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Gov. Bev Perdue has recorded a video criticizing the proposed constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage and civil unions.

Perdue will also touch on the issue during a speech tomorrow in Charlotte. Perdue has not said much about the proposed amendment since legislators voted to put it on the ballot. This seems to indicate a willingness to be more vocal in her opposition.

With Gov. Bev Perdue's term winding down, her staff is beginning to depart. 

Ben Niolet, who went to work for Perdue as her new media director in 2010, is leaving in a couple of weeks. He's got a job as marketing director for Contactology, an email marketing company based in Durham. 

Niolet is a former News & Observer political reporter and Domemeister. 

Update: Perdue communications director Jon Romano says this:

"Ben has been an invaluable member of the Governor's team and a trusted friend. His hard work, terrific sense of humor and innovative ideas to advance the Governor's commitment to education will be missed."

Gov. Bev Perdue denounced a television ad being run by Americans for Prosperity about education spending, saying it "muddies the water."

"I'm asking them to pull this ad down, to stop trying to distort the truth," Perdue said this morning.

Dallas Woodhouse, Americans for Prosperity state director, said the ad is "100 percent accurate and truthful," and of course, they're going to keep running it.  "We're going to continue to tell the truth about what this budget did," he said.

Linda Coleman is leaving her her job as director of the Office of State Personnel at the end of the month to spend more time on her campaign for lieutenant governor. 

Coleman said she will be in and out of the office for the next few weeks, tying up loose ends. She'll use some of her accumulated leave when she's out working on the campaign. 

She faces Sen. Eric Mansfield of Fayetteville in the Democratic primary. 

Coleman said she talked to Gov. Bev Perdue a few weeks ago, and was told she could stay in the job as long as she kept her work and the campaign separate. 

Perdue appointed Coleman, a former state House member from Knightdale, to the job in 2009.

Coleman said she decided there wasn't enough time to do her job well and campaign the way she wants to. 

"I really am committed to the campaign for lieutenant governor," she said, and decided "i need to give it all that I had."

UPDATE: Meanwhile, Coleman today picked up the endorsement of the State Employees Association of N.C.
The association’s political action committee held a candidate forum last week. All seven candidates for the job were invited but only Coleman and state Rep. Dale Folwell showed up.
SEANC, Service Employees International Union Local 2008, has 55,000 members.
 

UPDATE2: A statement from Perdue spokesman Mark Johnson. 

“Gov. Perdue is grateful to Linda Coleman for her frank and thoughtful advice and for her years of devoted service to the state and state employees. The Governor will begin the process of identifying a new director.”

There’s a new standoff between the governor and the Republican leadership in the General Assembly.

Gov. Bev Perdue wants the General Assembly to contribute $10 million of the $13 million it had left over in its budget at the end of the fiscal year to help defray cuts to education.

Perdue doesn’t have the legal authority to take the General Assembly’s money, and it’s not likely that a handful of the body’s leaders can just decide to do that on their own, as the governor seems to think they can.

Unlike state agencies, the General Assembly gets to keep its unspent money. In at least one recent year, the General Assembly did chip some of its reserve money into a common pot.

Chrissy Pearson, the governor’s spokeswoman, says there’s about $120 million in unspent money from various state agencies this year. Perdue wants to send about $100 million of that to universities, community colleges and K-12.

Normally, there is a lot more left over, which state agencies can apply to retrieve. But Perdue contends the more than half a billion dollars in savings the General Assembly ordered earlier this year has cut into that money.

Whether the governor is frugally scraping together every spare cent, or if she's just trying to make the General Assembly look bad depends on who you talk to.

The White House, as part of its effort to pressure Congress to adopt a compromise on its debt ceiling, this afternoon released a list of public officials urging congressional action including several from from North Carolina.

“The logjam in Washington has taken us too close to the brink,” said Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue on the White House blog. “Our federal officials need to come together now to reach a balanced compromise that will avert a rating downgrade or payment default before it's too late.”

In a statement signed by eight mayors of major North Carolina cities including Bill Bell of Durham and Anthony Foxx of Charlotte, they wrote, “failure to successfully moderate the discussion and bring the parties together to resolve the debt ceiling crisis is unacceptable. Our cities cannot withstand a deeper recession. We cannot weather instability in the municipal bond market which will further slow infrastructure investments and job creation.”

State Treasurer Janet Cowell, a Democrat, said “it is critical that the president and Congress act now by developing a credible, long-term plan to reduce the budget deficit. A downgrade could have a harmful effect on the North Carolina Pension Fund and North Carolina investors who invest in Treasury bonds.”

Gov. Bev Perdue issued a statement repeating that she has "zero tolerance for unacceptable behavior" when it comes to the actions of state troopers.

Perdue also disclosed that two troopers accused of mistreating a Raleigh mother and her husband have been placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of an internal affair investigation.

"We expect the absolute best from state employees," Perdue said, according to the written statement. "This incident has been under investigation since it came to light. These two troopers have been placed on administrative duty. The secretary of Crime Control and Public Safety and the colonel of the Highway Patrol will take appropriate action upon completion of their investigation.”

The investigation of Senior Trooper Edward S. Wyrick and Trooper Andrew Smith was prompted by an eight-page letter sent to Perdue Friday by Raleigh lawyer Hoyt Tessener, detailing his wife Gina's negative experience with Wyrick earlier this month in Wilmington.

The Tesseners have accused Wyrick of falsely arresting the 51-year-old mother of three, mistreating her and then orchestrating an unjustified traffic stop of her husband by Smith.

Hoyt Tessener said Thursday he is pleased to hear the troopers have been taken off the road, at least until the investigation is complete.

"That's the right thing to do," he said. "I'm thankful for the governor's actions. I hope they do have a fair and impartial investigation."

As the institutional assessment planning officer at Mayland Community College, part of  Ralph Hise's job is to help the institution find room to grow.

As a freshman state Senator, the Spruce Pine Republican secured his employer the real estate it needs — for the modest sum of $1.

Hise was the sole sponsor of  Senate Bill 159, which orders the state Department of Correction to sell a closed prison facility in Newland to the community college for a buck. The bill passed both legislative chambers unanimously.

But Hise's dual role a lawmaker and college employee gave Gov. Bev Perdue some pause. She declined to sign the bill earlier this week, but also did not veto it — clearing the way for the legislation to become law without her.

Pam Walker, a DOC spokeswoman, said the agency had no future use for the former Blue Ridge Correctional Center, which closed in 2002. The department had taken steps to have the property declared surplus and sold, potentially raising funds for the cash-strapped state.

"We were not involved in SB 159 nor do we have an opinion on it," Walker said in an e-mail.

Hise could not immediately be reached for comment.

A coalition of 33 North Carolina environmental and community groups have sent a letter to Gov. Bev Perdue, asking the Democrat to veto three GOP-backed bills they say will hurt the state's air, water and economy.

The groups — including the N.C. Sierra Club, the N.C. Coastal Federation, Audubon North Carolina and the N.C. League of Conservation Voters — say Senate Bill 781, the Regulatory Reform Act, weakens the state's rulemaking and enforcement authority, leaving it to federal regulators to safeguard the environment. Republicans say they bill will help create jobs by removing red tape for businesses.

Senate Bill 709, the Energy Jobs Act, moves the state toward drilling for natural gas through the use of off-shore platforms and on land, using a controversial technique known as hydraulic fracturing, of "fracking." Again, Republican leaders say the measure will create jobs. Environmentalists counter that a drilling accident could imperial fishing and tourism, potentially devastating the coastal economy.

Senate Bill 110, Permit Terminal Groins, allows for the construction of hardened structures along beaches in an attempt to stop private homes from falling into the ocean. Environmentalists and scientists say the structures just shift the problem, increasing erosion elsewhere and potentially endangering homes farther down the beach.

"The 2011 session of the N.C. General Assembly has carried out a relentless assault on the environment," says the letter. "The legislature has attacked environmental safeguards, land conservation, financial incentives for wise management of our natural heritage and even environmental education. ...

"Additional assaults on our air, water and special places have been rushed through in the past week – bills that reverse North Carolina’s unique commitment to the environment that has made the state one of the best places in the country to live and do business."

A copy of the full letter is included below.

An end of session "technical corrections" bill is the vehicle for legislators to fix all the little mistakes and omissions in already approved legislation that wasn't quite ready for prime time.

But it can also be the place for the House and Senate leadership to tuck in little tweaks when not everyone is paying attention.

House Bill 22, the Budget Technical Corrections measure approved by the Senate Friday night, has some interesting changes.

Under the GOP-authored state budget approved earlier this month eliminated the jobs of 11 staffers in Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue's office, including Communications Director Chrissy Pearson and Deputy Communications Director Mark Johnson.

Instead, Perdue will now have the "management flexibility" to cut about $1.5 million from her office's operational budget where she sees fit.

Meanwhile in Perdue's hometown of New Bern, Tryon Palace will get an extra $500,000 and won't lose all state funding 2013. The cut to the palace had been the subject of a display story in The N&O.

Another targeted tweak: Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, the Democrat who by virtue of the state constitution serves the president of GOP-controlled Senate, gets his state-paid mobile phone back. The GOP budget had eliminated Dalton's pocket talker.

A complete list of the changes, which are likely to receive final approval from the House Saturday, is included below.