

On the issue of charging state employees premiums for their health care insurance, voters side with charging a fee by a 62% to 35% margin and against spending an additional $14 million to keep coverage free by a margin of 63% to 32%.

Perdue’s veto of the state employee health care bill could cost her in 2012 with 44 percent of voters saying it would make them less likely to vote for her and 20 percent saying it would make them more likely to vote for her.

The survey of 500 registered voters was taken April 14 by SurveyUSA on behalf of the Civitas Institute using the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) method. It carries a margin of error of +/- 4.5%.

http://www.nccivitas.org/

Perdue, Easley, Basnight, and Wicker campaigns took funny money.

Verne Strickland Blogmaster

Somebody put the wrong headline on this one: "Ex-NC senator pleads guilty to election violation". The names, in this case, were withheld to protect the guilty. The real news wasn't that some crooked Democrat state senator hoodwinked the State Board of Elections. That happens all the time. It was that the spoils of war went into the cesspool campaign coffers of Democrat turkeys Perdue, Easley, Basnight and Wicker. Well, I think that little oversight has been cleared up. I like our headline better.


By: The Associated Press 03/31/11 3:06 PM

A former North Carolina lawmaker has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor election law violation, acknowledging that he funneled money through his company to prominent Democrats.

Attorney Wayne Robbins said Thursday that former state Sen. Fred Hobbs is sorry for what he did and happy to put the case behind him. Hobbs was given a 30-day suspended sentence, 12 months of probation, a $20,000 fine and 100 hours of community service. He is also barred from making political contributions for a year.

Hobbs previously paid a $150,000 fine after a State Board of Elections probe. An election board investigator found $148,000 went from Hobbs' engineering firm in Southern Pines to the campaigns of Gov. Beverly Perdue, former Gov. Mike Easley, state Senate leader Marc Basnight and former Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/news/2011/03/ex-nc-senator-pleads-guilty-election-violation

2012 Redistricting in NC: Who gets hit, who gets bit, and who's left standing when the music stops.

Verne Strickland Blogmaster

March 03, 2011

Aaron Blake, one of the savvy political commentators for The Fix, published  in The Washington Post, is a savvy political commentator in my book. At least he would be, if I had a book.

Barring that, he did a tantalizing overview of how the complex dynamics of redistricting might play out in North Carolina. The Fix has previously examined how the fickle pen of political mappers might chart the future of twelve other states.

These are choice parts of Blake's analysis of probable scenarios in North Carolina – who gets hit, who gets bit, and who’s left standing when the music stops.

*********** 

North Carolina was one of just a few states where Republicans missed their chance at big gains in the 2010 midterms. Which makes it one of the only states in the country where Republicans could well make big gains in redistricting.

The Tarheel State stands out as the one state where Republicans will be expecting to gain multiple seats in the election following redistricting, and they could gain three or four if things pan out close to perfectly.

Republicans in November secured control of both chambers of the state legislature for the first time since the 1800s, and even though the state has a Democratic governor -- Bev Perdue -- she has no veto power over whatever map the Republicans draw.

The U.S. Census Bureau released detailed population data for the state Wednesday, but we've already got a good idea about what the GOP will try to do and what big gains are possible.

The reason for all that opportunity is two-fold.

One is that the current map was drawn by Democrats in 2001, which means many of the marginal districts were drawn to their liking. "Ten years ago, Democrats drew the most perfect map in the history of gerrymandering," remarked one Republican familiar with the state's lines.

Two is that Democrats stood tough in the state in 2010. While Democrats in swing and conservative-leaning districts across the country went down to defeat, North Carolina Democratic Reps. Heath Shuler, Mike McIntyre and Larry Kissell all won -- though Republicans did unseat Rep. Bob Etheridge.

The result is a map on which Democrats maintain a majority -- seven to six -- of congressional seats in the state. Of the 17 states where Republicans control redistricting, North Carolina is the only state where that is the case.

Because of those two factors -- the Democratic-drawn map and the continued Democratic majority -- there is plenty of room for improvement for the GOP. And the most likely Democrats to bear the brunt are McIntyre, Kissell and Rep. Brad Miller.

Miller is probably the most endangered. His north-central 13th district went 60 percent for President Obama in 2008, but a line tweak here or there, and all of a sudden it's a Republican-leaning district.

The district currently reaches awkwardly into Greensboro and Raleigh -- the two areas that allowed Miller to win reelection last year. Those areas could easily be handed off to nearby Democratic Reps. G.K. Butterfield in the 1st district, David Price in the 4th, and Mel Watt in the 12th, while Miller could pick up some GOP-leaning territory from Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx in the 5th district and GOP Rep. Howard Coble in the 6th -- both who are very safe. Miller could also add some of the GOP-leaning Raleigh suburbs from Rep. Renee Ellmers's (R) 2nd district, though Republicans will want to help Ellmers too.

Ellmers is the second easy call for the GOP. After beating Etheridge in November, her marginal 2nd district in the center of the state will need to be shored up. The most likely solution would be to, like with Miller's district, give some black and Democratic areas of Raleigh to Butterfield to the north, while picking up more of the Republican-leaning Fayetteville/Fort Bragg area to the south.

These two scenarios work because Butterfield's district will need to expand and pick up black voters. It is currently in danger of losing its majority-black status, and the Voting Rights Act requires that a majority-minority district be drawn where possible.

Butterfield's massive and awkward northeastern 1st district is one of two majority-black districts in the state, along with Watt's serpentine 12th district that runs from Greensboro to Charlotte. Those two districts and Price's Research Triangle-based seat are the only three safe Democratic districts in the state.

With those three safe and Miller likely in a heap of trouble, that leaves Shuler, McIntyre and Kissell as potential targets. And that's where things get a little uncertain.

Republicans have a number of options when it comes to targeting McIntyre and Kissell; with Shuler, it will be more difficult.

Shuler's 11th district is nestled in the western corner of the state, landlocked by Rep. Patrick McHenry's (R-N.C.) 10th district, and the only way to make it more Republican is to trade territory with McHenry. But Shuler's district is already pretty conservative -- going easily for the last two GOP presidential candidates -- so it's not clear that shifting even more GOP-aligned voters into it would make much of a difference.

If Republicans are going to beat Shuler, it will have to be in a district pretty close to what he has now. But moving some of Asheville into McHenry's district could only help, and McHenry, who has his eyes on moving up the leadership ladder, may be willing to play ball.

McIntyre and Kissell, meanwhile, border each other in the southern part of the state -- Kissell in the 8th district east of Charlotte and McIntyre in the Wilmington and Fayetteville-area 7th district along the southern tip of the state.

McIntyre's district went for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) by five points in the 2008 presidential race, while Kissell's went for Obama by five.

Republicans could either try to make both incumbents more vulnerable or focus on completely dismantling one and allowing the other Democrat to survive.

Considering that, there are basically four scenarios here.

The first would be the creation of a third majority-black district. Provided that the Census data will support it, this district would take in the black and more Democratic parts of McIntyre's and Kissell's districts, making both incumbents pretty beatable. But it would also force big changes elsewhere on the map, because another district would have to be eliminated. (For example, do Republicans then try to dismantle Price's district in order to keep the state at three safe Democratic seats? It might not be easy.)

Under the second scenario, Republicans could weaken both McIntyre and Kissell without creating a new majority-black district. They could give McIntrye some territory from Rep. Walter Jones's safe Republican 3rd district to the east, while Kissell could pick up GOP-friendly territory from Coble's 6th to the north and Rep. Sue Myrick's (R-N.C.) 9th district to the west.

In that case, though, neither district would be a whole lot more winnable. And given that both men have proven solid campaigners -- McIntyre especially -- victory wouldn't be assured.

The better option may be to focus on one or the other.

A third option is for Republicans to pack McIntyre's district with Democrats from Kissell's district and Ellmers's 2nd district, allowing McIntyre to survive but giving the GOP a great shot at winning Kissell's seat and holding Ellmers's.

A more devious, fourth option would be to move McIntyre's home county of Robeson, along the western border of his district, into Kissell's district. That would effectively make Kissell's 8th district more Democratic, but it would also leave McIntyre with a tough decision -- run in a tough district where he doesn't live, or challenge Kissell in a primary. Republicans would have a good shot at winning McIntyre's current district either way.

Barring the unforeseen, Republicans should have a real good chance to take Miller's district and one of either Kissell's or McIntyre's. That would give them an eight-to-five advantage in the state's delegation.

A more ambitious map could land Republicans as many as three or even four seats and a nine-to-four or 10-to-three edge. But a lot of pieces will need to fall into place.

"Republicans would be disappointed in North Carolina if they didn't pick up two seats," said Dallas Woodhouse, the state director for the conservative group Americans for Prosperity. "Three would probably be the maximum."

Either way, North Carolina would likely constitute the GOP's biggest gains in 2012. And much of the GOP's redistricting energy will be spent in this state.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/north-carolina-the-gops-golden.html