The Southern Highland Reader

STATEWIDE–Newly-elected Asheville city council member Cecil Bothwell defines himself as an atheist, and conservatives say that means that under North Carolina law he may not serve in a public office.

Here’s a blog post from the C-T’s Jordan Schrader that outlines the history of state laws that suggest as much.

An excerpt:

… the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of religion and bans religious tests for office, so a lawsuit against City Council would have little legal ground to stand on. But the clause remains in the state constitution, even after a major rewrite of the document in 1972.

Voters have to approve changes to the constitution, and that’s a fight few politicians would want to take on for little or no practical benefit.

Here’s a news story from the Asheville Citizen-Times.

STATEWIDE–Earlier this year, when North Carolina launched a new system for managing state payroll, there were some problems. We linked to coverage from Lynn Bonner at the Raleigh News and Observer at that time.

Well, the system is still acting up, apparently, and Bonner again writes about it.

Here’s her lede, along with a couple more paragraphs:

A new state payroll system continues to frustrate employees, who don’t know from month to month whether they will be paid for all the hours they worked.

Workers have been complaining about the payroll system called BEACON since spring, soon after all state agencies were required to start using it.

After news reports in mid-August about underpaid employees not being able to pay their bills, Gov. Mike Easley ordered that all employees who were owed money be paid by the end of August, when then-State Controller Robert Powell was to retire. Powell’s office oversaw the payroll system’s installation.

CULLOWHEE/RALEIGH–”Your tax dollars at work.”

So notes The Progressive Pulse, a blog published by NC Policy Watch, which in turn is a project of the North Carolina Justice Center.

Author Chris Fitzsimon names Western Carolina University and UNC Healthcare among “several” state institutions that are Patron members of the North Carolina Chamber, an affiliate of the United States Chamber of Commerce. These Chambers (which aren’t formally tied to local chambers of commerce, by the way) advocate an agenda that includes the following, in Fitzsimon’s words:

… fighting for lower taxes on corporations and the wealthy, while opposing various protections for workers and regulations to protect the environment. For years, the Chamber (formerly known as North Carolinians for Business and Industry) led the opposition to requiring insurance companies to cover mental illnesses the same way they cover physical ailments.

Western ponies up $5,000 per year to take part.

The blog post is here.

STATEWIDE–In December we mentioned Sen. Richard Burr’s much-more-likely challenge in the 2010 mid-term elections, after Libby Dole’s defeat at the hands of Kay Hagan.

11th District congressman Heath Shuler was mentioned as a likely challenger, and that possibility seems to have solidified.

Shuler and Attorney General Roy Cooper are mentioned as leading contenders in this post at the Raleigh News and Observer’s “Under the Dome” blog. On the face of it, Cooper vs. Shuler is an interesting matchup; Cooper has been aggressive in protecting the interests of North Carolinians with regards to air pollution and other progressive issues. Shuler, on the other hand, has positioned himself as a blue-dog Democrat, relatively right-of-center, as Democrats go.

Alvin W. Keller, Jr. (Raleigh News and Observer photo)

Far be it from us to judge a judge by his cover, but we’re concerned that governor-elect Perdue’s choice as the new correction secretary simply might not look the part. How is this guy gonna intimidate anybody?

Soft background, too: retired Marine colonel and military judge. They’ll run roughshod over him.

STATEWIDE–A series of new laws, including specifics involving smoking, health insurance and car inspections, kick in for 2009.

A rundown from the Raleigh News and Observer.

SYLVA–Last month’s statewide reversion of funds cost Jackson County schools $148,172, Superintendent Sue Nations told the Jackson County school board last night.

An expected state budget shortfall led to a belt-tightening request from Governor Mike Easley.

Nations also told the board about a couple of addition reversions, one of $32,732 due to a lowered per-gallon gasoline allotment, and another of $12,000 in supplemental funds reversed because the system has fewer students than projected. In total, the school system has returned over a quarter-million dollars to the state budget this fiscal year.

STATEWIDE–Moments after Libby Dole’s surprisingly sound loss to Kay Hagan in this year’s senate race, conjecture cropped up about the security of North Carolina’s other senate set, which belongs to first-termer Richard Burr.

A number of possible challengers have been floated, including 11th District congressman Health Shuler.

One, U.S. Rep. Brad Miller, a three-term Democrat from Raleigh, has pulled his name out of the hat.

He told the Raleigh News and Observer: “I don’t want to spend the next 18 months of my life having people from Washington tell me how to be southern.”

Shuler is mum on the prospect, as are other early possibilities Attorney General Roy Cooper and State Treasurer Richard Moore.

STATEWIDE/NATIONAL–While the house approved a $14 billion bailout program for automakers Wednesday night by a 237-170 vote and sent it on for senate consideration, NC lawmakers weren’t feeling so charitable. The state delegation was 14-9 against.

11th District congressman Heath Shuler voted against.

Senator Libby Dole voted for the bailout, Senator Richard Burr against.

Here’s how the NC congressional delegation voted.

How about the impact of the industry’s struggles on mountain dealers and mechanics? Here’s a story from the Smoky Mountain News.

And another from the Hendersonville Times News.

RALEIGH/STATEWIDE–The Raleigh News and Observer’s “Under the Dome” blog reports that two progressive groups have tried to claim the high ground in the coming state budget battles.

A report from the N.C. Budget and Tax Center, written by Meg Gray Wiehe, makes the case that state spending per resident has actually dropped in the past nine years. Rob Schofield, of  N.C. Policy Watch, urges work toward comprehensive reforms, “such as broadening the sales tax to include services, rather than simply across the board spending cuts.”

Read the piece here.

RALEIGH/STATEWIDE–The Raleigh News and Observer has been deep into North Carolina’s mental health care woes for some while.

We’ve posted about the subject here and here.

Here’s an editorial from the N&O on Governor-elect Beverly Perdue’s challenges going forward.

RALEIGH–The Raleigh News and Observer reported last week that in January, for the first time, members of the NC Senate will be allowed to have laptop computers at their desks on the floor.

The Senate stands ready, the N&O blogged, to make a bold technological leap into 1992.

Still, there will be no internet access, according to Senate leader Marc Basnight. He describes the fact that the machines will be allowed at all as a concession; the Senate has long-standing rules forbidding electronic devices, and Basnight remains concerned about disruptions or about contributing to a lack of decorum.

Lawmakers can’t bring their own, either. They have to request machines from the legislature, and the machines will stay at their desks in the chamber, to be used only as reference stations to access the legislature’s own databases.

STATEWIDE–The economic stimulus package under consideration by the incoming administration is likely to include many billions of dollars for repairs to the national infrastructure, including highways, bridges, railroads and the like.

In fact, a good number of mainstream economists are arguing that the sky should be the limit, given the nasty depths to which the economy has sunk.

It goes without saying that state officials’ ears have perked right up, since the Feds seem to be in a print-more-money-and-hand-it-out mood anyway, and Joe Hackney (D-Chapel Hill), Speaker of the NC House, is right in there.

As current president of the National Conference of State Legislatures, Hackney held a press conference yesterday in Washington, urging the Feds to fire up the stimulus ASAP and arguing that billions in spending on infrastructure projects, social welfare programs and renewable energy projects would keep the economic situation from worsening.

He spoke with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi later in the day, working the same angle.

The National Governor’s Association has helpfully identified $136 billion in infrastructure projects across the country that just happen to be available in the event that funding materializes.

STATEWIDE–Dem pollster John Anzalone tells Politico.com’s “Scorecard” blog that Kay Hagan benefited mightily from Libby Dole’s decision to run her infamous “atheist” ads. Read it here.

NATIONAL–A south Texas grand jury has returned multiple-count indictments against vice president Dick Cheney, former attorney General Alberto Gonzales and many others for alleged organized crime involving relations with companies that build federal prisoners and manage them under private contract.

While the District Attorney who brought the charges is a lame duck and (apparently) a bit of showboat, the underlying facts of the case are food for thought.

The United States has the highest documented incarceration rate and prison population in the world, due largely to sentencing structures and drug laws.

Mr. Cheney and Mr. Gonzales, whose regard for constitutional law has been questioned during their respective stints in Washington, are personally invested in the privatization of the prison system, and so could stand to profit from an ever-increasing criminal population.

While the privatization of prisons and the subsequent introduction of a “profit motive” to the criminal justice system has always struck me as a particularly boneheaded idea, rarely are examples of just why it’s such a bad idea made so clear.

HENDERSONVILLE-With the GOP having suffered a setback, and particularly after Elizabeth Dole’s loss, many have wondered whether Rep. Heath Shuler will challenge Sen. Richard Burr in 2010.

The Hendersonville Times-News had the chance to ask him.

STATEWIDE-59 counties around the state have been made disaster areas due to crop losses caused by drought and extreme heat.

Jackson, Macon, Swain and Graham counties are included.

The declaration makes farmers eligible to be considered for assistance from the U.S. Farm Service Agency. Assistance includes low interest emergency loans.

Last week, the U.S. Drought Monitor returned four western counties (Clay, Jackson, Macon and Transylvania) to exceptional drought, the worst level of the drought categories.

Ten counties were listed in extreme drought, 13 counties are in severe drought, 29 counties are in a moderate drought and 17 counties are abnormally dry.

Farmers should contact the Farm Service Agency office in their county for more information. For county FSA contact information, go to www.fsa.usda.gov and click on “State Offices,” then on “North Carolina” and “County Offices.”

Read more …

Asheville Citizen-Times

STATEWIDE–Newly elected lawmakers in North Carolina are in the same boat as the president-to-be — facing nasty weather right away.

The state’s budget shortfall could reach $1.6 billion next year, and state departments are now being asked to trim as much as 5% from their operating budgets, up from the 2% Governor Mike Easley asked of them last month.

Universities and colleges will be asked to cut 4%, but those cuts will not impact student loans.

More here from the Raleigh News and Observer.

Governor-elect Beverly Perdue told the Greensboro News Record that she wasn’t daunted. In fact, like some in the new president’s circle, she seems to view crisis as opportunity. She refers to mid 20th century NC governor O. Max Gardner’s response to the Great Depression:

“He used the time as a transformational period for the state of North Carolina,” Perdue said. Instead of simply cutting the state’s budget, Gardner invested in roads and universities so the state would be positioned to prosper when the economy turned around.

Read Mark Binker’s story in the News Record here.