News-Record.com

Charlotte's Jim Morrill previews the action at this weekend's GOP convention. Guilford County's Marcus Kindley will be trying to unseat current chairman Linda Daves of Charlotte.

Daves won the race to temporarily replace former chairman Ferrel Blount back in December. At the time she faced Kindley and Sen. Andrew Broch. This election is for a full two-year term and is just a a two-horse race, unless someone comes out of the woodwork Saturday morning.

I've talked to a few folks about the race. It's tough to sketch out an absolutely accurate breakdown of how the support is running, but what seems to be going on is this:

• More business-oriented, suit-and-tie Republicans seem to be lining up behind Daves. Roughly lumped into this group are northern transplants, Republicans from big metro centers and those for who social issues are secondary or tertiary concerns.
• Those who wish the GOP to be more vocal, particularly on social issues, seem to be lining up behind Kindley. These are folks who'd like to see the state party more aggressively supporting candidates in legislative and local elections.

Who wins? With convention politics like this, it depends on who shows up to vote and how many minds are yet to be swayed when the doors close. (Republicans - in a practice that irks journalists to no end and seems kind on contrary to small-d democratic practice - close their nomination, speechifying and voting to the public.)

I'll be there when they pick a winner.

If Ms. Leslie's read on things is right, we might well be living in interesting times.

I don't want to repeat Laura's work here, but to complete the thought:

If a Republican-lead bid in the House to concur with the Senate budget proposal succeeds, it will go the governor's desk and almost certainly get vetoed. Even if that happens, the two chambers have the better part of a month to come up with something the governor will sign.

What about an over-ride you say? It takes three-fifths of each chamber to do that. While the numbers are there in the Senate, I have to wonder about the House. For there to be 72 votes (of 120) in the House for the Senate budget, the Democratic caucus would have to be badly, badly fractured.

Either way (a vote to concur or not), it seems we're heading for (say it with me) a long hot June, or maybe longer.

More notes and audio from Thursday's conversation with N.C. Treasurer Richard Moore:

• As Doug reported on his blog, Moore talked a bit about business recruiting in the state and how one might do it better.

  Click here to listen to that part of the conversation.

• Doug asked about ethics and campaigning and recent stories about Moore's fundraising.

  The conversation rolled around to a question by me on whether he would go for publicly financed elections? Short answer, yes, Moore said he would look at that. But then he continued.

  "The discussion I believe needs to be more broad-based than that. There are a lot of folks who don't like public financing and I actually see their point of view," Moore said. Many citizens he said, don't like the idea of tax money going to campaign ads of any sort.

  He wasn't ready to float a specific proposal or commit to this idea in particular, but as an example of the kinds of things he was thinking of (can you say trial balloon?) he offered this:

  "How about something along the lines of the Hatch Act, that has served the United State of America extremely well. If you're a federal employee, you're not allowed give money. So if you're state employee, you're not allowed give to campaigns, you're not allowed to be in fundraising. How about if you are a vendor to the state of North Carolina, a bright line?"

  It's a long take (8:10 minutes) but click here for the Qs and As on the topic. (And yes, at one point in this take, Moore goes off the record and yes I faded out the comment in question so no you can't hear it.)

• What about collective bargaining for public employees?

  "I believe that workers, when they work for a private company, should have the right to band together to make their lives and their workplace better. If you're working for government, you have the opportunity to change your bosses. You can get involved in the political process and change your bosses, which - to me - makes the need for collective bargaining for public employees less. I can't tell you have hard position one way or the other."

• The discussion veered into health care.

  "To me, the no-brainer, because it is the cheapest coverage that goes the longest way, is covering our kids," Moore said.

  Click here for the 2:45 he riffed on health care.

That's it for now. When I get to chance to interview other front-runners, they'll get similar treatment.

I'm sitting in the GOP Convention down in Charlotte and in a reversal of policy, it appears that we scruffy media types are going to be allowed to monitor the election of the state party's new chairman. That fact was so-confirmed by the chief Sgt. at Arms, Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes.

In case you don't know, Marcus Kindley, the former Guilford County GOP Chairman is running to unseat Linda Daves, a Charlotte woman who took over after the November elections.

If one is to judge by the number of signs and stickers, support is evenly split between the two candidates here - even among delegates from Guilford County which sent 74 delegates to the convention.

Barnes isn't saying who he's voting for, but some other Guilford County are wearing their loyalties on their sleeves, or sweaters, of whatever.

"She's a very fair-minded person," said Mary Rakestraw, a former Guilford County Commission who is backing Daves. When I asked if there wasn't some home-town loyalty for Kindley, she said, "If there had been on the part of our former chairman, maybe there would be now."

On the flip side is Christine Jones, a Greensboro woman who first got involved in party politics in 2004. Kindley was the county chairman when she first got involved.

"He really reached out to the volunteers," Jones said. She said that in Republican circles, the election of a new chairman has been a hot topic, especially in Guilford County.

"There is a division in Guilford County," Jones said, but couldn't explain it.

As of 2:16 p.m., the folks running the convention just announced there were 855 delegates and eight alternates and things appear to be poised to get under way.

Will report in later.

Click here for updates and audio.

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I've been keeping track as the votes are coming in, and it appears former Guilford GOP Chairman Marcus Kindley is going to loose his bid for state party chairman. He's behind in the raw vote count and will lose unless the weighting of votes changes things.

Will update later.

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Update: It's official. Daves wins.

Kindley won roughly 35 percent of the vote. The Guilford County delegation was split 30-43 in favor of the hometown boy. Charlotte, by comparison, went 105-8 for Daves.

Click here for the story from Sunday's paper.

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Previous posts on this Saturday's GOP convention are here, here and here.

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From the working lede of my newspaper story on Saturday's GOP convention:

RALEIGH - The plain-spoken and sometimes controversial former chairman of the Guilford County Republican party lost his bid to head the state GOP Saturday afternoon.

Marcus Kindley took roughly 35 percent of the votes cast during the Republican's biannual convention in Charlotte. Coming out on top was Linda Daves, a Mecklenburg County woman who has served as state party chairman since December.

Kindley polled competitively in the state's rural counties. But Daves was overwhelmingly the choice of the large urban delegations from Mecklenburg, Forsyth and Wake Counties.

Guilford County's delegation split its votes, 43-30 in favor of Kindley, a result that sent murmurs throughout the room when it was announced.

"In Guilford County, there's been people who didn't like my style, basically it's been a lot of women in the women's group and they came today and voted for Linda (Daves). I found the women tend to vote for other women and that's okay," Kindley said.

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Click here for Marcus' full explanation of how the votes went down.

And click here to listen to him talk about what's next.

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In her acceptance speech, Daves reached out to Kindley supporters, saying it was okay that the vote was split. The audio isn't quite as good, but click here to listen to Daves accept her new job.

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As the afternoon session was kicking into gear this afternoon, party officials were trying to make sure that everyone who was supposed to vote could vote. So they played a music video that basically talked up the involvement of religion in public life.

"There is no separation - we're one nation under him," went one lyric that I jotted down.

The song got a big round of applause at its end.

-=-=-=-=-=-=

For those of you into numbers, Guilford County's 74 delegates represented 8.4 percent of those in the room. Mecklenburg's 113 represented 12.9 percent of the room.

-=-=-=-=-=-=

For those debating whether North Carolina should move back its Kindergarten entry age, this story from the NY Times Magazine should be of interest:

States, too, are trying to embrace the advantages of redshirting. Since 1975, nearly half of all states have pushed back their birthday cutoffs and four - California, Michigan, North Carolina and Tennessee - have active legislation in state assemblies to do so right now. (Arkansas passed legislation earlier this spring; New Jersey, which historically has let local districts establish their birthday cutoffs, has legislation pending to make Sept. 1 the cutoff throughout the state.) This is due, in part, to the accountability movement - the high-stakes testing now pervasive in the American educational system.

The N.C. House has already passed a bill to move the Kindergarten entry age back. It would require that children turn 5-years-old before Sept. 1 rather than by Oct. 15, as is the current statute. It is awaiting a hearing in a Senate Committee.

Background here and here.

By the way, Rep. Dale Folwell, a Winston-Salem Republican and the bill's champion, is quoted in the Times story.

All involved in increasing the age of kindergartners — parents, legislatures and some teachers — say they have the best interests of children in mind. “If I had just one goal with this piece of legislation it would be to not humiliate a child,” Dale Folwell, the Republican North Carolina state representative who sponsored the birthday-cutoff bill, told me. “Our kids are younger when they’re taking the SAT, and they’re applying to the same colleges as the kids from Florida and Georgia.” Fair enough — governors and state legislators have competitive impulses, too. Still, the question remains: Is it better for children to start kindergarten later? And even if it’s better for a given child, is it good for children in general?

Good, I knew you could.

The House voted 67-46 NOT to concur with the Senate budget proposal.

Conferees will be appointed.

The good news: The House and Senate have nearly a full month to negotiate.

The bad news: The House and Senate have nearly a full month to negotiate.

Background here.

I spent part of today working up a short story on H.B. 1587, a bill that would put hurdles in front of local governments that want to offer "communication services." It is due to be heard in the House Public Utilities Committee Wednesday at 10 a.m.

From that story:

Bill opponents are most concerned about the ability to offer Internet access, which is increasingly seen as a necessity for businesses and education. They say the proposed restrictions could hurt municipal efforts to recruit businesses or help bring affordable broadband Internet to lower-income areas.

"Broadband is just that important. It's just like bringing in electricity or water or gasoline, it's that much of a need," said ToNola Brown-Bland, an assistant city attorney for Greensboro.

Businesses say the measure merely ensures governments won't use their powers to undercut prices offered by private companies.

Click here for the full story.

Although communication services include a bunch of things - phone, cable tv, etc... - the piece of it people seem to be really concerned about is broadband internet. Local governments see broadband as an essential utility for attracting business, up there with water and electricity. There's also a question of providing internet access to low income and rural areas.

Every once in a while, you'll talk with folks on either side of a story and they'll be talking past one another. This was one of those. It was sort of like I was talking to two different groups of folks about entirely different bills.

From the Charlotte Observer:

The federal judge scheduled to sentence former House Speaker Jim Black removed himself from the case Tuesday, marking a legal victory for Black and delaying his expected move to a federal prison.

U.S. District Judge James Dever filed an order Tuesday evening recusing himself from the case. The dramatic move comes a month after Black's lawyer asked Dever to withdraw, charging that he had a conflict of interest. While a lawyer in private practice, Dever represented the state Republican Party in a lawsuit that targeted Black and other Democratic leaders.

Click here for the full story.

Dever sounds less than convinced of the need to recuse himself. From his order:

Black does not allege any actual bias or prejudice by this court. Needless to say, this court has no such bias or prejudice against Black. Rather, Black discusses perception. Black believes reasonable people might reasonably perceive that his 2007 federal criminal case is about my role as a lawyer in an official-capacity civil redistricting lawsuit filed in 2001. That notion is false. Black's federal criminal case is not about redistricting or my prior work as a lawyer. Black's federal criminal case is about his guilty plea to soliciting and accepting cash from chiropractors between 2000 and 2005. Further, as demonstrated in Parts I1 and 111 of this order, recusal is not required ....

Click here to read the full order.

The municipal wireless bill passed the House Public Utilities Committee this morning and is on to the Finance Committee.

As expected, the bill was modified somewhat. The referendum requirement was removed and the provision that required municipal systems to turn a profit in four years was softened a bit.

Rep. Pricey Harrison offered an amendment that would have exempted areas where certain levels of service don't exist. It failed on a voice vote.

The bill itself passed on a voice vote, so there's no rollcall to provide, although it looked like Reps. Angela Bryant, Harrison and Lorene Coats, all Democrats, voted against it. Rep. Nelson Cole, a Rockingham Democrat, made the motion to send it to Finance.

Update: Just so I'm not remiss in point out that cable and telephone companies are big election campaign donors down here:

The bill's sponsor is Rep. Drew Saunders of Mecklenburg County. Since 2000, State Board of Elections records show his campaign has received at least $18,000 from telecom-related interests, including:

AT&T CO PAC OF NC, $1,000.00
AT&T PAC, $500.00
BellSouth Empl NC PAC, $12,000.00
BELLSOUTH EMPLOYEES NC PAC, $4,000.00
NC CABLE PAC, $500.00

This is not to campaign donations begat this bill, but that's a pretty healthy chunk of money.

Speak Joe Hackney's anti-dropout prevention tour continues tonight. For those who have already had enough of summer re-runs and might want to tune into this instead:

The House Initiative on Dropout Reform will meet June 7 with administrators, teachers, parents, students and community leaders for a public hearing on how to improve the state's graduation rate.

This meeting at Parkland High School will be the third public hearing organized by the leaders of this initiative, Representative Earline Parmon and Representative Susan Fisher. They hope to hear from all sectors of the community about the issues facing students at risk of dropping out.

Members of the public are encouraged to attend.

What: Meeting of House Initiative on Dropout Reform
Where: Parkland High School, 1600 Brewer Rd., Winston-Salem
When: June 7, 6-8:30 p.m.

Rep. Thomas Wright, the embattled New Hanover Democrat, gave one of the great Alfred E. Newman-like quotes of late to AP Reporter Gary Robertson in a story running over the weekend:

A defiant Wright remains in the chamber, casting votes from the same front-row desk that reflects his senior and, until recently, influential status at the General Assembly. Asked if he plans to quit, Wright offered an exasperated response.

"I was elected by the people of my district and I'm here to serve them," Wright said. "I'm voting and doing what I'm supposed to do, so what are you talking about?"

Yeah, no idea what could be the matter.

More from around the state.

• Meanwhile, Rep. Mary McAllister's troubles don't seem to be going away any time soon. More here.

• Honk if you're ready to pay more taxes for that new car or truck.

• My colleagues Taft Wireback and Lanita Withers continue looking into the A&T fiasco:

  The program director allegedly forged her superiors' signatures on documents that cost taxpayers thousands of dollars in inflated charges.

  She allegedly approved scholarship money for her husband at a rate three times higher than any other student in the N.C. A&T program she ran: $66,733.33 from Uncle Sam for a year's tuition and expenses.

  She spent $13,478 on her own travel accommodations at what auditors called "high-priced hotels," averaging $328 a night traveling for the Future Engineering Faculty Fellowship , or FEFF, program.

  And all that's before auditors got to questionable taxpayer-financed travel that former FEFF director Anita Huff allegedly approved for her daughters, computer and electronic equipment missing from the program, and the supervisors who should have caught these apparent missteps.

• Home cooking is great, but sometimes you get a hankering for a meal on the road. Charlotte's Mark Johnson explains:

  In North Carolina, the lobbyists for Rent-A-Center, Time Warner Cable and other companies are prohibited from contributing to campaigns, such as Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue's expected bid for governor.

  Friday night, at a Washington lobbying firm, lobbyists who represent some of those same companies at the federal level held a fundraiser for Perdue.

  The donations and libations affair is an example of what some reformers believe are continued efforts to get around last year's sweeping reform legislation in North Carolina. At a minimum, they say, the episode highlights the law's limits.

• Look: Laura is as much of a work-junkie as I am.

• Chris Fitzsimon is watching House-Senate budget negotiations.

• Great line from Gary Pearce: "In other words, memo to the next judge: Throw the book at this guy. And the next judge apparently will be Terry Boyle. Who Democrats blocked from the U.S. Court of Appeals."

Coming this week: Budget negotiations will continue. The House and Senate will continue clearing out smaller bills while work continues on the big monsters like H 77, the renewable energy portfolio standards one.

And if you're interested in whether billboard companies should be able to cut down trees around their signs, the Senate version is in committee Tuesday.

Finally, yes, last week stunk - big time. Yes, I'm still here in Raleigh. Any lapses in blogging have to do with time spent on projects or other work for that funny rolled-up-paper-thingy we throw in the driveway every morning.

From the Senate Pro Tempore's office:

We are saddened to share with you that Senator Basnight's wife, Sandy, passed away Sunday. The Basnight family appreciates the outpouring of support during this difficult time. She was 59 years old.

Services will be held on Wednesday, June 13 in Wanchese, NC. Further details are pending at this time.

Donations may be made in Sandy Basnight's name to Bethany United Methodist Church, 101 Old Wharf Road, Wanchese, NC 27981.

Notes and cards to Senator Basnight and his family may be sent to 2007 Legislative Building, Raleigh, NC 27601.

On the heels of this exchange from Rep. Larry Brown (R of Forsyth); Rep. George Cleveland (R of Onslow) is making friends and influencing people with the following note, sent over a blast e-mail in the General Assembly building:

Thought for the day: "Calling an illegal alien an "undocumented immigrant" is like calling a drug dealer an "unlicensed pharmacist."

This evening's Senate prayer, offered by the Rev. Mike Morris, addressed Sen. Basnight's loss. Click here to listen.

More from the Associated Press:

Sandy Tillett Basnight, the wife of Senate leader Marc Basnight and guiding hand for their Outer Banks seafood restaurant, died Sunday after an extended illness, his office said Monday. Lawmakers praised Sandy Basnight as the power behind the powerful Dare County Democrat, saying she made it possible for Basnight to serve in the Legislature since 1985 by taking care of their business and their two daughters. "He's done so much for our region of the state and the only reason he was able to do that was because she was in the background doing so much for him," said Rep. Bill Owens, D-Pasquotank, whose district falls within Basnight's Senate district.

A resolution honoring fallen Winston-Salem Police Officer Howard Plouff was read and debated at the General Assembly Monday night.

Click here for the audio from the House chamber.

For more, click here, click here and click here.

A long time ago, I had requested a list of all the stocks held in North Carolina's retirement fund. I had a couple ideas for stories that I wanted to get around to doing. Well, it took a while (not complaining, it was a lot of information) for the state Treasurer's office to make with the information.

And I've now got a couple of stories on my plate eating up huge chunks of time (not necessarily overly interesting stories, mind you, just time consuming) so I probably won't be able to get back to the ideas re: the pension funds for a while.

But you know me, I can't stand having a report burning a hole in my C: drive and not share it with the world.

So click here for the report of stocks and other assets held in trust for the N.C. Public Employees retirement program, as of June 30, 2006. It's an interesting mix of things if nothing else.

There's some European, South African and Canadian currency, Wal*Mart and Tyco stock, shares of Dow Jones and Co. (wonder how the Treasurer feels about a Rupert Murdoch takeover?), Fair Isaac Corp (which does credit ratings) and many others - to the tune of 188 single-spaced pages.

If you're inclined to tiptoe through these tulips, the PDF is about 2.5 megs. Dive in and let me know what you find interesting.

Update:(Friday, 6/15) Sara Lang, a spokeswoman with Treasurer Moore's office, called last night to offer a couple bits of insight on this post.

First off, the Treasurer rarely picks individual stocks like Google or Dell.

"In a fund of this size, that's not how it works," Lang said. Instead, the state is mostly invested in different kinds of index funds.

That's why you'll see the same stock show up multiple times on the list.

Because the list is from 2006, some stocks aren't in there any more. For example, the state has used a national nonprofit's list of payday lenders to get all of the paydays out of the fund. She's not sure about sub-prime mortgage lenders though. (The sub-primes took a beating on Wallstreet earlier this year, which is why I was interested in them.)

And because the state invests through index funds, its hard to expunge certain categories of stocks. You either have to get the fund changed or get rid of it entirely.

"The treasurer can converse with managers and tell them about what they cannot hold," Lang said.

The fund, by the way, is $75 billion (with a B).

I'm still interested in what you find interesting. Drop a line via e-mail or in the comments section.

Happy Flag Day everyone.

More fun facts than you can wave a flag at here and here and here and here.

So, who do you think is commuting to the General Assembly in this baby, a ferrari?

If you said sate Rep. Larry Womble, you win the right to admire his (Update: price info) $200,000-to-$400,000 auto from a distance.

It doesn't have the license tag members get while serving up here, but Womble confirmed it was his during a smoke break. Womble said that he's been working 50 years, or there about.

"After 50 years, I'm on the short end of life, rather than the long end," he said. So it was time, he said, get something he really wanted.

Womble lists his occupation as "retired educator." He was a teacher and administrator in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school system from 1963 through 1993. He's been a member of the House since 1995 and was a Winston-Salem alderman from 1981-1993.

I asked him how fast he got from Winston-Salem to Raleigh, and he said "The same amount, I don't drive any faster. My momma didn't raise no fool."

Of course, it looks like one of his colleagues might have parked a bit close for comfort.

There's a lot of scuttlebutt regarding the budget going about, but there's only one piece I firmly believe at this point.

The House and Senate budget negotiators are hung up on fixing the Medicaid problem. Essentially, they have different ideas about how to make it so counties don't have to shell out for a share of the Medicaid health insurance program for the poor. North Carolina just about the last remaining state in the union that makes counties kick in for the general operation of the program.

Rep. Bill Owens, a Pasquotank Democrat and House Rules chairman, says that's exactly the sticking point at the moment.

"We need the Medicaid and a couple other things before we can determine availability," he said. For those who not fluent in legislative-speak, availability is how much tax revenue is available to pay for stuff. If you commit a bunch of money to pay for taking Medicaid off the counties, you get less availability for other stuff.

I asked Owens what the other "couple other things" were, but he went back to Medicaid. "That's the number-1 thing."

Folks on the Senate side are also saying that Medicaid is the big hump that budget negotiators need to get over before coming to a compromise on the rest.

You may remember the House put $100 million in its budget to alleviate the county's Medicaid burden next year. The Senate put this sort of vague language in their budget that basically said, "Gee, this is a problem, and we'll fix it."

This post on the stocks in the state's investment fund has an update, for those who are interested in the topic.

And the Legion of Dome has taken an interest in the topic.

The proposed rules designed to clean up Jordan Lake - and which Greensboro and other local governments find objectionable - are out.

Click here to link to the N.C. Register home page. The rules in question are in the June 15, 2007 edition.

Or you can click here for a 49-page Word file that I cut and pasted into.

And if you don't know what all the fuss is about, Click here for background.

Update: I forgot to mention, there are two public hearing dates:

Public Hearing:
Date: July 12, 2007
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: Century Hall at Century Center, 100 N. Greensboro Street, Carrboro, NC 27510

Public Hearing:
Date: July 17, 2007
Time: 1:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Location: Koury Business Center at Elon University, 271 North Williamson Avenue, Elon, NC 27244

Look who is blogging now.

From a DHHS news release:

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services will unveil an interactive exhibit on the state’s former eugenics program. In addition to seeing the exhibit, victims of the program whose stories are told in the exhibit will participate in a panel discussion about the program. The panel will also include Dr. Johanna Schoen, a researcher who has chronicled the program.

Click here for the full release. The exhibit opens today at the N.C. Museum of History.

The exhibit may be especially interesting in light of the effort to garner reparations for victims.

• My colleague Jonathan Jones wrote this story on a bill that would mean juvenile offenders would not have to be in shackles when they are brought to court. The proposed law, which is awaiting the governor's signature, was inspired by a Guilford County case.

• During a news conference Monday, Easley repeated that he didn't much like idea of using non-taxpayer-approved debt in the budget. Click here to listen to him talk about borrowing no more than $1.5 billion over five years - and only $250 million of that through Certificate's of participation.

• Meanwhile, reporter Sonja Elmquist from our Greensboro office is up visiting with me this week and penned this story on hurricanes, also pegged to Gov. Easley's news conference yesterday.

  As she rightly points out, Easley sounded a lot more up-tight about this topic during a conference call in May.

  "Common sense tells you there is a limit to how much people can do," Easley said at the time, outlining the strain that duty on Iraq was putting on forces that respond to disaster here at home.

  But with U.S. Homeland Security Sec. Michael Chertoff standing next to him Monday, Easley was a bit more placid. He repeated that North Carolina is prepared to handle a Category 3 storm and assured the assembled scruff media that North Carolina could get the help it needed should a bigger storm come.

  "We feel pretty good about the conversation we had today," Easley said.

  Of course, he wasn't completely relaxed.

  "If you talk about a pandemic that hits every state, then yes, we're in trouble with the guard right now," Easley said, quickly turning the conversation back to the topic at hand. "

  I've spliced together to Easley clips in this take if you want to listen to the governor talk about how prepared we are for storms.

The boys down in Charlotte reported last week that State Auditor Les Merritt has some concerns about the integrity of the state's voter rolls.

Then the legislative Dems got all cranky, suspecting that the Republican auditor might be trying to make the Board of Elections look bad for political reasons.

So there was a little hearing today before the Senate's election law committee. The results:

• The bill in question, which would allow same-day registration, was sent back to the floor. (Click here for info on H91.

• Merritt was sent back to his office a little bruised for the experience. The majority, if not unanimous, consensus seems to be he didn't make his case.

I'll post some audio here once I get it.

Update: Here's some audio:

• Click here to listen to Sen. Phil Berger talk about the bill and the audit. Berger voted against the bill because he doesn't like some of H91's provisions.

• Doug Berger, a Democrat from the mountains Youngsville, asked some rather pointed questions, like whether the auditor doth protest too much. Click here to listen to the Q and part of the A.

• Election Director Gary Bartlett responds to the aduitor's report.

In Raleigh today? Need something to do tonight? Have cash for the bar?

Then come join the N.C. Legislative Press Corps at
Temple Beth Or on Creedmoor Road for our annual press skits, a.k.a. press follies, a.k.a. a bunch of reporters acting (poorly) and singing (even worse) about the folks we cover every day.

There's no cover, but we will sell you our much-sought-after 2007-edition t-shirt.

We'll start the show at 7:30 p.m. but the room opens at 6:45 p.m. for libations and good conversation.

Fascinating stuff, from this Slate piece:

The idea behind political prediction markets is simple. Lots of people wager on the outcome of political campaigns: Who's going to be the Democratic presidential nominee? Will the Republicans take back the House? And when the votes are counted, the winning bettors collect. The thrill of prediction markets for political junkies is that they harness "the wisdom of crowds." A single person's bet on an election outcome isn't very good, but thousands of bets, with real stakes, are more likely to predict the correct result than even the best pundit.

Anyone want to get in on the ground floor of some Bloomberg for President shares?

So the House has a Medicaid plan, which would eliminate the $500 million that counties pitch in for the health insurance program for the poor.

The Senate Finance Committee took a look at its own plan this afternoon, which is a bit more complicated. It too would have the state take over Medicaid costs, but do so over a matter of a couple years.

As I understand the two, the House is more of a straight-up swap: the state takes back the Medicaid cost in exchange for taking back some of the counties sales taxing power. It would give counties to option to raise their local taxes if they needed to.

The Senate plan is more complicated. (Don't believe me, click here to listen to Sen. Tony Rand explain it.) It also gives the counties the power to raise their local sales tax, but it requires them to "hold harmless" the municipal governments, which in many cases would virtually ensure that half-cent would be raised.

All of this is wrapped up in budget posturing, as the honorables try to solve their Medicaid and Tax issues before moving on to other key points.

Wrapped up in the Medicaid discussion for some reason is the earned income tax credit. The credit gives poor families a rebate on their taxes. There is already a federal credit.

The House version is like the federal credit in that it is refundable. A family who, for example, is eligible for a $300 credit but didn't pay any taxes would get that $300 in the form of a tax refund check.

The Senate version is non-refundable. So that same family that would be eligible for a $300 credit could have $300 of their tax bill wiped out, but would not get the money back.

And, the budget negotiations continue.

From the lede of a story in Sunday's paper:

A company that provides key mental health services for agencies in Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh has used unqualified providers to treat patients, according to recent state investigations of the company.

Dominion Healthcare, a Durham-based nonprofit, has been the subject of no fewer than three state Division of Mental Health complaint investigations since 2006.

North Carolina has increasingly relied on companies such as Dominion since 2000, when the state pursued what is commonly called mental health reform. In its current incarnation, reform shifts the focus of publicly provided mental health care away from large, central mental hospitals to private providers in patients’ communities.

Click here for the full story.

This story was prompted by an anonymous tip that came into the newsroom and was filtered through a couple editors before it got to me. Based on that tip, I went looking for documents and the story reports those findings.

In some ways, it gets ahead of something that I and a handful of my colleagues have just begun working on. Editors have asked us to look at the state's mental health system, particularly as it operates in Guilford County and the surrounding area. That, frankly, is about like giving a guy a bucket, pointing to the ocean and saying, "Empty that."

Dominion is an interesting case because it relates to the outcry over the rates paid to community support services providers earlier this year. (Background: here and here.)

There's more to come on this, although I'm not sure right now what or when.

I just spoke to a spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Brad Miller who said the Democratic Congressman won't run for Senate in 2006. Rumors had been running wide and deep that that Miller would challenge Republican Elizabeth Dole.

I'm scheduled to speak with Miller in the next little bit, and will bring you notes and audio from that conversation ASAP.

Update: Miller spoke to me and reporters from the AP and N+O at a downtown restaurant today. The bulk of our conversation happened inside, but we asked Miller to repeat himself outside so we could get audio without the cheesy elevator music that was playing in the background.

Click here to hear what he had to say.

Update: Miller said that he wanted to run against Dole, but he begged off because of the disruption that it would cause his wife, family and friends.

"As recently as last week I was inclined to do it," he said. But after hitting send on an e-mail to the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee (DSCC) last night, he was done musing with the idea.

Miller talked about bills he hoped to file, including one on predatory lending, as well as his work on an oversight committee to "bring humility to those who have been without humility for a while."

His decision will put Democrats on the search again for a candidate to run against Dole, and there are at least one or two giving it some thought.

Senators were back at debating their Medicaid and tax bill Monday evening in the finance committee. (Click here for bill info.)

Once again, the subject of the earned income tax credit came up. The senate version is nonrefundable, which means if you don't pay taxes you don't get anything out of it.

Sen. Martin Nesbitt offered an amendment to change that and make the state tax credit refundable like the federal tax credit, which would mean folks could get money back even if they didn't pay any taxes.

"The one that's in the bill is not really an earned income tax credit its just a little fragment of one," Nesbitt said, suggesting that it was more a provision that was for show rather than meaningful.

Sen. Tony Rand suggested that issuing those kind of refund checks might open the system up to fraud and would be difficult to keep track of.

For some noisy but (I think) audible audio of that conversation.

The committee ended up delaying a vote until tomorrow. It sounded to me (and other scruffy press types) like they didn't have enough votes to pass the bill. Conservatives in the room don't like the fact the package would tax annuities and take taxing authority back from the counties; liberals are upset about the EITC provision. When the snake eats it tail like that, the middle needs to be robust for the bill to pass and it sounds like Rand needs to count some votes.

Senate Finance meets again at 1 p.m. Tuesday.

All the speculation about
who is going to run against Sen. Dole next year (it won't be Rep. Brad Miller) gets even more interesting in light of this post from the Washington Posts' "The Fix" blog:

Through May, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Committee had raised $48.6 million as compared to the $36 million collected by the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee. And, even though the two Republican committees have been outraised by $12 million by their Democratic counterparts, they have actually outspent the DSCC and DCCC $31.3 million to $23.7 million.

[Snip]

The gross disparity between the two sides is often lost in broader stories that look at the financial playing field. Why? Because the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee figures are added into the total. Through May 2007, the RNC had collected $39.8 million as compared to $24.6 million collected by the DNC. The RNC ended May with $15 million in the bank as compared to $5.5 million for the DNC.

And, in the 2006 cycle, the RNC played a huge role in the congressional elections -- transferring tens of millions of dollars to the House and Senate committees to bolster their efforts. In the case of the NRSC, the RNC actually jumped in to help fund a series of independent expenditure ads in places like Tennessee, Ohio and Missouri.

What does that mean here in North Carolina?

Strategically, Democrats have that much more incentive to find a credible candidate and spend heavily on the North Carolina race. The Republicans are not going to leave Dole's seat undefended. But plowing money into a hotly contested race here would sap the GOP's ability to play elsewhere in the country. Which means even a "second tier" candidate (someone other than Gov. Easley or Miller) might have that much more reason to expect some goodly amount of help from the national Democrats.

The much expected "continuing resolution" will be heard in the House Finance Committee tonight. That augers what most people expected: no budget deal this week.

Continuing resolutions fund the government temporarily until a real budget can be hashed out.

Update: Speaker Hackney says the CR will be for 30 days. When I asked him if there would be a second one, he said, "Oh, lord, I hope not."

The House version will extend the sales tax rate as it is (6.75 percent in most places) rather than letting a "temporary" 1/4 cent expire. The Senate wants to let that piece go down and it will be interesting to watch whether there's any gamesmanship with that. Since the current year budget (and that 1/4 cent) expire when the calendar turns to July 1, the House is in a little bit more of an urgent position.

Gov. Mike Easley was doing a bill signing ceremony today for the
a measure passed in the wake of the big chemical fire in Apex last year.

Of course, he got a lot of questions about the budget and the fact that the new state budget wouldn't be ready by Sunday. Easley described himself as "frustrated" but said the legislators needed time to work through the big Medicaid and tax issues that are gumming up the works.

I asked him about the Earned Income Tax Credit, which has been a bit of a sticking point. The argument is over whether the credit should be refundable (money goes back to people even if they don't pay taxes) or non-refundable (the credit eliminates tax burden but doesn't create a refund check).

Easley said he leaned toward the non-refundable version, although he'd like to see the state do something a bit different than a credit. He pointed to a mechanism in his proposed budget that would have eliminated taxes for some of the state's poorest citizens without getting into the EITC language.

"People in poverty shouldn't pay income taxes in North Carolina. I think it's going to be easier to get a consensuses on that than the refundable," Easley said.

More here on Womble's ride.

As noted in this update, a mental health parity bill appears to be rolling.

The Senate Health Committee passed its version today, a major tweak of what was sent over from the House. The biggest change is that the new bill requires full coverage for those with bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, paranoid and other psychotic disorder, schizoaffective disorder, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, anorexia nervosa and bulimia.

Insurers could put coverage limits of not less than 30 combined inpatient and outpatient days and 30 office visits per year on all other disorders.

Some audio from the committee:

• Rep. Martha Alexander made her case that the bill should not be altered.
• She was followed by the mental health association's John Tote.
• Sen. David Hoyle gave his reasons for wanting to limit the bill.
• And then there was some interesting give and take on exactly where the nine covered diseases came from. It turns out, they were Blue Cross and Blue Shield's idea.

More on this will be in tomorrow's paper.

The Legion of Dome has been reporting Wednesday on the N.C. Legislative Black Caucus Foundation. Specifically, Dome says that it appears that relatives of three Black Caucus members got scholarships provided by the foundation.

Background can be found here and here.

The heart of the matter is this: the N.C. Legislative Black Caucus is a powerful group of legislators at the General Assembly. They can use their collective force to promote or block legislation. This same caucus has a foundation, a nonprofit entity that is closely tied to the legislators.

That foundation can accept money from those with interests before the legislature and never disclose who is giving or how much they gave.

So now there's an added wrinkle that some of the money they gathered went to relatives, which in some folks' minds won't pass the smell test.

Rep. Alma Adams, a Greensboro Democrat, is chairwoman of the caucus. I spoke to her Wednesday evening - mostly for another story I'm working on. However, the caucus came up and she said she would be issuing a statement today (Thursday). I asked her to sketch out what the statement might say, but she declined.

Adams has confirmed in the past that she has sought guidance on whether the caucus and its foundation were acting within ethical bounds. And she has confirmed that she has asked for an audit of the foundation's activities.

She also mentioned Wednesday that she thought black legislators were being "targeted" for extra scrutiny, although she didn't say whether it was by the media, institutional authority or what. "That's a conversation for another day," she said.

One could reasonably surmise that the scrutiny of the caucus activities, plus Wednesday's hearing with regard to Rep. Mary McAllister plus prior action on Thomas Wright led her down that road.

I'll update here when Rep. Adams lets us know what's on her mind.

Two final side notes:

• There has been a persistent rumor going about the legislative building that the black caucus has hired a lawyer. On version has them hiring the well regarded Tharrington Smith.

  I asked Adams whether the caucus had, as it has been put to me, "lawyer up."

  She said no.

• It has been a busy time for Adams. Not only has she been dealing with these caucus issues, the caucus has staked itself out on a number of positions on the state budget. Adams is a House Appropriations chair, which means she at the upper echelon of the somewhat vexing budget discussions. And she has been working with her nonprofit art museum back in Greensboro, which has just lost backing from the county commissioners.

As I noted earlier, Rep. Alma Adams has a statement regarding the N.C. Legislative Black Caucus Foundation. From that statement:

During the academic years 2005 and 2006, the Foundation solicited and received recommendations of students (based on academic promise and financial need) from members of the Legislative Black Caucus. As in previous years, all scholarship funds were issued directly to the college or university and applied to tuition and fees.

The Foundation provided scholarships totaling approximately $28,000 in 2005 and $26,000 in 2006. Roughly one-tenth of the total scholarship funds provided during these years benefited relatives of five legislators. To the best of the Foundation’s knowledge, the scholarship funds benefited students with financial need and academic promise, and there was no intention to improperly benefit a legislator.

Click here for the full release.

The release address by name the legsialtors whose children might have benefited from the caucus foundation scholarships. Although it does say that five relatives of legislators benefited during the years 2005 and 2006. No relatives of legislators benefited in 2007, the release says.

More later.

Update: Here's the big numbers question I have after reading back through.

The release says average scholarship aid per year has been $55,000. Then it goes on to give aid totals in the following years:

2005: $28,000
2006: $26,000
2007: $12,000

So, why is the aid in all three of those years less than the average and why has it dropped to $12,000?

That question will have to wait, as Adams' office e-mailed the release just as the House went into session.

Update 2: Adams didn't really want to talk about this topic as she dashed from a break on the floor to an appropriations committee meeting. She did confirm, however, that her daughter, Linda, was one of those to receive a caucus foundation scholarship.

Update 3: A little later, Adams took time to explain that the foundation had the money for scholarships but did not get enough applicants to spend it all.

Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Greensboro Democrat, is one of the primary sponsors of HB 205, a bill that would repeal a tuition break given to booster clubs.

The measure would get rid of a provision created last session that lets booster clubs pay in-state tuition rates for athletes on full-ride scholarships.

Background here and here.

Well, the bill has been sent to committee and not heard from since March 12.

So Harrison, along with bill co-sponsor Republican Rep. George Cleveland, have moved to "recall" the bill from committee.

Recall is a parliamentary maneuver available under the House rules, Rule 39 to be exact. The rule reads in part:

"...if after 10 legislative days the standing committee has failed to act thereon, then the introducer of the House bill or some member designated by the introducer, or some House member designated by the introducer of the Senate bill, may, after three legislative days' public notice given in the House and delivered in writing to the chair of the standing committee, on motion supported by a vote of three-fifths of the members of the House, recall the same from the standing committee to the floor of the House for consideration and such action thereon as a majority of the members present may direct."

As I understand the rule's origin, it is meant as a legislative safeguard against a particularly obstinate chairman and as a right of the chamber's minority party.

I've seen Republicans try to employ it over the past couple years, hardly ever successfully, although it occasionally spurs some sort of action as it did in the case of the gay marriage amendment earlier this year.

This is the first time, though, I can remember a member in good standing - and a committee chair no less - in the majority Democratic party employing the maneuver.

"We're trying to get the bill heard," Harrison said during a break in today's House session. "I guess it's out of frustration at not being able to get the bill heard. We just need a good debate on the bill."

Harrison says taxpayers shouldn't be subsidizing the tuition of athletes.

Right as I was talking to her, Cleveland walked up.

"I think you got me in a little trouble," Harrison said, smiling sheepishly.

"I kind of figured that was the case," Cleveland said.

It sounded to me like Speaker Joe Hackney was none-to-happy that Harrison had joined in moving for the recall.

Now, even if the bill gets through the House, it would probably run into stiff opposition in the Senate, where the folks who run the joint can rightly be described as partisans to the UNC system. Still, Harrison and Cleveland at least want a hearing.

Of course, one of the chairman of the committee that holds the bill, the House Education Subcommittee on Universities, is Rep. Mary McAllister and she has been busy lately.

The N+O writes more on the Black Caucus, which has been much in the news as of late.

They focus some on donors to the caucus, who you can find more about here and here.