Politics

Politics

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Sen. Hoyle’s anti-competition broadband bill expected to die

Internet hero

It turns out that no news is good news for Sen. David Hoyle’s anti-competition broadband bill, H.1840 (and formerly S.1209). The bill, which would block North Carolina municipalities from offering a choice of Internet services to their citizens, is stuck in the Broadband Connectivity House committee.

This committee is chaired by Rep. Bill Faison, who appears to be none too keen on letting this bill see the light of day. Rep. Faison learned first-hand the dangers of this scheme when it was pitched last year as H.1252. Faison is also not happy that Hoyle tacked his municipal broadband moratorium language onto one of Faison’s bills.

So, what have I learned about this? It’s good to be the chair of the Senate Rules committee, but it isn’t necessarily successful in getting bad bills passed. Also, it’s good to have two houses of government. Thirdly, don’t let the media hear from only one side. And, finally, sometimes otherwise good people like Josh Stein wind up disappointing you, even after you’ve stood in the rain all afternoon helping to get them elected.

Email address bill winds through legislature

Looks like John Beimler’s email address stunt might result in a law that makes it harder to obtain email addresses from local governments in Wake County.

The bill, H.1921 reads in part:

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1. Notwithstanding Chapter 132 of the General Statutes, when a unit of local government maintains an electronic mail list of individual subscribers, Chapter 132 of the General Statutes does not require that unit of local government to provide a copy of the list. The list shall be available for public inspection in either printed or electronic format or both as the unit of local government elects.

The bill has been kicked back into committee after returning from the Senate, so it remains to be seen if it will become law. With only a day (or two, tops) left in this legislative session we’ll know soon enough.

Update: it was just moved to be placed on today’s calendar.

Bonner Gaylord: genius app developer?

The City of Raleigh sent out this breathless press release this week touting a new mobile application called SeeClickFix. People can use the service to report things around the city that need attention, such as a traffic light that needs replacing, graffiti that needs to be removed, etc. It’s a very useful service: one that I plan to use on a regular basis.

The only issue is the press release itself. It reads as if Bonner developed the whole thing himself:
Continue reading →

My LTE ran today

The N&O ran my letter to the editor today.

I don’t understand why some people (including certain reporters) don’t like Meeker. While there are lots of things I wish he would do differently, I think Meeker is an honest, hardworking mayor who cares about the city. Unlike many politicians, he doesn’t appear to be in it for ego or to treat it as a stepping stone to higher office. I think some people forget what a thankless job being mayor is; that it’s essentially an unpaid job. We’re lucky that people still choose to do it.

That being said, I see nothing wrong with disagreeing with a politician’s choices or decisions. In fast, that’s healthy. But I do not agree with hating someone personally for the decisions they make.

There are a lot of misguided political leaders out there and many have raised my hackles. Even so, I like knowing I could sit down with them and calmly discuss our differences without it becoming personal.

Hoyle’s hijacking H1840 is worse than reported

Sen. David Hoyle (D-Gaston)

I have a correction regarding H1840. Sen. Hoyle did not gut H1840 of it’s extension of the e-NC sunset provision. However, Hoyle did tack on his moratorium language to the existing e-NC language. This is even worse than if Hoyle had gutted H1840, because the bill appears innocuous when it really isn’t.

My confusion resulted from Hoyle’s last-minute addition of the bill to the Senate agenda. It seems there is no such thing as sunshine in the state Senate.

Meeker’s East CAC appearance in the news

The appearance of Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker at our Monday evening East CAC meeting has generated news, with Meeker calling for the school board’s reassignment policy to be scrutinized by legal experts. I could tell when he took that question that he was fired up about the issue. He should be: over 40% of student families are Raleigh residents.

I dashed off this letter to the editor this morning:

Thank goodness Mayor Meeker is fighting this RECKLESS WASTE of TAXPAYER DOLLARS by our irresponsible school board majority on their pet project social experiment. There are serious and lasting repercussions to the board’s ill-conceived changes, not the least of which is to your wallet and mine!

As mayor of over 40% of the students in the Wake County School System, Meeker is rightfully concerned about the abject destruction taking place at the hands of the current school board.

I applaud Meeker’s efforts!!

Hopefully the board will consider the magnitude of their reckless changes. But I doubt it.

Update 29 June: The N&O ran my letter today.

Do you know your CAC? | WakeMed Voices

WakeMed visited Monday’s East CAC meeting and came away impressed. WakeMed is Wake County’s largest private employer and is located in East Raleigh.

Yesterday evening, I had the distinct pleasure of attending the East Community Advisory Council (CAC) meeting at Lions Park Community Center off Dennis Drive in Raleigh. At WakeMed, we are more committed than ever to being involved with the communities we serve and want to understand community issues from citizens’ perspectives so we can be even better neighbors. This commitment led me to the East CAC meeting to represent our WakeMed Raleigh Campus, which is located in the district.

One thing that Ms. Monackey didn’t mention is that Raleigh’s CACs are chaired and organized solely by community volunteers.

via Do you know your CAC? | WakeMed Voices.

Hoyle guts H1840, puts his moratorium in

Sen. David Hoyle (D-Gaston)

Sen. David Hoyle, frustrated that S1209, his municipal broadband moratorium bill, is going nowhere, has gutted H1840, an e-NC sunset bill championed by Rep. Bill Faison, and inserted Hoyle’s moratorium bill in an effort to spite Rep. Faison.

Stay classy, Hoyle!

Muni broadband moratorium put in another bill

For those watching the municipal broadband moratorium bill you have another bill to keep track of.

The Senate Rules Committee attached the broadband study and moratorium as constructed in S 1209 and dumped it into H 1840, which has to do with extending E-NC authority.

I asked Sen. David Hoyle, chairman of the Rules Committee, why he was sending over a bill that has already passed the Senate.

“I’m sending it over with something the House likes,” Hoyle said. “I can’t get a committee hearing on the broadband.”

Update 25 June: Hoyle didn’t actually gut H1840. What he actually did was much worse.

via Muni broadband moratorium put in another bill.

Larry Lessig visits Raleigh Tuesday

Lawrence Lessig will be speaking at several events in Raleigh on Tuesday, June 22.

Lessig is a Professor of Law at Harvard and a frequent national commentator on the influence of money in politics. He is currently the Director of Harvard’s Edward J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics where he does work on institutional corruption. Previously, Lessig was a professor of law at Stanford Law School and founder of its Center for Internet and Society, where he helped pioneer the free culture movement. He will be in Raleigh to promote several campaign finance reform initiatives, including the Fair Elections Now Act and an . For a glimpse of Lessig’s current work, read his recent article, “How to Get Our Democracy Back,” published in the Nation, or view one of his rapid-fire power point presentations.

Event Details:

• June 22, 11am, Raleigh: Presentation at Voter-Owned Elections Lobby Day at the NC General Assembly view map).

• June 22, 12pm, Raleigh: Luncheon at Campbell Law School (view map). (Email jglasser at commoncause dot org to register for lunch).

• June 22, 5-6:30pm, Raleigh: Reception to Benefit NC Voters for Clean Elections Busy Bee Cafe (view map)(RSVP to chase at ncvce dot org).

via Raleigh Events with Lawrence Lessig.