I just realized that we are about to celebrate the 4th anniversary of “Squall Lines” next week. My JLF colleague and I have been delighted to provide you with this site, devoted to discussing politics and public policy issues in Wilmington, New Hanover County, and the surrounding counties and communities [...]
Long ago North Carolina’s pious, pandering politicians decided that selling the “Devil’s elixir” couldn’t be trusted to private enterprise. Presumably, if state government totally controlled sales, distribution and marketing of “hard liquor” consumption would be reduced; else Tar Heels would be seen falling-down drunk in the streets. Worse, they [...]
Visiting Morehead City recently, Gov. Beverly Perdue spoke to the local media about North Carolina’s struggling economy. She made a rather strange observation:
“Education is the only hope we have to re-ignite North Carolina’s labor market,” Gov. Perdue said in the interview.
She said schools are the basis for economic [...]
Whatever you think of the current efforts of Rhett and Julie Taber to halt a dredge-and-renourishment plan on Wrightsville Beach, you’ve got to stand back and marvel at the sheer gall of it all.
A little background, c/o the Lumina News. The Army Corps of Engineers plans to dredge sand [...]
Julia Boseman announced this past week that she will not seek re-election to the state Senate in 2010. She says that parenting always comes first, as it should, although she hasn’t ruled out a future political career.
A Wilmington Star-News news story by David Reynolds reminds us of how [...]
Check out the StarNews story about the refusal of some local ABC officials to provide public information to the newspaper upon request:
While some officials handed over the information quickly and without complaint, those who dragged their feet did so for similar reasons: They argued that revealing worker pay would [...]
The Pender County NAACP contends that the local school system is so biased against minorities that litigation may be warranted. In a new Pender Post piece, Pender school officials push back hard against the allegations, citing efforts to broaden their recruitment pool without hiring on the basis of race. [...]
My prior post on Julia Boseman’s impending retirement from the state senate reminded me to look over the Civitas Institute’s handy North Carolina Partisan Index, which uses prior votes for federal and state offices to determine the partisan lean in each of the state’s 120 House and 50 [...]
I’ve mentioned this bit of political scuttlebutt in these parts before, but now it’s official: New Hanover’s Julia Boseman will retire from the state senate at the end of her current term, creating an open seat for the 2010 election cycle in one of North Carolina’s most competitive [...]
A recent testy editorial about bureaucratic rules related to the proposed Titan America Carolinas Cement plant acknowledges the frustration business people and other citizens’ experience with government rules and restrictions. Usually, Star-News editorialists quietly tolerate or support government functions and ignore the insidiously destructive conditions they often impose [...]
Writing in the Lumina News, Brian Freskos offers a fascinating account of how defeated incumbents in both Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach are handling their election-day losses. Some of them aren’t handling it very well, it seems.
I learned several things from the article, including the fact that while my longtime friend [...]
Continuing our examination of Capitol Monitor’s data on federal bailout spending in North Carolina counties, today’s focus is Pender County. As of now, some $5.8 million in (borrowed) federal funds has gone into Pender, including a pivotal $15,643 grant to “Big Daddy (c/o Brian Todd)” for a clean [...]
We have discussed the incompatibility of political conservatives and the anti-capitalist agenda of organized environmentalists at this site. We identified some of the concepts and ideas that define a conservative such as, limited government, reduced taxes and freedom to own and use property. However, these terms are abstract. What [...]
Following up on yesterday’s post about stimulus spending in Brunswick, here is Capitol Monitor’s analysis of the $23 million in grants and contracts awarded to date in New Hanover County.
I am particularly intrigued by the $102, 381 awarded to the Skeets Winner Corporation for “clean diesel” and the [...]
Kenneth Lewis, a Chapel Hill attorney and former Democratic campaign aide, spoke yesterday at UNC-Wilmington. If his message there was similar to his previous speeches around the state, Lewis sounded the usual notes. For example, in Salisbury:
Lewis called Washington “broken,” a system that runs on contributions from lobbyists [...]
Have our elected representatives forgotten what their governmental role should be? Mostly we hear, or read, that they create jobs. For example, our governor, Bev Perdue, is “working to create jobs and build North Carolina’s economic future.” I thought that jobs and the “economic future” resulted from decisions [...]
In a piece published in the Whiteville News Reporter, Rep. Mike McIntyre explained the reasoning behind his “no” vote on the House health care legislation:
The need for health care reform is clear, but the legislation just passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, which I voted against, represented an [...]
Over months of turmoil surrounding the problematic hiring of criminal and fabulist Jeremy Cribb to be town administrator, Calabash has replaced him with Hiram Marziano, assistant manager of the town of Troy in Montgomery County. He’s been a full-time employee of Troy since 2007, serving as an intern [...]
Our friend Perri Morgan at Capitol Monitor in Raleigh has been hard at work creating a handy tool for tracking federal “stimulus” spending in North Carolina. Check out the result: the NC Stimulus Watch site.
I’ll periodically post some of the data about Southeastern NC. Let’s begin with Brunswick County.
Stimulus [...]
Following up on the earlier post about how area state senators fared in recent scorecards, here are the scores from Civitas Action’s Conservative Effectiveness Ratings and the NC Free Enterprise Foundation’s Business Ratings.
Let’s start with the Civitas ratings of votes on issues of interest to both social [...]
The Jacksonville Daily News has the right idea in response to an evaluation of the state’s lackadaisical oversight of taxpayer grants to nonprofit organizations:
Although the Legislature increased its oversight of funds given to nonprofits earlier in this decade, many believe current measures are not sufficient. Considering that the money [...]
Two sets of state legislator rankings have just come out: the Conservative Effectiveness Ratings from Civitas and the Business Ratings from NC Free Enterprise Foundation. I’ll summarize the findings for state senators in Southeastern NC here and follow up later with the state representatives.
Starting with the Civitas ratings [...]
Investigators conducting the ongoing federal probe of former Gov. Mike Easley have issued subpoenas to state environmental officials, reports the Raleigh News & Observer. They are checking out allegations that the Easley administration gave preferential treatment to real-estate developers with close personal or political ties to the governor. The [...]
In town to sign a bill reauthorizing the NC Film Council, Gov. Beverly Perdue took the opportunity to defend the use of targeted business incentives in the wake of Dell’s closure of a subsidized manufactured plant in Forsyth County. From the WHQR coverage:
“I have the secretary of commerce and' [...]
Speaking to the Whiteville News Reporter, longtime Sen. R.C. Soles clarified the remarks he made in his earlier interview with the Tabor City paper. He denied plans to step down from the legislature immediately but did indicate that another run for his Senate seat — which includes Columbus, Brunswick, [...]
How about $800 million from one fund. Well, actually, only $400 million has been wasted, so far. The Tar Heel take from Big Tobacco funneled through the Golden Leaf Foundation has doled out 825 grants to mostly obscure political interests in the state. Tom Campbell, former state treasurer [...]
The longtime state senator from Columbus County just gave an interview with the Tribune in Tabor City in which he appears to be signaling an end to his political career. From Deuce Niven’s story, reprinted in the Fayetteville Observer:
Whether Soles will face any charges for anything before the primary [...]
It’s said that charity begins at home. Star-News editors tell us to be attentive to our “less fortunate neighbors” and “dig just a little deeper” into our pockets to help fund the “many wonderful nonprofit agencies” in this area. Editors promote the Salvation Army and the United Way. [...]
The Greater Wilmington Business Journal has an interesting piece about the collapse of Cape Fear Bank earlier this year. There’s enough blame to go around, writes Josh Spilker, including oversight by the FDIC and the bank’s lack of a strategic plan:
According to the report, the bank in 2006 had [...]
That’s the argument William Killough advances in the latest edition of the Carolina Beach Island Gazette:
Why does this legislation have to be composed of so many pages of text? Entire individual Town’s and Counties are governed by laws and ordinances that don’t take up 2,000 pages of text. Leo [...]
Writing in the Lumina News, Pat Bradford sums up the poll results in Wrightsville Beach, one of several area communities where mayors and other incumbents went down to defeat on Election Day. The turnout was high in the town, despite pre-vote predictions to the contrary, and the winning candidates [...]
The NAACP, born when governments segregated people by race and enshrined oppression in law, now exhibits some strange priorities. In recent years, it has taken on causes either far removed from its original mission or lacking in practical significance.
I think an example of the latter phenomenon is the investigation of [...]
The Wilmington Star-News editorial page editor recently praised efforts by the UNCW to save energy under “A powerful example” headline. Fine. Conservation good, waste bad as every third-grader in America is taught.
Why the big deal about the university turning off lights and turning down thermostats? Doesn’t [...]
In response to the state’s problems with prison overcrowding and budgetary balance, the Jacksonville Daily News suggests that North Carolina do a better job of distinguishing between those offenders who must be incarcerated and those who should be handled in some other way:
As of Sept. 30, the state prison [...]
UNCW Professor Lawrence B. Cahoon in a letter to the Wilmington Star-News editor titled, “Consequences of global warming real,” reveals his bias toward alarmist views predicting unfounded cataclysmic world events. He also damages his professional credibility when he says that we skeptics “offer nothing but nonsense.”
Within the [...]
While the U.S. House gave ObamaCare an initial victory Saturday night, a majority of the North Carolina delegation voted against it, including three Democrats: Heath Shuler, Larry Kissell, and Mike McIntyre.
Of the three, the 7th District’s McIntyre is the longest-serving member and represents a Democratic-leaning district. Why did he vote [...]
WECT offers a full spread of stories about Kimberly Munley, the Carolina Beach native and former Wrightsville Beach police officer who shot Nidal Malik Hasan and thus cut short his deadly shooting rampage at Fort Hood. Munley, who has a history of heroism, was herself wounded in [...]
The Star-News “Community Editorial Board” opines about a new zoning scheme hatched up by planning bureaucrats to coerce developers to arrange land use that will suit their cosmic vision of how people should live. I know, this sounds bizarre, even Orwellian, but editors say, “the concept is a [...]
The Jacksonville Daily News pulls back the curtain to expose the real story on climate change policy:
The world can breathe a sigh of relief. Unnecessary economic destruction at the hands of climate zealots is becoming more likely to be averted — at least for this year. An international treaty [...]
Was there an incumbency-mood in Tuesday’s electorate? Sure, I’d say so. Two incumbents on the Wilmington city council got canned, including the longest-serving member. Five incumbents mayors in Brunswick County went down to defeat. Outside of the Cape Fear region, voters gave conservatives a chance to run the [...]
Star-News editorial editors say that the state Alcoholic Beverage Control commission system “needs shaking up.” I suggest it needs a shake down—to the level of elimination. Editors rightly note that it is antiquated and unaccountable. This and other state government creations, better left to private decision makers, do [...]
While incumbent Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo easily won reelection last night, other incumbents around the region didn’t fare as well. Two incumbent council members in Wilmington were defeated. So were several mayors in smaller towns such as Wrightsville Beach, Boiling Springs Lakes, Southport, and Oak Island.
In Jacksonville, the Daily News [...]
Sorry to be late to the gate, but I had to speak at an evening in Asheville this evening. On to the election results for Southeast NC:
Bill Saffo has won an easy reelection as mayor of Wilmington. In the city council races, three seats were up for grabs. It looks [...]
Last month, Rep. Mike McIntyre announced that the Brunswick town of Calabash would receive a $2.6 million federal loan, along with a $137,000 federal grant, to build a new fire station.
Only, apparently no one asked Calabash about the idea. Last week, the fire department board unanimously rejected the federal [...]
The student legislature at UNC-Wilmington has voted against a proposal to impose a “sustainability fee” on students to fund an unspecified range of recycling and awareness programs on campus. The majority appears to have gotten to the heart of the matter:
In a formal statement from the Student Government [...]
Is the lack of party labels in most municipal and school-board elections. Removing party labels removes one piece of information about the candidates that many voters value, with the result that some of those voters don’t bother to cast ballots. I explained a bit more about this in a recent [...]
The hot talk in Wilmington politics today is the story about the state suspending Mayor Bill Saffo’s company for failure to pay franchise taxes:
Records show that Hanover Realty, the company owned by Wilmington’s Mayor Bill Saffo, was suspended by the Department of Revenue two years ago.
Saffo says he didn’t [...]
• The Beacon has coverage and video of last week’s candidate forum in Shallotte. Here’s a significant passage:
Candidates agreed the town should continue to clarify its unified development ordinance (UDO) to better meet the needs of applicants. None of the candidates were in favor of forced annexation.
Asked how specifically [...]
So far, the only on-the-record response from the R.C. Soles camp to the latest rape allegations is that the alleged victim in question, which Carolina Journal has called “Jay” to protect his identity, is just trying to extort money from the longtime senator with made-up charges.
Soles’ attorney, Joe [...]
Lately, I’ve noticed a flush of articles about “global warming.” They’re designed to counter skeptics and promote an international event in December. No, not Christmas; although the manmade climate-warming “crisis,” like Santa Claus, is mythical. It’s the United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, December 7-18.
But not all [...]
During the past several years I have been sending messages to our state and federal government officials. I’ve expressed my views and positions on up coming legislation and have asked them to vote accordingly. It’s very difficult for most individual citizens to keep up with all the mischief these [...]
WWAY-TV ran its own piece tonight about the new allegation from “Jay,” a former resident of Tabor City, that Sen. R.C. Soles raped him repeatedly when he was a young teenager. Carolina Journal ran a similar story this morning, though the WWAY account has some additional information and, [...]
StarNews ace reporter Gareth McGrath just posted a new piece examining the board of elections hearings on Mike Easley from the standpoint of Wilmington-area politics. The main thrust:
The hearings are taking place in Raleigh, and so far have been largely focused on activities that took place in and around [...]
WWAY reports that there hasn’t been much early voting in this election cycle, at least not in Wilmington and surrounding communities with municipal elections to be settled next week:
Election workers tallied absentee ballots turned in from walk-in and mail-in voters. So far, Bladen County has just 51 votes; Brunswick [...]
Personally, Rep. Mike McIntyre seems to be a likable guy. And he carries the moniker “Blue Dog” — a Democrat out of step with the radical left-wingers who control his party. However, McIntyre’s political career hangs heavily on bringing home largesse from Washington, based on his newsletters and website [...]
• The StarNews reports that the elections in Kure Beach could well determine the basic structure of town government there:
With the mutual agreement to a split between Kure Beach and Town Administrator Michelle James, the council will face decisions regarding whether to hire another town administrator or manager or [...]
Star-News editor Robyn Tomlin gave a well-reasoned and informative account about her decision not to reveal a libelous online forum commentator. She dislikes anonymous posts, as do I. Ms. Tomlin also wonders whether these Web sites deserve her attention. Good question.
Online forums (or should it be fora?) [...]
The News Reporter has published the answers of Whiteville council candidates to a set of questions from the newspaper. Taxes, utilities, drugs, crime, growth, and accountability are all discussed at length. Read em all here. But I have to post the following answer, my favorite one:
1. Why do you [...]
Corrupt politicians who get caught but don’t end up making a plea deal are almost ALWAYS innocent for the rest of their lives. They almost always appeal their convictions. They rarely accept responsibility. They just can’t stop politicking for votes. So Thomas Wright’s upcoming appeals hearing is unlikely to [...]
You can go here to read the Greater Wilmington Business Journal’s Q&A with Bill Saffo and Paul Knight, candidates for Wilmington mayor.
Some telling passages, first from Knight:
Our government is out of control. At all levels there is a “mindset” of spend and tax. I want to do something to [...]
The episode noted here the other day in which the DNC’s Organizing for America group secured the use of a City of Wilmington building for political work has blown up into a full-fledged imbroglio.
When city officials booted the pro-ObamaCare activists from the MLK building two hours before the scheduled [...]
Our press, predictably with no skepticism (and little balance) on environmental subjects, will be “reporting on the impact, future and responses to climate change.” A series of stories will lead up to the big climate confab held in Copenhagen in December, according to a Wilmington Star-News editor (www.starnewsonline.com). There [...]
On Monday, Cindy Sheehan will be at Brunswick Community College to speak against “current wars” and the “military-industrial complex.” The StarNews reports that she’ll be greeted at BCC by protesters:
“She is anti-war, anti-military, according to her own previous actions,” Christy Judah, who is organizing the demonstration, said of activist [...]
We arrived early, expecting to jostle for position with large numbers of Stop Titan activists anxious to speak against the Carolinas Cement Company’s plan to rebuild at a former cement plant site north of Wilmington. My friend Jack Palmieri wanted to speak about what he saw on a trip [...]
WWAY has the story of Organizing for America activists who set up a phone bank in the city-owned Martin Luther King, Jr. Building in Wilmington. They were making calls to rally support for ObamaCare, though the message was a bit muddled:
“We’re not interested in drastic change in the health [...]
Perhaps the most potent issue in the Topsail Beach election this year is whether the town should move forward with beach nourishment projects funded locally or wait until it can receive federal assistance to move sand. Out of six candidates for town commissioner, three say act locally and now. Three [...]
Carolina Beach Island Gazette columnist Charlie Allo continues his series of pieces on the North Carolina constitution here. Its focus on individual rights is most welcome:
It cannot be expressed strongly enough that our Founding Fathers were adamant on the point of the individual’s God given rights. They were opposed [...]
The Lumina News has more details about the controversy involving out-of-town voter registrations in Wrightsville Beach. For example:
David Cignotti, Bill Sisson and Walter De Vries, sent mailings to more than 1,600 households in Wrightsville Beach. Three hundred of those mailings from each candidate—or more than 900 total—did not reach [...]
I like New Hanover County Commissioner Jason Thompson, but I don’t agree with him about the merits of giving mayors four-year terms instead of two-year terms. Most North Carolina cities, including Wilmington, have two-year terms. Shorter leashes are always better than longer ones, in my view.
No, I’m not comparing [...]
Living “green” has gained press and marketing momentum to a fathomless degree in recent months. For example, the October 2-15, 2009 issue of the Greater Wilmington Business Journal (www.wilmingtonbiz.com) includes a “Green Living Special Section.” This and other media report and support the cultish concept that human behavior [...]
The more incumbent Carolina Shores town commissioner Gere Dale campaigns for reelection against his two challengers, Joyce Dunn and Walter Goodenough, the more it becomes clear that Dale is really, essentially, running against the mayor, Stephen Selby, who is not on the ballot. From the Brunswick Beacon coverage [...]
Mayor candidate Betty Wallance says that Oak Island’s government ought to be more open:
“I have been watching for the past several years,” said Wallace. “The current administration has a record of hiding information. They refuse to disclose information to the public.”
Current Oak Island Mayor, Johnie Vereen, disagrees with Wallace. [...]
The StarNews has a couple of good pieces today on the growth of sweepstakes parlors — essentially, video poker establishments with some modest variations — and the legal dispute about the General Assembly’s supposed prohibition of video poker:
Judges in two separate Superior Court cases have issued injunctions that [...]
In the past, voters in Oak Island have been able to watch candidates for municipal office debate on the local government cable channel. But not this year:
Helen Cashwell with the Oak Island group Concerned Citizens held a town council forum Wednesday night. Before the forum began, she had to [...]
A Wilmington Star-News editorial asked the question: “What choice do we have?” about our political Heroes giving targeted “incentives” to selected business interests. Editors say the incentives are “controversial, but that’s how business is done.”
Better words for these political bets placed on certain businesses would be corruption [...]
Some folks at UNC-Wilmington are talking up the idea of a new “Sustainability Fee” to fund all sort of noble-sounding stuff. From the Seahawk:
The Sustainability Fee Initiative proposes a $5 per student per semester fee to commence during the 2010-11 academic year. This amount is in line with sustainability [...]
The StarNews coverage of last night’s mayoral debate in Wilmington lead off with challenger Paul Knight’s statement that he would like to be elected as part of a sort of unofficial reform slate, and Saffo’s eventual admission that he likes things on the council as they are:
During Wednesday’s StarNews-WHQR-WECT [...]
If local politicians can’t agree on the location of the proposed bridge project, time may run out on one of the options:
Previous plans for the bridge would cut directly in to the Brunswick County subdivision, Snee Farm. Wednesday, two new ideas were proposed. They would bypass residential areas, [...]
The Jacksonville Daily News takes some pride in the fact that Onslow County voters were never taken in by the charms of the smarmy John Edwards:
No one could really point to any groundbreaking achievements, tough positions or important contributions from the junior senator from North Carolina. In fact, other [...]
Don’t worry — it was a previously scheduled debate, not a chance encounter in a chow line.
Incumbent Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo and his challenger, radio station manager Paul Knight, both emphasized fiscal restraint at the Chamber of Commerce debate, with Knight pushing for low taxes and Saffo claiming to have [...]
Republican Phil Berger of Rockingham County heads the GOP caucus in the NC Senate. In remarks to WWAY-TV yesterday, he pointed to the voters as the ultimate arbiters of the fate of Sen. R.C. Soles:
“Ultimately, the voters are the one’s who would make the permanent decision as to whether [...]
Southeastern NC politicians recently met to generate a new priority list for transportation projects in New Hanover, Pender, and Brunswick counties. As reported by the Lumina News, here’s how they ranked the projects:
1. Extend Independence Boulevard from Randall Parkway to the Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway.
2. [...]
There’s a widespread rumor in Jacksonville that the city is considering purchasing the Jacksonville Country Club and golf course. I’d heard it myself and asked JLF’s local government analyst, Michael Sanera, to find out more and to offer his expertise on the failure of city-owned courses in other cities. It [...]
WWAY-TV reports that some critics of the proposed Titan plant are flagging the recent closure of the Dell plant near Winston-Salem as evidence that handing out government subsidies to big businesses is not a good model for long-term economic development.
They’re right about that. Sure, such companies ask for incentives [...]
It’s inevitable. Accidents and mishaps, especially those with fatal results, bring calls: “There ought to be a law” (in most cases it’s likely one or more already exist), or “(I)t’s high time to regulate….” The later quote comes from a recent Wilmington Star-News editorial about a parasailing accident [...]
Some town commissioners and others in North Topsail Beach believe that when Lara Burleson left the job of town manager, it was the result of a termination acted on by the commissioners in closed session, in violation of North Carolina’s open-meetings law. But town attorney Brian Edes says that Burleson [...]
Chadbourn Mayor Kenneth Waddell says he’ll challenge longtime state Rep. Dewey Hill in the 20th House district next year. Waddell, a retired agriculture teacher, will run in the Democratic primary against Hill. Tristan Patterson had previously announced that he’ll seek the Republican nomination for the seat in 2010.
[...]
