After a review of the changing landscape in the NC General Assembly, reporter Jordan Green of YES! Weekly provides an in-depth analysis of the NC Republican House Campaign Committee. According to its plan of organization, it is responsible for “recruiting candidates and raising funds for use in electing Republicans to the North Carolina House.” Donations [...]
The US Supreme Court has announced it will hear arguments on February 27 in the case from Calera (Shelby County), Alabama, that challenges the pre-clearance provision (Section 5) of the federal Voting Rights Act. That’s the provision that allows the US Justice Department to step in and block changes in election procedures that will have [...]
Tomorrow morning, thousands of people from around North Carolina will gather in downtown Raleigh and march together to the General Assembly. They'll be carrying messages of peace, hope, equality and justice. It’s the 7th annual Historic Thousands on Jones Street march (HK on J), and Democracy North Carolina will be there. Join us as we [...]
Here's a very real example of how BIG MONEY twists policy priorities and hurts average North Carolinians. In the 1990s, NC legislators gave businesses huge tax cuts that eliminated the "surplus" in NC's unemployment insurance trust fund. Then, as the Great Recession got worse, NC legislators decided to borrow money from the federal government to [...]
From Robert Reich's blog on Sunday: Exactly a century ago, on February 3, 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, authorizing a federal income tax. Congress turned it into a graduated tax, based on “capacity to pay.” . . . The 1880s and 1890s had been the Gilded Age, the time of robber [...]
The movement against Citizens United is gaining strength. Already, 12 cities across North Carolina have passed resolutions opposing Citizens United. Now, the movement has a new voice in Congress. On January 22, U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) introduced two Constitutional Amendments to overturn Citizens United —see the video below. In his words: "Three years have passed since the Supreme Court's [...]
Regardless of how you felt about who won the White House or State House, record levels of Big Money and new restrictions on voting played a bigger role in the 2012 election than you might imagine, according to this sweeping essay in The American Prospect magazine. As you might expect, North Carolina takes center stage [...]
On the eve of tomorrow’s General Assembly session, you’d like to see your legislators in meetings with their constituents, discussing their concerns about what state government should do. Well, that’s not exactly what you get in today’s General Assembly, where many seats cost more than $250,000 to win and money is always on the mind. [...]
Infographics are a cool way to present complex data; we’re trying to use more of them ourselves. Learn Stuff has a series, with the most recent focusing on unequal pay for women. Four years after President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act as his first law, men in nearly all sectors of the [...]
A host of public-interest organizations have renewed their opposition to a photo ID requirement for NC voters. At a press conference yesterday, they rolled out a new website (www.protectourvotenc.com), new data about who does not have a photo ID, and a history lesson about an almost forgotten compromise struck a decade ago between Democrats and [...]