News-Record.com

All indications are that Gov. Mike Easley will introduce his budget early next week, probably Monday. He gave folks a preview today by way of a news release. He focused on $31 million in additional spending for "those who often are overlooked by society but are the most in need."

Among the items:

• * $10.4 million to match federal child health insurance funding to serve an additional 10,683 children in need.
• * $9 million in federal block grant dollars to take 1,110 children off child care waiting lists.
• * $8.3 million to increase foster care and adoption payments to encourage quality care for more children.

Click here to read the whole thing.

Still chewing over the primary? You can listen to editorial writers Doug Clark and Allen Johnson, columnist Jeri Rowe and staff writer Mark Binker chew over Guilford County and national primary results by clicking right here.

The podcast starts with a couple voices from election night: State Sen. Kay Hagan and Sheriff BJ Barnes. We get to talking after those clips and it takes us about 2 minutes to get really warmed up.

From today's paper: the race for the Democratic presidential nominations is affecting races lower down on both the Dem and GOP ballots.

Also: more hot air over the gas tax.

Meanwhile, early voting ended in Guilford County Saturday and Lorraine Ahearn ponders race and politics.

And in case you missed it, Obama and Clinton chatted up Dems in Raleigh on Friday night.

Last year I wrote a couple times (here and here) about a scrape over the state's agricultural research stations. From one story:

But a proposal by state senators to transfer management of the 18 research stations from the Department of Agriculture to N.C. State has sparked an argument involving land conservation, government efficiency and the state’s $20 billion budget.

The provision was eventually booted from the budget, but is now apparently under study by the legislature's professional research staff. In particular, a new division designed to root out waste has taken aim. From columnist Scott Mooneyham:

A draft report already prepared by the division recommends closing seven of the 18 stations, selling the land for an estimated $54.7 million and generating $3.9 million in annual savings. The remaining stations would be operated by N.C. State and N.C. A&T State universities. Currently, the state Department of Agriculture operates most the stations.

The seven stations that would be closed encompass nearly 6,900 acres and have 55 full-time employees.

One key finding in the report: Only a couple of other states operate more agriculture research stations than North Carolina; California and Texas have fewer.

[snip]

But the issue is bigger than just the consolidation of agricultural research stations.

These recommendations are really a test case for this notion that the legislature can set aside cronyism and turf protection and the pork barrel mentality. Will these analysts provide independent, objective assessments that are heeded by legislators, or will they ultimately serve up justification for the political whims of their political masters?

Click here to read the whole column.

Congressman Howard Coble is among those calling for the Congress to confirm nominees to the Federal Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The nominees have generally been held up by Senate Democrats because they view the appointments - made by President Bush - as too ideologically committed in their rulings.

From a news release:

Today, 21 Republican Members of the U.S. House of Representatives called on Senate Democrats to schedule hearings for the Fourth Circuit judicial nominees. In a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, the House Members - who represent constituents in the Fourth Circuit - urged Senate Democrats to give the nominees an up-or-down vote.

According to the letter, the 21 Members believe that their constituents are paying the price for the judicial vacancies “as they see their cases delayed because there are not enough judges to handle the caseload on the Fourth Circuit.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has a current vacancy rate of 33 percent; the nonpartisan Judicial Conference has found three of these vacancies to be "judicial emergencies." One of the seats, based in North Carolina, has been vacant for over 13 years.

Statements from several of the Members are below:

[snip]

Representative Howard Coble (R-NC): "Chief Judge Robert Conrad, who was nominated to fill the vacancy in North Carolina, is a longtime friend of mine and extremely qualified to fill this position. To leave a seat vacant for more than 5,000 days is a travesty. The people of North Carolina and the Fourth Circuit deserve better. I urge the Senate to move on this and other vacancies expeditiously."

Other Republicans also weighed in:

Representative Walter Jones (R-NC): "Many people in North Carolina rely on our federal courts, yet the Fourth Circuit seat based in North Carolina has been vacant for more than 5,000 days. The Senate’s refusal to hold a vote on President Bush’s four nominees to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is completely unacceptable. Due to the Senate’s inaction, our citizens continue to suffer as cases get delayed because there are not enough judges to handle the Fourth Circuit caseload. My constituents deserve better."

Representative Patrick McHenry (R-NC): "By playing partisan politics with the judiciary, Senate Democrats are depriving the people of the Fourth Circuit their right to justice. They need to stop playing games and do their jobs."

Representative Sue Myrick (R-NC): "The people in North Carolina, who are served by the Fourth Circuit, deserve better. We need these judicial spots filled so that people can get justice; not a waiting line because we don't have enough judges to hear the cases."

Let's see, the Democratic presidential campaign is romping through the state, the candidates for governor on both sides are beating the snot out of each other and anything voted on after U.S. Senator is suddenly a "down-ballot" race. Oh, yeah, there's some excitement 'round here.

Meanwhile, the honorables are getting ready to come back to town on May 13 and the attention of us scruffy media types is focused elsewhere. That makes me a little nervous.

At any rate, just to clear out some of stuff crossing my desk not directly related to the May 6 primary:

• * News release: "Rep. Pricey Harrison is one of four members of the N.C. General Assembly recognized with an award of appreciation for Sustainable Energy Leadership by the State Energy Office. North Carolina energy and environmental professionals, and others who have supported energy sustainability, were presented with awards on April 8 at the fifth annual N.C. Sustainable Energy Conference."

• * AP: "A House committee wants to temporarily ban North Carolina cities and towns from forcing annexations until the Legislature can recommend changes to the law. A special House panel voted Wednesday to ask the entire chamber to back a moratorium on annexations through June 2009. That would give the committee time to make more details suggestions to improve annexation rules. Current rules allow cities and towns to force outside communities into their jurisdiction. Some citizens have complained during public hearings that they had little say when being incorporated into cities such as Goldsboro, Salisbury and Lexington."

• * Fayetteville Observer: A legislator urged repeal Tuesday of a state law that restricts sex education to teaching only abstinence in most North Carolina public schools. “This is, in the most literal sense, a matter of life and death,” state Rep. Rick Glazier told a forum on sex education in Cumberland County schools. Glazier said children are needlessly exposed to cervical cancer and other diseases because some abstinence-only programs dispense inaccurate data.

• * Jordan Lake rules are due to be heard by the ERC on May 9. They will almost be heading to the General Assembly in 2009.

So, what are you watching for this coming legislative session? (Yes, we know about mental health reform reform.)

Cross-posted from D-2008, where I've been spending way too much time:

From today's paper: a look at the Democratic primary for governor. Previously: the Republicans.

Here's more on the the tv ad by the GOP. You know the one. It'll begin airing Monday.

The bad news, you're behind in the polls and fundraising in the U.S. Senate race. The good news: you have the money for a heck of a party. Our editorial page has made an endorsement in the race.

Coming this week: Presidential candidates are back in town. Hillary Clinton will be at a fundraiser in Greensboro Monday. and Barack Obama will be in Winston-Salem Tuesday.

From the Gov. Easley's press office:

RALEIGH - Gov. Mike Easley today nominated current State Budget Director David McCoy to become the next State Controller to replace Robert Powell who is planning to retire before the end of this year. McCoy's appointment, which was submitted to legislative leaders, must be confirmed by the General Assembly.

"David is an outstanding public servant," Easley said. "His vast experience in so many aspects of North Carolina government and the exemplary job he has done overseeing the state budget in both tough and good times, makes him especially qualified to be our next State Controller."

Easley also thanked Powell for his work for North Carolina. "Robert's career in state government is both long and distinguished, as state controller and before that, as deputy state budget director. State government operates better because of his good work."

McCoy is the first American Indian to be state budget director. He has directed the state budget throughout Easley's two terms as governor. Prior to that he served in the administration of Gov. Jim Hunt as transportation secretary, the governor’s deputy chief of staff and chief deputy secretary of the Department of Administration. During the administration of Gov. Jim Martin, McCoy served as chief counsel in the Department of Administration and as assistant director of the N.C. Commission of Indian Affairs.

McCoy is a graduate of the University of Georgia and holds a Master's degree in education from the University of Georgia, a Master’s degree in public health from the University of North Carolina and a law degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law.

Little noticed during the 2007 General Assembly session was a bill (S 954) that would have North Carolina join the National Popular Vote effort.

No, we wouldn't be dropping out of the Electoral College. Rather, the state would join up with others in agreeing how to apportion its votes. Namely, all those in the compact would agree to give their electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote nationally.

The compact would go into effect only when enough states had signed up to swing the election one way or another.

(Need a more in-depth explainer? Here is the one-page explanation or, if you have more time, the eight-page explainer.)

Barry Fadem, who is heading the effort, was in the state last week and hopped on the phone to chat. He was joined by Jack Cozart, who is lobbying on behalf of the bill this session.

"It's a damned good time for me to be here in North Carolina," Fadem said, noting the enthusiasm over the presidential election. He pitched the popular vote effort as a way to keep the excitement up, rather than relegate North Carolina to the list of non-battleground states this fall.

(Of course, there are some who think N.C. can be in play regardless, but let's leave that for another day.)

"Nobody has been able to explain to me yet why a voter in North Carolina shouldn't be as important as a voter in Ohio," Fadem said.

So why not focus all this effort on amending the Constitution of the United States and the Electoral College provisions, which most folks view as kind of arcane anyway?

"You need a 2/3 vote of Congress and a 3/4 vote of the states," Fadem said. With the last major amendment push (the ERA) sputtering out in the 1970s and Congress in a state where they can barely agree on what to order for lunch, a constitutional amendment seems unlikely, he said.

New Jersey, Maryland and Illinois are on board. Hawaii is due to join of the legislature over-rides a gubernatorial veto, as expected.

Fadem said he was on his third visit to North Carolina in six weeks and was attempting to meet with every legislator. Since the bill has already passed the Senate, it is in the House's court.

The majority of the opposition came from Republicans in the Senate, where Democrats stuck together for the most part.

Fadem said that Republicans in other states had come on board but that he had seen the debate get shoved into partisan bunkers before.

"When it goes partisan, there's really not much we can do about that," he said.

Backers of a similar bill in the House include Rep. Pricey Harrison of Greensboro and Rep. Nelson Cole of Rockingham County.

Welcome to those of you following a link from Sunday's Q+A with Gov. Mike Easley. (Link here.) We posted some audio from the interview earlier this week. You can hear him opine on this year's elections here and his thoughts on gas taxes here.

One of the first things I asked him about was the failure of Skybus, the discount airline that North Carolina offered a gob of money to locate a hub here less than a year before the carrier went belly-up. We also discussed RF Micro, a company that has gotten state incentives but has also sent jobs over-seas.
Click here to listen to his answers.

If you're not digging the Easley interview, you might want to catch up on some other non-presidential political news:

• * Republican candidates for governor debated in Greensboro Friday night.
• * Afterward, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole offered a few thoughts.
• * Democrats running to replace Dole talked to our editorial board last week.