Mike Easley faces his High Noon
Remember High Noon, that suspenseful western starring Gary Cooper as the lonely lawman standing up against the gang of bad guys seeking revenge?
That's our governor, Mike Easley. Monday -- at 2 p.m., not high noon -- state legislators are riding into Raleigh aiming to gun Coop ... I mean Easley down for vetoing a $40 million incentives deal lawmakers approved for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. in Cumberland County.
Just as "High Noon" was more than a formula shoot-'em-up, this showdown is a lot more important than one bad bill. It has to do with the proper functions of two branches of state government and the influence of the powerful over the general good.
As you can guess, if Easley's playing the Gary Cooper role, he must be the good guy. So if he ends the day lying in the dust -- meaning the House and Senate override a gubernatorial veto for the first time in state history -- it will be an unhappy conclusion for North Carolina.
All right, let's dispense with the High Noon analogies. Easley rejected the Goodyear measure because it was misguided at best. The company could earn $40 million in incentives by expanding and upgrading its Cumberland County manufacturing facility -- a good thing -- even if it cut as many as 750 jobs -- definitely not a good thing.
The governor proposed something better: a plan to provide incentives for business expansion for companies that maintain or enlarge their work force, pay decent salaries and benefits, don't violate environmental regulations and so on.
Adopting a clear policy like that would put all businesses on a level playing field and eliminate politics from the equation. Goodyear was offered this deal because of the influence of powerful Sen. Tony Rand, who represents Cumberland County. What about a county than lacks an influential senator or representative, either because that legislator belongs to the wrong party or because he or she doesn't play ball with the legislative leadership? Out of luck. But why should economic development in the district of a powerful legislator be given higher priority than economic development in the district of a nobody legislator? Aren't all North Carolinians deserving of the same consideration by their state government?
Along those lines is this question: Who sets economic development policy in North Carolina, the state Commerce Department, which answers to the governor, or the legislature? Whom do you trust to set fair, consistent policies intended to benefit the state as a whole?
I'd go with the Commerce Department on that one. All you have to do is look at how the House of Representatives operated under Jim Black's leadership, where policy was influenced by special interests and money.
If the legislature overrides Easley's veto, it will be free to continue on this course of handing out economic incentives according to the whims of the most powerful senators and representatives. And the credibility of the Commerce Department will be totally undermined.
Politically this is an odd situation because Easley is opposed by members of his own Democratic Party. Yes, in High Noon, Cooper's friends deserted him. Here, it's more about power and principle than party. Most Republicans, who generally oppose incentives, are likely to back the governor. But the outcome could go either way.
You probably know how "High Noon" turns out. We'll see whether the governor can survive his showdown Monday.
Comments (2)
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Goodyear was offered this deal because of the influence of powerful Sen. Tony Rand, who represents Cumberland County. What about a county than lacks an influential senator or representative, either because that legislator belongs to the wrong party* Doug
No doubt Senator Rand has never seen that movie " Gunfight at Okay Corral" Where Jim Black Bart gets shot in the back and run over by the Goodyear Bimp on Monday nite football when Senator Rand hot corporate air fizzles out.
Impeach Tony and his kid too.....
Posted on September 7, 2007 6:23 PM
North American Union & North Carolina driver's license created
* Big Brother comes to NC
* Liddy Dole thrilled!
* Republican Political Cults jump with joy
* Canada changes their Independence Day to July 4 th
* Mexico says no more wars with Cananda after merger.
* United States Claims Mortage issue settle with merger. Payments can be accepted in goats and sheep for barter
* North Carolina offical English change to CanukAmegio.
* United States Air Force stands down September 15 th 2007 since the Mexican Air Force is in charge after merger
North American Union driver's license created
Logo intended to standardize documentation across continent
By Jerome R. Corsi
New security logo on the reverse of North Carolina's driver's licenses
The first "North American Union" driver's license, complete with a hologram of the continent on the reverse, has been created in North Carolina.
"The North Carolina driver's license is 'North American Union' ready," charges William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration.
Gheen provided WND with a photo of an actual North Carolina license which clearly shows the hologram of the North American continent embedded on the reverse.
"The hologram looks exactly [like] the map of North America that is used as the background for the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America logo on the SPP website," Gheen told WND. "I object to the loss of sovereignty that is proceeding under the agreements being made by these unelected government bureaucrats who think we should be North American instead of the United States of America.
"To protest, I don't plan on applying for a North Carolina driver's license," Gheen told WND, "even though I am a resident of the state. I don't see how a Division of Motor Vehicles authorized in a Department of Transportation of a state of the United States can force me to have a license place that is designed with a North American Union insignia printed on the backside.
"My decision not to get a North Carolina driver's license could have very difficult consequences for me," Gheen told WND. "Without a valid driver's license, I may not be able to drive a car, fly on an airplane, or enter a government building."
Gheen told WND he does not have a U.S. passport.
In 2005, WND reported North Carolina was the state where illegal immigrants go to get a driver's license, with busloads of aliens traveling south on I-95 to get an easy ID.
The Tar Heel State's requirements to obtain a license are weaker than those of many surrounding states.
Marge Howell, spokeswoman for the North Carolina DMV, affirmed to WND the state was embedding a hologram of North America on the back of its new driver's licenses.
"It's a security element that eventually will be on the back of every driver's license in North America," Howell told WND.
Howell explained the hologram of the continent was the creation of the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, a tax-exempt, nonprofit organization that, according to the group's website, "develops model programs in motor vehicle administration, law enforcement and highway safety."
Founded in 1933, AAMVA represents state and provincial officials in the United States and Canada who administer and enforce motor vehicle laws. The government of Mexico is also a member, though the individual Mexican states have yet to join.
According to the group's website, AAMVA's programs are designed "to encourage uniformity and reciprocity among the states and provinces."
"The goal of the North American hologram," Howell explained, "is to get one common element that law enforcement throughout the continent can look at on all driver's licenses and tell that the driver's license is an official document."
Jason King, spokesman for AAMVA, affirmed the North American hologram was created by AAMVA's Uniform Identification Subcommittee, a working group of its members.
He explained the goal is to create a continental security device that could be used by state and provincial motor vehicles agencies throughout North America, including the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
King referenced a document on the AAMVA website that describes guidelines for using the North America continent hologram as an Optical Variable Device (OVD) that AAMVA has now licensed with private manufacturers to produce.
AAMVA supplies member motor vehicle agencies with a quantity of North American continent hologram OVD foils to use on their driver's licenses and ID cards as needed.
As the AAMVA guidelines document explains, each North American hologram OVD foil is embedded with a unique set of control numbers that permit law enforcement electronic scanners to identify the exact jurisdiction and precise individual authorized to hold a driver's license or ID card.
"AAMVA understands its unique positioning and the continuing role identification security will play in helping the general public realize a safer North America," King explained to WND in an e-mail. "The association believes ID security will help increase national security, increase highway safety, reduce fraud and system abuse, increase efficiency and effectiveness, and achieve uniformity of processes and practices."
Jim Palmer, press director for ALIPAC, told WND his group first became aware of the hologram when Missouri State Rep. Jim Guest held a seminar in North Carolina to protest the Real ID law.
The surprise came at a meeting July 28 on the Real ID that Palmer held in Raleigh, N.C.
"When Rep. Guest asked participants to take out their driver's license and see what was on it," Palmer explained, "one gentleman was a state employee and on his license there was this hologram with the North American continent on the back. We were all surprised to see that on a North Carolina driver's license. Right there, that stopped the show."
Guest has formed a coalition called Legislators Against Real ID Act, or LARI.
"I was astonished when I saw that North American hologram on the North Carolina driver's license," Guest told WND. "I thought to myself that the state DMV has already included this North American symbol on the back of the driver's license without telling the people of North Carolina they were going to do this.
"I thought right then that this was going to be the prototype for the driver's license of the North American Union," Guest said.
"When we called the North Carolina DMV, they hedged at first," Guest said, "but finally they admitted that, yes, there was a North American continent hologram on the back of the license.
"This is part of a plan by bureaucrats and trade groups that act like bureaucrats to little by little transform us into a North American Union without any vote being taken and without explaining to the U.S. public what they are doing," Guest argued.
King explained AAMVA's Uniform Identification Subcommittee created a number of task forces, including the Card Design Specification that developed the North America hologram.
"The Task Group surveyed and met with many stakeholders during the development effort," King wrote to WND. "The Task Force gathered information from government and non-government users of the driver's License/ID card to determine their uses for the DL/ID card and how they believe the card should function. In addition, the Task Group surveyed and met with industry experts in the area of card production and security to gather their advice, especially about the physical security of the card."
King told WND the Task Group work was repeatedly reviewed by the UID Subcommittee as a whole, with final approval coming from the AAMVA Board.
In 2006, WND reported Pastor Rios Sanchez, 55, an illegal alien, was accused of killing three people, including two North Carolina State University students and a 26-year-old, while driving drunk.
"People who think the Real ID was created to keep illegal aliens from getting driver's licenses and IDs should come to North Carolina," Gheen told WND. "What the North Carolina DMV is doing is creating the basis for a continental driver's license.
"What difference does it make to North Carolina if an illegal alien gets a driver's license?" Gheen asked. "The photo on the license creates a close face scan that can be identified by face recognition technology, whether the DMV admits it or not.
"Illegal aliens who get driver's licenses are just being scanned in advance," Gheen concluded.
"Illegal aliens who get driver's licenses or IDs in North Carolina are just being prepared for their admission into the North America Union driver pool that North Carolina is at the vanguard of creating," Gheen said. "That is the truth, whether the North Carolina DMV or the AAMVA want to admit it or not."
King told WND North Carolina is the first AAMVA member jurisdiction to use the North America hologram on a driver's license or ID card.
Posted on September 9, 2007 7:02 PM