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SKVARLA FACES NEW QUESTIONS: Secretary John Skvarla's memo to staff at the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources this week is getting a good bit of attention and creating more questions than it answers. As reported here first, the agency's new mission statement includes this line: "environmental science is quite complex, comprised of many components, and most importantly, contains diversity of opinion." The memo also suggests the agency is more service organziation than state regulator. It raises big questions for the McCrory administration: Is climate change a scientific fact? What about sea level rise? And are human's responsible for global warming?

McCRORY DODGES GLOBAL WARMING QUESTION: As the DENR secretary questions the validity of science, the new Republican governor is sidestepping the global warming issue entirely. Pat McCrory told Travis Fain at the News & Record: "John (Skvarla) and I aren’t going to get caught up in the political semantics of either the left or the right on climate change or global warming. We believe in clean air, clean water and clean ground. ... As my father used to say ... we must walk the fine line between continuing our economic prosperity while also protecting the quality of life and the environment which brought may of us here. And that’s the fine line leadership must continue to walk.” Expect this question to re-emerge Wednesday.

Gov.-elect Pat McCrory nominated Tony Tata as his transportation secretary Thursday but didn't know how to say his name.

At the press conference, McCrory repeatedly pronounced it "TATT-ah" with a short-A syllable. Tata didn't flinch and didn't mention the mistake when he took the podium.

But afterward, when McCrory heard a reporter address Tata (pronounced TAY-tuh), he realized what he did. “I probably butchered your name; I apologize,” McCrory told Tata.

Tata smiled and shrugged it off. “Sometimes it’s hard to get that long-A,” he said.

--Staff writerBruce Siceloff

UPDATED: Pat McCrory is the governor-elect. But when will he take office?

The N.C. constitution says the governor's term "shall commence on the first day of January next after their election and continue until their successors are elected and qualified." But traditionally the transfer of power is timed to the Junior League of Raleigh's inauguration festivities. Gov. Bev Perdue took the oath of office Jan. 10, 2008.

This year's inauguration is pegged for Saturday, Jan. 12, a day after the league's inaugural ball. But Bob Orr, a conservative and former N.C. Supreme Court justice, argues McCrory needs to be sworn in sooner.

President Barack Obama almost ran the table Tuesday night when it came to battleground states. The lone exception: North Carolina.

Of a dozen competitive states, it was the only one that went from Democratic blue in 2008 to Republican red this year. Why didn’t Obama carry the Tar Heel State? Read five reasons here and see a map of results here.

More political headlines:

--Pat McCrory on Thursday will set foot in the Capitol for the first time as governor-elect. A block north, he will see a major challenge facing his administration: the N.C. General Assembly. 

--The 7th Congressional campaign and the lieutenant governor's race are headed to overtime. A recount looms.

At his first news conference as North Carolina’s governor-elect, Republican Pat McCrory pledged to reach out to legislative leaders in both parties and “move very quickly” on forming an administration.

McCrory plans to speak to reporters in Raleigh on Thursday afternoon to offer details of his transition. “There’s not a lot of days to move so we’re going to move very quickly,” McCrory told a news conference at the Westin in Charlotte on Wednesday. “And there’s a sense of urgency.”

Pat McCrory's schedule in his first days as governor-elect are becoming more clear.

McCrory will travel to Raleigh on Wednesday night ahead of a full day of meetings scheduled Thursday in the capital city. McCrory will meet at 11:30 a.m. with Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue, who beat him in the 2008 election.

Ahead comfortably in the polls, Pat McCrory is quietly planning for his transition into power in the weeks before Election Day. McCrory's allies are looking at names for potential agency heads and a number of lists are floating through GOP circles.

"We are all obviously being very cautious and not doing very much until after the election,” Ed McMahan, a former state legislator from Charlotte, said Friday. “I think everybody would understand that either one of the candidates would be doing some planning … but everything’s being put on hold until after the election.”

Gov. Bev Perdue isn't wasting time preparing for her exit. Her office sent a memo to her two potential successors -- Democrat Walter Dalton and Republican Pat McCrory -- this week saying she is beginning to prepare for the transition of power.

The governor directed her cabinet agencies to prepare a memo that outlines the agency structure, staff, budgets, programs and serves and boards and commissions. The deadline: Nov. 7 -- the day after the election.

"My goal is to assist the governor-elect in a smooth and orderly transition to better serve the people of North Carolina," she wrote.

Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, the Democrat running for governor, has says GOP budget writers have gone overboard for the next governor's welcoming party and transition.

Democrats budgeted $420,000 for the inauguration and executive office transition in 2008 in preparation for former Gov. Mike Easley leaving office.

This year, the budget includes that amount plus a $330,000 reserve. Dalton, calling it "hidden 'party' money," said he will decline the reserve and challenged GOP candidate Pat McCrory to pledge to do the same.

Gov. Beverly Perdue plans to sign an order today that would strip most of the specific decision-making power from the N.C. Board of Transportation.

The idea is that Perdue wants the board to be less involved in specific decisions and to function more like a board of directors. State law has a different take.

The board has 19 members and 14 are appointed to represent a geographic region of the state. The state law is pretty clear about what those division representatives should do.

Division members shall direct their primary effort to developing transportation policy and addressing transportation problems in the region they represent. Division members shall regularly consult with and consider the views of local government units and Transportation Advisory Committees in the region they represent.

The law goes on to state:

Consultation of Board Members. – Each member of the Board of Transportation who is appointed to represent a transportation engineering division or who resides in a division shall be consulted before the Board makes a decision affecting that division.

The governor has sole authority to appoint transportation board members. Perdue has said that she expects board members to do what she says.