In a deceitful display of raw power, Republican leaders of the NC General Assembly changed from smiling helpers of hurricane victims to greedy manipulators determined to expand their power, even as the federal courts said their legislative districts (and election) were illegitimate. Bills introduced on December 14 use a combination sledge hammer and surgical knife [...]
DURHAM — Statewide voting rights organization Democracy North Carolina released the following statement on the weekend firebombing and vandalism of an Orange County Republican Party office. The following statement can be attributed to Democracy North Carolina Executive Director Bob Hall. "As a nonpartisan organization dedicated to access, fairness and participation in our democracy, we are [...]
On Friday, Democracy North Carolina, the NAACP and other groups challenging the 2011 redistricting plans filed a new motion with the NC Supreme Court to have Justice Paul Newby removed from hearing that challenge. As NC Policy Watch reports, “That’s because the . . . organization largely responsible for the drafting of the redistricting plans, [...]
A lengthy analysis by WRAL News shows that 167 NC environmental regulators will soon be subject to firing for any or no reason, at the discretion of Gov. Pat McCrory. That's seven times the number of exempt or political positions in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources during Gov. Bev Perdue’s administration. Gov. McCrory, [...]
Gov. Pat McCrory is expected to sign the monster anti-voting bill any day now. H-589 began in the state House as a photo ID bill but in the final days of the session, the state Senate rolled out a harsher version of the ID requirement, plus 40+ new provisions, including dozens that had never been discussed [...]
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 Mountain Island Lake near Charlotte and the [...]
Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC show has two recent segments on “conservatives gone wild” in North Carolina. One features the “radical restructuring” of its election laws and another focuses on the state Senate’s “sneak attack” on women’s constitutionally protected access to an abortion. A longer segment places the North Carolina attack in the context of similar sinister [...]
More details are coming out about how Art Pope intervened two weeks ago to kill the judicial public financing program. To stop Rep. Jonathan Jordan’s amendment that would have saved the program, it’s now apparent that Pope misled Jordan with a crucial falsehood - some might say a lie, although perhaps Pope was misinformed himself. [...]
Wow! Yesterday, Art Pope personally intervened to stop an amendment that would have saved the judicial public financing program from certain death. He came to the House Speaker’s office, pretending to act on behalf of the Governor in his role as McCrory's Budget Director. But the amendment had NO impact on the state budget. Pope [...]
Maybe you’ve heard of the growing demonstrations occurring at the General Assembly in Raleigh on Monday evenings. Under the leadership of the Rev. William J. Barber II of the NC NAACP, thousands of people have rallied against regressive legislation and FOR economic justice, quality education and health care, and voting rights. In addition to the [...]
