by John Light and Laura Macomber
One
of the biggest political stories of 2013 — a year of DC discord and
gridlock — unfolded at the state level in North Carolina.
In 2012,
North Carolinians elected a repugican to the governor’s office. That
same year, the repugican majority in the General Assembly — first
elected in 2010 — grew to a supermajority. The result was that wingnuts won the power to change state law dramatically — and over
this last year, they abused that power. The new legislation included
ending benefits for the long-term unemployed; declining the
Obamacare Medicaid extension; eliminating the
earned-income tax credit; and
passing what some observers call the worst voter suppression law
in the country. In response, those critical of the wingnut
legislative agenda united around protests at the state legislature on
Mondays, part of a growing citizen movement that has come to be known as
“Moral Mondays.” So far, the movement, however ambitious, has done
little to slow the state’s repugicans from pushing through their regressive
agenda.
But this story didn’t start on Election Day 2012 — its
roots run deep. And a similar situation could unfold in any of America’s
50 states.
Here’s a rundown of some essential work by reporters
following the money trail in North Carolina politics and the legislative
agenda it has helped usher through.
A police officer watched over demonstrators at a Moral Mondays protest June 24
How did hardline wingnuts win so big in what has long been considered the South’s most moderate state? – In
The American Prospect,
two writers from the progressive, nonprofit Institute for Southern
Studies — Sue Sturgis and Chris Kromm — provide a comprehensive overview
of the social and political forces that came together to make the
moderate (and sometimes even progressive) state move hard-right.
Read more »
The role of redistricting – ProPublica
reported on how big money powered the redistricting of the state. Once repugicans won control of the legislature in 2010, they used their
power to draw new district lines meticulously, taking into account
individual households’ voting habits. It paved the way for big wins in
2012.
“Redistricting is supposed to protect the fundamental principle of one-person-one-vote,”
ProPublica
reported. “As demographics change, lines are shifted to make sure
everyone is equally represented and to give communities a voice. In
order for repugicans to win in North Carolina, they undermined the
votes of Democrats, especially African-Americans. The strategy began in
the run-up to the 2010 elections. repugicans poured money into local
races in North Carolina and elsewhere. It was an efficient approach.
While congressional races routinely cost millions, a few thousand
dollars can swing a campaign for a seat in the state legislature.”
Read more »
Who is Art Pope?
– Most recently, he’s been Governor Pat McCrony’s budget director.
But he’s been described as the architect of the wingnut takeover.
Pope is behind a foundation that backs three groups that were behind 75
percent of outside spending in North Carolina political campaigns in
2008, and is the primary funder of one of them. He used to be a North
Carolina state legislator, and once ran for lieutenant governor. But at
the root of Pope’s political power is his fortune, which comes from a
discount store business (think regional Dollar General–esque chains)
begun by his father. Though a private citizen at the time, he was in the
room as repugicans redrew the new districts that would reinforce their
2010 wins in 2012. (Fun fact: Pope helped found the Libertarian Party
of North Carolina but resigned when members spoke too frequently and too
seriously about mythical beasts such as Sasquatch.) In the
The New Yorker, Jane Mayer’s 2011 profile chronicled Pope’s path from wealthy businessman to political puppet master.
Read more »
Art Pope on Raleigh CBS affiliate WRAL.
The end of clean judicial elections –
In 2002, the North Carolina Legislature set up a program of publicly
funded elections — a system by which taxpayer money helps cover the cost
of political campaigns to minimize the influence of rich individuals
and corporations. (For example, the system would protect a judicial
candidate from being forced to accept or refuse a campaign donation from
a lawyer or business that might later appear before her in court.) As a
state legislator at the time, Art Pope played a leading role in the
fight against the system, the Institute for Southern Studies’
publication
Facing South reported. Over the next decade, Pope’s
outside spending groups continued the battle — and once installed as
McCrony’s budget director, Pope was well positioned to end public
funding. His first budget slashed funding for the program.
Read more »
“Sinful and tyrannical”? –
A case study in some Pope-funded rhetoric: The Civitas Institute, for
which Pope provides majority funding, wrote an op-ed saying there was
“no moral justification” for publicly funded judicial elections, which
are “sinful and tyrannical” (a common and deliberate misreading of
Thomas Jefferson, which the late, brilliant
Aaron Swartz debunked succinctly).
Read more »
Supermajority in action – The Nation’s
Ari Berman summarized the legislation that drove Moral Monday
protestors to raise their voices this summer: “So far this year,
legislation passed or pending by repugicans would eliminate the
earned-income tax credit for 900,000; decline Medicaid coverage for
500,000; end federal unemployment benefits for 170,000 in a state with
the country’s fifth-highest jobless rate; cut pre-K for 30,000 kids
while shifting $90 million from public education to voucher schools;
slash taxes for the top 5 percent while raising taxes on the bottom 95
percent; allow for guns to be purchased without a background check and
carried in parks, playgrounds, restaurants and bars; ax public financing
of judicial races; and prohibit death row inmates from challenging
racially discriminatory verdicts. ‘They’ve drank all the tea party they
could drink and sniffed all the Koch they could sniff,’ [North Carolina
NAACP president Rev. William] Barber says.”
Read more »
Demonstrators
wore tape over their mouths as they protested new legislation
regulating voting by sitting silently in the gallery of the House
chamber of the North Carolina General Assembly, April 24, 2013.
The “worst voter suppression law” -
North Carolina’s new voting restrictions were signed into law less than
two months after the Supreme Court gutted the voting rights act.
The Nation’s
Berman reports that the NAACP and a coalition of voting rights groups
filed lawsuits to block the legislation on the same day that Gov.
McCrony signed it. “The sweeping law requires strict government-issued
photo ID to cast a ballot, cuts the number of early voting days by a
week, eliminates same-day voter registration during the early voting
period, makes it easier for vigilante poll watchers to challenge the
validity of eligible voters and expands the influence of unregulated
corporate money in state elections,” wrote Berman. “[S]ince the Supreme
Court took away their most potent weapon for fighting voting
discrimination, voting rights groups have no choice but to hope that the
compelling and disturbing facts of this case persuade the courts to
block the ‘monster’ new law.”
Read more »
Now what? –
North Carolina’s General Assembly adjourned at the end of July, though
protests continued. The Rev. Dr. Barber, one of the Moral Mondays
protest organizers, says that the new year will see the “largest, most
robust march in the South since Selma.” The 2014 legislative session
begins in May. Last week,
The News & Observer reported that activists from 12 states converged on Raleigh to attend a meeting to
learn how to start Moral Mondays protests in their states. Meanwhile,
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
reported that demonstrations may be coming to Georgia as soon as this
month: Protestors there plan to call on the legislature, which convenes
this month, “to expand Medicaid, restore funding to public schools and
[raise] the minimum wage.”
Today is - (there is no special celebration today) Day 
An article at The Atlantic
He got fed up with how politics was conducted, so he resigned. His letter was short, to the point and 
Among these Confederate commerce raiders, the most far-ranging was the 
On
February 4, Bill Nye "The Science Guy" will debate Ken Ham, Creation
Museum founder and Answers In Genesis president/CEO, at The Creation
Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky just across the river from Cincinnati,
Ohio. The event is titled "Is creation a viable model of origins?" This
is gonna be good. Tickets are $25 from the Creation Museum. I hope the
museum makes a full video available but I bet that will depend on how it
plays out. Hopefully an audience member will record and post the whole
thing online. "
