death penalty

RGA brings back Moore Web site

ryanteaguebeckwith — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:48:57 -0400

The Republican Governors Association has brought back a Web site attacking Beverly Perdue.

The site, "Which Beverly Is It?", was originally created by state Treasurer Richard Moore, who ran against Perdue in the Democratic gubernatorial primary.

The site criticizes Perdue's positions on the death penalty, Smart Start, college tuition and wasteful spending. It also attacks Perdue as being too restrictive of abortion rights — an odd attack for the Republican group to recirculate.

"Richard Moore warned voters about the dangers of Bev Perdue," said RGA Communications Director Chris Schrimpf. "She's nothing more than a status quo politician who will do anything to get elected. She'll take money from disgraced supporters and skip debates to avoid the scrutiny of voters."

The Washington-based group is also promoting the new Web site — www.richardmooresays.com — using online ads.

Moore endorsed Perdue via e-mail in mid-July, 71 days after the primary.

Death Row inmate responds to McCrory

ryanteaguebeckwith — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:34:10 -0400

A death row inmate singled out by Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory has responded.

At a recent debate, the Charlotte mayor said that the moratorium on the death penalty should be lifted, noting that the convicted killer of two Queen City police officers was still on death row.

"Listen, this is personal to me," McCrory said. "Two young police officers that were shot by one man with their gun, and this man has still not been dealt with even though a jury of his peers convicted him ... There's no reason we should have the moratorium right now."

At the debate, McCrory did not name the killer, Alden J. Harden, but he did name the police officers, Andy Nobles and John Burnette. Harden was sentenced to death in August of 1994 for the killings, which took place the previous October.

Contacted by Dome at Central Prison in Raleigh, he said in a handwritten letter that Charlotte police have killed "many unarmed young black men" in recent years.

"I am being dealt with," he wrote. "The moratorium is set to help make sure that more people like you and my so called peers don't take it 'personal' as well, but rather look at the law. Because everyone has a right to fight for themselves under the law."

He wrote that "there's every reason" to have a moratorium.

The full text of McCrory's remarks and Harden's response after the jump.

McCrory takes aim at unions

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:49:26 -0400

Pat McCrory took aim at unions Tuesday.

The Republican gubernatorial candidate made several references to labor unions during a debate on WTVD that left no doubt of a rift between McCrory and a group representing state workers.

The State Employees Association of North Carolina endorsed McCrory's Democratic rival, Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, in late July.

The Service Employees International Union, which is affiliated with SEANC, has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to a 527 group that is running ads attacking McCrory's record this year.

McCrory complained about the ads twice during the debate, saying they were taking his remarks out of context and were funded by "national Washington group and labor unions and other groups from throughout the country."

"The 30-second TV ads, which now attack me, by this Washington labor group are saying that I'm opposed to free two-year college tuition, and therefore I'm against students, I'm against kids," he added later.

After Perdue mentioned her endorsements by law enforcement groups during a discussion on the death penalty, McCrory took aim at them as well.

"This has nothing to do with endorsements by quasi-labor unions," he said.

During the Democratic primary, Perdue was endorsed by the N.C. Troopers Association, the N.C. Police Benevolent Association and the N.C. Sheriff Police Alliance.

McCrory: Harden 'not been dealt with'

ryanteaguebeckwith — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:29:07 -0400

Pat McCrory said a man convicted of killing two young Charlotte police officers in 1993 should have been put to death by now.

At a debate on WTVD in Durham tonight, the Republican gubernatorial candidate noted that Alden Harden was convicted of killing Andy Nobles and John Burnette, but he remains on death row.

"This man still has not been dealt with," he said.

After the debate, McCrory told reporters that he had become good friends with Trish Norket, the mother of one of the police officers, and was working with her to overturn the state's moratorium on the death penalty.

McCrory was on the City Council when the shootings occurred and when Harden was sentenced a year later.

Borders: Nowhere like Mayberry today

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:45:59 -0400

Max Borders says he feel's Pat McCrory's pain.

As a libertarian blogger and a devoted fan of "The Andy Griffith Show," Borders writes that he feels as torn as the Republican gubernatorial nominee over the actor's "shilling for leftwing candidates."

Borders also writes that Griffith's character would face modern challenges:

A Sheriff Andy Taylor of today would be a more earnest and solemn man. He would find himself in a N.C. that in which summary executions occur perennially by members of foreign gangs. He would find himself cleaning up the Eve Carsons of the world, on the streets near Griffith's alma mater. He would find himself with very little prison space for Otis, because all manner of thugs and murders have pushed the town drunks into the arms of taxpayer-funded social workers.

Borders also writes that the times have changed since the show aired.

"Nowhere in N.C. is there a place that even vaguely resembles Mayberry (if there ever was)," he writes.

GOP outlines budget priorities

ryanteaguebeckwith — Tue, 13 May 2008 11:38:07 -0400

Republicans object to the so-called "sin taxes."

At a press conference this morning, Republican leaders of the state House and Senate said that the state budget should not raise taxes on alcohol and cigarettes.

"In tough economic times, it is not the time to raise taxes, particularly the taxes that hit the poorest people," said Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger.

He called the governor's budget "an attempt at legacy building."

For their budget priorities, Berger and House Minority Leader Paul Stam called for cutting spending, completely ending the annual transfer from the Highway Trust Fund, putting a roads bond before voters in November and not raising any state taxes.

On non-budget items, they called for lifting the cap on charter schools, putting constitutional amendments banning gay marriage and curtailing the use of eminent domain before voters, making the murder of an unborn child a crime and ending the de facto moratorium on the death penalty.

State responds on execution protocol

ryanteaguebeckwith — Tue, 13 May 2008 10:21:03 -0400

The Council of State won't budge on its approval of the state's revised execution protocol.

Attorneys for the council responded Monday to a group of five condemned inmates who appealed the council's approval of the protocol. Attorneys with the N.C. Department of Justice filed the response in Wake Superior Court, Titan Barksdale reports.

The inmates have said the council's approval in February 2007 was improper because it didn't hear from their attorneys first.

The council contends that the inmates don't have the right to challenge the protocol in court because the state Department of Correction offers inmates a way to challenge it. The council, a group of the state's top elected officials, added that the prisoners have failed to show they are harmed by the execution protocol.

"Injury only occurs if the execution protocol is improperly implemented," the council's response said.

More after the jump.

Perdue apologizes for 'torturous' remark

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 16:52:32 -0400

Beverly Perdue has apologized for a remark on the death penalty.

As a state senator, Perdue opposed a bill to phase out the gas chamber in state executions, according to a March 23, 1995, story in the Charlotte Observer:

Another death penalty backer, Sen. Beverly Perdue, D-Craven, suggested that doing away with the gas chamber would lessen capital punishment's deterrent value.
"I think we should make it painful and torturous," she said.

When the comment came up in a discussion on the liberal Web site BlueNC, Perdue logged on and apologized.

"I made that quote more than a decade ago, and I'm sorry," she wrote this afternoon. "I know that we must make sure that innocent people are not on death row and that's why I favor the current moratorium."

Appeals court celebrates 40 years

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:58:57 -0500

It's been 40 years since judges on the N.C. Court of Appeals began hearing cases.

Officers of the court will celebrate the 40-year anniversary at 2 p.m. Thursday in the Court of Appeals courtroom, Titan Barksdale reports. Among the guests will be former Appeals Court and state Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr, who is running for governor.

"I am looking forward to the ceremony at the courtroom and to visiting with colleagues and friends who have served on and worked for the Court over the years," he said in a statement.

The General Assembly decided to create the court in 1967 because the North Carolina Supreme Court had become overburdened. In October of the same year, the appeals court began taking cases.

The Court of Appeals has fifteen judges who sit in rotating panels of three. They decide questions of law on every case—except death penalty cases—appealed from the Superior and District courts.

Moore: Death penalty for 'biblical evil'

ryanteaguebeckwith — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:21:08 -0500

Richard Moore took a strong stance for capital punishment.

In response to a question on the James Johnson case at today's debate, Moore cited his time as a federal prosecutor, saying that he believes it is necessary for some crimes.

"I do believe in capital punishment," he said. "I do believe that there is biblical evil that lives among us and for some crimes you give up the right to be here on the Earth with the rest of us."

However, Moore added, he does not think the system is currently being implemented fairly and he wants to make sure it is reformed.

Bob Orr said that he supports the death penalty in "limited circumstances," while Beverly Perdue said she supports capital punishment and the de facto moratorium currently in place.

The candidates were speaking in the sanctuary of the Historic Union Baptist Church.