Tag: Beverly Perdue

McCrory parts with Berger, Americans for Prosperity on Perdue’s last weeks

December 13, 2012 at 2:04 pmCategory:Uncategorized

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Looks like North Carolina’s Governor-elect  Pat McCrory is not interested in playing the silly Bev Perdue and Raleigh-bashing game enbraced with such gusto by Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger and the conservative shock troops at Americans for Prosperity.

In the first question at today’s press briefing. Jon Camp of ABC 11 asked McCrory for his thoughts on Perdue’s busy last few weeks in office and the hubbub in some circles surrounding her decision to lease the Dorothea Dix campus to the City of Raleigh.

Here’s what he said:

“She’s the governor. That’s how I feel about it. She has the authority to make those moves. And I uh…I’d expressed my opinion earlier on the Dix — I wish we could’ve waited. I’m, I’m all for the park.” Read More…

A brief tutorial on “secret” deals and good government

December 12, 2012 at 9:20 amCategory:Uncategorized

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A columnist for Raleigh’s News & Observer attempts to take some government watchdog groups to task today for not attacking Governor Perdue and the other members of the North Carolina Council of State for their recent approval of the decision to lease the site of the former Dorothea Dix Hospital to the City of Raleigh. According to Rick Martinez:

“The Dix deal has all the elements good-government types decry – last-minute agreements crafted with no public input, million-dollar contributions from the monied elite and elected officials mocking the spirit of transparency by voting behind closed doors. All that’s missing is the smoke-filled back room….there would be howls of protest had Gov-Elect Pat McCrory used the same process to seal a deal with the Republican-led Wake County Board of Commissioners to develop Dix into a property that returns real money to the state. Then imagine a $3 million pledge from Art Pope (who helps fund a think tank for which my wife freelances) to defray development costs.”

Good lord – where to begin with this poor, confused fellow? Let’s try the following: Read More…

Why Perdue’s Mississippi comment was on the money

May 14, 2012 at 3:51 pmCategory:Uncategorized

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Governor Perdue may have ruffled some feathers in the Magnolia State with her comments last Friday about Amendment One and Mississippi, but her remarks were on the money. As I noted in this interview with ABC 11. the sentiment she expressed makes perfect sense.

Think about it; If one of your main jobs was selling North Carolina to businesspeople from all over the nation and the world, you too would feel embarrassed by having to explain such nonsense. Imagine yourself in a meeting with Tim Cook, the head of Apple Computers and a gay man or, perhaps some prominent film industry exec: How the heck to you put a smiling face on such a hateful and backward-looking change?

Of course,  one could simply defer to the wisdom of the amendment’s chief sponsor, House Majority Leader Paul Stam. He said that passage of the amendment “is only backwards if you think that forward is a good thing”

Fracking coming to Triangle subdivisions?

April 10, 2012 at 1:33 pmCategory:Uncategorized

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Most homeowners assume they own the soil and everything else that’s under their lawn.

But that may not be the case for homeowners in subdivisions built by the giant homebuilder D.R. Horton, which lists more than two dozen neighborhoods in the Raleigh and Greensboro area on its website.

As The Independent’s Lisa Sorg reported here, homeowners in several Triangle-area D.R. Horton subdivisions are finding out from a basic search at county Register of Deeds offices that the mineral rights to the house were split off at the time of purchase from the general deed.

Owning the mineral rights is a Colorado company that’s turns out to be—surpise! — a subsidiary of the homebuilder.

The mineral rights appear to give the energy company, in some cases, the right to drill and extract gas or other substances from below a home’s surface.

Read More…

Jobless benefits for 25,000 in N.C. to dry up at end of month

January 10, 2012 at 4:17 pmCategory:Uncategorized

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The unemployed in North Carolina are in limbo once again, with the extended benefits for some of the long-term unemployment expected to dry up on Jan. 28 – less than three weeks from today.

The N.C. Division of Employment Security estimates 25,000 North Carolinians will be kicked off of their extended benefits by the end of the month, unless state officials take action in coming days to extend the federally-funded benefits past that date.

The anticipated Jan. 28 cut-off comes despite a two-month extension passed by the U.S. Congress on Dec. 23 that many thought would keep money flowing to the jobless to the end of February.

The state employment agency, known as the N.C. Employment Security Commission before being folded under the state’s commerce department, has posted a notice with limited information on its website about the cut-off .

As of December 23, Congress and the President authorized a two-month extension of emergency unemployment compensation (EUC) benefits and extended benefits. In North Carolina, the last payable week for extended benefits (EB) is expected to be January 28. Read More…