Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue will hold an economic roundtable in Charlotte Tuesday.

The event will be chaired by Charlotte Bobcats owner Bob Johnson, Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers, Bank of America executive Cathy Bessant and UNC-Charlotte Chancellor Dr. Phil Dubois. It will be moderated by UNC-Chapel Hill professor Ferrell Guillory.

It is the first in a series of roundtables Perdue has planned.

After an overview of current local, state and national economic conditions, the group will have a roundtable discussion with Perdue.

The roundtable will take place at 10 a.m. at UNC-Charlotte's Harris Alumni Center. 

Ferrell Guillory says Washington and Raleigh will work better together.

The founder of the Program of Public Life at UNC-Chapel Hill told Dome that state Democrats will work much better with Beverly Perdue moving into the governor's office and Kay Hagan moving into the U.S. Senate, Barb Barrett reports.

In recent years, the state has been run by Democratic Gov. Mike Easley and represented by Republican Sens. Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr.

"I think the state Democrats are looking forward to having someone in Washington whom they can deal with and feel that she’ll be a presence back in North Carolina regularly, that she understands the university, that she understands the community college system, that she understands the infrastructure that needs federal support," Guillory said.

"It will be seen as a victory for Democrats in recapturing a place in the U.S. Senate," he added. "She will clearly be a go-to person, particularly for Democrats."

A panel reviewing state e-mail policies agreed today to recommend that government agency heads be required to make sure that employees who handle public records understand which ones must be preserved.

Gov. Mike Easley's panel is scheduled to vote next week on the proposal, which includes providing a 40-minute computerized tutorial and quiz on the state's public records law to any state or local government employees who need or want to know it, reports Matthew Eisley.

"There are probably few more important subjects in the long run than public records," said Franklin Freeman, a top aide to Easley who chairs the panel. "That's how we preserve our history."

Easley formed the committee in response to criticism over his administration's handling of e-mails concerning public matters. Under the administration's policy, each employee can decide which e-mails to delete and which to save because they have lasting administrative value.

"We need to frame it so that you're expected to do the public's business openly and transparently," said panel member Ferrel Guillory, director of UNC-Chapel Hill's Program on Public Life, and a former N&O editor. "We still have to struggle with when do you delete, and what do you delete."

Ferrell Guillory doesn't think John Edwards is out yet.

According to James Romoser's Trail mix blog, the UNC-Chapel Hill professor and former political reporter says that Iowa is just a "relatively small Midwestern state," though Edwards has an "uphill climb." 

...if he can continue raising money, and if he can continue engaging directly in debate with senators Obama and Clinton, he still has some time to let people take a look at his potential as a Democratic nominee and as a possible president. 

Will Democratic in-fighting hand the Governor's Mansion to the GOP?

Some Democrats are concerned about the precedent set by the only two Republican governors elected in the 20th century in North Carolina: Jim Holshouser and Jim Martin.

Both won elections after brutal Democratic primaries. (Holshouser in 1972 over Skipper Bowles, who fought Pat Taylor in a tough primary; Martin in 1984 over Rufus Edmisten, who fought Eddie Knox in a crowded Democratic primary.)

With Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue and state Treasurer Richard Moore already getting down and dirty, some Democrats fear and some Republicans hope that history will repeat itself.

Not so fast, says Ferrell Guillory, a former political reporter who now heads the program on public life at UNC-Chapel Hill.

More after the jump.

   Comments (0)

Three state political reporters confirm that "catfish amendment" dates at least to the 1970s.

None of them knows for sure where it comes from, either.

Earlier, Dome explored the possible derivations of the phrase, which refers to a seemingly friendly amendment designed to kill a bill.

Ferrell Guillory, who covered the legislature from 1973 to 1977, recalls hearing it then. He favors the "sinking into the muck" explanation.

"A catfish is a bottom feeder," he said. "They're kind of ugly and they sit at the bottom and feed on the trash."

More after the jump.

   Comments (1)