Tag: corruption
August 19, 2013 at 4:23 pmCategory:Uncategorized
As this amazing graph from a new report in the Journal of Economic Perspectives shows, there is a pretty straightforward reason that big money has become so unassailable in modern American politics.
Sam Pizzigatti has more at Too Much online and Maureen Dowd touches on the same sobering theme in her weekend broadside at the Clinton wealth machine.
July 17, 2013 at 11:58 amCategory:Uncategorized
The nonpartisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has released a new 105 page report documenting the sins of the 18 “worst governors in America.” The list is divided into three categories: “ringmasters,” “clowns” and “sideshows.” As you can see at page 87 of the report (page 90 of the PDF) Gov. McCrory is included in category #2.
Other prominent governors featured include: Jan Brewer of Arizona, Nikki Haley of South Carolina, Andrew Cuomo of New York and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana.
According to the report, the criteria used in assessment are: Read More…
July 16, 2013 at 12:42 pmCategory:Uncategorized
The watchdogs at Democracy NC just released the following:
Data Highlight: McCrory’s Sweetheart Deal with Duke Energy
In a remarkable sweetheart deal anchored with $1 million in campaign contributions, Gov. Pat McCrory’s administration yesterday agreed to settle a lawsuit against Duke Energy’s pollution of drinking water supplies in western North Carolina. Millions of tons of ash residue from Duke’s power plants have leaked contaminants into MountainIslandLake near Charlotte and the French BroadRiver near Asheville.
The problems have been known for years, but McCrory’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources signed an agreement that delays remedial action, calls for more study of the pollution, and fines Duke a piddling $99,112. Given Duke’s $19.6 billion in 2012 operating revenues, that’s the equivalent of fining a person with a $60,000 salary a total of 30 cents.
Under the agreement, Duke receives amnesty for its previous pollution, can continue leaching contaminants into the water, and gets to decide when its research shows that the contamination is significant enough to address. Gov. McCrory is largely turning over his responsibility to protect the public’s health to his former employer. The agreement is subject to 30 days of public comment before it can become effective.
Here are two news stories: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/07/15/4166607/duke-energy-state-to-settle-ash.html and http://blogs2.citizen-times.com/outdoors/2013/07/15/nc-proposes-coal-ash-lawsuit-settlement-with-duke-energy/
The cozy relationship between Duke Energy and the McCrory administration becomes clearer when you follow the political money….
Read the rest of the release by clicking here.
May 28, 2013 at 9:11 amCategory:Uncategorized
In case you missed it over the holiday weekend, Raleigh News & Observer columnist Rob Christensen had an excellent column that took state lawmakers to task for five proposals that will adversely impact the quality of North Carolina’s democracy:
As Christensen notes:
“The Republicans came into office as reformers promising a broom to clean up the mess left by the Democrats. As my mom liked to say, the proof is in the pudding.”
He might have added that right now, the pudding is watery and tastes lousy. Read the entire column by clicking here.
May 21, 2013 at 9:18 amCategory:Uncategorized
The Winston-Salem Journal pulls no punches in this editorial this morning that criticizes legislative plans to dramatically expand Governor McCrory’s ability to use Chicago-style patronage hiring:
A governor, when taking office, deserves the right to put his or her own people in jobs when those jobs are assigned policy-making duties. To deny the governor that power would deny the governor the ability to govern.
But only a small number of state workers make policy. Most state workers don’t; for sure, there aren’t 1,500 state employees who make policy decisions. With the exception of a few hundred policymakers, state employees carry out the policies designed by their superiors. So McCrory only needs 1,500 political patronage jobs if he’s planning to fill state employee ranks with his political cronies.
What makes all this the more offensive and ironic, of course, Read More…