Gov. Mike Easley says he’ll ask his press staff to start treating the John Locke Foundation’s Carolina Journal like any other news media outlet from now on.

Easley said Wednesday that he has told his senior staff and spokespeople to cooperate better with the state’s news media to get information to the public.

And Easley said he’d prod them to give equal access to the Journal, which routinely gigs him, reports Matthew Eisley.

In a meeting Easley convened at the Executive Mansion with the head of the N.C. Press Association and the top editors of The News & Observer, The Charlotte Observer, and the Carolina Journal, Journal Editor Richard Wagner asked the governor why his press office won’t respond to the publication’s information requests.

“It’s been reported that we were at the top of the do-not-call list,” Wagner said.

Perhaps coincidentally, the conservative Journal regularly publishes investigations critical of Easley, a Democrat, and other people in his administration.

Easley said his press office’s policy is not to respond to information requests from the Journal or other nonprofit advocacy groups, including its liberal counterpoint, N.C. Policy Watch.

Read more after the jump.

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Chris Fitzsimon notes a disconnect in Beverly Perdue's debate performance.

In his column on N.C. Policy Watch, he writes that the Democratic gubernatorial candidate attacked rival Richard Moore for being "from Wall Street" and not "from Main Street." 

But she then went on to say that she wanted to be "the next CEO of North Carolina." 

"Aren't most CEOs from Wall Street?" Fitzsimon asks.

Chris Fitzsimon says Richard Moore's roads reform plan is "a decent start."

The N.C. Policy Watch columnist applauds the idea of banning fundraising by members of the state Board of Transportation. But he also cautions that it leaves open the possibility that major fundraisers could designate someone else for a spot, as has been done in the past.

He says Moore's plan to make the board less political could face other obstacles:

Moore's proposals to use more objective criteria to evaluate projects and an end to discretionary funds for legislative leaders make more sense, but they wouldn't address all the problems either. Lawmakers could still insert special provisions in the budget to fund road projects, which they have done in recent years.

Still, he says he gives Moore credit "for starting the discussion."

"It may be true that politics will always be part of transportation decisions, but a determined governor could substantially reduce it," he writes.

The debate over illegal immigrants at state community colleges has hit the big time.

Jameson Taylor, policy director of the Civitas Institute, will debate Chris Fitzsimon of N.C. Policy Watch on the ongoing brouhaha over the colleges' policies. 

The show airs at 8:15 a.m. on Fox News. 

Chris Fitzsimon is a pretty learned guy.

So we're tempted to wonder about a typo in his recent column in N.C. Policy Watch about the state legislature:

Senate Minority Leader Phil Berber said that "there was not a dollar that the budget did not spend."

Fitzsimon really meant Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger, and the "b" and "g" are pretty close on the keyboard. Still, there may be a deeper meaning in the slip, since the Berbers are the long-suffering minority population of Morocco and Algeria.

As this history shows, they've dealt with colonizers from the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, Arabs, Ottomans, and the French and Spanish.

Not quite the same thing as being in a Democratic legislature, but still...

N.C. Policy Watch has a new poll out.

The results appear to show voters support an earned income tax credit, oppose a cut in the sales tax and support raising taxes on the wealthy.

But the wording is problematic. For example:

Another legislative proposal would reduce the state sales tax by one-quarter of a penny. This reduction will save the average household about $45 per year but will leave the state with $250 million less per year to pay for essential public services like schools. (Italics ours)

That's a pretty fair question up to the last five words or so. A different ending would surely change the results:

...to pay for incentives for businesses like Dell and Google.

...to pay for a salary increase for state employees.

...to cover a shortfall in projected lottery revenue.

The Eight Ball missed an easy hit on the Senate budget.

Last week, we asked the cheap plastic toy if N.C. Policy Watch's reported rumor that the N.C. Kids' Care program would be cut was true.

It's first reponse — "Ask again later" — was taken for a dodge, so we asked again, and it said "My sources say no."

As it turns out, N.C. Policy Watch was on the money, and N.C. Kids' Care is out of it.

The revised standings:

N.C. Policy Watch: 1.00, Eight Ball: .667, N.C. Spin: .500

Hey kids, gather around the computer screen!

It's time for Magic Eight Ball, the semi-regular contest for truth between state political pundits and a cheap plastic toy from Mattel.

This week's entry comes from The Progressive Pulse, a left-leaning group blog run by N.C. Policy Watch.

In a post today, Adam Searing said the state Senate is cutting N.C. Kids' Care (Section 10.48.(a) on page 105 of the budget bill), a proposed health insurance program for low-income families that's been put forward by the governor and the House:

Now rumor is that the NC Senate, as it grinds through its budget deliberations, is simply cutting even the limited affordable coverage program.

We asked the Magic Eight Ball, will the Senate cut N.C. Kids' Care?

Its response: "My sources say no." We'll check back when the Senate budget comes out to see who was right.