that was one of the parts the conservatives were most proud of when they created this conservative healthcare plan in the 80's

2/12/2013 2:28:03 PM

Some more reporting from L.L.

http://www.wral.com/afp-to-ncgop-go-big-go-bold-/12097722/

Quote :

"AFP to NCGOP: 'Go big! Go bold!' Tags: Americans for Prosperity , Art Pope, Bob Rucho RALEIGH, N.C. — House and Senate Republicans turned out in force Tuesday to welcome Tim Phillips, national president of Americans for Prosperity, who is in the state this week to unveil a new "spending accountability" project. Phillips praised House and Senate leaders and Republican Gov. Pat McCrory for turning the state toward limited government and free-market policies. "This state's on the move, and it's just exciting to be a part of it," Phillips said. The Koch-founded group has been a significant player in North Carolina politics over the past few cycles. McCrory budget chief Art Pope was one of the group's four national directors until December, when he resigned to take his cabinet position."

2/12/2013 2:56:36 PM

So our state is basically being run by right-wing corporatists?

2/12/2013 3:28:37 PM

yep

that was before McCrory though too

2/12/2013 3:39:51 PM

State of state on now.

Nothing meaningful yet.

He's cracking down on drugs, specifically mentions (among other things) college recreational drug use.

[Edited on February 18, 2013 at 7:18 PM. Reason : ]

2/18/2013 7:13:24 PM

find it hilarious that WRAL made it a point to say he wouldn't be using a teleprompter for this

dude is looking down at his notes more than a high school validictorian

2/18/2013 7:32:48 PM

McCrony to DENR : "Thank you for being completely feckless as a regulatory agency, and for being a tool for your new corporate overlords!"

2/18/2013 7:55:24 PM

Haha, I too noticed the comment in the state of the state about wanting to ramp up the war on drugs with a specific reference to recreational drug use on college campuses. I wonder how much that will cost?

"His Excellency" supported amendment one, is presiding over the General Assembly as the breast bill is considered, has gone full on cronyism with the Art Pope and Duke Energy appointees, and Senate Bill 10 to remove & replace all oversight personnel will only make room for more of that. Creating and enforcing big government social conservatism regulations don't come free of charge.

Sure spending more on the DMV was probably a popular measure mentioned in his state of the state, but helping out people who can afford cars while cracking down on safety net measures for those facing poverty seems like backwards priorities.

2/18/2013 9:56:04 PM

good article on Rick Scott and Florida that I HOPE holds some lessons for Pat.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/02/florida-tea-party-backlash-rick-scott

Scott cut $billions from the budget and refused to accept $billions in stimulus/Obamacare money in his first few years of office. Now that his approval is sub 30% and he is facing re-election his budget has suddenly grown to the largest budget in Florida history lol!!!


We all know Pat is gonna cut some shit and rearrange our taxes - its fine, he won the election guyz. But be sensible and pragmatic, don't propel yourself with ideology - it could backfire.

2/20/2013 10:40:14 AM

Quote :

"We all know Pat is gonna cut some shit and rearrange our taxes - its fine, he won the election guyz. But be sensible and pragmatic, don't propel yourself with ideology - it could backfire."

I'm still in wait-and-see mode. The CLT lightrail certainly wasn't a "free market/small government" kind of thing, and he staked his career on it, only big thing he's done so far is sign the unemployment thing, which I think was a great idea.

2/20/2013 11:06:11 AM

Supplanter,

Calling Governor McCrory "His Excellency" is the same as republican hacks calling President Obama "Our Dear Leader", "His Highness", etc...

Its dumb and not clever and just makes you look like a partisan hack and will make serious people ignore your message. That might be fine in politics aimed at simple people, but the standard on a message board for college educated people should be a little higher. HockeyRoman's use of "McCrony" is at least a little bit clever.

I know that I write you off because of your use of talking points, and your message is probably being lost on other people as well. So while you may make good points, the only people who are going to read them are people who already agree with you anyways.

Sincerely,
dtownral

[Edited on February 20, 2013 at 11:43 AM. Reason : user tags]

2/20/2013 11:42:44 AM

^haters gonna hate

Quote :

"I'm still in wait-and-see mode. The CLT lightrail certainly wasn't a "free market/small government" kind of thing, and he staked his career on it, only big thing he's done so far is sign the unemployment thing, which I think was a great idea."

I love that you are the biggest Pat! cheerleader in TSB. It doesn't bother me, it makes me chuckle a little. I mean, you're right when you say we should all still be in wait-and-see and I can respect wanting some new blood for governor, etc etc.

But two things:

-what angle are looking at the unemployment thing that makes it seem so great? Just curious here and

-what about rejecting the expansion of medicare?, which he has pretty much said he will do. I'm still forming an opinion on this but my understanding is we could potentially get 90% of it payed for by the feds. That is tax payer money flowing right back into NC for atleast a while (10yrs? not sure). The only reasoning I've seen to oppose it is "ZOMG, Obamacare bad . . . ."
but again I could be missing something here.

[Edited on February 20, 2013 at 12:35 PM. Reason : by medicare I think i meant medicaid - derp]

2/20/2013 12:23:18 PM

Quote :

"I love that you are the biggest Pat! cheerleader in TSB. It doesn't bother me, it makes me chuckle a little."

It is strange, but I am somewhat fiscally conservative when it comes to state and local governments, at least much more than I am with the federal government.

Quote :

"what angle are looking at the unemployment thing that makes it seem so great?"

It pays down the debt, our state can't run the same kind of deficits that the fed can. A lot of people bash it as turning down federal funds, but saying it that way begs the question, there's no way for us to get those funds without going deeper in debt.

Quote :

"what about rejecting the expansion of medicare?"

I don't know that Pat did that because "OMG OBAMACARE!", but more because he just didn't think the state would be able to set the exchange up well. A lot of other states have been failing at it, and it would be an expensive mistake.

I don't want to seem like a huge Pat fan, he hasn't done anything to justify it yet, the two things I just talked about were gambles that we'll never see the outcome of, I'll wait untill there's something clearer to judge him on. I just hope it's not something as silly as Amendment 1.

2/20/2013 3:31:45 PM

Quote :

"I don't know that Pat did that because "OMG OBAMACARE!", but more because he just didn't think the state would be able to set the exchange up well. A lot of other states have been failing at it, and it would be an expensive mistake."

Ok, this is legit and I certainly can't blame him here. It is so late in the game that Pat! would be on the hook for decisions/assumptions that Perdue's administration made when they started the exchange creation process. Who wants to pay for the incompetence of your predecessor?

But, correct me if I'm wrong, I think the expansion of medicaid money is separate from the exchange issue. All we had to do is expand to allow people up to like 1.3X the poverty level to get medicaid - and the FEDs would pay for all of that expansion for 3 years. After that they would pay for 90% of the costs of the expansion. At worst, its a no brainer to expand for 3 years and then revisit if its financially worth it (amendments were proposed that did exactly that, but didn't pass - some of the blame is on the state house, no doubt). This would have given several thousand (hundred thousand? possibly) people health coverage. It also would likely create a few thosuand healthcare jobs throughout the state (especially in poorer rural areas). It would have allowed hospitals to actually receive payment for services that normally would be classified as charity - something that could have lowered all of our health premiums to some degree and probably help keep hospitals in business (especially poor rural ones that basically rely on medicaid/medicare to even operate).


As for the state debt, It's really not all that bad when you consider our unemployment rate, which should be priority #1 (NC unemployment still relatively high compared to the rest of the nation).

Most recent debt affordability study, surprisingly easy to read:
https://www.nctreasurer.com/slg/Debt%20Affordability/2013_DAAC.pdf

Pg 5 and Pg 11 both showing our total current debt is a little over 9 billion, under 2% of our GDP and under 20% of our revenues (both of those percentages should shrink as we recover). It's so manageable, especially when you consider we are just crawling out of the recession and we are doing VASTLY better when you compare it to a majority of other states.


/devil's advocate

For me, I just don't think you can turn down free money from the FEDs, especially when you consider our anemic economic situation and that any other type of stimulus is pretty unlikely.

2/21/2013 9:43:01 AM

http://www.wral.com/mccrory-meets-with-billy-graham/12172853/

Quote :

"McCrory spoke of the 94-year-old evangelist's impact on North Carolina and recalled a visit with him on the platform of the 1996 Charlotte Crusade in what is now Bank of America Stadium. At the conclusion of the meeting, the men prayed for McCrory and his family, as well as the state."

3/1/2013 9:29:38 PM

http://www.wral.com/mccrory-prepares-to-sign-4-bills-into-law/12188334/

[Edited on March 6, 2013 at 3:48 PM. Reason : ]

3/6/2013 3:48:03 PM

Not credible; actually a thief and liar

3/14/2013 7:45:12 AM

How so?

3/14/2013 7:53:01 AM

I came back to this thread to eat crow on my defense of John Skvarla, Secretary of DENR that I made on page 1 of this thread.


After further review the guy is clearly an idiot when it comes to environmental science and has zero business running the department entrusted to protect it:

http://www.wral.com/denr-sec-skvarla-on-fracking-climate-change-and-working-with-business/11942947/

In this interview John tells us how oil production may be abiotic and hints that he is still waiting for a scientific consensus to form on climate change.

pretty disappointing

3/14/2013 1:27:03 PM

He's made DENR's mission statement basically "don't impede development". Part of it is something like "science is complex. remember that people have different opinions about science."

3/14/2013 1:30:40 PM

^^ Wow, I just read that article. What a douche. What else would you expect from the McCrony administration though? They don't even pretend to find people that give a shit about the department they are meant to oversee. . .

3/14/2013 3:03:10 PM

they are still not pro-development enough, i'm still waiting on comments for items i submitted in November!

3/14/2013 3:04:04 PM

^they are too busy trying to tap into all that abiotic oil to answer your petty questions

[Edited on March 14, 2013 at 3:09 PM. Reason : oh wait, i forgot the "science" is still being determined on abiotic oil]

3/14/2013 3:08:30 PM

I'd like to scrutinize your science since science requires constant scrutiny.

I am going to use that excuse if I miss something on my physics test on Monday. "Well you see, I am scrutinizing the science behind these RC circuits and I don't believe there is consensus on if V=IR.."

3/14/2013 3:38:50 PM

"Gov. McCrory appoints fundraiser to board after campaign pledge not to"
http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/04/05/2803811/gov-mccrory-appoints-fundraiser.html

Quote :

"McCrory vowed repeatedly in 2008 that he would never appoint his campaign fundraisers to transportation, university and other boards, if he was elected governor. But that's what he just did after he won the 2012 election. Mike Smith, a Raleigh real estate executive, was sworn into office Thursday (eighth from the left in photo, above) as one of Gov. McCrory's first appointees to the transportation board. Smith reports on campaign disclosure forms that he personally collected $106,000 for McCrory's 2012 campaign. (See copy of his disclosure form, below.)"

He's already been empowering Duke Energy in the administration, this is hardly the first bit of cronyism in the administration. But, hello, Art Pope appointed as the State Budget Director! The main money man behind all the NC GOP got what could be considered as the most powerful appointment of all. He broke his not appointing financial backers to positions not just now in April, but as soon as his administration started, and even sooner with the transition team.

Quote :

"The law requires the governor to submit the names of his appointees and their campaign forms to the legislature's Joint Transportation Oversight Committee, to give committee members 30 days to comment on the appointees. McCrory did not do this. He sent the names only to the House and Senate clerks, and to the Republican heads of both chambers. Some committee members complained that he should have done what his predecessors did, sending the appointees and their disclosure forms to each member of the oversight committee."

4/5/2013 9:40:47 PM

OH GOD THOSE EVIL POPE PEOPLE!!! HOW DARE THEY SPEAK THEIR MINDS!!! IT'S THE WORST THING EVER FOR PEOPLE TO BE DEMOCRATICALLY ENGAGED IN THE COMMUNITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4/7/2013 5:37:25 PM

Speaking of speaking their minds, they've also done seem redecorating, see if you can spot it:

4/7/2013 5:48:36 PM

lol wtf

is that real?

4/7/2013 6:44:20 PM

I think they maybe caught some flak for it with the media and moved out of an area where government business is done to somewhere else official?

4/7/2013 7:11:40 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA1hyqA6UTY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

+1 credibility? lol

5/23/2013 4:41:57 PM

that.....was incredible

5/23/2013 5:16:21 PM

^^ That is the greatest video I've ever seen.

5/24/2013 9:03:18 AM

wow...

so, this dude is obviously completely deranged, and even seems that he could be dangerous. what should be done? what happens when he finds the "helicopter pilot"?

5/24/2013 9:26:41 AM

Is PAT! gonna sign the abortion education bill? He told us he would not sign any new restrictions on abortion during his campaign. Since this isn't technically a restriction I see him weaseling out of it and signing it or pulling the old "don't sign it or veto it and just let it become law."


PAT! does seem to be one of the main sticking points in the budget/tax reform negotiations. I think he falls on the more reasonable side of things when compared with the extremists in the Senate. So I'll give him +1 for that.

6/28/2013 9:49:02 AM

I've said before, and I will say it now. McCrony seems very reasonable for a Republican. Sadly, I think he is just a puppet for Emperor Pope and beholden to the penned up-raged Regressives in the NCGA.

6/28/2013 3:05:23 PM

he is not nearly as effective at moderating the senate as I had hoped he would be.

6/28/2013 3:35:44 PM

71,000 are going to lose unemployment on Monday. Expect the population of Moore Square to rise. Also I wonder if any of these people are regretting their votes if they supported McCrory and/or the GOP legislature.

6/28/2013 5:07:24 PM

Of course not. They'll find a way to blame it on Obama.

6/29/2013 4:10:35 AM

Of those 71000 I'm taking it over half probably were on extensions. Take 12 months to each of you and actually look for a job and you'd get one

7/2/2013 12:09:39 AM

Quote :

"probably"

Well-reasoned!

7/2/2013 12:22:33 AM

^^^
If not Bev Perdue.

^^
I don't know where the numbers currently stand, but there were only six available jobs for every ten unemployed workers at the depths of the recession.

If we were to assume that level of unemployment to be constant, after twelve months, more than 28,000 of 71,000 unemployed workers would be without work and unemployment benefits.

Kicking people off of the government dole isn't going to create jobs for those remaining forty percent of workers.

7/2/2013 1:05:36 AM

But bootstraps. Bootstraps!

7/2/2013 6:31:32 AM

http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/07/11/3024411/mccrory-says-he-has-mingled-among.html#disqus_thread

Quote :

"The Wilson Times reported this week that Gov. Pat McCrory said he has often entered the crowds that gather in the capital city to protest the Republican agenda and policies. He said he even got a good cussing by protesters. But in the age of mobile phone cameras and instant posting to social media, the governor seems to have moved in and out of the throngs without anyone capturing his interaction on video or film. ........ His response, which she said she recorded, was: “I go out in the crowd all of the time. Frankly, yesterday I went out and talked to several of them and they were not very respectful. They did not represent the majority of those who call themselves ‘moral’ by cussing me out, but that’s the way things go sometimes.” "

bahahaha Can't wait to see how the spin machine attempts to take care of this one.

7/12/2013 9:51:52 AM

He's a shapeshifter

7/12/2013 10:09:02 AM

here's the story with golo comments

http://www.wral.com/share/page/1896337/?id=12653747

7/12/2013 10:16:55 AM

I only went to one of those protests, but at that protest Rev. Barber chastised protesters who were using insulting language. He told the crowd that they should say that they hate the Republican leadership, and that they should not call them names, but should criticize their positions only. This was to the entire crowd over the PA. He also told protesters to stop chanting "shame" while they were removing people and making arrests.

Also, most of the protesters were quiet and boring.

I'm not buying Gov. McCrory's story at all.

7/12/2013 11:32:26 AM

https://twitter.com/patwasthere


[Edited on July 12, 2013 at 3:11 PM. Reason : .]

7/12/2013 3:11:32 PM

McCrony also lied about signing abortion legislation. The governor will sign #motorcyclevagina (SB 353). All credibility is gone.

7/13/2013 12:40:37 PM

The Indy commented on the McCrory at Moral Monday's topic by posting some facebook/twitter comments that had surfaced claiming he had jogged incognito past the crowds without any interaction and without being recognized by any of the protestors. The WRAL article also comments that he has walked past Moral Monday's on his way back to the governor's mansion after work, as he usually does.

Not sure how true those claims are, but I think we would have some physical evidence if he had actually interacted with the crowds.

7/15/2013 2:23:32 PM

Broke his promise, signs bill banning abortions on motorcycles

7/29/2013 8:24:39 PM