Tag search result

TOTAL ARRESTS NEAR 500: Eighty-four demonstrators were arrested by the N.C. General Assembly police on Monday, bringing the total since April 29 to more than 480. Holly Jordan, 29, a teacher at Hillside High School in Durham, said she decided to get arrested on Monday because she was thoroughly upset with the education policies and budgets proposed. She knew that some of the Republicans had described their naysayers as “aging hippies” and “outsiders” who considered it “en vogue” to get arrested.

TODAY AT THE STATEHOUSE: The Senate will take a final vote on its tax plan, and send it to the House. The two chambers remain far apart on how to cut taxes. The House will consider Gov. Pat McCrory's transportation funding bill. In committees, House lawmakers will consider a bill to raise the speed limit to 75 mph on certain roads and a bill requiring cursive -- which is likely to be remade entirely at the last minute, given a similar bill passed earlier this session. Senate lawmakers will meet in committees to consider a bill requiring background checks on those who receive some public assistance and another measure to roll back energy efficiency regulations on building to 2009 levels.

Gov. Pat McCrory will visit another rotary club, this time in Winston-Salem, before meeting with unidentified business leaders in a private meeting at Womble Carlyle, a law firm that also has a lobbying practice.

***Below in the Dome Morning Memo -- U.S. Senate race news, remember Jim Holshouser and a legislative roundup.***

GOP ABANDONS PLEDGE FOR TAX REFORM: From Rob Christensen's column: Tax reform in North Carolina died last week. RIP. …The House has rolled out its plan, and the Senate has rolled out an alternative plan. Those plans focus almost exclusively on cutting corporate and personal income taxes, rather than revamping the 1930s tax code. So tax reform is dead. In its place, we have large tax cuts, the size and shape of which will be worked out in a House-Senate conference committee. Cutting taxes is in the Republican comfort zone. Reforming the tax code is not. Full story.

LOBBYING FIRM ACTED AS TILLIS, McCRORY FUNDRAISING CONDUIT: The giving by the sweepstakes industry also puts a spotlight on fundraising efforts organized by McGuireWoods. Multiple contributions from sweepstakes operators were often recorded on the same days, with the largest group coming on May 16, 2012, when the Tillis campaign tallied a total of $60,002 from 19 individuals. Days earlier, on May 10, McGuireWoods held a fundraiser at its Raleigh office attended by Payne and lobbyists from other organizations. Harry Kaplan, a McGuireWoods lobbyist, said he invited clients who were interested in meeting with Tillis to talk about the issues they represented. They could also make campaign contributions, which some did, he said.

***More on Tillis, McCrory campaign fundraising, the sweepstakes industry and questions clouding the N.C. Rural Center and top Republicans below in the Dome Morning Memo.***

Art Pope played a pivotal role in killing legislation designed to keep big money from deciding high court races, an advocacy group asserts.

Pope, budget director for Gov. Pat McCrory and a major conservative political donor, was seen lobbying state Rep. Jonathan Jordan outside the House chambers Tuesday afternoon, after Jordan offered a compromise amendment that would have preserved public financing for appellate judges.

Shortly after speaking with Pope, Jordan withdrew the amendment, and the House voted to kill North Carolina's 10-year program of public financing, according to Melissa Price Kromm, director of North Carolina Voters for Clean Elections, who witnessed the conversation.

TODAY AT THE STATEHOUSE: As a tropical storm hits Raleigh, the House will meet in its first full Friday session this year to debate a tax bill that represents one of the most expansive policy changes in decades. At the same time, appropriation subcommittees will meet to roll out the House budget, meeting before and after session. The Senate adjourned until Monday. The House action precedes what is expected to be a busy time next week in Raleigh with budget and taxes, among dozens of other bills, moving quickly as the legislature nears adjournment toward the end of the month. Top GOP lawmakers will rush from the statehouse to Charlotte for the state Republican Party convention. Gov. Pat McCrory will hold a reception at the convention this evening.

NEW NUMBERS SHOW TAX BILLS AFFECTS: The median North Carolina family would get a modest tax break while wealthy taxpayers may see a significant cut under a sweeping bill primed for a landmark House vote Friday. (Read more below.)

***Special Friday Dome Morning Memo edition. Read more about the tax plan on the House floor below and a recap from President Barack Obama's visit.***

ARRESTS NOW TOP 300: The 151 protesters arrested Monday brings the grand total this session to more than 300. But even the roughly 1,000 people who attended the rally outside the Legislative Building pale in comparison to tens of thousands who attended the Wisconsin recall protests. (Read more on the demonstrations in the memo below.)

TODAY AT THE STATEHOUSE: The House Finance Committee is expected to vote Tuesday on its plan to tweak the state's tax system when it meets at 8:30 a.m. It is a partial overhaul compared to the Senate, but would still cut $1 billion in tax money over five years for future government services. A House transportation panel will revive a controversial bill to transfer control of the Charlotte airport to a regional authority. The Senate Commerce Committee will consider two beer bills while the judiciary committees have packed agendas. The House convenes at 2 p.m. and is scheduled to vote on Senate Bill 325, which would change the election boundaries, election dates and composition of Wake school board seats. Expect some heated debate from Democrats before the bill is ultimately passed by Republicans and sent back to the Senate. In the Senate, lawmakers will consider adding making it unlawful (apparently it wasn't) to drink in EMS and police vehicles.

Gov. Pat McCrory and the Council of State will meet at 9 a.m. and then the governor will take a tour of Strata's solar energy farm in Willow Spring. The visit sends a statement the legislature considers a bill to end state mandates on renewable energy.

***Thanks for reading the Dome Morning Memo -- the ultimate source for North Carolina political news. Click below for a can't miss photo from the protests Monday. ***

The legislature's push to the political right, continues to gain national attention, with another article appearing over the holiday weekend in The Washington Post.

The headline reads, “North Carolina, unimpeded GOP drives state hard to the right,” and highlights the influence of the Koch brothers and Art Pope, all conservative political donors, the “Moral Monday'' civil disobedience and the broad range of conservative bills.

“I don't know that there is a state that has as many regressive policies on tap,” said Penda Hair, co-director of Advancement Project in Washington is quoted in the story.

REALTORS TO LAUNCH NEW TV CAMPAIGN AGAINST TAX PLAN: The N.C. Realtors Association is preparing to launch a second, big-dollar campaign to challenge the N.C. Senate's tax overhaul efforts in coming days. The new TV ad campaign says the Senate tax plan to repeal the state deduction for mortgage interest will hurt middle class families. The group's strategist Chris Sinclair said the TV buy is in the "hundreds of thousands" and will run for three weeks. The realtors began the campaign a month ago with TV and online ads and the total cost is likely to approach $1million, he said. "The realtors believe this is a watershed moment for homeowners," Sinclair said.

McCRORY TO FETE BIG CAMPAIGN DONOR: Gov. Pat McCrory lists one public event on his schedule Friday: a retirement party for William "Bill" Shumaker, the CEO at Kewaunee Scientific. Shumaker and his wife donated $11,000 to McCrory's campaign in the 2012 cycle and another $2,000 in his losing 2008 bid, according to campaign finance reports. McCrory resigned from Kewaunee's board of directors on Jan. 5, the day he was sworn in as governor. The company paid him $53,168 in total compensation in the year that ended April 2012, federal corporate records show.

***Happy Friday and thanks for reading the Dome Morning Memo -- a North Carolina political news tipsheet. Send news and tips to dome@newsobserver.com.***

Welcome to Crossover Week on Jones Street. Think the action’s been fast so far? Well, hold onto our elephant ears, this week lawmakers will be shoveling as many bills as possible through committee and out to their floors for a vote to meet a Thursday deadline dubbed crossover.

The House and Senate rules say that bills that don’t raise or spend money or propose amendments to the state constitution must pass either the House or Senate by Thursday to be considered during the session. Of course, rules are made to be circumvented, so there are many ways to keep legislation alive. Dome’s favorite: Strip a bill that has already crossed over of its language and insert your bill of choice.

***Thanks for reading the Dome Morning Memo. Read more about the issues hanging in the balance this week at the legislature. And send news and tips to dome@newsobserver.com.***

So, a House judiciary subcommittee was minding its own business Wednesday, working through a calendar of unremarkable bills, Art Pope slipped into the room.

Pope, one of the most potent political figures in the state who also happens to be the budget director, quietly took an empty chair off to the side.

That prompted committee chairman Rep John Blust, a Greensboro Republican, to move up his own bill from last on the agenda to accommodate Pope. Blust’s HB984 is the latest version of his longtime effort to move the state to zero-based budgeting, which requires department heads to justify everything in their budgets every year, rather than justify only deviations from the baseline budget year to year.

The group calling itself the N.C. Student Power Union said the five protesters were charged with disorderly conduct: Jessica Iniejikian from UNC-Charlotte, Tristan Munchel and Dhruy Pathak from UNC-Greensboro, and Zaina Alsous and Carissa Morrison from UNC-Chapel Hill. Morrison and Pathak were also charged with assault on a government official, they said.