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STUDENTS TO PROTEST ART POPE LECTURE: UNC-Chapel Hill students are plannning a "teach out" demonstration Tuesday outside a campus building where Art Pope, the governor's state budget director is a guest lecturer. Pope will speak to Faculty Chairwoman Jan Boxhill's 12:30 p.m. philosophy course, according to The Daily Tar Heel. Pope is a major donor to the university but also to ttea party groups and others that aim to elect Republican candidates. Students are upset about the proposed cuts to the university in tthe budget Pope drafted. Interestingly, Gov. Pat McCrory earlier this year questioned the use of state money for liberal arts courses such as gender students and philosophy.

TODAY AT THE STATEHOUSE: House and Senate lawmakers will consider a corporate income tax cut and school safety measure Tuesday with major legislation begins making progress as the legislalture nears crunch time. The House Education Committee will meet at 10 a.m. and the Senate  Finance Committee will meet at 1 p.m. Both chambers convene at 2 p.m. The House is still waiting to vote on a measure to background check many receiptients of public assitance and prohibit some from getting federal aid. Two major groups will hold rallies at the legislature to push back against the Republican majority.

McCrory hosted a breakfast this morning with advocates for the state's historically black universities and colleges -- the groups most fearing any potential study of consolidation of UNC system campuses. Later in the day, the governor will meet with the Legislative Black Caucus, a group that has been very critical of his agenda.

***Thanks for reading the Dome Morning Memo. Much more North Carolina politics below.***

Commerce Secretary Sharon Decker expanded on Gov. Pat McCrory's recent talk about privatizing elements of the state's job-creation department. The Republican governor's budget hints that big changes are coming to the commerce department.

Decker told the Triad Business Journal: “I look at commerce as the sales and marketing arm of the state government, and we’re talking about privatizing all of that,” Decker said. ...

“Absolutely no decisions have been made about how it would be funded, or how much it would be funded, or how it would be organized,” Decker said .

"The main goal of a public-private partnership in place of a central state agency is to create a more efficient organization that can quickly respond to the needs of both existing industry and to companies looking to expand in North Carolina. “After 10 weeks working in state government, I can tell you that we can create a much leaner, fast-moving, more nimble organization,” Decker said.

Rita Harris, former legislative liaison for the state Department of Commerce, started a job this week at McGuireWoods Consulting as a vice president in the Raleigh office. She'll focus on infrastructure, economic development, incentives, and state government relations.

Harris was the Commerce liaison since 2008. Before that, she did the same job for the N.C. Ports Authority.

Harris was a budget adviser to former House Speaker Jim Black, a Charlotte Democrat who was convicted on corruption charges and spent about three years in federal prison.

Gov.-elect Pat McCrory named former Wake County Schools Superintendent Tony Tata as his secretary of transportation Thursday. He was one of four picks McCrory announced to complete his cabinet two days before he takes the oath. He also named Sharon Decker as his commerce secretary, former Republican state Rep. Bill Daughtridge to lead the Department of Administration and Neal Alexander as his personnel director. Read more here.

Robert Wilson, longtime assistant secretary of state and legislative liaison for the Secretary of State's office, is retiring next month, the Insider reports.

Wilson has worked in the Secretary of State's office since 1991. A 33-year veteran of state government, he also worked in the Department of Correction and community college system.

Gov.-elect Pat McCrory remains guarded about what he intends to do after Gov. Bev Perdue's decision to set up a state-federal health exchange. In a statement Thursday, he said Perdue's decision gives him flexibility. Other Republican leaders blasted Perdue's decision. 

McCrory said he would talk to other Republican governors Friday. His campaign buddy S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley rejected a state exchange Thursday. More details here.

More political headlines:

--Erskine Bowles is reportedly saying -- again -- he would turn down any offer to become the next U.S. Treasury secretary, according to at least two media reports Thursday.

A high-ranking official in the N.C. Department of Commerce is leaving her post ahead of a change in administration. Lynn Minges starts Dec. 3 as president and CEO of the N.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association, one of the largest and most  influential trade groups in Raleigh, one with significant interests before the state legislature. 

She worked in the commerce department for 20 years, most recently as assistant secretary for tourism, marketing and global branding. Minges, who lives in Raleigh, is a Bladen County native and graduate of Peace College and N.C. State University. 

Republicans are close to finishing closed-door negotiations on the state budget -- but one sticking point is apparently a House provision earmarking economic development money for specific projects, or what some may call "pork spending."

The $20 million provision in question is tucked into the state commerce department budget for the One NC Fund, an pot of money used to entice companies to expand in North Carolina. The House wants to give $500,000 to Johnson and Wales University in Charlotte and another $500,000 to RTI, a nonprofit research firm in Research Triangle. Another $4.5 million is destined for the Rural Center's small business loan program. The other $14.5 million? It's House budget doesn't specify where it goes. 

The provision doesn't appear in the Senate budget and the commerce department didn't ask for it, an agency spokesman Tim Crowley said.

UPDATED: Republican budget writers targeted a high-ranking commerce official by eliminating his job in the state budget draft.

Henry McKoy Jr., the assistant secretary for community assistance, faced tough questions earlier this year after reports about whether he properly disclosed his association with a dormant nonprofit where he was once a board member. Top commerce department officials renamed the nonprofit and repurposed it for a sustainability project designed to receive state funds.

A special House task force created by Speaker Thom Tillis to look at unemployment fraud met for the first time Tuesday. The hours-long meeting briefed lawmakers on the current unemployment system. A staff report said improper payments amounted to 9 percent with most being overpayments. A small portion, 2.4 percent, were fraudulent overpayments, lawmakers were told.

N.C. Commerce Secretary Keith Crisco welcomed the effort at the start of the meeting. He said the task force's review is "a part of an ongoing effort to minimize overpayments and fraud in the unemployment system."

The lawmakers lodged a number of questions, seeking ways to tighten requirements on those receiving government aid and the agency distributing money.