In his PBS broadcast last week, Bill Moyers showcased North Carolina as a battleground between the politics of greed symbolized by Art Pope and the vision of a moral society strengthened by our mutual ties to one another, symbolized by the Moral Monday movement. One point to clarify in the video’s important data and interviews: When [...]
It’s been a rough year for democracy in North Carolina – but there were some positives worth noting, too. Check out Democracy North Carolina’s special wrap-up report, “2013: The Good, the Bad and the Unclear.” There are 12 items, 4 for each category. You may have some candidates to add to the list. Share them [...]
Art Pope, owner of the Roses and Maxway stores and Gov. Pat McCrory’s Budget Director, is the poster child of what one extremely wealthy individual can do to twist an entire state’s public policy in a racially divisive, ultra-conservative direction. Read more here. Pope literally depends on the black community to finance his political operation; [...]
Here’s a brief but important column from Chris Fitzsimon of NC Policy Watch: Governor Pat McCrory spent more than five years campaigning for his current job and it seemed like he couldn’t give a stump speech without complaining about what he called “the culture of corruption” in Raleigh. . . . McCrory promised a more [...]
Want to know how much money Wake County donors gave to federal elections in 2012? Compared to 2000? Or compared to Guilford or Dare? Check out this amazing national map of county-by-county contributions, with a slider that lets you pick an election cycle and pop-up bubble of info when you hover over your county of [...]
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, [...]
Art Pope is unhappy that a national campaign reform leader says he uses the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling and Super PACs to pump money from his stores into North Carolina politics. Pope is partly right: he doesn’t depend on the CU ruling or a PAC for targeting candidates with nasty ads; instead, he uses [...]
Here’s an excerpt from a New York Times story that includes frank talk from the money suppliers (“we are hopeful that investment produces a return”) and from the money raisers, i.e., Members of Congress. The National Journal also writes about the corrupting money chase, with this quote from former NC Congressman Brad Miller: "The only [...]
Gov. Pat McCrory today signed the monster, 60-part elections bill into law that will dramatically change North Carolina’s election process, beginning in 2014 and 2016 when its most sweeping provisions come into effect. Our handy factsheet shows how the law restricts and redefines who can vote, where, when and how and, at the same time, [...]
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, [...]