The return of the Skip and Phil show
With the legislature due to return today, the Skip and Phil show returned as well. That is Rep. Paul "Skip" Stam and Sen. Phil Berger, the Republican minority leaders in the House and Senate.
Their tradition last session was to hold a weekly news conference or two to comment on what was going on that week, basically getting the GOP spin on issues before us scruffy media types.
What's going on this week is the budget and both Berger and Stam say that Gov. Mike Easley's proposal falls short of the mark.
Click here to listen to Stam's take.
And Click here to listen to Berger's take.
The bigger news bulletin from the news conference might be the appearance of Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, the Republican nominee for Governor. Most of the Senate lined up behind Senator Fred Smith during the primary, but today they were all playing nice together.
Click here to listen to McCrory's remarks, where he gets behind the GOP agenda and says he'll push for new gang legislation. The gang bill in question has passed the House but is awaiting hearing in the Senate. (There's also a Senate version of the bill, which seems to be a little less get-tough and a little more prevention oriented.)