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House Speaker Thom Tillis issued a warning last weekend to his fellow Repubicans about overreaching with their supermajority power.

"I was the GOP minority whip in 2009," he began in a Facebook post. "My job was to get conservative Democrats to help us defeat liberal legislation. The Democratic leaders, heavily influenced by their most liberal members and far-left groups, could not resist the pressure to move too far to fast. They did not compromise and they went too far.

"They got out of step with the citizens of NC and they lost their majority as a result. It was their lack of discipline that laid the groundwork for Republicans to have House/Senate super majorities, a GOP governor, and (lieutenant) governor," he concluded. "Our lack of discipline will lay the groundwork for their ascendency and if they succeed we will only have ourselves to blame."

What generated the post is unclear. A Tillis spokesman declined to elaborate and answer specific questions. "Speaker Tillis was simply recapping what occurred under Democratic leadership before Republicans won a majority in 2010, and pointing out that the Republican majority should learn from the mistakes of Democratic leadership of the past," spokesman Jordan Shaw said Monday.

As the legislative session approaches, interest groups are gearing up for a fight. A divided auto insurance industry will try again next year to change a unique regulatory system in North Carolina, which enjoys some of the lowest rates in the country. Read more here.

More political headlines below:

-- A former top Republican lawmaker faces new federal charges, including tax evasion, in connection with an alleged scheme to launder money from a government loan program to enrich himself and close associates.

--Advocates for injured workers say the state needs a safety net to catch vulnerable workers. They want state leaders to create a fund to pay for lost wages and medical bills quickly so these workers aren’t left destitute while their employers try to pay the claim.

Republican state House candidate Tom Murry, a pharmacist, debuted his second TV ad of the campaign season this week, saying he has the right "prescription" to help the state.

The 30-second spot lists a few Republican accomplishments from the prior session, including cutting the gas tax and a business tax cut. The incumbent's campaign spent $100,000 to target the TV ad to his Morrisville-area district through cable and YouTube channels.

Democrats are looking to coin a new nickname for the House Speaker: King Thom Tillis. The state party launched a website and Twitter handle under the monicker with the slogan, "looking out for the King's interests, not yours."

Like other political hit sites mocking politicians, the page about Tillis is a collection of unflattering headlines rehashing  romantic relationships his aides had with two lobbyists, the pending state ethics probe and his costly statewide town hall tour, among others. 

Tillis spokesman Jordan Shaw fired back: "Have you ever heard of a king who term limits himself?" he said referring to the speaker's pledge to serve only one more term.

The first Republican-controlled legislative session in more than a century ended Tuesday afternoon as many departing lawmakers said their goodbyes.

The House adjourned about 3 p.m. The Senate left earlier in the day. The final bill on the House floor -- SB847 -- was a catch all with a variety of goodies. One thing missing: money to get a federal grant to help facilitate the 2012 election. House Republicans added the $600,000 needed to get the $4 million grant to the bill but the Senate stripped the provision. 

For his inflammatory remarks about poverty in North Carolina, Republican state Rep. George Cleveland made liberal pundit Keith Olbermann's list of the worst people in the world Thursday.

From the Current TV transcript: "The runner-up is Republican State Representative George Cleveland of North Carolina. At a hearing on legislation that would shred early childhood education in his state, Representative Cleveland announced, 'We have nobody in the state of North Carolina living in extreme poverty.' 

"Extreme poverty is the income level below half of the poverty line. When he was then told that 729,000 North Carolinians lived in extreme poverty, Cleveland said that this was just the result of 'a government agency perpetuating a poverty class.'"

Cleveland finished second to conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh who suggesting if the government pays for contraception ("pay for you to have sex") he wants women to "post the videos online so we can all watch."

A N.C. watchdog group Tuesday accused House Speaker Thom Tillis of “muscling through legislation” for a campaign donor last year over the objections of several consumer groups and even the Pentagon.

A spokesman for the Cornelius Republican dismissed the accusations by Democracy North Carolina as a partisan attack from “a liberal blog post.”

At issue is House passage of a bill last year that would hike interest rates on many consumer loans. Supporters say the measure -- co-sponsored by two Charlotte Democrats -- would help lenders who haven’t been able to raise rates in nearly three decades, and offer credit to those who otherwise might not get it.

Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, one of three announced Democratic candidates for governor, jabbed Republican candidate Pat McCrory Thursday during a visit to a community college in McCrory’s backyard.

During a tour of Central Piedmont Community College’s Cato campus, Dalton criticized the Republican legislature for cutting education.

“I think candidate McCrory has embraced pretty much what they did,” Dalton said. “What they did can be very harmful to our economic recruitment today and harmful to our economy tomorrow.”

Gov. Bev Perdue announced an additional 2,000 spots for children in the state's pre-kindergarten program Wednesday - the latest move in her confrontation with the legislature over preparing at-risk 4-year-olds for school.

Republicans in the GOP-led legislature were quick to balk at Perdue's action. Rep. Justin Burr, an Albemarle Republican, called it a political stunt. "I guess I'm glad that she finally read the budget and realized that this money has been sitting there," said Burr, who co-chairs a House committee on early childhood. Read more here.

Legislation that would protect pharmaceutical companies from lawsuits over drugs that have been approved by federal regulators has been resurrected in time for the short session this spring. Read here.

As previewed yesterday, here's more on Obama campaign manager Jim Messina's thoughts on the 2012 election in North Carolina.