Practical lobbyists in Washington are telling their clients to open their checkbooks because their ox may be gored by the Super 12 – the yet-to-be-named bipartisan committee of US Senators and Representatives who will recommend where to make additional budget cuts of at least $1.2 trillion. One lobbyist said he’s writing 12 big checks to [...]
A two-month investigation by NC Policy Watch reveals that a powerful state legislator has been raking in six-figure paychecks from two government-funded organizations at the same time he’s railing against government waste and spending! Payments to NC House Rules Chair Rep. Stephen LaRoque (R-Kinston) reached $195,000 a year as the head of two economic development [...]
Stan Greenberg, the veteran strategist for Democratic candidates, has an important op-ed in the New York Times that says people are disgusted with government because it “operates by the wrong values and rules, for the wrong people and purposes. . . . Wall Street lobbyists govern, not Main Street voters.” This is the prevailing view [...]
For the redistricting junkie, FairVote has crafted a Congressional map for North Carolina that offers a completely different way to elect 13 members to Congress, using three multi-member super districts and proportional representation. It comes with an analysis of the Republican plan adopted by the NC General Assembly - “one of the nation’s most extreme [...]
Congratulations to all those inside and outside the General Assembly whose combined work blocked the Republican attempt to override Gov. Perdue’s veto of the photo ID bill (H-351). But rather than accept defeat in a fair vote, the Republican Majority Paul Stam demonstrated his real commitment to the integrity of elections: He cast his vote [...]
Democracy North Carolina today awarded 22 state legislators its Sunshine Award for the superior quality of their campaign disclosure reports filed during the 2010 election cycle. The first reports for the 2012 election are due on Friday – it’s the beginning of a super-sized, record breaking cycle. The 22 winners were the only legislators who [...]
Advocates for requiring voters to show a government photo ID are hitting a few more points in their closing arguments before a veto override vote expected this week. The arguments all fall short. First, they say, “Democrats in Rhode Island just adopted a photo ID law, why not do it here.” But the RI law [...]
For the first half of 2011, the single largest political donor to the presidential campaigns of Barak Obama and Mitt Romney is the same: the executives of Goldman Sachs! While the two campaigns split $360,000 given by the execs, Goldman Sachs was investing seven time that much, $2.4 million, to lobby Congress for its agenda: [...]
Catawba College professor of politics and history Dr. Michael Blitzer has sorted through the data for the General Assembly districts proposed by the Republican majority. His conclusion: 90% of the seats are drawn with a decidedly partisan tilt, heavily toward the Republicans, nearly guaranteeing that party majority control of both legislative chambers for the next [...]
The Respect Our Vote Coalition held another demonstration outside the General Assembly this week, in blazing heat and high spirits. Browse these photos of the event and also this story from WRAL-TV, with a link to a video clip of Democracy NC organizer Shaunee Morgan, the super MC for the day. People from all over [...]