Budget debate gets hostile

As the budget debate closed in on 11 p.m, House members started openly insulting and mocking one another in ways that resemble how people talk about their enemies behind their backs.

At one point, Rep. Bill Faison, an Orange County Democrat who ran for governor criticized the Republican budget, blaming it for lost jobs and the deterioration of the state's unemployment rankings.

Faison, who proposed a sales tax increase during his run for the Democratic nomination for governor, said that was the remedy to the state's unemployment problem. "Nobody in this body is opposed to raising a little bit of tax," Faison said. Republicans increased fees last year, which Faison said are taxes with another name.

Rep. Nelson Dollar asked Faison if a tax increase was a key element in his gubernatorial campaign platform. Yes, said Faison.

"I wondered how that was working out for you," Dollar said.

Faison didn't win the primary, as everyone in the chamber knew. He came in third, with less than 6 percent of the vote. His retort: the Republicans were trying to repair budget damage that cost people their jobs. "Let's see how that works out for you in November," he said.

Called on to speak as the debate was winding down,  Rep. Bill Cook, a Chocowinity Republican, picked up his microphone and started laughing into it.

No one had told a joke, but his laughter continued a good long time, and included gasps for air. Kind of like Tickle Me Elmo, but in a deeper register.

It turns out he was laughing derisively at Democrats, who he said left Republicans with a $3.7 billion budget gap to fill.