Politics

Politics

There are 1,056 posts filed in Politics (this is page 57 of 106).

Perdue makes emergency landing at RDU

So, uh, tell me again why our governor took the state jet to Greensboro, a city an hour’s drive from Raleigh even without a highway patrol escort? Does she have a clue about how much jet fuel costs nowadays? Is this good stewardship of our tax dollars?

Gov. Perdue’s plane made a safe emergency landing at Raleigh-Durham International airport this afternoon after a plane malfunction, her spokeswoman said Friday. No one was injured.Her plane was on the way to make to make a job expansion announcement when her plane exhibited unusual vibrations in connection with the retraction of the landing gear, and a decision was made to return to RDU, according to Chris Mackey, her press secretary.

via Perdue makes emergency landing at RDU | newsobserver.com projects.

Update: Here’s a state auditor report on the state aircraft operations, undertaken by then-state auditor Ralph Campbell, Jr. in 2005.

Update 2: My friend Warren has pointed out that Greensboro is closer to a 90 minute drive from Raleigh. Guess I’ll cut our governor some slack after all.

David Parker must go

I watched the press conference by North Carolina Democratic Party chairman David Parker yesterday and thought it was surreal. I’ve read all the speculation swirling around the claims of alleged sexual harrassment by former executive director Jay Parmley and was quite shocked by it. I’ve tried to keep an open mind about it all but Parker’s defense of it just didn’t add up.

How can Parker say he “didn’t supervise” the staff and also claim that he witnessed the alleged incidents and deemed them completely innocent? Which is it? Parker has a point about the sworn EEOC statement being different than the December letter, but at some point the excuses he has to make to justify the alleged incidents become a bit too heavy to stand up to scrutiny. Grown men do not pretend to hit each other in the crotch.

I don’t know exactly what may or may not have happened between staffer Adriadn Ortega and Jay Parmley, but I do know that to believe Parker’s explanation of them requires a huge leap of faith. Also, Parker’s claim that he doesn’t know where the settlement money came from either shows he is an aloof, out-of-touch leader at best or a liar at worst. Either way, yesterday’s press conference did little to convince me he should stay.

Parker should resign immediately for the sake of the party.

On being a Gladys Kravitz

Mrs. Kravitz


I’ve heard that some neighbors are calling me a “Gladys Kravitz.” For you youngsters not familiar with the TV show Bewitched, Mrs. Kravitz was the nosy neighbor of Samantha and Darren Stephens who was always alerting her disinterested husband, Abner, to the strange goings-on in the Stephens household. Gladys is always right, of course, but that does not make the comparison … um, flattering.

I love my neighbors and would do anything for them. It doesn’t matter who they are, what they look like, how much money they make, or anything. It doesn’t even matter if they don’t see eye-to-eye with me. If you’re my neighbor, you’re my people. It’s as simple as that.
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Can we revisit our can policy?

Recycling bin


I made an unexpected trip home from my office Wednesday to fetch something I had left behind. On this brief trip I saw two different homeless men walking with bags of cans. No, I didn’t call the cops, but I did realize that more homeless people seem to depend on these cans than I had first thought. No one wants to jail homeless people for trying to get by and I know our police officers aren’t interested in doing that, either.

My issue with recycling theft stemmed completely from seeing men in pickup trucks systematically scouring recycling bins, never with the homeless people trying to get by. Perhaps Raleigh’s recycling theft ordinance should be adjusted so that those taking smaller quantities might not be unfairly targeted.

One suggested adjustment the ordinance I’ve heard would simply make the contents of the recycling bin the city’s property and make it a crime to remove them, omitting the spelling out of any penalty. Raleigh could then choose how to respond based on the level of the theft. It’s definitely worth considering.

Raleigh’s Community Watch forum

There has been a lot of discussion in Raleigh’s neighborhoods regarding the Treyvon Martin tragedy in Florida, specifically about the proper role of community watches. I thought to email Chief Dolan, Raleigh’s chief of police, today to see if he and his staff would be interested in participating in a forum delving into the role of community watches and how we can keep our communities safe while still respecting everyone’s civil rights. I initially thought this would be a good discussion at April’s RCAC meeting but the interest and audience might be bigger than that.

I think this is something that the community needs to discuss so I am hopeful we can hash things out to clear up any confusion.

Open records and city boards

I’m a big fan of open government, having seen what closed government gets us. When I was chair of the East CAC, I offered streaming video of our meetings so that as many people as possible could see them. But some in the CAC became concerned last year when City Attorney Tom McCormick’s deemed that CAC chairs’ email are public records.

I’ve blogged before about how I thought Mr. McCormick was wrong about CACs, but I agree with him (and the N&O editorial page) that new social media technologies present a challenge to the Open Meetings Law. Do I think the law can ever keep pace with technology? No, not a chance. So what is one to do?
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The goalposts have moved too far

I was thinking about a post on the Talking About Politics blog saying the Democrats need to buck up and do what it takes to win again. It’s a good point with which I agree. There’s one catch, however:

As my friend Brad Crone, the Democratic consultant from Raleigh, told the Wake County Democratic Men this week: “Republicans won the legislature in districts that we drew. We can do the same thing.”

Can Democrats? It’s true that the Dem’s maps gave us an edge but it wasn’t an edge as extreme as the Republicans have given themselves. Gerrymandering isn’t right with either side does it, but all sides seem to agree that this recent round has taken it to the next level. As Rob Christensen of the N&O pointed out recently, many seats in the state legislature have already been won before a single vote has been cast, based simply on how the new maps have been drawn.

Dems have been given a tough hill to climb. There’s no two ways about it.

On fracking: Faison opposed, Dalton supports with caution, Etheridge unknown | newsobserver.com projects

Hey N.C. Governor candidates: if you support fracking, I don’t support you. Clean water trumps jobs, every time. Please don’t bring this disaster to North Carolina!

Gov. Bev Perdue’s move Wednesday toward fracking is putting the Democratic candidates vying to replace her on the spot.

Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton’s campaign issued a statement Thursday trying to take a middle-of-the road approach. Dalton supports fracking but suggests it needs more study before moving forward to know if it can be done safely.

via On fracking: Faison opposed, Dalton supports with caution, Etheridge unknown | newsobserver.com projects.

USDOJ hid evidence in Sen. Stevens case

This is disturbing. I take back my joke about Sen. Stevens being a felon. He was wronged.

U.S. prosecutors in the case of the late Alaska Senator Ted Stevens repeatedly hid evidence that could have exonerated him from corruption charges, according to an investigative report released on Thursday that found misconduct by Justice Department lawyers.

The prosecutors intentionally withheld and concealed information from Stevens’ defense lawyers that included witness statements, key details that could have undermined prosecutors’ star witnesses and allowed false testimony to be presented during his 2008 trial, the report said.

Stevens’ main defense attorney, Brendan Sullivan, “was not aware when he gave his opening statement, and never learned during or after the trial, that the prosecutors possessed evidence that directly corroborated Senator Stevens’ defense,” the report said.

via U.S. prosecutors repeatedly hid evidence in Sen. Stevens case | Reuters.

Stop signs vs. traffic lights

Safer than a signal?


Neighbors near my home have complained for years about speeding traffic along Glascock Street and Brookside Drive. Finally, some opted to petition the city to implement traffic calming measures and the city agreed to act.

Part of the plan includes removing the traffic signal at Glascock and Brookside in favor of stop signs. Some neighbors in Oakwood expressed concern about this change, fearing that it would cause confusion, especially when kids are walking to school.

Well, I have kids at the local school and we either walk or ride bikes there every school day. Glascock isn’t part of our preferred path because, not only is Edmund Street more convenient for us but also too many cars speed on Glascock. Even so, I walk through the Glascock/Brookside intersection nearly every other morning and can say that even with traffic signals (and pedestrian heads) crossing there remains a dicey undertaking.
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