• Coming This Fall: • State Wolfs Down More School Choice C A R O L I N A $65 Million Hotel Stewed in Brunswick Plying the Seas of Glory

Volume 11, Number 5 A Monthly Journal of News, May 2002 Analysis, and Opinion from JOURNAL the John Locke Foundation www.CarolinaJournal.com www.JohnLocke.org

Supreme Court Decision Shakes Up N.C. Politics, Experts Say

Some analysts, however, don’t see the ‘Activist’ ruling injects ruling as a turning point in state politics. Dr. Andrew Taylor, political science professor competition into elections, at North Carolina State University, said that some observers overestimate the im- say legal, political analysts pact of redistricting in elections. North Carolina has a shifting popula- tion, there has been increased blurring of By RICHARD WAGNER parties in the state, and an increasing num- Editor ber of voters prefer to refrain from declar- and PAUL CHESSER ing any party affiliation, Dr. Taylor said. Associate Editor Taylor disagrees with politicians who RALEIGH claim that redistricting will decide who is olitics in North Carolina may never elected for the next 10 years. “I think that’s be the same in the wake of the N.C. exaggerated,” he said. P Supreme Court’s landmark decision In establishing its reasoning for relying on redistricting, legal scholars and politi- on the whole-county provision, the court cal scientists say. said, “There is a long-standing tradition of That’s a good thing, some of the experts respecting county lines during the redis- said, because North Carolina’s elections tricting process in this State. Indeed, this generally have been a fait accompli since the custom and practice arose hundreds of years days of Reconstruction after the Civil War, before federal limitations were placed upon when Southern backlash to the Radical Re- state redistricting and reapportionment publicans delegated near-total power to the procedures during the 1960s. North Democratic Party for nearly a century. Carolina’s initial state constitution, enacted One analyst said the decision April 30 The North Carolina Supreme Court has transformed the political landscape of the state. in 1776, provided that representation in could enable Republicans to wrest solid both the Senate and the House of Commons control of the state legislature for the first validated the redistricting plan before the litical guidelines, you will almost certainly was based on ‘counties.’” time in more than 100 years. case went to the Supreme Court. The judge allow Republicans to win a majority of The court referred to the use of county “No matter how [Speaker of the House subsequently determined a plan for getting seats,” Arrington said. lines by other states in the drawing of dis- Jim] Black draws these districts, this will new districts drawn as rapidly as possible. tricts: “Other states still utilize a ‘whole clearly help the Republicans,” said Dr. Ted The court, with four Republican justices Increasing political competition county’ criterion and this practice of re- Arrington, professor of political science at holding the majority ruling, one GOP mem- specting political subdivisions in the redis- the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. ber agreeing in part and dissenting else- The ruling should inject some compe- tricting process has been uniformly upheld “It gives them, in my view, a more or less where, and two Democratic justices dissent- tition into a system that for too long inhib- by the United States Government.” permanent advantage. North Carolina has ing, said most House and Senate districts ited democracy in North Carolina, said Dr. However, the complexity of the court’s a natural Republican gerrymander. should have only one member, follow Jack Fleer, professor of political science at ruling leaves plenty of room for further “To the extent this decision mandates county boundaries, have a compact shape, Wake Forest University. interpretation, the experts say. nonpolitical criteria for districts, it gives the and contain roughly equal population. “I think one of the great problems we Four of the five justices ruled that, in Republicans an advantage. I would expect The court rejected a Republican-pro- have in democracy is the absence of com- reality, the whole-county provision doesn’t they could win a majority of seats with 46 posed remedy to create large multimember petition,” he said. “The vigor of public de- always apply to legislative redistricting, to 47 percent of the votes, but I’m only districts that covered several counties. The bate is lessened.” even in counties outside the jurisdiction of guessing,” he said. court cited the U.S. Supreme Court as ob- Most districts drawn by Democrats the federal Voting Rights Act. In the complicated decision released on serving that multimember districts have were noncompetitive — they protected in- The smaller majority (Justice Bob Orr April 30, the court struck down legislative been used to dilute the voting strength of cumbents. “I don’t feel that serves democ- opted out here) found that multimember districts that had been approved by legis- racial minorities. racy well,” Fleer said. districts violated another provision of the lators only a few months before, on Nov. Reflecting the complexity of the ruling, Dr. Michael Curtis, professor of law at state constitution involving equal protec- 13. In ordering the maps redrawn, the court, the justices then held that “the use of both Wake Forest University, also decried the tion under the laws. In doing so, the court referring to the state constitution’s whole- single-member and multimember districts effects of a noncompetitive electoral system. found that the equal-protection clause can- county provision, ruled that the districts within the same redistricting plan violates “The general trend is we don’t have com- celed out the whole-county provision when were unconstitutional because they did not the Equal Protection Clause of the state con- petitive districts and we don’t have demo- the latter would appear to require respect county boundaries where possible. stitution unless it is established that the in- cratic government,” he said. multimember districts in order to keep dis- The court said the legislature should clusion of multimember districts within Dr. Curtis pointed out two main causes tricts as equivalent as possible in popula- have the first opportunity to enact new re- such plan advances a compelling state in- of noncompetitive politics: gerrymandering tion. districting plans. However, if the legislature terest.” and group ownership of the media. Because In its majority opinion, written by Chief fails to approve an acceptable plan or if the Most reliable Democratic votes are con- so many television stations and newspapers Justice Beverly Lake, the court said, “Since plan disrupts the timing of the 2002 gen- centrated in black districts, Dr. Arrington today are governed by corporate dictates, the General Assembly stopped complying eral election, Superior Court Judge Knox said, and redistricting would preclude the they don’t devote the air time or news space Jenkins may redraw the districts. party from using those votes elsewhere in necessary to promote competitiveness in Jenkins made the initial ruling that in- the state. “Drawn along a series of nonpo- political races, he said. Continued as “Supreme Court,” Page 3

Top Local Priority? The John Locke Foundation NONPROFIT ORG. Contents 200 W. Morgan St., # 200 U.S. POSTAGE Raleigh, NC 27601 PAID Affordable Housing 69.7% RALEIGH NC PERMIT NO. 1766 Controlling Sprawl 21.2% Calendar 2 Not Sure 9.1% State Government 3 Education 6 Higher Education 10 Local Government 14 Books & the Arts 18 Opinion 20 % of N.C. Respondents in Oct. 2000 JLF Poll Parting Shot 24 C A R O L I N A Contents

ON THE COVER legislation supporting educational options. • North Carolina Citizens for a Sound JOURNAL Page 7 Economy held an informative meeting in • Analysts say the N.C. Supreme Court, in Hickory on property rights issues and river handing down a 4-1-2 decision that invali- • The Children’s Scholarship Fund helped buffers. Page 15 dated a redistricting plan approved by the Ronetta Stewart get her children into General Assembly, might has shaken up Charlotte’s Providence Day School, much • An interview with former U.S. Attorney Richard Wagner politics as usual in the state, which has been to her joy. Page 9 and Charlotte activist Tom Ashcraft. Editor controlled by Democrats since the days of Page 16 Reconstruction. Page 1 HIGHER EDUCATION Paul Chesser, Michael Lowrey THE LEARNING CURVE Associate Editors NORTH CAROLINA • North Carolina State University plans to issue bonds to build a $65 million confer- • George C. Leef reviews the book On Seas •Rep. Fern Shubert, a Republican from ence center and golf course on its Centen- of Glory: Heroic Men, Great Ships, and Epic Sherri Joyner, Erik Root, Union County, will introduce a bill in May nial Campus. Page 10 Battles of the American Navy by former Sec- Jon Sanders to shore up North Carolina’s driver’s licens- retary of the Navy John Lehman. Page 18 Assistant Editors ing standards. Page 4 • The University of California system now admits proportionately more minority stu- • Reviews of Only One Place of Redress by Thomas Paul De Witt • The John Locke Foundation celebrated dents than it did before the UC Regents’ ban David E. Bernstein and Unfree Speech: The Opinion Editor its 12th anniversary at a dinner March 22, on race-preferential admissions in 1998. Folly of Campaign Finance Reform by Brad- and The Weekly Standard’s William Kristol Page 11 ley A. Smith. Page 19 shared his thoughts on the war. Page 4 Andrew Cline, Roy Cordato, • A study by the Independent Women’s OPINION Charles Davenport, Ian Drake, • The state’s computer consultant for elec- Forum of syllabi at 30 major colleges and Tom Fetzer, Nat Fullwood, tronic procurement and its website have universities found that women’s studies • Editorials on corruption in the North John Gizzi, David Hartgen, been associated with problems with other textbooks are riddled with lies and preju- Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles and Lindalyn Kakedelis, George Leef, state governments. Page 5 dice. Page 11 retroactive tax increases. Page 20 Kathryn Parker, Marc Rotterman, Jack Sommer, George Stephens, John Staddon, Jeff Taylor, EDUCATION • A survey of faculty members in nine de- • Editorials on NCSU’s plans to run a hotel Michael Walden partments at UNC-CH by the conservative and the John Locke Foundation’s Tax Contributing Editors • Sherri Joyner considers how the recently student magazine Carolina Review found Awareness Tour. Page 21 passed No Child Left Behind Act will influ- that more than four-fifths are registered ence school choice options in North Caro- Democrats. Page 12 • Michael Walden answers the question: Hans Hurd, Rheta Burton, lina. Page 6 How could anyone be in favor of trade with Brian Gwyn, Nathan Lintner, •Continuing a series on issues in higher foreign countries if that trade results in job Thomas Croom • After five years of ABCs testing and ac- education, Jon Sanders looks at race, and losses here at home? Page 23 Editorial Interns countability, North Carolina schools have says racial hypersensitivity poisons the at- had little success, if any, closing the achieve- mosphere at universities. Page 13 PARTING SHOT ment gap between white students and black John Hood students. Page 7 LOCAL GOVERNMENT • Because “kids are going to do it anyway,” Publisher Wake County schools plan to teach children • Lindalyn Kakedelis writes that if the U.S. • Erik Root tells the story of Robert J. Fos- about “safe speeding,” ignoring stop signs Don Carrington Supreme Court upholds Cleveland’s school ter in a disturbing tale about the Brunswick and responsible smoking, among other pro- Associate Publisher voucher program, we can expect a flood of County legal system. Page 14 grams. Page 24

Published by Calendar The John Locke Foundation 200 W. Morgan St., # 200 Raleigh, N.C. 27601 (919) 828-3876 • Fax: 821-5117 Terrorism Expert Emerson to Headline Locke Luncheon www.JohnLocke.org

teven Emerson, an author and tele- and who have enhanced American under- Bruce Babcock, Ferrell Blount, John Carrington, Hap Chalmers, vision analyst renowned for his ex- standing of that turbulent region.” The Sandra Fearrington, Jim Fulghum, S pertise on world terrorism, will be award is “in recognition of his brave efforts William Graham, John Hood, the featured speaker at a John Locke Foun- to expose and combat the fundamentalist Kevin Kennelly, Lee Kindberg, dation luncheon in Raleigh on May 20. The Islamic threat in America” as “one of the Robert Luddy, William Maready, program will start at noon at the Brown- world’s most diligent investigators of inter- J. Arthur Pope, Assad Meymandi, stone Hotel. national terrorism and counter-terrorism.” Tula Robbins, David Stover, Emerson, executive director of The In- Oliver Revell, former head of FBI Inves- Jess Ward, Andy Wells, vestigative Project, is widely recognized as tigations and Counter-Terrorism, said, “Mr. Art Zeidman one of the foremost experts in the world on Emerson’s startling discoveries and find- Board of Directors militant Islamic terrorism. Since Sept. 11, ings on terrorism are all meticulously docu- Emerson has appeared frequently on net- mented. work television and has been quoted or His impressive body of investigative CAROLINA JOURNAL is a monthly journal cited frequently in the nation’s top newspa- work has shown that he is more knowl- of news, analysis, and commentary on state pers. Emerson has also given numerous edgeable on international Middle Eastern and local government and public policy briefings to Congress, the White House, the terrorist issues and groups than either the issues in North Carolina. Justice Department and other federal agen- FBI or CIA.” cies. Emerson’s newest book is American Jihad, ©2002 by The John Locke Foundation Emerson started The Investigative The Terrorists Living Among Us. He has Inc. All opinions expressed in bylined ar- ticles are those of the authors and do not Project in late 1995, following the broadcast authored or coauthored four other books: necessarily reflect the views of the editors of of his documentary film, “Jihad in America,” NBC terrorism analyst Steven Emerson Terrorist: The Inside Story of the Highest-Rank- Carolina Journal or the staff and board of on public television. The film exposed video ing Iraqi Terrorist Ever to Defect to the West; the Locke Foundation. of clandestine operations of militant Islamic “America’s Most Wanted.” He now appears The Fall of Pan Am 103: Inside the Lockerbie terrorist groups on American soil. For the regularly on NBC as a terrorism analyst, Investigation; Secret Warriors: Inside the Co- Material published in Carolina Journal film, Emerson received numerous awards and can be seen frequently with Brian Wil- vert Military Operations of the Reagan Era; may be reprinted provided the Locke Foun- including the George Polk Award for best liams, Chris Matthews, and others on and The American House of Saud: The Secret dation receives prior notice and appropri- television documentary, one of the most MSNBC. Petrodollar Connection. ate credit is given. Submissions and letters prestigious awards in journalism. Over the past three years, Emerson has The cost of the luncheon is $15 per to the editor are welcome and should be directed to the editor. He also received the top prize from the testified more than a dozen times before person. For more information or to prereg- Investigative Reporters and Editors Orga- Congress, and he has briefed the National ister, contact Kory Swanson at (919 828- Readers of Carolina Journal who wish nization for best investigative report in both Security Council at the White House as 3876 or [email protected]. to receive daily and weekly updates from CJ print and television for the documentary. well. During Emerson’s recent testimony editors and reporters on issues of interest to The award from the IRE was the fourth such Oct. 3 before a Select Congressional Com- Locke Lines North Carolinians should call 919-828- award he had received from that group. mittee, U.S. Rep. Christopher Smith, R-NJ, 3876 and request a free subscription to The documentary, which was excerpted on said, “Steve Emerson deserves the highest The John Locke Foundation produces Carolina Journal Weekly Report, deliv- “60 Minutes,” is now standard viewing for prize — a Pulitzer or whatever it may be — a monthly audio magazine called ered each weekend by fax and e-mail, or federal law enforcement and intelligence for investigative journalism.” LockeLines that features speeches made at visit Carolina Journal.com on the World Wide Web. Those interested in education, organizations. Emerson is the 1997 recipient of the JLF events each month. LockeLines in- higher education, or local government Emerson has been quoted in more than Middle East Forum’s Albert J. Wood Public cludes Headliner speeches as well as should also ask to receive new weekly e- 500 news articles, has appeared on all the Affairs Award, which “honors individuals Shaftesbury Society speeches and commen- letters covering these issues. major networks including “Fox News,” “The who have made important contributions to tary by Locke staff. To subscribe, call Kory Today Show,” “Dateline NBC,” and the attainment of peace in the Middle East Swanson at (919) 828-3876. CJ C A R O L I N A May 2002 JOURNAL North Carolina 3 Statewide Tour Raises Awareness of N.C.’s Soaring Taxes

sis by the John Locke Foundation. John Locke Foundation, The Washington-based Tax Foundation released its annual Tax Freedom Day report citizens group’s leaders April 10, comparing all states and the Dis- visit 22 towns, cities trict of Columbia in federal, state, and local tax projections for the current calendar year. State and local taxes in North Carolina By PAUL CHESSER are projected to consume 10.1 percent of Associate Editor personal income in 2002, yielding an aver- RALEIGH age tax burden higher than most other tour of North Carolina, cospon- Southern states and one of the highest such sored by the John Locke Founda- burdens in North Carolina history. By com- A tion and North Carolina Citizens parison, state and local taxes consume 9.5 for a Sound Economy, began on April Fool’s percent of personal income in so-called Day, but the focus of the tour — taxes — “Taxachusetts.” was not funny. North Carolina ranks 29th in the nation John Locke Foundation President John in state and local tax burden, just below the Hood, who spoke in 22 towns and cities national average of 10.2 percent. during the tour, told Winston-Salem activ- Among nearby states, only Georgia, at ists at the tour’s first Tar Heel Tea Party that 10.2 percent, exceeds North Carolina in state he likes to start his speeches usually with a and local taxes, while South Carolina, 10 political joke. percent; Virginia, 9.4 percent; Florida, 9.3 “The problem with political jokes,” percent; Alabama; and Tennessee, 8.4 per- Hood said, “is they keep getting elected.” cent, rank lower. About 150 activists protested in the shadow “Because of recent increases in state in- of the BB&T Building on Corpening Plaza Activists at the tea party in downtown Wilmington express their opinions on state taxes. come and sales taxes, local property taxes, in Winston-Salem, shouting out their oppo- and business and consumer taxes, North sition to excessive taxation and the state’s not filled,” he said. their political leaders to sign NCCSE’s Carolina saw its tax ranking worsen during lavish spending habits. Other Forsyth County activists also pledge not to raise taxes. “If they don’t sign the past year,” Hood said. NCCSE Director Jonathan Hill told the spoke from the podium. Ken Raymond of it,” Kraviec said, “don’t vote for them.” “When you consider that North Caro- protesters that 62 legislators had pledged Winston-Salem criticized the “continued The tour took NCCSE and Locke repre- lina also levies relatively high marginal tax not to raise taxes last year, but that 10 of growth of redundant services” in govern- sentatives to Smithfield, Kinston, Wilson, rates — particularly on income — it be- them broke their promises and voted to do ment, and touted the merits of the John Burlington, Durham, Charlotte, Marion, comes obvious that our state’s tax posture is it anyway. Hood and Hill traveled across Locke Foundation’s alternative state bud- Lenoir, Wilkesboro, Greenville, Tarboro, one reason our economy has been suffering the state to educate and motivate grass- get plan. Rocky Mount, Henderson, Roanoke Rap- more than those of our neighboring states.” roots activists to influence their legislators “[Lawmakers] could adopt at least a ids, and Fayetteville in the first week. A Also during the tour, the Locke Founda- as the General Assembly’s budget commit- few of their suggestions,” Raymond said, second Tea Party was held April 3 in tion released a survey of 435 business ex- tees discuss the state’s $1.8 billion shortfall. “but they don’t really want to solve the Wilmington, where an enthusiastic crowd ecutives around the state (see accompany- “We have a spending crisis,” Hill said. problem.” participated. ing article). The respondents ranked “state “They (legislators) are addicted to spend- Another NCCSE “super-activist,” Joyce “We have a raging wildfire [of spend- and local taxes” as the most serious prob- ing, and we need to break that addiction.” Kraviec of Kernersville, said legislators’ at- ing],” Hood told a smaller group of lem facing North Carolina’s economy. Two- Activists decried Gov. Mike Easley’s titudes about taxpayers’ money is wrong. Goldsboro antitax activists April 2. “Instead thirds of the respondents said state and seizure, by executive order, of $209 million “They think it’s theirs,” she said. of putting the fire out, our politicians are local officials should balance their budgets in tax revenue that the state has historically “They’re addicted to our money.” fanning the flames.” solely through spending reductions rather collected and distributed to local govern- Kraviec denounced the creation of new than by raising taxes. ments. Bill Roberts of Winston-Salem car- government programs, such as Easley’s Study, survey released Hood pointed out that the total tax bur- ried a sign that read, “Easley is a Thief. He More at Four plan to educate preschoolers, den in North Carolina, including federal owes Winston-Salem $4.1 Million. It is our when the state budget is in a severe deficit. Not coincidentally, the tour also was taxes, actually improved somewhat from Money!” “The state owes us the utility tax “I don’t want any of my money going timed to lead up to the April 15 deadline for 2001 to 2002. The day average North Caro- money,” Roberts said, adding that he thinks for new programs,” she said. completing tax returns. However, that linians stop working for the government local governments should sue the state. Kraviec also stressed the need for more wasn’t the only grim news in April for and start working for themselves improved Besides periodic chants of “No new citizens to participate in the process and to North Carolina taxpayers. by two days this year to April 20, according taxes!”, Hill also led the crowd in calls for make their opinions known to their repre- Newly published figures on tax bur- to the Tax Foundation report. “Zero-based budgeting!” in Winston-Salem. sentatives. “There aren’t enough of us,” she dens in the United States confirmed that “If not for the efforts of President Bush He said the state should delete empty job said, urging activists to recruit others to the North Carolina now has a significantly positions that are funded in the budget. antitax cause. higher state and local tax burden than Mas- “We should eliminate every job that’s She also told the activists to pressure sachusetts, according to a preliminary analy- Continued as “Tax Tour,” Page 14 Supreme Court Changes the Face of Politics, Experts Say

Continued From Page 1 lina court system, and the federal issues portance of redistricting solely according to ture.” haven’t been touched yet,” Schroeder said. the whole-county provision. “County lines Arrington, too, thinks the court took a with the Whole County Provision of the The federal government has issued con- do not mean as much...as finding where bold step. State Constitution, North Carolina legisla- flicting requirements many times in the those areas of community interest are, re- “They (the court) invented a new stan- tive districts have been increasingly gerry- past, Schroeder said. The Voting Rights Act ally,” he said. “The effect of this will put dard,” Arrington said. “Saying if I’m in a mandered to a degree inviting widespread and the U.S. Supreme Court historically county lines ahead of much more impor- multimember district...I get more represen- contempt and ridicule.” have invalidated redistricting plans because tant criteria.” tation than you do—there is no basis for To buttress the argument, the chief jus- they were race-based. Some critics mention the political that in any other law. This is brand-new law tice also cited excerpts from the Wall Street Redistricting “is an amazing mess,” makeup of the court and say it may have invented by the courts. The Feds have al- Journal: “Elections in many semifree Third Schroeder said. “Any decision in this state influenced its decision. Whether the deci- ways allowed multimember districts. This World nations routinely offer more choices about electoral matters that is so far fully sion can be characterized as political activ- is a very far-reaching decision.” than many North Carolina residents will contained in the state legal system is going ism, however, is a matter of debate. Is this activism? “Oh yeah, absolutely,” have” under the 2001 redistricting plans; to be inconclusive.” “The decision is most questionable, as a Arrington said. and The Economists: “In a normal democ- Fleer said the whole-county provision is matter of state law,” Curtis said. Dr. Carmine Scavo, associate professor racy, voters choose their representatives. In not a good model to follow. County lines “By my definition, a court is active when of political science at East Carolina Univer- America, it is rapidly becoming the other made sense hundreds of years ago, but they it independently considers, e.g., constitu- sity, discounts any concern over the role of way around...North Carolina (has been) don’t necessarily represent communities of tional questions and does not defer to the politics in redistricting. “On these redis- long notorious for outrageous reapportion- interest today, he said. legislature resolution of sometimes conflict- tricting things, it’s wrong to complain that ment.” “I think that’s a fiction in the argument,” ing constitutional and legal interests,” Curtis they’re political. They’re that way every- But Dr. Donald Schroeder, associate pro- Fleer said. He said that the Supreme Court said. “In that sense the decision is active, where, even when they try not to be.” fessor of political science at Campbell Uni- actually put “a preference on single-mem- and most courts have been at least some- Even if a commission was appointed to versity, said the court’s decision seemed ber districts, which I don’t think over- what active throughout American history. redraw the maps, there would be a political contradictory. “How you develop a scheme reached.” Whether the activism is justified depends fight over who’s going to be appointed to entirely of single-member districts and re- “I think they took a constitutional provi- on one’s views on whether you think the the panel, Dr. Scavo said. spect county lines escapes me,” he said. sion and said work with it, but don’t be court correctly interpreted the state consti- “What they did is what political parties “We’re talking about a legal fight that rigidly constrained by it,” Fleer said. tution and how much deference you think it have been doing for hundreds of years,” he has so far been contained in the North Caro- Arrington, likewise, discounted the im- should give to the decision of the legisla- said. CJ May 2002 C A R O L I N A 4 North Carolina JOURNAL

Around the State Proof of residency for motorists Bill Seeks to Deter Licensing of Illegal Aliens • Even Washington’s gossip col- umnists can’t resist the urge to slam North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms, By PAUL CHESSER even as he is headed out the door. In Associate Editor a post-Oscars e-mail to fellow col- RALEIGH umnist George Rush of the New York ince Sept. 11, 2001, North Carolina Daily News, gossiper Lloyd Grove of took measures to prevent potential the Washington Post wrote of the S terrorist attacks from harming its citi- awards: “It was a historic night at zens. Funding was appropriated and mea- the Oscars…and it was a feel-good sures implemented to secure government conclusion after a run-up so nasty, buildings and airports, protect agricultural what with charges of anti-Semitism products, prevent cyberterrorism, enhance and smear campaigns…that it could emergency response teams, and index bio- have been one of Jesse Helms’ re- logical agents. election races in North Carolina.” But what many say has been a glaring The e-mail was posted on Slate.com’s omission is the failure to address the state’s website. Grove was referring to a widely recognized reputation as a haven publicity campaign against best pic- for illegal immigrants. Undocumented im- ture-winner A Beautiful Mind, in migrants in the country have been known which the film’s subject, Princeton to flock to North Carolina because of the professor John Nash, was accused ease of obtaining driver’s licenses here, with DMV officer Winifred Annette Richardson helps a driver’s license applicant at a Raleigh office. of anti-Semitic remarks — an aspect minimal proof of residency. of his life that was left out of the film. New legislation, expected to be intro- duced in the General Assembly’s short ses- DMV office after fulfilling requirements, an have a Social Security number. sion in May, proposes to remedy some of applicant would receive only a temporary The bill also increases the penalty for • Robin Pendergraft, director of the holes in the state’s licensing laws. Rep. license, and a permanent one would be furnishing false information in order to the State Bureau of Investigation, Fern Shubert, R-Union, plans to present to mailed to the address provided after iden- obtain a state-issued photo identification to has denied a request made by Rep. legislators a bill that would “require the tity is verified. a Class I felony — the equivalent of making Mark Crawford, R-Buncombe, to Division of Motor Vehicles to determine the The bill would also eliminate the op- a false bomb threat. view an SBI report compiled from validity of any Social Security number or tion for an applicant to simply provide a Shubert‘s bill also requires the State the investigation of corruption in visa number submitted on an application signed affidavit stating that he or she is a Board of Elections to conduct a review of all North Carolina’s western region for a driver’s license.” Under such a law, resident. “That standard is awfully low,” voter registrations made through the DMV, Division of Motor Vehicles. Attor- DMV could not issue a permanent license said Shubert. in order to verify claims of residency. ney General Roy Cooper, who over- until the legitimacy of Social Security or In an effort to clean up past transgres- SBOE would be required, like DMV, to sees the SBI, had forwarded visa numbers and identity are established. sions, the bill calls for all licenses issued in mail address confirmations of residency Crawford’s request to Pendergraft. “There is a problem that has not been the past without a legitimate Social Security (and citizenship) to all voters registered Crawford had cited an N.C. statute addressed,” Shubert said. “[We] are telling or visa number to be invalidated, unless the through DMV, who have not provided a which requires “all officers…and people we don’t really care if terrorists come license holder provides a valid number. valid Social Security number. departments” of the state to “give all to this state to get driver’s licenses.” DMV would have to verify, by Oct. 1, The board would be required to furnish information and all data within their The proposed legislation would require 2002, Social Security numbers on all current results of the review to the legislature. possession” to members of the Gen- that a license issued based on a visa would driver’s licenses, and invalidate current li- “I am not by any far stretch of the eral Assembly upon request. expire when the visa does. Also, instead of censes if they don’t match the Social Secu- imagination anti-immigrant,” Shubert said. Pendergraft refused to comply based receiving a permanent license at a local rity number provided, or if the driver didn’t “The rule of law is what it’s all about.” CJ on a separate statute, which says criminal investigative records are not public records.

• The Asheville Citizen-Times re- Locke Foundation Celebrates 12th Anniversary ported that allegations of corrup- tion against officers in the state Divi- By PAUL CHESSER dictators.” sion of Motor Vehicles’ enforcement Associate Editor A regular visitor to Israel, Kristol said, branch spread eastward. The news- RALEIGH “The degree of hatred now is…greater than paper said a former DMV officer, he John Locke Foundation cel- ever,” between Arabs and Jews. W.D. Miles of Surry County, in- ebrated its 12th anniversary at a He placed a lot of blame on Palestinians, formed the SBI about at least one dinner March 22 in Raleigh, with who have “brainwashed” youths to hate instance in which a trucking com- T keynote speaker William Kristol of The Jews and become suicide bombers, a prac- pany he ticketed for an equipment Weekly Standard magazine focusing on the tice encouraged by Palestinian leader Yasser violation had the charges dismissed. dominant news story of the past year—the Arafat. He called the new style of violence a The SBI is investigating allegations war on terrorism. “degradation of Islam.” of ticket-fixing, bribery, and cam- Kristol, who says he was once the token Kristol also criticized the U.S. paign contributions in exchange for conservative professor at the Kennedy government’s policy toward Saudi Arabia, promotions, which until now had School for Government at Harvard Univer- which he said was “allegedly our friend.” been limited to the DMV’s sity, devoted much of his speech to discuss- He said the dominance of Wahhabi Is- westernmost region, covering 17 ing the performance of George W. Bush, lam, which is a militant form of the religion counties. The Citizen-Times reported saying the war has already defined his presi- and sponsors much of the terrorism against that Davie County District Attorney dency. “He has rallied the country to this America, is “something we’ve turned a blind Garry Frank is reviewing the SBI’s task,” Kristol said. eye to the last 20 to 30 years.” initial findings on Miles’ allegations. Kristol appears regularly on Sunday He said he expects the United States to morning talk shows and his punditry is have more of a problem with the Saudi • The Watauga Democrat re- marked by his belief in the need to expand Arabian government than America has had ported that a study sponsored by the war against terrorism. with any other nation, except the Taliban. AAA Carolinas found “North Caro- Kristol praised Bush’s broadening of the Journalist and TV personality William Kristol The Locke anniversary celebration con- linians spent $123 less than the na- war, and said he expects it to include a cluded with the recognition of former Ra- tional average to own and operate a military confrontation with Iraq, possibly leigh Mayor Paul Coble, who was given the motor vehicle last year.” While gas by the time of U.S. elections this fall. He said confrontations with the ‘axis of evil’” na- James K. Polk Award for leadership in pub- and oil prices and insurance were the president “correctly” was focusing less tions and others that sponsor terrorism. lic office. He was recognized for his work in below the national average, the on terrorist groups, and more on weapons Kristol supported the president’s use of maintaining fiscal restraint and protecting state’s taxes, license, and registra- of mass destruction. the term “axis of evil,” saying that while property rights. tion fees were among the highest in “The truth is, no one else is going to do Europeans were upset by the phrase, realis- Former U.S. Attorney Tom Ashcraft of the country. The group determined it,” said Kristol. “What will the world look tically the U.S. cannot reason “with people Charlotte was honored with the John Will- that the combined government take like if we don’t do this? That world becomes who have evil goals.” iam Pope Sr. Award, for innovative leader- was nearly $300 above the national incredibly dangerous for ourselves and our “Wars do not go in orderly, predictable ship in the private sector. average. North Carolina Sen. Vir- children.” fashion,” Kristol said, straying into com- Ashcraft provided legal representation ginia Foxx said the state’s registra- Kristol said that Bush immediately mentary on how the president will be af- for parents in Mecklenburg County, who tion fees are three to four times more grasped the implications of what happened fected politically. “[But] that is the new successfully sued to removed a race-based than most states. The study was on Sept. 11, 2001, and now has the opportu- world we live in.” student assignment plan. The victory lead based on the use of three recent-year nity to influence the future shape of the Saying he thinks democracy is possible to the school system’s current plan, which car models. CJ world. He said Bush has embarked on “a in the Middle East, Kristol said, “It doesn’t offers greater choice and competition among huge agenda for the U.S., with expected have to be a region entirely dominated by schools. CJ C A R O L I N A May 2002 JOURNAL North Carolina 5

News reports find conflict in Fla., Ohio, D.C. State’s Computer Consultant Has Knack for Trouble Elsewhere

By PAUL CHESSER charge on sales made through the website, tigation that the state’s director of the De- to conduct feasibility studies and a cost- Associate Editor and if enough state employees used it, the partment of Job and Family Services im- benefit analysis before awarding a contract RALEIGH cost of the Accenture contract would be properly awarded contracts to Accenture. to Accenture, according to the Tallahassee C@Your Service, the state covered. However, that hasn’t worked out The Columbus Dispatch reported that Arnold Democrat. Auditors also determined that government’s (so far) disappoint- so far, and the state could be liable to pay up R. Tompkins gave Accenture millions contracts had been signed without financial N ing venture into electronic pro- to $44.8 million to Accenture over 3 1/2 through unbid contracts, then he received details having been completed, and “un- curement procedures for its agencies, is years if usage doesn’t increase, according to tens of thousands of dollars from Accenture clear and possibly duplicative functions under the guidance of a consultant for- The News & Observer of Raleigh. after he left the state’s employment to start being assigned to both Accenture and the merly tied to troubled accounting firm The newspaper reported on April 14, his own consulting firm. State Technology Office.” Arthur Anderson LLP. The consulting firm, 2001 that Charles Cooper II, the state’s Donna Givens, an employee in Kim Binkley-Seyer, secretary of the Accenture, changed its name from Andersen former deputy controller for information Accenture’s Reston, Va. office and former business agency, disputed the findings, but Consulting in January 2001 and went pub- resource management who is now with co-worker with Tompkins at the U.S. De- a Florida Joint Legislative Auditing Com- lic in May. Accenture, helped negotiate the new deal. partment of Health and Human Services, mittee also criticized the deal, calling the The accounting firm and consultant In 1997, Cooper came under fire by a gov- was hired as a consultant by the Ohio agency contract evaluation “sloppy.” have been separately owned and operated ernment technology oversight committee while still employed by Accenture (then In Washington, employees of the D.C. for 11 years, and while Andersen’s name because an $82 million contract for Y2K Andersen Consulting). The Washington Post Office of Tax and Revenue have complained has suffered because of its ties to the Enron work was also awarded to Accenture, then reported last year that Ohio’s inspector gen- about new databases installed by Accenture, scandal, its former sibling has faced its own known as Andersen Consulting. That con- eral cited a memo from Givens to Andersen saying the correspondence tracking pro- challenges with government contracts it has tract was awarded outside the competitive officials outlining “various strategies to gram is barely usable and causes computer won elsewhere. Research performed by bidding process, as is usually required by enhance Andersen’s position with Ohio, crashes, according to The Washington Post. Carolina Journal into activities and other state law, because State Controller Ed including how to insure Andersen contract Michigan Gov. John Engler last year government relationships with Accenture Renfrow declared the situation an emer- extensions through Mr. Tompkins, and how appointed Jacque Passino, a former 30-year revealed problems with special favors, lack gency. to position Mr. Tompkins after he leaves consultant with Accenture/Andersen, as of competition for contracts, and dissatis- State Purchasing Officer John Leaston, state government.” director of the state’s Department of Infor- faction with the company’s work. despite his discomfort with the deal, signed Tompkins reached a plea agreement mation Technology. Accenture won the contract to imple- off on it. “This is something we’ve all known with the state in September, admitting guilt Engler created the department by ex- ment the state’s agency-linking and e-pro- about for two or three years,” Leaston told on two ethics charges. Givens reached an ecutive order, and tabbed Passino in No- curement system in June 2000, a $3.5 mil- the N&O at the time. “We like to see agen- agreement with the state to pay restitution vember 2001 after Passino had retired from lion deal that also included the services of cies planning for their procurements.” and complete a one-year probation. Accenture in August. BellSouth and Yahoo! The success of the Cooper told the N&O that winning the In December the state scrapped its jobs- In March of this year the Michigan De- plan was based on the willingness of North recent Accenture contract had nothing to matching program that Accenture had partment of Treasury unveiled a new cus- Carolina’s agencies to purchase supplies do with his former job with the state. implemented, after $60 million had been tomer call center. An Accenture press re- and equipment through the system, giving North Carolina isn’t the only state where spent on it. lease said the project was “developed and the state greater buying power and ability Accenture has won government contracts In Florida, state auditors said the De- launched initially as a pilot in four months.” to negotiate lower prices. Businesses that with questionable scrutiny. The State of partment of Business and Professional Regu- It is part of a $10 million project the state has sell to the state would pay a 1.75 percent Ohio’s inspector general found in an inves- lation and the State Technology Office failed with Accenture over eight years. CJ

Despite campaign promises to the contrary Bush’s Justice Department We Want Less!

Concerned About Issues Such As May Still Pursue ‘Tobacco Wars’ Taxes, Regulations, Property Rights & Patient Choice in Health Care?

By JOHN GIZZI Carolina’s congressional delegation. Reps. Thousands of your fellow North Contributing Editor Mike McIntyre, D-7th, and Bob Etheridge, Carolinians are, too — that’s why WASHINGTON D-2nd, the latter a tobacco farmer himself, they have joined North Carolina t doesn’t really seem to matter that the had weighed in strongly against the action Citizens for a Sound Economy to issue of tobacco and its prospective by their party’s last occupant of the White fight for less government, lower Idanger engenders so little interest House. taxes, and more freedom. They are among the public at large that Congressional While quieter about the issue, outgoing making their voices heard. Quarterly removed it from its web site of Rep. Eva Clayton, D-1st, is also known to be North Carolina CSE members protest state hot issues on Capitol Hill. for government ceasing and desisting in the Fighting for the People’s Agenda tax increases at an August rally in Raleigh. Nor does it seem to matter that while a tobacco wars. candidate for president, Rep. Howard Coble, North Carolina Citizens for a Sound Economy holds politicians accountable for George W. Bush told a R-6th, recalled how he their votes on taxes, regulations, and other issues. Its aggressive, real-time group of House members flew with Bush on Air campaigns activate a grassroots army to show up and demand policy change. from North Carolina and Bush appeared “very Force One last April when other tobacco states that receptive when I urged the president spoke at And it gets results. CSE has helped to defeat three large tax increases in North the “tobacco wars” and East Carolina University. Carolina and defended property rights, parental choice, and individual freedom government lawsuits him to give the tobacco “I said ‘Mr. President, before the state legislature, county commissions, city councils, and elsewhere. were frivolous and would people some air in- the tobacco farmers in my be ended once he was stead of suffocating district and the tobacco Here’s what some are saying about Citizens for a Sound Economy: elected. Or that Attorney workers and their fami- General John Ashcroft them.”—Howard Coble lies are all very pleased to • “They have been doing a great job all over the country educating people.” signaled early on that, he, see you occupy the White — President George W. Bush too, thought there should House,’” recounted be a truce in the so-called “tobacco wars.” Coble, adding that he told Bush how much • “CSE is a great organization . . . The hundreds of thousands of volunteer The buzz within the U.S. Justice De- they detested “the fellow who was there activists that are members of CSE are vital to this country’s economic prosperity.” partment is that Ashcroft has decided to before you.” — U.S. Rep. Richard Burr of Winston-Salem pick up where the Clinton administration The nine-term lawmaker then went on and predecessor Janet Reno left off — to relate how Bush appeared “very recep- • “You guys are everywhere! CSE is a great organization. CSE, thanks.” namely, to pursue the federal lawsuit against tive when I urged him to give the tobacco — Sen. John McCain the major tobacco companies. Already, the people some air instead of suffocating name of Justice Department lawyer Sherry them.” Get Involved! Eubanks has emerged as the probable chief That was the last word Coble had from litigator in the proposed suit (which would the administration on the subject of the Join North Carolina CSE NORTH CAROLINA and Make a Difference! require, of course, that Congress appropri- federal government vs. tobacco. Noting that ate the seven-figure funding that it had “no one around here talks about tobacco 115 1/2 West. Morgan St. previously penciled out for such sure-to-be suits or the Food and Drug Administration Raleigh, NC 27601 protracted litigation). regulating tobacco anymore,” he finds re- www.cse.org The rumors of such a course by Bush, surfaced rumors of the issue “distressing 1-888-446-5273 Ashcroft, and Co. were a jolt to North news.” CJ May 2002 C A R O L I N A 6 Education JOURNAL

School Reform Briefs Coming This Fall —Choice Options Are districts ready to implement federal education mandates for parental choice? •In April, Judge Howard E. Manning Jr. issued his fourth and fi- nal ruling on funding inequities be- By SHERRI JOYNER tween districts and the failure of all Assistant Editor school districts to provide a “sound RALEIGH basic education.” large part of the No Child Left Be- “The state must step in with an hind Act includes parental options iron hand and get the mess straight,” for families. Under the bill, stu- Manning wrote. “If it takes remov- A dents will be able to transfer to another ing an ineffective superintendent, school in two cases: if their school is deemed principle, teacher, or group of teach- as failing two years in a row, or if their ers and putting effective, competent school is considered to be dangerous. The ones in their place, so be it.” district will also have the responsibility to The final ruling in an eight-year provide supplemental services, such as tu- legal argument determined the leg- toring for low-income students if a school is islative branch must decide how to deemed failing three years in a row. ensure all schools are effective in pro- Most states are not prepared for the viding every student a sound basic changes though, according to Christine education. While Manning did not Wolfe, counselor in the Office of the Deputy call for new spending, lawyers and Secretary of Education for the U.S. Depart- other education leaders saw money ment of Education. The reason is that while in his call for adequate school re- most observers think public school choice sources. options for parents will be available in two Lindalyn Kakadelis, director of years, the truth is that school choice options the North Carolina Education Alli- will be available to some parents as early as Secretary of Education Rod Paige kicks off the No Child Left Behind Campaign in New Mexico. ance, said Manning’s ruling on ineq- the first day of school this fall. The No Child Photo: AP, World Wide Web uities in school funding left room for Left Behind says that Title I schools previ- the state to pursue real reform. ously identified as failing will be shifted to mains whether DPI will draw the same anything yet,” Johnson said. “We are wait- Page Nine of the ruling states: the new requirements. conclusion. North Carolina education offi- ing for interpretation of the bill from DPI.” “In directing this be done, the Court The details behind the plan are confus- cials are not likely to conclude that failing to The fact is, districts across the state are is showing proper deference to the ing and most states, including North Caro- meet expected growth and AYP are the not sure what changes are to come or how to Executive and Legislative Branches lina, have not resolved how to implement same thing. Measuring growth under this prepare. According to Johnson, while the by allowing them, initially at least, the new federal mandates of No Child Left model would dramatically increase the school board and school improvement plan to use their informed judgment as to Behind into the state’s current accountabil- number of schools identified as failing. are talking about possible changes, Halifax how best reallocate and strategically ity system, the ABCs. Depending on how DPI decides to define County Schools will not likely look seri- apply funds, modify or change ex- A chart from the DOE shows schools and measure AYP will determine whether a ously at possible changes until this sum- isting programs and, if needed, cre- that were failing before enactment of the handful or hundreds of additional schools mer. ate new programs and approaches to bill will be required to offer choice options will be required to offer parental choice Durham County School officials also remove the barriers to an equal op- for parents in the 2002-03 school year. This options. said they are waiting on the comprehensive portunity to a sound basic education. would mean N.C. Title I schools identified For instance, last year, 30 schools, in- plan from DPI. Throwing money, either local or as low-performing last year under the ABCs cluding charter, alternative, and traditional Other districts will have similar prob- state, at the problem without strate- will be required to allow students to choose public schools, were labeled by DPI as low- lems. The Bertie, Northampton, and gic and effective planning accompa- alternative schools in the 2002-03 school performing. However, hundreds of schools Robeson county systems all have low-per- nied by accountability for results will year. Schools that have already been identi- received “no recognition” because they forming high schools that may experience not be acceptable.” fied as low-performing the last two years failed to meet expected growth. some difficulties this summer as they try to “With this decision, we can try will be required to either offer students the DPI has many unresolved issues with find ways to transfer students from one some real choice pilot programs,” choice of transferring to another school or the federal bill. “There is a lot of confusion,” school to another. Kakadelis said. “I am sure every par- supplemental services to assist with their said Mildred Bazemore, section chief of The hundreds of schools categorized as ent or guardian truly wants their educational needs. testing. “North Carolina is as advanced as “no recognition” may also have some abrupt child to get the best sound education In a message at the National Title I any other state. I’m not sure many states changes coming this fall, depending on how — so let’s allow the parent to make Conference in January, Thomas M. Corwin, know what’s going to happen.” DPI decided to measure and define AYP. that choice by offering more op- acting deputy assistant secretary for elemen- DPI contends that choice options will “The funny thing about measurement, tions.” tary and secondary education, notified edu- not be available as early as this fall. “We is it all depends on what instrument you use Charter schools are one choice cation officials that all students at failing haven’t seen any details that would indi- to measure it,” Bazemore said responding Kakadelis would like to see ex- schools must have the option to attend an- cate we have to offer parental choice this to whether schools categorized as “no rec- panded. “The best news about char- other school that is not failing. fall,” Bazemore said. “From what I’ve seen, ognition” will be considered as failing to ters is you can take away a school’s “The requirement affects all schools that we will flag failing schools this fall, but it meet AYP. While one may assume that charter if they are failing to improve are in improvement, corrective action, or will be several more years before parental schools labeled as “no recognition” would academic performance, a conse- restructuring status,” Corwin said. “It re- options are available.” be considered as failing to meet AYP, there quence of accountability you do not quires that, beginning on the first day of the is no definite decision yet as to whether this see in our public school system,” school year following a determination that Lack of preparation for choice is the case, Bazemore said. Kakadelis said. “As we move for- a school is not making AYP, all children in ward, we must ensure all schools or that school be given the option of attending DOE is in the process of trying to alert Steps we should be taking programs are held accountable.” another public school in that district that states of what they need to be preparing for Manning also reinstated his first has not been identified as failing.” immediately. Wolfe said states and communities three rulings, one that called for “Many states are not aware what they should be preparing for this fall. According state-funded preschool programs for Is North Carolina ready? need to be planning for now,” Wolfe said. to DOE’s timeline, by this fall the DPI must at-risk 4-year-olds. Last year, Man- Schools and the DPI not only should be decide adequate AYP for schools — the ning ruled that the state was failing DPI is in the process of developing a preparing now for implementing schools overall goal being that 100 percent of stu- to meet the needs of the most at-risk “comprehensive plan” to incorporate No choice plans and supplemental services this dents are at grade level in 12 years. The DPI students. Child Left Behind legislation with the ABCs fall, but they also need a transportation also has to approve supplemental service In his final ruling, Manning program. This is crucial because of the ter- plan for these students, Wolfe said. providers and implement procedures to placed the responsibility of educa- minology in the bill. No Child Left Behind Districts will be obligated to provide monitor the success of the services. tion on the state. defines a low-performing school as one that transportation for parental options using at Local districts have their own respon- “The bottom line is that the state fails to meet average yearly progress. Some least 5 percent, and as much as 15 percent, sibilities. Districts will need to generate ideas of North Carolina has consistently schools in North Carolina fail to meet their of the district’s Title I funds. Providing trans- to address the challenges of public school tried to avoid responsibility for the expected yearly growth, but they are con- portation, especially in rural areas, may be choice and transportation. Districts are also failure to provide at-risk students sidered low-performing only if less than tricky. required to publicize supplemental service with the equal opportunity for a half of their student population is perform- The Halifax County School System may providers available to parents, identify low- sound basic education in [local ing at grade level. If a school in North experience complications this year provid- income students who qualify for the ser- schools systems] throughout the Carolina fails to meet its expected growth in ing choice alternatives for high school stu- vices, and enter into agreements with pro- state by blaming the failure on lack a school year, but has at least 50 percent of dents. Both high schools in Halifax were viders. of leadership and effort of the indi- students at grade level, the school is labeled identified as low-performing in the 2000-01 Parents can take some active steps to vidual [school systems]. The state is as receiving “no recognition.” school year. prod their schools and boards with ques- ultimately responsible and cannot It is easy to conclude, under new fed- Carolyn Johnson, assistant superinten- tions on the possibility of school choice. abdicate its responsibility,” Manning eral law, all schools that fail to meet their dent for Halifax County Schools, admitted But no matter how one looks at it, a lot wrote. CJ expected growth would be deemed as fail- the school system was not ready for changes is left up to the DPI and the steps it takes ing to meet their AYP. The question re- to come this fall. “We really haven’t done defining AYP. CJ May 2002 C A R O L I N A JOURNAL Education 7

Schools consume more money yet still fail Achievement Gap Between Races Persists More Legislation

By SHERRI JOYNER For School Choice Assistant Editor Percent of Students At or Above Grade Level, By Ethnicity RALEIGH he U.S. Supreme Court is debating the con- fter five years of White stitutionality of vouchers that offer financial ABC testing and 90.0 Black assistance to low-income parents who would accountability, 82.0 80.2 Hispanic T A 80.0 79.2 rather send their children to alternative schools, North Carolina schools 76.7 public or private, secular or religious, than schools have had little success, if 72.7 assigned by the system. The litigation, arising from any, closing the achieve- 70.0 Cleveland, Ohio, indicts the educational establish- ment gap between white ment’s mindset as fanatical for stopping any options students and black stu- 60.0 60.0 56.7 for parental choice, and unashamedly revealing their dents. Efforts to close the 55.5 52.0 52.0 loyalty to the system, rather gap on end-of-grade tests 49.6 50.0 48.7 48.5 SOURCE: NC than the education of the have been futile. Since the DPI. Percent of 44.7 child. A ruling is expected beginning of the ABC’s in students at or 40.0 38.4 above Level III in soon. the 1996-97 school year, the both reading and We can expect to see a gap between white stu- math, grades 3-8. flood of legislation support- dents and black students 30.0 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 ing educational options, if the has narrowed by 4.3 per- court upholds Cleveland’s cent. voucher program. Already, Eighty-two percent of President Bush has proposed white students in grades three through eight are perform- ting state-level standards for honors courses and encourag- federal education tax credits ing at or above grade level on end-of-grade tests compared ing districts to require all students to take Algebra I before in his 2003 budget. However, to 52 percent of black students, according to the Depart- ninth grade. Lindalyn parental choice options can ment of Public Instruction’s recently released Volume II of Recommendations to close the gap came from The Kakadelis come from more than just the the 2000-01 ABCs titled Reports of Supplemental Disaggre- North Carolina Commission on Raising Achievement and federal level. All three fund- gated State, School System (LEA) and School Performance Data Closing Gaps. The commission found that too often minor- ing sources, federal, state, and local, can provide for 2000-01. This report is new in that it presents results in ity students are not exposed to a full range of course education assistance in the form of vouchers or tax such a way to track the performance of numerous sub- offerings. They also found that half of the long-term sus- credits. groups, such as black males in every grade level. pended students from 1997 to 2000 were black or multira- The mixture of vouchers and tax credits already When discussing the creation of the report in February cial, causing missed instructional opportunities. in existence demonstrates the potential of possibili- 2001, State Board of Education members expressed con- Toughening academics is only one proposed sugges- ties at all levels of government. Vermont and Maine cern that the data would be shocking. Indeed, many sub- tion. A total of 11 recommendations with an implementa- school systems have used vouchers, also called groups of students are suffering in North Carolina’s public tion plan was presented to the board as ways to reduce the “tuitioning” programs, for more than 100 years. schools system. After searching through the hundreds of racial performance gap. Others include increasing teacher Other states, such as Ohio, Wisconsin, and Florida, pages, which can be found only on-line, it is easy to see that diversity training, strengthening parental and community have legislated vouchers more recently. A couple of numbers of blacks, Hispanics, and low-income students involvement, and reducing the disproportionate number states have also created tax credit programs. Ari- are failing to learn basic skills. of minority students in special education programs. zona, Florida, and Pennsylvania allow for private Black males especially at risk Closing the gap contributions to scholarships to help needy chil- dren. The No Child Left Behind Bill acts at the federal level by facilitating low-income parents, allowing Most educators consider young black males the most Everyone is trying to provide the necessary support to their children’s federal Title 1 subsidy (up to $1,000) at-risk group of students. In recent years, school systems close the gap between white students and black students, to follow them from a failing school to remedial have been harshly criticized for a high dropout rate and but only a few are succeeding. The DPI provides education providers such as private tutors. All of long-term suspensions of black males in high school. The multicultural lesson plans for the classroom that stresses these programs have laws written in different ways, data available in Volume II confirms that public schools are teaching and understanding the “differences and many and much more legislation has been written but failing to teach black students in early grades. aspects of multicultural education.” But critics claim that never passed. Twenty-three districts in North Carolina taught less while multicultural awareness may help students become Reformers who want to see choice within the K- than 50 percent of their young black males in grades three more understanding toward each other’s differences, it 12 arena hold different opinions on whether vouch- through eight to read at a basic level. At the bottom of the neglects to teach basic reading and math skills needed to ers or tax credits would be most effective. Voucher list with less than 45 percent of black males reading at grade close the racial academic divide. The DPI also publishes proponents believe the directing of financial assis- level are Anson County Schools, at 42.8 percent; Washing- success stories called Best Practices, giving educators an tance directly to schools can quickly assist low- ton County Schools, 43 percent; Weldon City Schools, 44.7 idea of how some schools are succeeding. income families. The support would be available percent; Montgomery County Schools, 43.8 percent; and Local support for implementing the 11 recommenda- immediately, but many argue that the programs Vance County Schools, 44.7 percent. Breaking the scores tions of the advisory commission was also found at this leave out too many children. Except in the New down by grade level reveals a larger problem in many year’s annual Achievement Gap Conference. England cases, vouchers are directed only to low- school districts. In Stokes County, just 25 percent of black Other studies of schools that are succeeding with low- income families. The logic is based upon data that male seventh-graders are reading at or above grade level. income and minority children are also available to educa- reflect a crisis of failure rate with poorer children The National Assessment of Education Progress, known tors. Last fall, the North Carolina Education Alliance iden- who have fewer opportunities for options. Critics as the Nation’s Report Card, also shows no significant tified 21 schools in the state that are reducing the perfor- say that vouchers do not help families living above increase in the percentage of black fourth-graders reading mance gap between sets of students. These schools, identi- poverty level and that tax credits would give all at grade level between 1992 and 1998. fied in What Works: Education Solution for High-Risk Stu- taxpayers immediate assistance. National data on NAEP show similar trends. In the dents, have vital leaders that were able to narrow the gap by Critics also say vouchers would attach bureau- Harvard Education Letter, Michael Sadowski reported that stressing solid academics, strong community support, and cratic strings to funding. Their concern is that vouch- “while overall scores have increased in reading and math- spending priorities. ers could have so many regulations tied to them that ematics, the differences in scores for black and white stu- Closing the achievement gap is also the educational schools receiving funding by vouchers would be- dents in virtually every NAEP subject area and for every focus at the federal level. Under No Child Left Behind, the come like other schools run by government. Some age group are greater than they were in the late 1980s. federal government is planning to invest in practices that colleges already refuse to accept government finan- Perhaps even more disturbing, these gaps seem to be work. U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige believes that cial assistance because of fear they may lessen the getting wider each year.” ineffective teaching practices and unproven education theo- authority of their Board of Trustees. Tax credits The N.C. State Board of Education is fully aware of the ries are the two chief reasons children fall behind in school. would remove any strings of regulations. lingering gap between white students and minority stu- To ensure success, states will be held accountable under No With a budget deficit facing North Carolina, dents despite the fact that the DPI continues to announce Child Left Behind to use instructional practices that are there is time to form quality legislation and inform that North Carolina students are improving and that the evidence-based, with proven results in the classroom. everyone of the different possibilities. We no longer state is on “track to lead the nation on education.” In their Neither the DPI nor the U.S. Department of Education can question if there is educational assistance for meeting in April, board members spent time discussing have outlined more money as key to success. DOE con- choice, the question will be when do we choose to recommendations to reduce the gap. tends that “since the Elementary and Secondary Education offer more parental options? Henry Johnson, state deputy schools superintendent, Act first passed Congress in 1965, the federal government I contend that any legislation offering financial said success would come by holding schools accountable has spent more than $321 billion (in 2002 dollars) to help help that provides opportunities in school choice and toughening academic standards. educate disadvantaged children. Yet nearly 40 years later, must be universal. All families, regardless of in- While members are not sure how the accountability only 32 percent of fourth-graders can read skillfully at come, deserve choice. In addition, the assistance equation for closing the achievement gap will fit into the grade level. Sadly, most of the 68 percent who can’t read must not place extra burdens or regulations on the ABC model, members are set on increasing the academic well are minority children and those who live in poverty.” educational provider. Otherwise, we simply have standards of all students. The board wants to see more In truth, since the creation of ESEA, reading scores for 9- another form of what already exists. CJ minority students enrolled in honors and advanced classes. year-olds have fallen slightly from 213.5 to 209.9 on the Suggestions to implement tougher standards include set- NAEP reading test, despite a heavy increase in funding. CJ May 2002 C A R O L I N A 8 Education JOURNAL

School Reform News From Across the Nation National Charter School Week

harter school leaders and sup- A rally for school choice porters spent April 29-May 3 C celebrating charter schools and Former Milwaukee Schools Super- parental choice. This year marked the intendent Howard Fuller organized a 10th anniversary since the creation of rally for more than 500 people to support the nation’s first charter school in St. school choice last month. Currently, Paul, Minn. 10,000 Milwaukee low-income children While most activi- attend private schools ties took place at using taxpayers’ dol- schools, governors lars, but the state Sen- across the nation are ac- ate has voted to essen- tively involved. Last tially end the school The U.S. Supreme Court ends race mandated busing as a way to integrate schools. year, President Bush choice program, cutting and Secretary of Educa- $23 million in state aid. tion Rod Paige took an “We can have dis- Choice plan in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools goes forward active part in Charter cussions about the School Week with a visit to New Or- funding,” Fuller said. “To cut the pro- leans Charter Middle School. gram is uncalled for and unacceptable.” U.S. Supreme Court Ends This year, members of both the While not all Senate members were House and Senate had the opportunity convinced the program should remain, to tour charter schools and attend a Sen. Gwen Moore voted for the budget Race-Based Busing in Schools Capitol Hill briefing hosted by the Cen- despite her commitment to school choice. ter for Education Reform. “I don’t think we can hit the undo In North Carolina, The League of button and destroy the program,” Moore Charter Schools requested that Gov. said. By SHERRI JOYNER perintendent Eric Smith said in a press con- Mike Easley proclaim April 29-May 3 Before the budget becomes final, the Assistant Editor ference, the final decision reaffirmed that North Carolina Charter School Week. Senate and Assembly have to iron out RALEIGH CMS has overcome the effects of segrega- There has been no word yet whether their differences. Most expect to see the he U.S. Supreme Court turned away tion. Easley will sign the proclamation. Last committee restore school choice. As re- an appeal from black parents last month and ended the nation’s long- Budget changes due to choice year, the league assembled more than ported by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. T 1,000 charter school students, parents, est-running race-based school busing pro- and administrators from 24 schools to The reaction against Ritalin gram in the nation. Funding questions and budget changes represent Charter School Day at the State After 30 years of mandatory busing to due to the choice plan are still unsettled as Capitol. Other activities this year in- State legislatures have begun to care- undo the effects of segregation, U.S. District CMS makes its way into the summer. cluded the showing of “Charter Schools fully consider laws that will ensure Ritalin Judge Robert Potter ordered Charlotte- The largest cost will come from a rapid That Work,” a PBS documentary, at sev- does not rule the next decade, as it ruled Mecklenburg Schools to stop using manda- student growth. CMS has estimated $12.2 eral of N.C. charter schools. the 1990s. In 1991, the U.S. Department of tory busing and to implement a new plan in million will be needed to accommodate the Education ruled that children with ADD the 2002-2003 school year. exponential growth in CMS’s population. Teacher unions buying educators or ADHD diagnoses qualified for special After five years, two appeals, and more This year, the Planning Department has education services. Critics charge that than $7 million in taxpayer money for court estimated an additional 6,563 students will In Nevada, bribery seems to have the federal government thereby created costs, busing using race-based strategies attend public schools. The schools system become the latest recruiting tool for edu- a financial incentive for schools to label has ended and CMS has designed a new usually grows by about 3,000 students a cation unions. Two unions in the Clark children as disabled and to encourage assignment plan. As the 23rd largest school year. County School District, the Education their treatment with Ritalin or similar system in the nation, CMS now guarantees School officials see the rapid student Support Employees Association and the drugs. a seat for every student at their home school, growth as a sign to the success of the choice Clark County Education Association, The efficiency of schools handling and allows students to choose among a plan. “I know whole neighborhoods of fami- have initiated membership drives fea- Ritalin appears to be questionable. The number of schools within a geographical lies that are coming back to the public school turing “welcome to the union” cash U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration region. Students can also attend schools system because of this choice program,” payments. reports that schools have more Ritalin on outside their geographical regions if the said CMS Board Member Lee Kindberg. The ESEA, a union for non-licensed hand for daytime dosing than many phar- parents agree to provide transportation. Transportation budget increases are support personnel, recently handed out macies have available. The support behind the program has also expected this school year, but officials $50 bills to all new members, this de- With a blaze of controversy and de- been extensive. are largely waiting for transportation routes spite the fact that the union has failed to bate over the damaging consequences of CMS sent home applications for par- to be created. pay nearly $7 million in delinquent using the drug, legislative debate and ents to choose their top three school choices, Proposed budgets for the 2002-03 school medical claims. action are spreading across the country. hosted a 24-hour phone hotline for infor- year do not show any large jumps in the The response of the ESEA chief In Vermont, Democratic Sen. Richard mation, and hosted a “Showcase of Schools” costs of transporting students to the schools when questioned about the payments: Sears is sponsoring a bill intended to to advertise schools and encourage compe- of their choice. “ESEA is a labor organization…Our guarantee that parents have the ultimate tition. The overall transportation budget in- members pay dues for representation say over whether their children go on the Parents and families also did their part. creased from $36.7 million this year to $37.5 and services.” Not to be outdone, the powerful psychotic drug and that schools More than 96 percent of the choice applica- million next school year. Most of the costs CCEA offered potential new members must not pressure them to put their chil- tions for more than 109,000 students in the come from an increase in the number of $100 to join. As reported by the Center dren on the drug. school system were returned in time for the transportation employes the school system for Education Reform. “There are two things I’ve learned lottery. Low-income parents returned choice plans to hire. that bother me,” said Sears after review- applications at the highest rate. The question of whether the cost of Finding good middle schools ing testimony on the issue last year. “One “Black families, more likely than oth- busing students outside their homebases is there seems to be a lot of abuse of ers, used this choice plan to escape their will offset the costs of busing children to the According to Jay Matthews, colum- Ritalin going on among 12- and 13-year- assigned schools,” said Lindalyn Kakadelis, schools of their choice remains unresolved. nist for the Washington Post, there are no olds who smash it and snort it. And two, director of the North Carolina Education It is possible that after a time of transition, good middle schools. But things can Vermont is second in the nation in its rate Alliance, and former Charlotte- transportation costs may diminish because change. This school year, three more of prescribing the drug.” Mecklenburg School Board member. “Now students will attend schools closer to home. KIPP schools — one in Houston, one in DEA data for 1999 ranked Vermont the challenge is making sure all schools The school system is also considering rural Gaston, N.C., and one in the second in the nation in Ritalin usage. teach effectively.” the possibility of additional growth due to Anacostia section of Washington, D.C. New Hampshire was first. In the top five Overall, 98 percent of free and reduced- the weakening of the economy. More or opened. Each started with just a fifth were Michigan, Iowa, and Delaware. lunch families returned their choice appli- less, CMS is aware the success of the choice grade. In the current session of the Virginia cation, and 93 percent of the families re- plan will determine student population in The KIPP schools, which stands for General Assembly, Delegate John J. ceived their first or second choice of schools. the future. Knowledge is Power Program, are not Welch III, R-Virginia Beach, sponsored a The system’s leaders have taken on the No matter how you look at it, the school experiments or only for gifted children bill intended to prevent teachers and challenge to “do what is right” for the chil- district is glad this court case is over. — quite the opposite. Already, two full- other school personnel from recommend- dren. “Now, more than ever, it is vitally “We have had this case hanging over time KIPP schools, with grades five ing that kids be put on Ritalin. Virginia important that we live up to our commit- our heads, just waiting to see what would through eight, are exceling with low- ranks eighth in the nation in Ritalin use. ment to providing excellence and equity for happen to teacher assignment and the choice income Hispanic and black children. As As reported by the Lexington Insti- every student in every school,” said Board plan,” Kindberg said. “Finally that uncer- Chairman Arthur Griffin, Jr. tainty is behind us. Finally everyone real- reported by the Washington Post. tute. CJ After the Supreme Court declined to izes it is up to us to make sure every child is hear the appeal of black parents, CMS Su- educated.” CJ May 2002 C A R O L I N A JOURNAL Education 9

School Innovation Spotlight The Big Picture: A Mother’s Struggle For Educational Choice

By ANGIE VINEYARD about, because if you work hard, you’ll get Guest Contributor your money.” CHARLOTTE Donnell and Jade have attended Provi- onetta Stewart is one of a kind. As a dence Day for seven months. But already, single mother of five children, ages Ronetta can see a transformation. Where R eight months to 17 years, she is Donnell’s public school peers teased him already convinced that providing them a constantly because he was always reading, quality education will greatly increase their now he’s thriving in an environment that chances of succeeding in life. encourages academic excellence. Ronetta has counted the cost. Often “I see a change in my children, espe- times she will forego new clothes for her- cially Jade. (At) 13, she’s influenced easily. self, movie tickets for the family or even a In junior high school these days, more kids special trip to a fast-food restaurant. Her are having sex and doing things that they’re children’s education always comes first. not supposed to. Jade is not. Donnell is not. Although she always wanted her chil- They have a better, positive attitude being dren to receive a private school education, here.” Ronetta had no way to make that a reality. When Ronetta’s 11-year-old son Rinard When she noticed a digression in their be- learned he wasn’t accepted into Providence havior and a drop in school performance, Day, he cried for three days. But frustration she began researching Pell grants at her and disappointment soon turned into de- local library. That’s when she happened to termination. He works much harder now so notice a little brochure for The Children’s that he can hopefully attend Providence Scholarship Fund. Day next year and follow in their footsteps. As a New York-based charitable orga- Children’s Scholarship Fund beneficiaries Donnell, Ronetta, and Jade Stewart. Donnell’s favorite subject is Latin, and nization that provides educational scholar- he has aspirations to be an engineer. Jade ships to children, CSF has assisted more Based on their TIP scores, Providence Cox said, “We want to make sure that edu- enjoys math and science ,and has her sights than 40,000 children nationwide from low- Day agreed to provide substantial scholar- cation is available, regardless of socioeco- set on being a paleontologist. income families. More than 500 scholar- ships for Donnell, 14, and Jade, 13. CSF nomic status.” For Ronetta, the change she already ships have been awarded in Charlotte. would make up the difference. While Jade jumped into her new situa- sees in her children is worth the sacrifice. CSF provides only supplemental schol- For Ronetta, the joint scholarships were tion, Donnell was initially wary, saying, “Sometimes the light bill is late. Some- arships for children, requiring families to nothing short of a miracle. “Mom, they make too much money. What times the phone bill is late, but I have to do pay a portion themselves. Since Ronetta “I was at work when I got the call,” she am I going to do with these rich people?” what I have to do to get them here,” she had nothing to contribute, she held onto the said. “And later on I got the letter. I screamed Ronetta encouraged her son to be him- said. For more information about CSF or to CSF application for two years before stum- ‘They got in! They got in! They got into self and told him, “People are just people. learn how you can sponsor a family, call bling upon Providence Providence Day!” Just because somebody has money and you (704) 373-2378 or visit the group’s web site Day. Last January she Unfortunately, don’t, that’s not something for you to worry www.csf-charlotte.org CJ drove her son, Donnell, “I’m not looking for Ronetta’s siblings didn’t to the private school in share her enthusiasm, Charlotte so he could take what I can afford and looking at Ronetta’s the TIP test, a required what I can’t afford. I strapped financial situa- comprehensive achieve- will suffer for them to tion instead of the oppor- ment test. She couldn’t tunities a Providence Day help but be impressed have the education.” education would afford with the campus. — Ronetta Stewart her children. But instead “I said ‘Wow! This of discouraging Ronetta, school is nice. I never those constant, pessimis- heard of Providence Day,” Ronetta said. “It tic words only fuel the single mother’s re- just so happened that the admissions office solve to do whatever it takes for her chil- was open and I was just passing by. The dren to excel academically. Lord said, ‘Go ahead and ask’.” “I just ignore them,” she said matter-of- Ronetta did ask and discovered that the factly, “because I see something they don’t school provided supplemental scholarships. see. I’m not looking at what I can afford and While four of her children were tested, what I can’t afford. I’m looking at the big Ronetta lost no time in filling out the appli- picture, the end picture, what my kids are cations, staying on top of deadlines, and going to gain by being around decent people turning over necessary paperwork as soon with different attitudes that are positive as it was requested. and not always negative. I’m looking at Advertisement for “She’s a pioneer for other families that down the road. I will suffer for them to have would be interested in the application pro- the education.” cess,” said Kathy Cox, admissions counse- As a college preparatory school for chil- lor at Providence Day. “If other families dren in transitional kindergarten through were as efficient as Ronetta in getting the the 12th grade, Providence Day currently John Hood’s Book spaghetti strings of the application process enrolls 1,450 students, 10 percent of which taken care of, we’d be able to help more are minority. Although the school attracts families.” students from a higher income tax bracket,

C A R O L I N A Weekly Report JOURNAL for Executives Carolina Journal Weekly Report for Executives is your antidote to wa- tered down media coverage of state politics and policy. North Carolina has hundreds of newspapers. But from those hundreds of papers, only a handful of reporters are assigned to Raleigh. And how many of them do you think write from a free-market frame of mind?

In Carolina Journal Weekly Report, you get unfiltered weekly cover- age of state government from experienced reporters who have actu- ally read the Federalist Papers. Our reporters attend committee meet- ings and interview lawmakers face-to-face, so you get the stories first- hand. To subscribe, email [email protected] or call (919) 828-3876. May 2002 C A R O L I N A 10 Higher Education JOURNAL

Course of the Month Private developers pulled out

reader writes CM to com- plain about the core require- N.C. State Plans to Issue Bonds to Build A ments at North Carolina A&T State University. In order to graduate, each student at N.C. A&T $65 Million Luxury Hotel and Golf Course is required to take a three-hour course in African/African-American Studies. The requirement is spelled By JON SANDERS out on Page 80 of the university’s Assistant Editor 2001-03 undergraduate bulletin: RALEIGH orth Carolina State University is Core Requirements of the Univer- soon going into the hotel business. sity Construction is slated to begin this In order to graduate, each incom- N year on the Centennial Campus Executive ing student beginning with the 1995- Conference Center and hotel, which would 1996 academic year will be required to offer 250 rooms and 29,000 square feet of complete a three-hour course of African/ meeting space, to be complemented by a 18- African American Studies and a three- hole championship golf course, all built on hour course of Global Studies. These two the university’s Centennial Campus. courses can be met through a student’s Critics say the project unfairly pits a general education component, major public university, with all the benefits of course requirements, or free electives… guaranteed public finance and support, against private enterprise. They also say Soon afterward, the bulletin pro- private developers have lost confidence in vides a list of courses available to the viability of the project and pulled out, satisfy this requirement: leaving the university to take ownership of it — a development they say means that not African/African American Courses only would the project hurt private busi- 1. ENGL-333: Survey of Afro- nesses, it would also be a money-loser that American Literature would hurt taxpayers, too. 2. MUSI-220: History of Black Mu- University officials, however, say the sic in America project would “promote the university’s 3. MUSI-221: History of Jazz mission” and “align the university’s inter- 4. FOLA-417: Literature of Afro- ests with the private sector.” The univer- French Expression sity also justifies the project within the idea 5. HIST-215: History of Africa of the Centennial Campus, saying that Since 1800 “Centennial Campus has proven that co- 6. HIST-216: History of Africa location and face-to-face communication Since 1800 among [industry and university] partners 7. HIST-310: The Afro-American in yields [sic] impressive innovations in re- the United States to 1877 search and education, and fosters economic 8. HIST-311: The Afro-American in growth.” the United States Since 1877 (A con- Current cost estimates for the project tinuation of History 310) are $65 million — $53 million for the con- 9. HIST-320: African History as ference center and hotel, and $12 million for seen Through African Art and Archae- the golf course. The university intends to Vacant land on N.C. State’s Centennial Campus near the proposed hotel and golf course ology issue bonds for the project, and the Board 10. HIST-328: U.S. Slavery,1619- of Governors’ approval of it directs the uni- sort Hotel, but also traditional full-service cupancy taxes also will be collected and re- 1865 versity away from using tuition or General hotels with meeting and convention facili- mitted as required” (emphasis added). 11. HIST-412: Modernization in Fund money for it. The N.C. State Confer- ties, including the Sheraton Four Seasons Making this cost advantage even more Africa from 1920 to the Present ence Center L.L.C. was formed in May 2001 in Greensboro, Sheraton Imperial in Re- important is the fact that the private inves- 12. HIST-416: History of Black Cul- after winning approval of the University of search Triangle Park, Marriott Hotel in tors originally expected to bankroll the ture in the United States North Carolina Board of Governors — it Durham, Hilton in North Raleigh, Adam’s project pulled out. If investors thought the 13. POLI-220: Blacks in the Ameri- had been approved by the N.C. State trust- Mark Hotel in Winston-Salem, The Millen- project wouldn’t make money, critics ask, can Political System ees in April despite not being listed on the nium Hotel in Durham, and others. why does the university think it will? 14. POLI-445: Problems of Contem- meeting agenda, something university of- Geolas said that rather than cutting into Geolas said it wasn’t the case that pri- porary Africa ficials say was a simple oversight. This lim- the private facilities’ market, the project vate companies walked away from the 15. SOCI-314: Black Experience ited-liability company will “construct, own, would expand the market. “Look around project. They wanted very much to do the 16. SPCH-302: Minorities in Mass and hire a management firm to operate the the country,” Geolas said. “In almost every project, he said, but they also wanted some Media facility,” according to the university. case where local hotel, motel operators have guarantee from the university to support Still, the use of bonds is itself contro- come out against such a project, the project revenues. Our correspondent thinks the versial, given that the state is currently un- has ultimately generated new and ex- Geolas said it was not unusual for a requirement is discriminatory, and dergoing a fiscal crisis in part brought on panded opportunities for those same ho- private developer for such a project to seek more to the point, against the by the issuance of higher education bonds tels.” a financial commitment from the home uni- university’s official statement of non- approved in 2000. The $80 million in new versity. At N.C. State, however, Geolas said, discrimination policy and disinte- debt would nearly double N.C. State’s in- A Competitive Advantage “We felt that if we were going to take the gration (Page 3 of the bulletin): debtedness (not counting the higher-edu- risk, we should also get the reward.” cation bonds), already at $87.6 million. Not only would the university compete Geolas also said that the university was Nondiscrimination Policy and In- University officials say N.C. State can against private industry, but it would have relying on three market studies conducted tegration Statement afford the additional indebtedness. “Ac- a competitive cost advantage, says the by PKF Consulting on the profitability of North Carolina Agricultural and cording to a current review by Standard & NCHMA, because the N.C. State Confer- the project in deciding to take ownership Technical State University is committed Poor, N.C. State actually carries very little ence Center L.L.C.’s nonprofit status means of it. to equality of educational opportunity bonded debt for a university of its size,” it “would not be responsible for federal and “I can assure you that if the market and does not discriminate against appli- said Robert T. Geolas, Centennial Campus state income taxes, and as an extension of a studies had suggested something less, we cants, students, or employees based on coordinator. “The bonded debt will covered public educational facility would likely be would not have gone forward with this race, color, national origin, religion, gen- by revenues generated by the conference exempt from most property tax liability and project as currently described,” Geolas said. der, age, or disability. Moreover, North center and hotel. This is similar to the model also allowed to claim reimbursement for Of course, rosy scenarios have always Carolina Agricultural and Technical used to develop office and lab products on state and local sales taxes paid on materi- been part and parcel of the project. In Feb- State University is open to people of all Centennial Campus.” als purchased for construction and on op- ruary 1997, Centennial Campus Develop- races and actively seeks to promote ra- A bigger controversy, however, centers erating supplies.” ment Coordinator Claude McKinney told cial integration by recruiting and enroll- on the competition issue. A study by the Geolas, however, said that like the Cen- Technician, N.C. State’s student newspaper, ing a larger number of white students. North Carolina Hotel and Motel Associa- tennial Campus, the project would mostly that the project (golf course included) tion suggests the N.C. State project would stand on its own. would cost only $50 million, and that N.C. This individual’s concerns are compete with (i.e., reduce the market share Concerning the L.L.C.’s alleged advan- State would probably share in profit from worth considering. What good is a of) not only such private conference facili- tage, a university press release said the en- it. policy of nondiscrimination when ties as the Pinehurst Resort & Country Club, tity “will pay income tax on any net income “The complex will make a profit,” another policy requires the comple- Grandover Resort & Conference Center, unrelated to the university’s educational McKinney promised. “Otherwise, we tion of a race-specific course? CJ Grove Park Inn Resort, Sea Trail Resort & mission, as well as property taxes on the would not ask the private sector to come in Conference Center, and the Ballentyne Re- project’s facilities” and that “Sales and oc- and build it.” CJ C A R O L I N A May 2002 JOURNAL Higher Education 11 UC System Allows More Minority Students Despite Ban on Race-Preferential Admissions It’s About Politics,

By JON SANDERS also instrumental in the subsequent passage of California’s Not Knowledge Assistant Editor Proposition 209, the ballot measure that ended preferences RALEIGH in that state, said that ending preferences would negatively By GEORGE C. LEEF he University of California now admits proportion- affect minority admissions only at the most selective UC Guest Editorial ately more minority students than it did before the schools. Furthermore, they said, that dropoff would only RALEIGH TUC Regents’ ban on race-preferential admissions be temporary, however, and would more than be made up n American colleges and universities, academic took effect in 1998. This news comes in stark contrast to for by increases in minority admissions at the less selec- departments were historically centered upon the precipitous dropoff in minority en- tive UC schools. Importantly, they said, bodies of knowledge. There were mathematics rollment that had been predicted by sup- students admitted without the help of I departments because we have knowledge of math- porters of racial preferences in admis- “We’ve been saying race-preferential policies wouldn’t face ematics, and in their courses, professors would en- sions. for a long time that the stigma of being admitted despite deavor to transmit that knowledge to students. There In 1997, the last year the UC system lesser academic credentials. were chemistry departments because we have used race-preferential, “affirmative ac- these kids don’t need Five years after the ban, it’s clear that knowledge of chemistry, and in their courses, pro- tion” admissions policies, Latino, Afri- any special treat- those arguing for ending preferences fessors would endeavor to transmit that knowledge can-American, and Native American stu- turned out to be correct.. Only at the most to students. The same was true for English, music, dents comprised 18.8 percent of students ment.” competitive UC campuses — Berkeley, history, economics, and so on. admitted. — Ward Connerly Los Angeles, and Irvine — have minor- Unfortunately, about For 2002, without using race-prefer- ity admissions rates stayed below 1997 30 years ago weak-willed ential admissions policies, Latino, Afri- levels. And the dropoffs there have been academic administrators can-American, and Native American students comprised compensated by increases at the other UC schools. gave in to demands for a 19.1 percent. This is the first year that the pre-ban level of “I don’t mean to gloat, but I told you so,” Connerly new kind of academic de- minority students admitted was topped. told the Associated Press about the news. “We’ve been say- partment, one not based Defenders of racial preferences said they were neces- ing for a long time that these kids don’t need any special on any body of painstak- sary to ensure minorities continued to be admitted to UC. treatment to get into the UC system. They just need to work ingly accumulated knowl- Supporters of ending racial preferences, most notably UC hard, get fair treatment, and have confidence in themselves. edge but rather on a felt Regent Ward Connerly, who pushed for the ban and was The rest will take care of itself.” CJ need to offer courses “rel- evant” to the “experience” George Leef of students from various segments of society. Thus Women’s Studies Textbooks Riddled were born the group studies departments: Black Studies, Hispanic Studies, Gay, Lesbian and Transgendered Studies, and last but not least, With Lies and Prejudice, Study Says Women’s Studies. Caving in to cries that such de- partments were vital to combat the racist/sexist/ho- mophobic evils lurking in society, academic leaders By JON SANDERS stantiating to spring from men’s “not only envy but rage” bought themselves some temporary peace, but at the Assistant Editor about their wives’ pregnancies. Also without substantia- price of a weakening of academic integrity. RALEIGH tion, college men are portrayed as so likely to invoke sexual In group studies departments, there are no real n late March the Independent Women’s Forum re- violence that their peers reading those texts are left with bodies of knowledge to be transmitted. Rather than leased a major review of textbooks used in college “the impression that gang rapes on fraternity row are a transmitting knowledge, their purpose is to give an Women’s Studies departments. The review, authored regular occurrence.” academic platform to strident complainers wanting I to push their agenda by inflaming the minds of mal- by senior fellow Chistine Stolba, challenges the “propa- Even though women “receive the majority of ganda, not scholarship,” being put forth by women’s stud- bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and within a decade are leable students — haranguing rather than lecturing; ies textbooks. projected to receive the majority of Ph.D.’s,” Stolba writes, preaching rather than teaching. For her report, “Lying in a Room of One’s Own: How the textbooks maintain that education is biased against Dr. Christine Stolba has put a light into the dark Women’s Studies Textbooks Miseducate Students,” Stolba women, even warning of a “hidden curriculum” that cabinet of Women’s Studies with her recent study, reviewed syllabi from Women’s Studies departments at 30 “reflect[s] the same sexist, racist, cultural, and class biases “Lying in a Room of One’s Own: How Women’s major colleges and universities — including the Univer- that are found in the dominant culture.” As they do with Studies Textbooks Miseducate Students.” Her scru- sity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — and examines the women’s academic success, the textbooks all treat women’s tiny of the books’ material shows that Women’s Stud- five most popular textbooks used. success in general as something not to ies are about inculcating a particular view about A key concern of Stolba’s is the “large be celebrated, but as something that women, deceiving students with spurious theories and outright falsehoods to do so — they “encourage number of factual inaccuracies” put forth The texts typically por- needs to be explained and reconciled to in women’s studies textbooks, which are the theoretical basis of “women under students to embrace aggrievement, not knowledge.” not the good-faith mistakes that occa- tray fathers as the “for- siege.” For instance, each of the books Stolba surveyed sionally crop up in textbooks but, as eign male element” Unsubstantiated theories abound in has a chapter on women’s health issues. Among the Stolba shows, “deliberately misleading the textbooks, Stolba finds, and readers various sensational claims made by feminist groups, sisterly sophistries.” Because, as the given to perpetuating are told “the control of women by patri- which need to keep up a stream of attention-grab- books explain, the goal of women’s stud- incest and child archy” had made them the perfect slaves, bing issues for fund-raising, is that women have been shortchanged with regard to medical research. At- ies is “transform knowledge” since ex- abuse. “unaware of their condition, unaware isting knowledge stems from a male bias, that they were controlled, believing in- tempting to catalyze the desired victimhood feeling Stolba writes, the textbooks wantonly stead that they had freely chosen their in the reader, the authors of the books wrote that commit errors of fact. Those include the myths that women life and situation;” women are forced by the power of women had been excluded from clinical studies of face a “wage gap” due to discrimination (a gap that disap- “phallocentric thinking” to believe “women need men for heart disease, lung cancer, and other killers. That pears when “important factors such as age, education, con- sexual arousal and satisfaction,” which is one of the ways sounds terrible — those dastardly men and their secutive years of experience, and type of job” are consid- “heterosexuality is maintained by social control;” Marriage, patriarchal club! — but it simply isn’t true. The Na- ered) and that women face a “glass ceiling,” while ignor- an “instrument of social oppression” whose vision of inti- tional Institutes of Health and other medical research ing “evidence that women often eagerly pursue flexible macy is “How do I love thee, let me count the heterosexist, centers include women in clinical studies and have work arrangements” because “Time and control over their patriarchal ways,” is shaped by “patriarchy, heterosexist done so for a long time. That is no doubt because schedules is more valuable to them than climbing the cor- institutions, the class structure, and racism;” motherhood medical researchers are committed to finding the porate ladder.” is “isolation” and “a mixture of satisfaction and pleasure truth, and to exclude women would hinder the The textbooks also blame societal discrimination rather plus anger, frustration, and bitterness;” “the traditional search for medical knowledge. But Women’s Stud- than individual choice for occupational segregation, de- family is a source of social conflict and a haven only for ies zealots aren’t hampered by worries that they spite survey evidence even within the textbooks themselves men;” and fathers are the “foreign male element” who are might be teaching falsehood rather that truth and that women workers choose “flexible work arrangements given to perpetrating incest and child abuse. don’t acknowledge in their books that serious schol- and Mommy Tracks” (the surveys were offered, apparently, Stolba also details the textbooks’ push for “gender-neu- ars have demolished their claims of victimhood. as proof of societal discrimination rather than examples of tral” language (other “phallic” words to eliminate include Similarly, on the issue of the “pay gap,” the text- “young women’s… intelligent and planning for their fu- “input,” “plugs into,” “thrust,” and “penetrate”), their books pontificate on the fact that men who work full tures”). Furthermore, they claim women have been short- political biases (one book speaks of “Antifeminist, anti- time earn more on average than women who do so. changed in medical research despite that canard having woman forces on the right… the virulent racism and mi- Good economists, men and women, have been point- been “debunked by numerous scholars.” One textbook sogyny of the religious and political right”), and their many ing out for years, however, that those averages don’t even states “the present ‘masculinity of science’ may very “sins of omissions” (leaving out women of the right like prove nasty male discrimination, but instead reflect well kill us.” Margaret Thatcher and Ayn Rand, or leaving out uncom- the family choices that many women make. For the issue of domestic violence, Stolba finds the texts fortable facts about heroes, such as the eugenicist views Women’s Studies — a body of knowledge, or just rely on “repeating incendiary statistics” while ignoring and racism of Margaret Sanger or the suffragists’ opposi- an agglomeration of fallacies that has no place in the countering research and “do little to inform readers of the tion to abortion). curriculum? CJ complexity of the issue.” Wife beating is said without sub- The report is online at www.iwf.org. CJ May 2002 C A R O L I N A 12 Higher Education JOURNAL

Bats in the Belltower Political Diversity Found Lacking Provocatively Posing for a in Many UNC-CH Departments ‘Women’s Studies’ Scholarship By JON SANDERS Assistant Editor UNC-CH Faculty Political Affiliation, freshman at the University of faces [sic] without losing control. When the RALEIGH Select Departments, 2001-02 North Carolina at Chapel Hill washed woman is clean, she covers he own survey of faculty members in nine A recently won a “Women’s Stud- face in frosting with her hand. departments at the University of Department Dem Rep Unaf ies” scholarship, worth $4,999, but you Also part of the exhibit were A North Carolina at Chapel Hill has African & Afro- 81% 0% 19% won’t see a press release from the makeup remover pads arranged on the found that more than four-fifths are regis- American Studies Women’s Studies Dept. about it. That’s floor, a videotape of Talbot licking an tered Democrats. The results of the survey, English 88 5 7 because the scholarship was awarded by oversized lollipop, and a photograph of conducted by the conservative student History 93 3 4 magazine Carolina Review for its March is- readers of Stuff Magazine for Men, a a woman in red and white striped stock- Philosophy 74 13 13 highly selective bunch who chose their ings bending over. Thus, Slavick writes, sue, called into question UNC-CH’s devo- Social Work 89 7 4 winner on the basis of provocative pho- “the live female bodies become tools, tion to diversity. tographs and an interview. devices, toys and soldiers in a candy- The results were not unique; in 1996, Sociology 81 13 6 The winning freshman, Jeannette cane land gone berserk,” while the tar- The Daily Tar Heel examined eight depart- Journalism & Mass 77 13 10 Wingler, a political science major whose get is “a symbol perhaps of consumer ments and found a similar disparity: 91 per- Communication achievements include having “had sex culture or the trap of fashion, signify- cent of professors who were registered with Political Science 79 12 9 in a dressing room,” also received a free ing possibly the ‘target audience’ or a major political party were Democrats, Women’s Studies 100 0 0 trip to New York for a photo shoot. Her potential violence against bodies.” while 9 percent were registered Republi- prize-winning photographs were taken “All of Talbot’s work is about what cans. (Key: Dem = Democrat, Rep = Republi- and submitted by her now ex-boyfriend. we do to each other and to ourselves, “If all your professors are Democrats, can, Unaf = Unaffiliated.) She was chosen as the featured contes- how we look and act and perform in a is Carolina diverse?” asked the cover of tant in the magazine’s April 2001 issue. saturated and bankrupt culture,” Carolina Review, which features a grinning Source: Carolina Review, March 2002 Wingler was interviewed by The Slavick writes. These include her “el- donkey clopping across the word “DIVER- Daily Tar Heel for its Jan. 9, 2002, issue, egant drawings” that “conjure up SITY.” before the Stuff readers’ final vote. She sphincters, orifices, cycles and the su- The Review survey used the rolls of reg- two or fewer Republicans in the history, voiced some concerns about her schol- perficial façade that masks the messy istered voters in Orange and Durham coun- English, political science, journalism, and arship competition. underneath.” ties and looked at the departments of Afri- mathematics departments, and none of the “The rest of the girls are 24-year-old, can & Afro-American studies, English, his- departments had more than four Republi- community college students,” she said. Duke pickets pickle producer tory, philosophy, social work, sociology, cans. “They’re all tan, with big, fake breasts. journalism & mass communication, politi- “The extent to which faculty at UNC There’s not a whole lot I can do to com- Duke University will continue its cal science, and women’s studies. It found present their personal opinions in class is pete with these girls. Maybe if there was boycott of the Mt. Olive Pickle Com- a heavy Democratic tilt in each department, an open question,” wrote Tony Mecia for a SAT competition, I could win.” pany, the university’s president, Nan ranging from 77 percent to 100 percent of the DTH on Oct. 28, 1996. “But if politics Wingler said her career goal was to Keohane, announced in March. faculty in the department registered Demo- are entering university classrooms, Board become a corporate lawyer. Why? “Ba- “We do not believe that the Mt. Ol- crat. of Elections records indicate it’s coming pre- sically, the money,” she said. “I want to ive Pickle Company has in place an ad- “Everyone seems to agree that more dominantly from one side of the political minor in psychology so that I can pick equate monitoring system to ensure diversity is essential to improving the in- spectrum.” jurors. I could make about $500 an hour. consumer confidence that it is working tellectual environment on campus,” writes The Review survey’s findings are simi- It beats the $5.50 an hour I used to get as to ensure fair labor conditions at the Deb McCown for the Review. “What is not lar to those of a poll of Ivy League profes- a waitress. It was a seafood restaurant. company’s supplier farms,” Keohane clear is what exactly ‘diversity’ requires.” sors conducted earlier this year by Luntz It was awful because nobody likes to intoned. Despite pleasing the six dozen A similar survey of UNC-CH faculty Research Companies. That poll found only smell like fish.” student activists who seriously — and voter registrations was done in 1996 by The 3 percent who identified themselves as Re- She was also asked to give her we’re not joking — pushed for this kind Daily Tar Heel. The DTH looked at the de- publican, 6 percent as Green Party or other, “thoughts on women’s studies,” to of declaration by the university, partments of chemistry, economics, English, 20 percent as independent, and 57 percent which she responded, “I’ve always en- Keohane’s monumental decision was history, journalism, mathematics, political as Democrat. It also found that 80 percent joyed looking at pictures of women, and actually mocked by Duke junior Bill science, and public policy. voted for the Democrat, Al Gore, in the last I believe that this scholarship is a way English. Writing in the student news- It found 204 Democrats, 19 Republi- presidential election, and 9 percent voted for a woman to take charge of her life.” paper, The Chronicle, English, who just cans, and 25 unaffiliated voters. There were for the Republican, George W. Bush. CJ Wingler also told the DTH that “the doesn’t get it at all and that’s just sad, main reason” she entered the contest said, “It is estimated that this bold move was because otherwise she couldn’t af- will deprive the company of, get this ford to attend UNC-CH “because the folks, $3,000. Short of boycotting den- Group Gives UNC-CH Dubious Award tuition seems to be hiked up every other ture adhesives, I cannot imagine a more week.” One trusts the UNC Association meaningless stance for a University. of Student Governments, ever on the However, since any economist on cam- By JON SANDERS ing the terrorists had hit the White House, alert for ways to address tuition in- pus will tell you that such boycotts hurt Assistant Editor so he approached them and asked them creases and ways to make money fast, poor workers at the end of the day, we RALEIGH how they could be happy with the deaths has not been inattentive. can be glad that the only victim of he Collegiate Network’s “Polly of thousands of innocent people. Keohane’s latest political posturing will Awards,” given to the winners of Other Polly winners were the Univer- Meanwhile, in an art gallery … be the integrity of the university.” T its Fifth Annual Campus Outrage sity of Pittsburgh, for holding a lecture and competition, includes among its winners demonstration on the use of gay sex toys; Two female UNC-CH art students Speaking of not getting it … this year the University of North Carolina Tufts University, for rampant harassment recently participated in Chicago multi- at Chapel Hill. of a conservative student newspaper, Pri- media artist Jen Talbot’s exhibit “On the Activists at the University of North- UNC-CH and San Diego State Univer- mary Source, including physical assaults on Dot,” which was featured in Raleigh’s ern Colorado decided to teach the na- sity split a Polly this year for “Anti-Ameri- the editor, charges of sexual harassment LUMP gallery. According to UNC-CH tion about the pain inflicted by “racist can events.” UNC-CH’s was for the Pro- against the staff for running a cartoon, and Art professor Elin O’Hara Slavick, writ- sports mascots,” especially Indian mas- gressive Faculty Network’s teach-in “to thefts of three press runs of the paper; the ing in The Independent, the two were: cots. So they decided to give their in- present an ‘alternative’ view of the attacks.” University of California at Berkeley, for … harnessed and suspended directly in tramural basketball team the sarcastic “Speakers on the panel made such rampant harassment of a conservative stu- front of the targets’ centers. Dressed in white name “Fightin’ Whities.” The mascot statements as, ‘This is an administration of dent newspaper, The California Patriot, in- protective jumpsuits, metal armatures of came complete with a grinning, Ozzie- oil executives,’ and claimed that the US for- cluding harassment and death threats hoopskirts and covered in white felt and red Nelsonesque mug bearing the motto eign policies ‘brought on’ the attacks,” the against the staff and thefts of a press run; pom-poms, black swimming goggles, and “Every thang’s gonna be all white.” CN said. “Bush’s desire to ‘hunt terrorists and another to Berkeley for the student-run Talbot’s signature red and white striped Their let’s-see-how-you-like-it from their holes’ reminded one speaker “male sexuality” class that featured an orgy, tights, the women each hold long fiberglass scheme backfired when the mascot (and UNC professor) of ‘the vicious history visits to strip clubs, and watching the in- retractable poles with soft cloth swabs on the drew national attention and then a flood of racial hatred that has preceded, stoked, structor have sex on stage. ends. One woman paints the other woman’s of requests for Fightin’ Whities jerseys, and been inflamed by nearly every one of “We created the Campus Outrage face with thick white frosting, while the most from the very people the students this century’s wars from the Belgian Congo Awards to publicize the politicization of the frosted woman, looking like someone has wished to offend. to Nazi Germany to the USSR to the US.’ college curriculum and the insensitivity and thrown a cream pie in her face, cleans the So far there has been no confirma- San Diego State’s award was for put- bigotry of campus radicals on college cam- other woman’s face with water. As they each tion to the rumor that officials at the ting an Ethiopian student, Zewdalem puses,” said Kenneth Cribb, Jr., president dip their swabbed poles in small aluminum University of Notre Dame, home of the Kebede, on probation for verbal abuse. of the Collegiate Network. “Many admin- troughs of water and frosting, they hover, Fighting Irish, told Northern Colorado, Kebede had overhead two Saudi students istrators and faculty deny that political cor- wriggle, and struggle to reach each other’s “Welcome to the club!” CJ talking in Arabic about how happy they rectness exists. Here’s proof to the con- were about the terrorist attacks and wish- trary.” CJ C A R O L I N A May 2002 JOURNAL Higher Education 13

Issues in Higher Education: The Racial Climate¡ Racial Hypersensitivity Poisons the Atmosphere at Universities

By JON SANDERS spect, and unwel- shined a flashlight comes” (repeated a few times) followed by Assistant Editor come in many at him. He com- “Until the killing of black men, brothers and RALEIGH ways.” plained later about sons, is important / As the killing of white ast month this series examined ra- There is talk Issues in it, but it was never men, brothers and sons.” cial preferences in admissions, dis- now that N.C. State addressed. The rest of the students and faculty L crimination for diversity’s sake. This will conduct another Higher Another stu- speaking at that event didn’t have an inci- month, circumstances warrant a discussion survey to judge its dent told of a high dent of racial injustice of their own, but they of a related aspect: the “racial climate” at racial climate, and it school teacher who were strongly convinced that the racial cli- universities. is reasonable to as- Education asked if he was still mate at N.C. State was bad. They urged Loosely defined, a university’s racial sume that it will find home. When he their fellows, “Don’t let other people silence climate is how racial minorities perceive results similar to the told her no, he was your voice!” They said we all should know their treatment on campus. Racial climate one conducted for at N.C. State, she the “reality of what is happening here at is not limited to how minority students feel; the Diversity Initia- gave him “a dis- this university.” One said that white people it’s also how minority professors feel. tive. It will face the same insurmountable turbed look” and wondered if the commu- weren’t the ones holding black students Take Monica Green, associate professor problem, too — feelings are not fact, so the nity college would “take him back.” “I down on campus, but the majority of black of history at Duke University, commenting mere fact that minorities feel less support know deep inside what she was saying,” students who aren’t speaking out and tak- in The Chronice, Duke’s student newspaper, on campus doesn’t make it so. Considering he said, which was that he’s black, he ing action against the bad racial climate — in an Oct. 2, 2001, article entitled “Some all the services the university offers prima- doesn’t deserve to be at N.C. State. whom she called “house slaves.” Another black professors cite tough racial climate”: rily if not exclusively for minority students, Also speaking was Dr. M. Iyailu Moses, faculty member, Dr. Floyd Hayes, associ- “I think most of it is extremely subtle, and and they are legion, it’s not out of the realm director of the African-American Cultural ate professor of multidisciplinary studies, it’s not articulated. It adds up and creates a of possibility that some (not all, but enough Center at N.C. State. She, too, had a story decried N.C. State’s “institutional racism” climate where one feels valued or one to register a difference in a survey) minor- of racial injustice — from “20 years ago.” and said, “We must stand tall and demand doesn’t feel valued.” ity students are simply oversensitive, per- Moses’ experience was a “classroom inci- racial justice.” “I can’t say that I ever encountered any ceiving marginalization, disrespect, lack of dent”; as she explained, she received an 89 Racial justice for what? They’re short sort of explicit or outrageous sorts of be- support or welcome, and other slights. on a paper while a white woman sitting on actual facts, when even a voluntary dem- haviors or comments by colleagues,” said A most recent example in support of next to her received a 93 (the cutoff for an A onstration ostensibly designed to list inci- William Hart, a former assistant professor this possibility is the “Speak Out Against was a 90). Moses said she was an English dents of racial injustices produces only four, of religion at Duke (now at the University Racism” rally held in N.C. State’s Brickyard major and later taught English, so she could all of which were really examples of racial of North Carolina at April 15. The occasion write, and on this paper she didn’t receive hypersensitivity, only two of which related Greensboro) in that same was to garner support for any comments, but the white woman’s pa- to N.C. State, and one of which was from article. “On the other Najja Baptist, the student per was lined with them. two decades prior. But every last person hand, I will say part of A rally designed to list who was asked why he “I would submit some of the same there at the rally felt very strongly that the the problem that minori- incidents of “racial in- doesn’t “go back to Af- things are happening on this very campus racial climate at N.C. State needed fixing, ties face, particularly mi- justice” produced only rica” by a white student right now,” Moses said. She later led the and fast — and the faculty members in at- nority intellectuals, is subjected to his pre-class crowd in singing a song with the lyrics: “We tendance were readily prepared to encour- that one’s work is either four, all of which were fulminations against who believe in freedom cannot rest until it age those hurt and angry feelings. CJ received in a patronizing really examples of ra- America. Even though sort of way, in that people the professor cut off their are surprised you can ac- cial hypersensitivity. argument and called for tually think, or it’s dis- more civilized discus- missed with hostility.” sion, the demonstrators agreed he should North Carolina State University has have denounced the girl as racist on the spot gone to great lengths to plumb its racial cli- or even later, and since he didn’t, the inci- mate. In the late 1990s, the university’s ad- dent was indicative of N.C. State’s bad ra- ministration toiled away on the “Diversity cial climate. Initiative,” an ambitious project with a fa- At the rally, crowd members were en- tal flaw. The flaw is spelled out in its “Insti- joined to “talk about your experiences with tutional Climate” section, which states that racial injustice,” and the stories they told “All members of the N.C. State community were themselves indicative of N.C. State’s should believe that they are members of a problem, though in the way neither the A New Web Site Providing a State Perspective supportive working and learning environ- demonstrators would want nor administra- ment” (emphasis added). The plan notes tors would admit. on 9/11 and the Current International Crisis that (emphasis added)“Surveys of the N.C. One student told of walking down the From the John Locke Foundation State community indicate that women and street at night near apartments that had just people of color at N.C. State feel consider- been robbed. The only description of the ably less support than do white males” and suspect police had was that of a “black “Some women and people of color report male” — and so public safety officers inter- Recent Articles and Columns Spotlighted on NCAtWar.com Include: feeling marginalized, treated with disre- rogated the student “for 10 minutes” and ¥ Military historian Victor Davis Hanson argues that the Western way of war and Western notions of freedom and civilization are proving their worth.

¥˚Moderate Muslim clerics preach peace in Durham and Greensboro while a former Black Panther leader calls First Lady Laura Bush a murderer at Duke.

¥ North Carolinas economy, hurt further by wartime deployments, awaits help from Washington, where disagreements about tax cuts block a stimulus bill.

¥ Dr. Andrew Taylor, NCSU Political Scientist, on the likely impact of the war on North Carolina politics and the U.S. Senate race.

¥ As U.S. Marines from Camp Lejeune participate in military action near cartoon goes here Kandahar, Seymour Johnson airmen prepare for deployment to the Mideast.

¥ Gov. William Yarborough, former head of Special Warfare Center at Ft. Bragg, distinguishes terrorism from legitimate armed resistance.

¥ Locke Foundation President John Hood argues that North Carolina short-lived anti-war movement unknowingly exposed its own fallacies.

For the latest news, analysis, and commentary on the war on terrorism, visit what National Review once named its Cool W eb Site of the Day located at www.NorthCarolinaAtWar.com or www .NCAtWar.com. May 2002 C A R O L I N A 14 Local Government JOURNAL

Town and Country Tax Tour Visits Cities Across North Carolina

• Once again, Raleigh Mayor Continued from Page 3 Charles Meeker has voiced his opin- ion about the Interstate 540 Loop. At and the Republicans and Democrats in Con- a recent North Carolina Citizens for gress who enacted tax relief last year, North a Sound Economy meeting at the Carolina’s overall tax burden would have McKimmon Center on the North worsened considerably,” he said in a press Carolina State University campus, release. “Unfortunately, even our total tax he argued two things: burden, while an improvement over last 1) The completion of the loop year’s, is still quite a bit higher than it was actually would not have an impact just 10 years ago.” on Raleigh traffic. Hood also noted that while some politi- 2) If the loop is finished it will cal observers blame North Carolina’s cur- draw a plethora of business construc- rent fiscal deficits on “big” tax cuts during tion and alter the face of the country- the 1990s, the new data demonstrate that side. taxes went up rather than down over the Both opinions seem to lend cre- past decade. In 1992, state and local taxes dence to a coalition that seeks a recall took 9.6 percent of personal income in North of Meeker. Members of the coalition Carolina, compared with 10.1 percent pro- say the mayor does not wish to com- jected for 2002. plete the loop. On one hand he says it is not in Raleigh’s interest to com- plete the road, and on the other hand Rallies reach Raleigh he expresses concern for those out- The last of the three tea parties drew tax side Raleigh, critics say. increase opponents to the Legislative Build- Meeker’s questioners wanted to ing in Raleigh on April 8. Motorists in rush- An antitax “Santa” expresses his opinion at the rally at the Legislative Building in Raleigh. know how he could come to such a hour traffic on Jones Street honked their conclusion since I-40 enters Raleigh horns in agreement with tea partiers. low (if traveling from Wilmington rally, as did several families, and said that casted live from his city’s tea party event. While the stated goal of the tour was to for example) and the exit point is low “fiscal responsibility begins at home.” Also, two John Locke Foundation represen- raise awareness among the populace that as well. The tax tour also made stops in tatives were interviewed on WAAV-AM in North Carolina excessively taxes its citi- Motorists wanting to get to, Asheville, Bessemer City, Brevard, Dunn, Wilmington before that city’s tea party. zens, most of the discussion focused on the Greensboro, Chapel Hill, Durham, Hendersonville, Hickory, Lincolnton, New Nearly every meeting, large or small, state’s extravagant spending habits. for example, must go through Ra- Bern, and Washington in its second week. earned a corresponding article in local news- “We don’t have a budget crisis,” Hill leigh. However, if I-540 was com- Overall, more than 1,200 North Caro- papers. The Rocky Mount Telegram focused said, “we have a spending crisis.” pleted, motorists traveling from linians participated directly in the meet- on Hood’s remarks comparing the Virginia Hood drew attention to specific ex- Wilmington could bypass Raleigh ings, rallies, and tea parties throughout the legislature’s management of its budget cri- amples where legislators have misspent and save distance and time, the ques- state. However, thousands more were sis to North Carolina’s. public funds, including tobacco settlement tioners said. reached through media coverage of the tour, The Burlington Times-News editorialized monies through the state-established Meeker had no clear answer for via television, radio, and newspapers. on the Locke Foundation survey, endorsing Golden LEAF Foundation. He cited $200,000 the query. Mike Fenley, an afternoon host on the position that the state would be better that Golden LEAF granted to a horse park CJ Another questioner wanted to 50,000-watt WSJS in Winston-Salem, broad- off eliminating the capital gains tax. in Hoke County and $400,000 in “corporate know why Meeker thinks that roads welfare” it gave toward the building of a attract businesses. To claim that is to tobacco processing plant in Nash County as say similarly that the opening of any two expenditures that could be better used Survey of Business Leaders business will attract shoppers, the to help close the state’s budget gap. questioner said. Further, to maintain “The people in Raleigh have punted that highways do nothing but attract away all of their savings,” Hood said, refer- Addresses Local, State Taxes businesses is to ignore the fact that ring to legislators in power during North even the I-440 is not as dense as it Carolina’s economic boom of the 1990s. could be. After about 40 years the I- Hood also referred to a story April 7 in By RICHARD WAGNER ceived a positive rating, but other major 440 is not built to capacity. The News & Observer of Raleigh about a Editor categories were found lacking. Nearly 80 report from Federal Emergency Manage- RALEIGH percent said there was only a “fair” or “poor” • The New Hanover County ment Agency, which determined that the survey of business leaders return from taxpayer dollars spent on el- elections will be another testing state overspent for trailers used to house throughout North Carolina found ementary and secondary education, Medic- ground for coalitions that initially victims of Hurricane Floyd in 1999. Hood that a majority believe the policy aid and welfare programs, environmental formed around the last City of Wilm- A said that for the federal government to tell direction of state government is misguided. and safety regulation, and state business ington elections. North Carolina that it’s a wasteful spender, The sampling of 435 respondents from recruitment and development programs. Two commissioner seats are “that’s pretty bad.” every region of the state was compiled by Given a choice of tax-cut options to open and there is a strong field of The mood of tea partiers demonstrated the John Locke Foundation. It found that, boost North Carolina’s economy, most sur- challengers to incumbents Bill Caster obvious scorn for the state’s lawmakers. by 59 percent to 37 percent, most respon- vey respondents preferred to reduce in- and Bobby Greer. Two fiscal conser- “There are some people who don’t know dents believe the state’s economic challenges come taxes. Overall rate reductions were vatives, Ron Shackelford and Leroy who their constituents are,” said Jeff Paris reflect long-term problems rather than a favored by 37 percent of business leaders, Sullivan, are running for the board. of Raleigh, pointing at the Legislative Build- short-lived cyclical downturn. Pessimism and 36 percent said tax breaks for invest- Shackelford and Sullivan buck ing. “They use my money to create special about the economy was strongest in the ment and capital gains would help improve the normal party politics in a town interests so they can get their vote.” Piedmont Triad and eastern and western the economic climate. Only 20 percent said that has a reputation of being cor- “The real problem,” he said, “is the North Carolina — all areas suffering far targeted tax incentives should be a priority. rupt. voters believe somehow that they don’t more severe economic dislocations than the Seventy three percent of respondents Shackelford is a Democrat, matter. They need to educate themselves. Triangle and Charlotte areas. said that the current rate of progress in which should garner him support That’s not just a right — it’s a responsibil- The mail survey was sent to business North Carolina public schools was “too from local Republican organizations ity.” members of North Carolina Citizens for slow” and that new approaches were neces- who are loathe to give to their own Hood warned that legislators are al- Business and Industry, members of several sary to boost educational effectiveness. conservative Republicans. ready considering more taxes this year, as local chambers of commerce, and chief ex- School choice options, such as magnets, Shackelford thinks the county needs was reported in The Daily Reflector of ecutives listed in business publications. charters, and tuition tax relief, received over- to get its fiscal house in order. “Gov- Greenville. The newspaper said the senti- Asked which factors were most harm- whelming support in the survey. A smaller ernment has just gotten too big. ments of State Sen. Ed Warren of Pitt County ful to the state’s competitive position, re- majority, 57 percent, supported government There are so many laws in New ran in support of a tax increase, and quoted spondents said North Carolina’s high state aid for children attending private schools. Hanover County that allows the gov- him saying, “There comes a time where you and local tax burden was the No. 1 impedi- Improving the quality of existing roads ernment to raise taxes without a have to enter the real world.” ment to economic growth. Lack of skilled and expanding North Carolina’s highway vote,” Shackelford said. “In the real world of Senator Warren,” workers, inadequate education, and oner- system were by far the highest transporta- Some voters predict that his Hood said in response, “the government is ous regulatory burdens were also cited as tion priorities for survey respondents. message will resonate well. He ad- already on a diet.” significant factors. Airports, port and rail The survey was conducted during Feb- dresses many of the same issues that Kathy Hartkopf, a NCCSE leading ac- service, and recreational and leisure ameni- ruary and March, with the Piedmont Triad forced an electoral revolution in the tivist from Orange County, spoke about her ties were considered least important. region having the largest representation City of Wilmington, which, among group’s local battle against excessive taxa- Nearly two-thirds of the respondents among respondents, at 26 percent, followed other things, elected conservative tion. The county chapter recently began a said elected officials should close budget by Charlotte, 23 percent; eastern North Caro- Jason Thompson who bucked the campaign of signs on roadways, saying deficits without raising taxes, and instead lina, 21 percent; the Triangle, 18 percent, wishes of the county Republican “Welcome to Orange County, where prop- should reduce government spending. and western North Carolina, 12 percent. party by running, and winning. CJ erty taxes doubled.” Asked to gauge a “rate of return” on A full report on the survey’s findings Hartkopf brought her children to the spending programs, higher education re- can be found at www.johnlocke.org. CJ C A R O L I N A May 2002 JOURNAL Local Government 15

Leave Job Creation To Private Sector

oliticians are forever promising to “create jobs” through government investment P schemes. For example, in my state of Oregon the governor wants to “create” thousands of jobs with a massive road-repair plan. Let’s be clear: This is road repair, not job creation. Government never creates jobs; it diverts resources. The state is not our independently wealthy benefactor, money does not grow on trees, and stealing from your neighbor to pay your gardener is not economic stimulus. We recognize these truths, but consistently fall for New Deal-era promises of job-creation through government spending. In times of recession, we are especially susceptible to this wishful thinking. Did the Works Progress Administration help the coun- try out of the Great Depression, as is commonly thought, or did it prolong the pain? Highways, dams, bridges, and buildings are what immediately come to mind as visual proof of WPA successes. But be- hind the scenes were no- torious make-work pro- grams — and of course, Attendees at a North Carolina Citizens for a Sound Economy event in Hickory learn about river regulations. the taxes funding them. Franklin Roosevelt’s Civil Works Administra- Citizens Decry Rules on River Buffers tion, a precursor to the WPA, hired actors to give free shows, paid research- Angela Eckhardt By ERIK ROOT compensate” the owner. ers to study the history of Assistant Editor NCDENR defends itself by stating that some things, the safety pin, and put men on the public payroll to HICKORY such as the cutting of trees, are allowed in buffer zones. chase tumbleweeds on windy days. In Kentucky, embers of the North Carolina Citizens for a However, depending on the buffer, some things will be WPA workers catalogued 350 ways to cook spinach. Sound Economy met recently to discuss an is- “allowed,” and others will not. Some regulations may be Agency head Harry Hopkins said, “I’ve got four mil- M sue affecting many North Carolina property loosened only if there are “no practical alternatives.” Either lion at work, but for God’s sake, don’t ask me what owners: the taking of property by government through an way, the state will need to approve or disapprove any they are doing.” Begun in 1933, the CWA was in- idea environmentalists call “river buffers.” Several local action in the zone. NCDENR believes that buffers “protect tended to be short-lived. Instead, it evolved into the citizens and elected officials spoke at the meeting. property.” massive WPA bureaucracy, which proved difficult River buffer rules mandate that there be setbacks from One unidentified speaker from McDowell County said to abolish. By 1941 only 59 percent of the WPA bud- shorelines along rivers, creeks, rivers, lakes, and other that “today when I here about buffers, I think of a board get went to paying workers anything at all; the rest bodies of water in order to prevent water contamination. that is politically motivated and is set to carry out an was sucked up in administration and overhead. Some rules mandate a 50-foot buffer, which forbids any agenda.” He questioned whether environmentalists push- Worse than the inefficient spending were the ac- development along a river within 50 feet of the shoreline. ing the regulation really cared about clean water. companying high taxes that crushed investment in- Other buffers have varying restrictions on develop- State Sen. Ken Moore, R-Lenoir, said he doubts envi- centives and prevented business recovery. Hoover ment depending on the proximity to the shore. This has ronmentalists’ claim that the rules are meant to protect had already raised the top marginal income tax rate implications for private property owners who could be water quality. Moore said water quality is better today than from 24 to 63 percent in 1932. Roosevelt took the top prohibited from doing anything to their property. For it was five to 10 years ago. “It’s much better now and they rate to 79 and then later to 90 percent. Roosevelt those who own a small piece of land near a body of water, won’t tell you that,” Moore said. He said cities are the didn’t stop there. He issued an executive order to it means they cannot modify their land at all. biggest polluters. Buffers that are instituted in most places tax all income over $25,000 at the astonishing rate of According to CSE, “new regulations on private prop- seek to combat a problem that does not emanate from rural 100 percent. He also promoted the lowering of the erty were authorized under Section 7 of the North Carolina North Carolina, he said. Steve Hensen, representing the personal exemption to only $600, a tactic that pushed Clean Water Act of 1999. This legislation gave the North Southern Appalachian Multiple Use Council, said the rules most American families into paying at least some Carolina Environmental Management Commission (EMC) are too broad and leave open too much for individual income tax for the first time. Shortly thereafter, Con- authority to impose temporary buffer rules in the Catawba bureaucratic interpretation. “Buffers depend on interpre- gress rescinded the executive order, but went along River Basin.” Those failing to follow the guidelines could tations and standards,” he said. with the reduction of the personal exemption. face up to $25,000 in fines per day. Hensen said buffers affect the economics of timber In 1938 columnist Walter Lippmann wrote that, According to literature from the North Carolina De- values. “If you can’t cut the timber, you lose the value of “with almost no exception every measure partment of Environment and Natural Resources, buffers that timber,” Hensen said. He also said such restrictions [Roosevelt] has been interested in for the past five are necessary to prevent water runoff filled with sediment reduce the quantity and quality of the next generation of months has been on tending to reduce or discour- and nutrients from reaching streams. The NCDENR says trees. Hardwood trees need direct sunlight. If the state age the production of wealth.” The first lesson of buffers prevent erosion and protect banks. However, as prohibits property owners from cutting down trees and the WPA is that when job creation becomes the goal one property owner demonstrated at the meeting, his opening up the property, the trees will not receive enough and someone else is paying the bill, suddenly every property is eroding precisely because he has to maintain sunlight. Loss of sunlight means less growth. Ultimately, project seems like a good idea. Waste becomes ram- the buffer. Because he cannot alter his property, when the this all means that the property owner will suffer lost pant. Cataloging spinach recipes may seem amus- creek behind his house rises, it proceeds to erode more and property value and lost potential income. ing now, but at a time of shortage, it was tragic that more of his property. The only thing he has been allowed Hensen said the laws and regulations in this case are scarce resources were wasted on absurd projects. to do is move his fence line back to make way for the not based on science. “Emotionalism is what is used now,” The second lesson is that government has noth- consuming water. Hensen said. A radical philosophy is employed in the ing to give us except what it has first taken from NCDENR also believes that property owners should environmental movement that amounts to “central control someone, minus an administrative fee. Economic de- have buffers so that they can provide “shade,” and of the land and resources,” he said. The movement attracts velopment certainly helps select recipients, but at “food…for wildlife.” elements that are hostile to the property owners, he said. best it divert resources away from others. The environmentalists are well-networked, Henson said. Finally, the history of the Depression should re- Speakers voice concerns When a bill comes before the Assembly, legislators get mind us that high taxes harm economic recovery. e-mails from all over the nation, making it appear as Real job creation occurs only in the private sector, Rep. Cass Ballenger, R-N.C., one of the first speakers at though pressure is coming from legislators’ constituents. where entrepreneurs create wealth by offering goods the event, summed up the problem: “I don’t see how Dr. Clarence Hood, a former professor for agriculture and services to meet demands. Businesses, large and anybody could have dreamed up what the people in Ra- and engineering, agreed. This is “agenda-driven, not sci- small, are the keys to prosperity. To meet needs gov- leigh [have] done. Raleigh and Washington both are things ence-driven,” he said. He said that truth does not reveal ernment should shift its current spending priorities you must watch. Defend yourself. You need to watch out itself immediately and so buffers are poorly understood. and not seek new revenue. The more resources left for the state and federal government.” State Rep. Mark Also present was Robin Smith, assistant secretary of in the private sector, the more jobs will be created. CJ Hilton, R-Conover, who lives in Catawba County, echoed environmental protection at NCDENR. She said buffer Ballenger’s sentiments: “There are some liberals in Raleigh rules do not violate the Constitution, but those in atten- who want to regulate [some] businesses out of existence.” dance found her bureaucratic speak a bit difficult to deci- Angela Eckhardt is director of publications at Cascade With an appeal to the Constitution, Hilton pointed out that pher. Jonathan Hill of CSE said “we all want clean water,” Policy Institute, a Portland, Ore. think tank. “if you are going to regulate and take land, you must but we all want access to our property. CJ May 2002 C A R O L I N A 16 Local Government JOURNAL

Local Innovation Bulletin Board Charlotte’s Thomas Ashcraft, A Win for Private Landowners Activist, Former U.S. Attorney By ERIK ROOT he didn’t like prosecutors. I’ve had my own he U.S. Supreme Court gave a if a regulation goes too far it will be rec- Assistant Editor law practice in Charlotte since 1993. Rhode Island landowner a victory ognized as a taking. A regulation that CHARLOTTE T on two important Fifth Amend- denies all economically beneficial or pro- CJ: What is your background? CJ: What was your experience with the Board ment Takings Clause issues and remanded ductive use of land will require compen- of Education? a third issue for further review in the sation under the Takings Clause. Thomas Ashcraft: I was born and raised in Rhode Island state courts. Next, where a regulation places Charlotte. My paternal grandfather, a dairy Ashcraft: In the late ‘90s I was asked to help The case has potential impact on such limitations on land that fall short of farmer, left Union County for Mecklenburg with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school North Carolina issues as river buffers (see eliminating all economically beneficial in 1905. From a large Catholic family, my case in federal court to stop the use of ra- Page 15). use, a taking nonetheless may have oc- mother grew up in Asheville. I went to a cial quotas in student assignment. The In Palazzolo v. Rhode Island, the court curred, depending on a number of fac- Catholic grammar school a block away from school board had been sitting on the old de- ruled landowners need not engage in tors including the regulation’s economic my grandfather’s former farm. I graduated segregation orders for nearly 30 years, do- myriad time-consuming and futile ad- effect on the landowner, the extent to from Myers Park High School in 1970, and ing nothing to close the court case. ministrative challenges prior to pursuing which the regulation interferes with rea- UNC-Chapel Hill in 1974. Of course, the idea of the 1971 Swann a Takings claim in state and federal courts. sonable investment-backed expecta- I majored in journalism at Carolina — case in the Supreme Court was to use race- They further ruled a property owner does tions, and the character of the govern- for no good reason. It does help me better based remedies to desegregate and then go not lose the right to pursue a Takings ment action. These inquiries are gov- understand the liberal mindset of journal- back to the normal rule of the Equal Pro- claim simply because the state imposed a erned by the purpose of the Takings ists. I had a liberal outlook myself when I tection Clause requiring government not to regulatory taking on the property before Clause, which is to prevent the govern- finished college. I was fortunate to go to categorize folks based on race. the owner acquired legal title. Finally, the ment from forcing some people alone to Wake Forest law school, where I encoun- The school board got comfortable with court remanded to the Rhode Island state bear public burdens which, in all fair- tered principled conservatives among the racial assignment and did not want to courts the issue of whether a property ness and justice, should be borne by the faculty. change. They came owner whose land value plummeted public as a whole. Dean Pasco Bow- into court in 1999 and from $3 million to $200,000 as a result of In a 6-3 majority opinion issued June man was one. He’s put on what some state regulation suffered a regulatory tak- 28, Justice Anthony Kennedy ruled that since had a distin- characterized as a ing entitling him to just compensation. Palazzo was not required to engage in guished career as a “doofus defense.” further wrangling with the Rhode Island Reagan-appointed They said that though Significant victory Coastal Resources Management Coun- U.S. Circuit judge. progress had been cil prior to presenting his claims in court. Law school gave me made and though they The court’s ruling on the first two is- The court further ruled that Palazzolo’s the intellectual tools tried hard to desegre- sues represented a significant victory for acquisition of title to the property after to work out a political gate, the schools still private citizens. The Supreme Court had the council’s regulations took effect did philosophy. Since law suffered from illegal not previously ruled on either issue, but not preclude his takings claim. Moving school, I’ve held segregation and they the Rhode Island State Supreme Court to the final issue, the majority ruled that strong conservative needed more time to had ruled emphatically against property while Palazzolo did not suffer a com- views. complete the job. owners on both. Had the Supreme Court plete loss of property value because of I spent an extra Frankly, in taking upheld the state court’s ruling, property the council’s regulations, he still might year of law school at Charlotte Attorney Thomas Ashcraft this tack the board lost owners would face years and potentially be able to show that a regulatory taking the University of Lon- credibility, not only decades of administrative obstacles before had occurred. don in England. I was there in 1979 when with the court, but also with the commu- securing the right to challenge unconsti- Palazzolo noted in Lucas the Su- Margaret Thatcher was first elected. I be- nity. Everybody knew what our trial experts tutional takings of property in state and preme Court ruled that regulation com- gan law practice with a Charlotte firm in confirmed: racial balance had been the hall- federal courts. pletely stripping property of all its value, 1979 and was active in the right-to-life mark of the schools for more than a gen- Upholding the Rhode Island decision or merely leaving a few token crumbs movement. eration. also would have validated improper gov- of value, amounts to a regulatory tak- After a six-week trial in 1999, Judge ernment takings simply because an ini- ing. Palazzolo argued that the drop in CJ: Tell us about your experience as a CLA with Robert D. Potter decided that the system tial property owner did not act quickly his property value from more than $3 Senator Jesse Helms. was “unitary” — fully desegregated — and enough or steadfastly enough in pursu- million to $200,000 was so significant as that the remedial magnet school program, ing and concluding an exhaustive legal to leave his property with mere token Ashcraft: Sen. Helms asked me to work for based on a rigid 60/40 racial-quota admis- battle with the state. The court’s remand value. The majority disagreed. him in Washington. He had lost some staff sion program, had been illegally operated. of the third issue, whether regulations While Palazzolo was denied per- lawyers to the Reagan administration and The Fourth Circuit upheld Judge Pot- causing a 93 percent diminution of a mission to develop his land for numer- needed some new recruits. I jumped at the ter on the unitary status issue by a vote of 7 landowner’s property value represent a ous single-family homes, he retained the chance to be part of the conservative revo- to 4 of the en banc court. But by a vote of 6 regulatory taking subject to just compen- right to build a personal residence on a lution and arrived in Washington in late to 5 they approved the magnet school pro- sation, leaves unresolved a major point portion of the land. “A regulation per- 1981. Working for Senator Helms was a gram — some judges finding the school sys- of contention between government and mitting a landowner to build a substan- great job. tem enjoyed “immunity” based on the old private citizens. tial residence on an 18-acre parcel does On one of my first days he called me court orders. Rhode Island created the Rhode Is- not leave the property economically into his office. He said, “You see that door As things presently stand, subject to land Coastal Resources Management idle,” asserted Kennedy. over there,” pointing to the door guarded further review by the U.S. Supreme Court, Council and charged it with protecting the The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision, by his secretary, “whenever you need to talk the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system state’s coastal properties. The council’s while not a total victory for Palazzolo, to me about anything, you come right is unitary and must use race-neutral student regulations, known as the Rhode Island nevertheless was sufficient to hearten through that door.” Pretty heady stuff for assignment in all schools starting in the fall Coastal Resources Management Program, advocates of citizens’ property rights. the newest kid on the block. But that’s the of 2002. designated salt marshes as protected Roger Pilon, director of the Cato way Senator Helms operated — no hierar- coastal wetlands on which development Institute’s Center for Constitutional chy, no pretense, no nonsense. CJ: What are the implications of the failed arena would be severely restricted. Studies, concluded that Palazzolo won In the early ‘80s we worked closely with issue? Do you think that Charlotte will find a In 1983 Palazzolo renewed his at- on two counts and the third was left for Senator [John] East and his great staff. At way to keep the arena even though a majority of tempts to obtain permission to develop another day. Nancie Marzulla, president that time, no state was better-represented the voters do not want it? his property. When the council rejected his of the Defenders of Property Rights le- in the United States Senate than North renewed efforts, Palazzolo filed a state gal foundation, agreed. “Once again, the Carolina was. Ashcraft: In June 2001 the voters of Char- court action claiming the state had af- Supreme Court has told the government During the second Reagan administra- lotte overwhelmingly rejected spending fected a regulatory taking of his property, that it cannot violate constitutionally tion, Helms decided to recommend a new large sums of public money to abandon a entitling him to just compensation. protected property rights. Since 1987, set of three U.S. attorneys in North Caro- perfectly good suburban arena and build a The Takings Clause of the U.S property owners have won every case lina. He asked if I’d be interested. I told him new one downtown. I had quit the Board Constitution’s Fifth Amendment, appli- in the Supreme Court. It’s time govern- that the job probably would not be as excit- of Elections to campaign against arena cable to the states through the Fourteenth ment regulators got the message that the ing as working for him but that it would be funding, which is another story. Amendment, prohibits the government property rights of landowners cannot be a great opportunity and a chance to get back Anyway, the city politicians were gen- from taking private property for public destroyed in the name of environmen- home. Helms recommended me to Presi- erally quiet on the issue during the fall cam- use without just compensation. In Penn- tal protection.” CJ dent Reagan, and I served about a year and paign. After the incumbents were re- sylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon, the Supreme a half in his administration and then four elected, however, a plan was floated to use Court recognized there will be instances years in the first Bush administration. tax funds, along with private sector help, when government actions do not physi- This article {by James Taylor) may be viewed I worked with three attorneys general, to build a downtown arena. At this point cally encroach upon or occupy property in its entirety at www.heartland.org. Ed Meese, Dick Thornburg, and Bill Barr. that plan, spearheaded by Republican yet still affect and limit its use to such an Palazzolo v. Rhode Island is available at In the spring of 1993 — about three months Mayor Pat McCrory, appears to be going extent that a taking occurs. While prop- http://supct.law. cornell.edu/supct/html/99- earlier than expected — the Republican U.S. through. A more arrogant and blatant dis- erty may be regulated to a certain extent, 2047.ZS.html attorneys were sacked en masse by the new regard of the will of the public by the poli- president, Bill Clinton. We now know why ticians is hard to imagine. CJ C A R O L I N A May 2002 JOURNAL Local Government 17

From Cherokee to Currituck Asheville Continues to Allow Non-Citizens to Sit on Boards

By ERIK ROOT “I don’t guarantee that we’ll win if we get people visiting the area. Commissioner The team could be back in Wilmington Assistant Editor sued, and I don’t guarantee that we won’t Steve Arnold said that “if PART were a in two years and the city could sign a writ- RALEIGH get sued.” private entity, it would be guilty of not ten agreement with the team to that effect. he Asheville City Council has al- listening to its customers. The mass transit According to Heller, the team lost lowed non-U.S. citizens to serve on Wading through tax increases project is doomed to fail.” The Rhino Times money playing for little cost at University T boards and commissions, accord- put it this way: “PART’s customer is the of North Carolin-Wilmington’s Brooks ing to the Citizen-Times of Asheville. The Guilford County Commissioner Trudy individual driver. For PART to be even Field. There is no word as to how much issue was raised by Councilman Joe Dunn Wade is voting for a 5 percent tax on rental marginally successful, it must entice, be- taxpayer money the city will commit to who thought it inappropriate that past coun- cars in order to fund the Piedmont Author- guile, lure, or otherwise inveigle tens of bringing back the team. cils had appointed a noncitizen to the board ity for Regional Transportation, according thousands of individual drivers off the road of adjustment, which can grant zoning re- to The Rhinoceros Times of Greensboro. and into sundry forms of mass transit.” Non-Profit boondoggles quests and/or deny projects. Despite evidence from various trans- Dunn’s question was why should a citi- portation organizations that public transit Waves push for own yard The Boone Report uncovered another zen of another country have authority over has little affect on traffic, Wade said the tax potential scandal with local governments the lives of U.S. citizens and other voters in is necessary in order to give PART a chance Succumbing to the temptation of minor skirting open meetings laws by questioning the community? to prove itself. league baseball clubs to the formation of the Iredell-Statesville Com- The council voted 4-3 to keep allowing Wade is quickly be- have their own posh field, munity Enrichment Corporation, which noncitizens to serve on regulatory boards coming labeled a “RINO” the Wilmington Waves works through the Statesville Housing and commissions. Mayor Charles Worley, as many of her Republi- For PART to be suc- have, in Shinn-like fash- Authority. Like many of these organiza- Holly Jones, Brian Peterson, and Jim Ellis can colleagues are dis- ion, decided to leave the tions, public officials also serve on the board were the supporters. Worley defended his mayed at her penchant for cessful, it must entice, city for other pastures, ac- of these nonprofit organizations. However, vote by saying that “it’s easy to lose sight tax increases. She said the beguile, lure, or other- cording to the Star-News when the taxpayer wants to view the records and jump on the patriotic bandwagon and tax is an “investment.” wise inveigle tens of of Wilmington. of those organizations, they are told they wave the flag.” Other Republicans on Not to be left out, are not purely public and cannot see them. Dunn was not intimidated by that ar- the commission believe thousands of individual Wilmington Mayor The ISCEC was created so that they could gument: “The men who stormed the beaches that placing a tax on rental drivers off the road. Harper Peterson wants to engage in practices that the SHA could not. at Normandy didn’t get their heads blown cars is illogical because employ taxpayer funds to These activities places them in direct com- off so someone who doesn’t belong in this they are in direct compe- help build the stadium for petition with the private interests in the country could be making decisions for them. tition with public transit. “The government the private enterprise. According to new marketplace. When are we going to start taking a stand has no business competing with private Waves owner David Heller, “If that ballpark The Boone Report notes that there is a on things?” industry,” Commissioner Billy Yow said. could be combined with a convention cen- conflict of interest since so many public Defending his vote, Ellis said that some Other commissioners have found that ter, it would fire up the economy with a officials sit on the ISCEC board. SHA Ex- foreign companies provide jobs in the re- more than 50 percent of the rental car tax turbo charge. It also would help grow the ecutive Director David Meacham promised, gion. City Attorney Bob Oast cautioned the comes from the Guilford County residents. property tax revenues. You could have loft but did not send, The Boone Report a list of majority of the council by saying that the PART told the commissioners that more condominiums around the ball park, among their salaries of the officials who sit on the decision has potential legal ramifications: than 70 percent of the tax will be paid by other things.” SHA or ISCEC. CJ National Review Ad

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Center for Can local governments deliver good Local quality services without raising taxes? Innovation North Carolinians looking for the answer to that question need look no further than the Center for Local Innovation, New Ideas for Governing North Carolina’s Cities and Counties headed by Tom Fetzer. Its mission is to identify and promote efficient, effective solutions to problems in local government 200 W. Morgan St., Suite 200 using such tools as competition, new Raleigh, North Carolina 27601 technologies, and activity-based costing.

To obtain more information about CLI, Hon. Tom Fetzer and subscribe to Prism, its weekly e- Director, Center for Local Innovation Former Mayor of Raleigh letter, call Erik Root at 919-828-3876. May 2002 C A R O L I N A 18 Learning Curve JOURNAL

From the Liberty Library Book Review

• In The Collapse of the Common Lehman’s ‘Seas of Glory’ Loaded with Firepower Good: How America’s Lawsuit Culture Undermines Our Freedom, author Philip Howard says that in pursuit • John Lehman: On Seas of Glory — Heroic “diplomatic” fashion. Vital targets remained of fairness at any cost, we have cre- Men, Great Ships, and Epic Battles of the Ameri- off limits. Pilots could attack only their des- ated a society paralyzed by legal fear: can Navy, Free Press, 2001, 436pp., $35 ignated targets on a mission and if a new Doctors are paranoid and principals target were to present itself, permission powerless. Little League coaches, By GEORGE C. LEEF had to be sought from higher command to scared of liability, stop volunteering. Contributing Editor attack it. Even if that permission was se- Schools and hospitals start to RALEIGH cured, it was usually too late to do any crumble. The common good fades, ohn Lehman served as secretary of the good. Lots of young American pilots and replaced by a cacophony of people Navy under President Reagan, and was other servicemen died because of the claiming their “individual rights.” In chiefly responsible for buildup of U.S. administration’s refusal to allow the Navy his book, he dissects the dogmas of J naval power after years of decline. In On (and other service branches, too) to fight fairness that allow self-interested in- Seas of Glory, he has written a crackling with both hands. dividuals to bully the rest of society. good book about the U.S. Navy that blends Following Vietnam, President Carter He explains how, trying to honor in- general historical narrative, political insight, allowed the Navy to slide badly into de- dividual rights, we removed the au- and detailed eyewitness accounts of critical cline. Morale was terrible, budgets were thority needed to maintain a free so- engagements that signifies that rare achieve- slashed, and the administration brought in ciety. Further information on this title ment in history that marks a page turner. new naval thinkers who were convinced at www.randomhouse.com/BB. Lehman writes from a vantage point that large ships were obsolete. To those that is quite distinctive. He comes from a strategists, the Navy would be “adequate” • Former Clinton political advi- family with a tradition of naval service and — the idea of “supremacy” being regarded sor Dick Morris has written Power the author himself has seen active service as as old-fashioned — with a small fleet of Plays: Win or Lose—How History's a pilot flying jets off aircraft carriers. Com- light ships. Great Political Leaders Play the Game, bine that background with his Pentagon in which he investigates 20 of the experience and first-class writing ability most dramatic political moves of all Lehman rebuilds Navy and you have the ingredients for a book time — from the effective to the di- suffused with passion. There have been crucial factor in the crown’s decision to During his stint as secretary of the Navy sastrous. From Abraham Lincoln many histories of the Navy by expert histo- make peace. The Continental Navy was under Reagan, Lehman had to repeatedly splitting the opposition over slavery, rians such as Samuel Eliot Morison, but this also instrumental in victory. Although joust with a Pentagon bureaucracy that was to Winston Churchill’s emergence book does more to give the reader the taste greatly outnumbered, Lehman writes that more interested in social engineering than from obscurity to lead Britain of salt spray and smell of gunpowder than it “forced severe operating restrictions on maritime supremacy. He was able to over- through World Warr II; from Ronald any nonfiction work I have read before. the Royal Navy and drew disproportionate come the bureaucracy with the aid of a Reagan and his conservative doctrine The author has a larger purpose than numbers of combatants to the North Ameri- couple of friends in high places — Reagan taking over the country, to George W. simply recounting commanders, ships, can station, setting the stage for France’s and Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger Bush co-opting Democratic issues battles, and results. Overarching the whole entry into the war.” — and the funding was secured for his under the banner of “compassionate sweep of American naval history is program to build up to the 600-ship Navy conservatism” — Morris examines Lehman’s conviction that the Navy has been War of 1812 through Vietnam he thought it would take to ensure U.S. these and many other gambits the key to our success as a nation. No, he control of the oceans in the event of hostili- through his unique perspective. More doesn’t disparage the other branches, but The War of 1812 was largely a debacle ties with the still ascendant Soviet Union. details can be found at www. Lehman makes a good case that had it not on land for American forces and had it not Over a period of six years, he was able to harpercollins.com. been for our comparative strength in naval been for the magnificent performance of the build and refit the navy with something warfare dating to the age of sail and con- Navy, the war would have certainly had a almost unheard of in military procurement • Michael B. Oren, a senior fel- tinuing on through the world wars and to much different outcome. The famous battles — cost underruns. low at the Shalem Center in Jerusa- the present time, we would have had a of Lake Erie and Lake Champlain were both The strengthened Navy was instrumen- lem and former director of Israel’s much less commodious history. cases of inferior U.S. fleets defeating British tal in causing the Soviet government to Department of Inter-Religious Affairs opponents with courage back off from its aggres- in the government of former Prime and guile, thereby stop- sive designs. Lehman Minister Yitzhak Rabin, has authored The Revolutionary War ping land offensives from writes that the Reagan Six Days of War: June 1967 and the The strengthened Lehman begins his story, naturally, with proceeding further. But defense strategy “was to Making of the Modern Middle East, to the Revolutionary War. We are accustomed the best-known naval vic- Navy was instrumen- instill in Soviet decision- be released in June. It is billed as a to thinking of that war as almost exclu- tories were won in the At- makers the realization comprehensive history of the dra- tal in causing the So- sively one of land engagements — Lexing- lantic by the frigates the that American weakness matic and pivotal event, the first to ton and Concord, Saratoga, Yorktown, and new nation had built in viet government to in the 1970s was an aber- explore it both as a military struggle many other familiar names — with a nod to the 1790s. Meticulously ration; they could never and as a critical episode in the global back off from its ag- John Paul Jones sometimes added. To ig- designed by Joshua achieve the military ad- Cold War. Oren spotlights all the par- gressive designs. nore the role of seapower is, however, a Humphreys and built vantage they had pur- ticipating sides — Arab, Israeli, serious error. Lehman observes that well with the best timber of the sued in the preceding American, Soviet — telling the story before the time of the Revolution, Ameri- new nation, those ships had first seen action decade. Their vast military building pro- of how the war broke out and of the cans were known as exceptionally good against the Barbary pirates in 1803. At the gram was like their vast, centrally controlled ways it unfolded. Drawing on thou- shipbuilders, surpassing the products of time, England’s great admiral, Sir Horatio economy, an abject failure.” The switch from sands of top-secret documents, on European shipyards. Why? Without the bu- Nelson, had fretted that they would one the “adequacy” theory of the Carter years rare papers in Russian and Arabic, reaucracy of admiralty oversight, they had day cause trouble for the British. How true to “supremacy” in the Reagan years first and on exclusive personal interviews, long been competing one with the other to that proved to be. caused the Soviets to change their naval Six Days of War recreates the regional build the fastest and best all-around ships The best known of the American frig- strategy from one geared toward offense and international context, which by for discriminating owners. They had drawn ates was — and still is — the USS Constitu- against the West to defense of the Russian the late 1960s virtually assured an on and improved the techniques and de- tion, “Old Ironsides,” (now moored in Bos- homeland, and later to bow out of the arms Arab-Israeli conflagration. More on signs from France, Holland, and Britain, ton), but rather than recount again the ex- race altogether. Oren’s book at www.oup-usa.org. while inventing a good many of their own. ploits of that ship, Lehman instead details Alas, history tends to repeat itself. Fol- Although the American rebels had noth- the battle between the USS United States lowing the Persian Gulf War, Congress and • Former U.S. drug czar William ing like the huge ships of the line of the and HMS Macedonian in October 1812. The the Clinton administration were happy to J. Bennett is the author of Why We British Navy, they did have excellent ves- result was fearful pounding for the let the navy atrophy. The number of ships Fight: Moral Clarity and the War on Ter- sels, experienced captains and seamen, high Macedonian by the longer-range and fell from 592 to 317. Useful platforms such rorism. He writes of the events of Sept. morale (in contrast to the British crews, heavier American cannon, served expertly as the Iowa-class battleships were 11, which revealed that the spirit of most of which had been impressed) and by well-drilled crews. mothballed or turned into floating muse- America is strong and undiminished, thus, Lehman writes, “they could raid com- Lehman continues his history, embel- ums. Worse yet, the social engineers were bringing out the best in our national merce like no one else.” Initially striking at lished with many more personal accounts again allowed to reign. Lehman quotes character. But Bennett says a small the British with privateers, which is to say, such as the above, through the Civil War, Clinton’s assistant secretary of the Navy as group of influential public intellectu- free-enterprise harassers of enemy ship- World War I, World War II, the Korean saying, “We are in the process of weeding als and academics were not part of ping, and later founding the Continental War, and Vietnam. Throughout the latter out the white male as the norm. We are this unified response, still preaching Navy, the patriots use of sea power “be- half of the 20th Century, the Navy not only about changing the culture.” He responds the same self-doubt about America came a decisive factor in winning indepen- had to fight (and be ready to fight) foreign that elevating political correctness over pre- that has steadily undermined our dence,” the author writes. The privateers foes, but was also beset by its own govern- paredness and esprit de corps is going to national resolve in recent decades. wrought havoc on British merchant ship- ment. On the latter score, Lehman has a lot make the Navy weaker. “Some would say Bennett calls America to continue its ping, capturing 15 percent of the entire to get off his chest. that this price is worth paying; a historical patriotic response to these doubts. British merchant fleet and sending insur- During Vietnam, for example, many tour of the costs of weakness would say See www.randomhouse.com. CJ ance rates soaring. Eventually the cost of pilots were lost because of President otherwise.” the war upon British businesses would be a Johnson’s decision to conduct the war in a An elegant and timely book. CJ May 2002 C A R O L I N A JOURNAL Learning Curve 19

Book Review Bernstein Touts Free Market, Not Politics, as Refuge for Blacks

• David E. Bernstein: Only One Place of against African-Americans in plumbing, Americans in the construction industry. The Redress: African Americans, Labor Regulations, barbering, and medicine. The Supreme act required that “prevailing wages” (in & the Courts From Reconstruction to the New Court upheld licensing of physicians in 1888 practice, union wages) be paid to workers Deal, Duke University Press, 2001, 189 pages, on public health grounds. In 1921 the court on construction projects financed with fed- $39.95 empowered state legislatures to set up li- eral money. Excluded from white unions, censing boards for other occupations with the only way blacks could compete for con- By CHARLES W. BAIRD the authority to “determine the subjects of struction jobs was to work for union-free Guest Contributor which one must have knowledge; the ex- contractors for market wages lower than RALEIGH tent of the knowledge in each subject; the union-scale wages. Those union-free con- ost African-Americans believe degree of skill requisite; and the procedure tractors, and their black employees were that history demonstrates the to be followed in conducting the examina- effectively excluded from such projects by M necessity of labor market regu- tion.” In the cases of Davis Bacon. Davis Bacon lations on their behalf. The message of this plumbing and barbering, was racist in intent and book is that the one place of redress Afri- white unions exploited …Lochnerian jurispru- effect. can-Americans (and other minorities) had the licensing statutes to dence provided a safe Chapter Five deals against discriminatory state and federal exclude African-Ameri- with New Deal labor laws economic regulations was the court system cans. In medicine, the haven for African- including the National guided by the principles of what came to be 1910 Flexner report was Americans against Labor Relations Act called, and later was excoriated as, used by white elitist (NLRA, 1935) and the Fair Lochnerian jurisprudence. The free market, medical associations to class legislation aimed Labor Standards Act protected by the courts following long-es- close African-American at them. (FLSA,1938). Section 9(a) tablished precedents, was the friend of black medical schools and pre- of the NLRA made mo- workers; politics was the enemy. vent African-Americans nopoly bargaining the law even from sitting for licensure exams. of the land and unions with monopoly FDR’s social injustice Chapter Three explains how white power often excluded blacks from mem- unions in the railroad industry were able to bership. The FLSA, which was advocated In 1905, the Supreme Court, in Lochner exploit the 1926 Railway Labor Act, which by Northern politicians, unions, and many v. New York, struck down a state regula- passed in several Southern states to inhibit gave them monopoly control of the railway employers, was designed to inhibit compe- tion of working hours on the ground of African-American worker migration from labor market, to exclude African-Ameri- tition from Southern employers, many of freedom of contract. From then until 1937, low-wage to higher-wage states. Typically, cans. The labor injunction, bitterly con- whose workers were African-American. If the court frequently struck down economic the laws required the agents — who in- demned by railway unions, was actually a the Supreme Court hadn’t tossed out regulations on the ground of freedom of formed workers of better opportunities else- blessing for African-Americans who were Lochnerian jurisprudence, the offending contract and that class legislation — legisla- where, recruited them to relocate, and willing and able to do the jobs that white legislation would never have been allowed tion benefiting special interests at the ex- helped them do so — to pay exorbitant strikers refused to do. “Yellow dog” (union- to stand and African-American workers pense of others — was illicit. Conventional licensing fees and imposed severe penalties free) contracts, also despised by unions, might be much better off today. wisdom holds that Franklin Delano for failure to comply. Plantation owners were opportunities for African-Americans At the very least, the author makes it Roosevelt’s 1937 defeat of Lochnerian juris- and other employers in the out-migration to take the jobs of white workers who were clear that Lochnerian jurisprudence pro- prudence (by his court-packing threat) was states lobbied for such legislation to keep dismissed for violating their union-free vided a safe haven for African-Americans a great triumph in the battle for social jus- their African-American labor force captive. promises. Both labor injunctions and yel- against class legislation aimed at them. The tice. To the contrary, Berstein argues, The agents, however, were often able to low dog contracts were upheld by the Su- market, not politics, is the best friend of all Roosevelt’s triumph was a blow to the in- overturn such laws in courts on Lochnerian preme Court on Lochnerian grounds. victims of discrimination. Thanks to David terests of African-Americans. grounds (even before the Lochner decision). Chapter Four tells how the 1931 Davis Bernstein for emphasizing that vital point The first chapter of this well-researched Chapter Two focuses on the use of oc- Bacon Act was (and still is) used to decrease with his excellent historical, legal, and eco- book examines the emigrant agent laws cupational licensing laws to discriminate employment opportunities for African- nomic analysis. CJ Book Review Smith’s Book Gives the Final Word on Campaign Finance Law

• Bradley A. Smith: Unfree Speech: The Folly should be counted McCain himself, who is Amendment requires government action defense of free speech in political campaigns. of Campaign Finance Reform,Princeton Uni- nothing if not self-righteous and the nu- to promote a de facto equality of influence versity Press, 2001 merous Washington interest groups like in politics. Ironies in the book Common Cause and the Naderite factions, Smith invokes the clear meaning of the By JOHN SAMPLES all of which lobby to rid money from poli- Constitution against the “First Amendment I might mention in closing two great Guest Contributor tics while taking millions from leftist foun- values” argument. The framers intended to ironies about this work. McCain appears WASHINGTON, D.C. dations like the Joyce Foundation and the exclude government regulation of the mar- very late in the book. McCain’s obsession esponding to Watergate, Congress Pew Memorial Trust. ketplace of ideas. They defined political with campaign finance has always been a a generation ago passed draconian Like earlier puritans, McCain and his liberty by the absence of governmental in- bit of a mystery, a puzzle possibly tied to his R restrictions on campaign spending allies prefer religious zeal to public reason; tervention and not as a goal to be achieved bad conscience about the Keating Five Af- and fund-raising. The Supreme Court even- they rarely support their claim that cam- through positive state actions. They knew fair. (Readers may recall that five senators, tually struck down these limits but affirmed paign donations corrupt American govern- that politicians could not be trusted to regu- including McCain, were accused for doing contribution ceilings and the legality of the ment. Smith nonetheless examines their as- late the electoral process. Once we abandon favors for savings and loan figure Charles new agency empowered to oversee the regu- sertion with scholarly care. Political scien- the clear language that Congress “shall make Keating in return for campaign contribu- latory regime, the Federal Election Com- tists have extensively studied the links be- no law prohibiting freedom of speech,” tions). Smith examines the evidence and mission. Over time inflation has made the tween campaign giving and congressional Smith persuasively argues we are only a suggests McCain did nothing wrong or im- contribution limits more restrictive, but cam- voting. As Smith notes, they have found step from “suppression pure and simple.” proper. Smith is more than fair toward a paign spending has increased apace. little if any connection between the two, an Other academics argue that government public figure who is rarely fair to others. In the mid-1990s Sen. John McCain, R- important finding since the only constitu- must substitute public for private financing A final irony: Smith serves on the Fed- Ariz., took up the cause of legislating new tionally acceptable rationale for restricting of elections to attain “equal protection un- eral Election Commission. When he was restrictions on campaign finance empha- contributions would be preventing corrup- der the law.” Yet, as Smith notes, the Four- nominated, the “reform” lobby attacked sizing the issue during his failed presiden- tion or the appearance of corruption. In fact, teenth Amendment protects citizens against him along the low road comparing the schol- tial effort in 2000. Just weeks after Brad the academic studies say party affiliation, governmental discrimination. It places no arly Smith to David Duke, the Unabomber, Smith’s book appeared, McCain and his ideology, and constituent preference are positive obligations on government to fund and Slobodan Milosevic. The resistance held allies seemed poised to impose extensive more important factors affecting congres- political campaigns. The Constitution guar- up his nomination for over a year during new regulations on political speech. Smith’s sional votes. antees equality before the law not equal which time he finished the work under book could not be more needed or more apt. The most intellectually serious — and influence over elections. Smith’s treatment review. Rarely has sweet revenge and a most dangerous — proponents of campaign of the Supreme Court cases in this regard is profound public service been so winningly Strange bedfellows finance restrictions are the traditional comprehensive and masterful. combined. Every friend of political liberty egalitarians who profess their cause in our Smith touches on many other issues as should read Unfree Speech. CJ The cause of campaign finance “reform” most eminent law schools. Some law pro- well. Fully at home in constitutional law, he attracts a strange melange of civic puritans, fessors argue that we must restrict the po- crosses disciplinary boundaries without who decry corruption, and traditional litical speech of some to enhance public fear, evincing an adventuring spirit that is John Samples is the director of the Center for egalitarians, who attack the “undue influ- debates and thereby realize “First Amend- needed on this topic. Smith has clearly writ- Representative Government of The Cato Insti- ence” of the affluent. Among the puritans ment values.” Others say the Fourteenth ten a book that will stand as the last word in tute in Washington, D.C May 2002 C A R O L I N A 20 Opinion JOURNAL

to diversion of private money designated for public expen- and between sporting teams, it is inherently unjust to Editorials ditures, to influence peddling, and, finally, to pressuring change the rules in the middle of the game. underlings to “perform tasks inappropriate for state em- Not surprisingly, in connivance with the General As- ployees on state time, specifically solicitation of campaign sembly on Sept. 28 Gov. Mike Easley signed the 2001 bud- contributions.” get. The act retroactively raised the income tax rate for the DMV DIVERSIONS state’s highest-income workers so that, nine months into Corruption is a North Carolina tradition the year, they are told they must pay 8.25 percent rather Violations? Who Cares? Not Our State than the previous rate of 7.75 for the full While federal involvement may be year. justified — to a degree — under the inter- The North Carolina As Carolina Journal has reported, law- here is something special about the North Carolina state commerce clause of Article I, Sec- yers say a strong case can be made that Department of Motor Vehicles. Unfortunately, that tion 8 of the U.S. Constitution, that action Department of Motor this tax increase, both unneeded and T specialty resides in its ability to offer itself as a should be limited only to the federal Vehicles is a case counterproductive, is patently unconsti- model of corruption and ineptitude for students of govern- government’s constitutionally authorized tutional. The question now is how much ment across the fruited plain. This is something we decline arena of dispute. study in corruption and the people of North Carolina either know to celebrate and wholeheartedly condemn. Aside from that reservation, we are ineptitude for students or care about how and why this has tran- Americans have always been enamored of the open hard pressed to entertain the idea that the of government. spired and the consequences of their tol- road. Whether traversing the plains of the frontier in a grand North Carolina tradition of a thor- erance for such actions. Conestoga wagon, ruffling prairie grass on the back of a oughly corrupt and morally bankrupt Article I, Section 16 of the North hardy steed, rumbling down river banks with Teddy DMV will be quickly changed by the Carolina Constitution states explicitly Roosevelt in a Model T, or pumping up a mountain trail in present investigation, which was long overdue and has not that “no law taxing retrospectively sales, purchases, or a Land Rover, the freedom and mobility afforded by indi- yet produced demonstrable results. other acts previously done shall be enacted.” While many vidual transport has always been part and parcel of the Allegations of fixing tickets, ignoring truck safety vio- public officials do not believe this clause applies to the re- American ideal. lations for favored companies, and shaking down state cently enacted tax increase because it covers a calendar year Yet, as technology has developed and society has be- employees for campaign contributions — much as the Mob and taxpayers allegedly don’t know how much they will come more complex, motorized transportation has become would as the price to pay for their “protection” — makes be liable to the state for until the April 15 tax filing dead- a regulated privilege proffered by the state, and properly the DMV appear a remnant of the defunct Soviet Commu- line, others argue differently. so. The necessity for state approval in this regard arises nist Party. from the idiom that, where one’s freedom might have an More interested in power than service, in greed and When does the clock start ticking? impact upon the safety of another, there is a substantial graft than the proper execution of constitutional law, DMV case to be made for the control of affirmative law. And so officials whose actions have subverted established state From day one of each new calendar year, all those who it is with motor vehicles today. law should be identified and fired. Depending upon actual are subject to withholding for payment of income taxes When society puts such high stock in ensuring that charges and dependent upon conviction, some jail time start paying into the state’s coffers. Others are required to citizens are properly cognizant of the rules of the road, are would not be inappropriate for those persons responsible file quarterly returns with estimated quarterly payments. tested accordingly, and allowed to bandy about wantonly — no matter how high up the totem pole. Both individuals and businesses therefore attempt to rea- in two tons of glass, metal, and plastic one would think that It should not end there. sonably plan their gross and net income assessments — controlling authorities would, well, control. Every North Carolina governor of the past 30 years at including tax payments due — based on the law as it ex- But in the state of North Carolina this is demonstrably least — from Bob Scott to Jim Holshouser to Jim Hunt to Jim ists on the first day of each new year. not the case. Martin to Mike Easley — should offer some explanation for This is why the income-tax hike (passed, by the way, what they did, or failed to do, to clean up the division. after months of reassurance that no general tax increases DMV shirks its responsibilities The cliche has it that a fish rots from the head down. So would be enacted to help balance the state budget) would it does. As bad as the DMV may be, its problems have long seem to fail the test. Taxpayers were clearly already pay- The DMV and its parent division, the Department of been known within state government circles as well as ing their quarterly and withholding taxes for months un- Transportation, have been riven with scandal as far back as without. That means that past and present chief executives, der the old rate before the new one was enacted. But the the eye can see. Prostitution rings in the basement of the past and present state lawmakers, and other state new rate didn’t just apply to income earned after passage. DOT building, as appalling as they may be, are less a policymakers deserve some of the blame for another sorry It taxed income that had already been taxed at a lower rate. danger to the public safety than the corruption of driver’s spectacle. If anything can be described as retroactive, it would be this license approvals for those who are not legally eligible. scenario. Yet the issuance of driver’s licenses to illegal aliens Proponents of the retroactive tax rely upon a 1921 U.S. may pale in comparison to more traditional and base Supreme Court ruling justifying such taxes. But as pointed political corruption. TAXES AND JUSTICE out by Gene Boyce, a Raleigh lawyer looking into a pro- The DOT, including the DMV, has wallowed in the spective lawsuit challenging the new tax increase, required most portentous corruption of perhaps any North Carolina tax withholding and quarterly payments were not in ef- agency over the past 30 years. Every governor, every Thumbs down on retroactive hikes fect until World War II. Up until that date, taxes were paid administrator, and legislator who went along blindly is at the end of the year. The “pay as you go” withholding complicit in making our state a nationally recognized and quarterly payments changed all that. disgrace regarding the issuance of driver’s licenses or the radition and certainty regarding the culture and the He said we “don’t pay taxes four months after the end management of its division of motor vehicles. law, as it develops over time, should be anchored of the year.” Yet, in their thirst for an ever-increasing por- And thus we land ignominiously in the vales and glens Tin a recognition that constitutional structures are tion of our incomes, the politicians look for any excuse, of western North Carolina, where the latest outcropping of designed to inhibit dramatic and unlawful change. They constitutional or not, to skirt the law if it means they can DMV corruption charges can be found. are further instituted to ensure the rule of law over the have more of our money to spend. Attorney General Roy Cooper has launched a belated whims of man. On both a national and state level, Ameri- As Rep. Fern Shubert, R-Union County, said, the investigation into apparent wrongdoing in that region. cans and North Carolinians in particular have failed in “attitude…is that it’s legal until someone says otherwise.” Cooper noted that there is credible evidence to buttress sundry ways. But they have traditionally believed that in We can only hope that someone, and at this point it will suspicion, from deliberate deception of state investigators, process, from public policy to the rules of contest among have to be the courts, will say so. A pattern of constitutional challenges

There is another disturbing pattern connected to this. Of five lawsuits brought against the state, the first dat- ing from 1989, filed on behalf of hundreds of thousands of North Carolina taxpayers, Easley, as attorney general, handled, and lost, each and every one. The total for which the state, i.e. taxpayers, are liable is $1.6 billion. If the state had settled at the minimum asked for by the plaintiffs’ lawyers, the cost would have been less than $400 million — $1.2 billion less than the outcome. We are facing the possibility of another major lawsuit, again under Easley. Given that the governor and the Gen- eral Assembly are counting on the increased revenue they expect, but are unlikely to realize, the budget is likely to get worse in the long run should the state lose. There is also the very real possibility that the state would lose a lawsuit on this issue. That would mean re- funds, interest, and the attendant legal fees, too. Taxpayers would be saddled with massive new debts, the rest of the nation would increasingly view North Caro- lina as a poorly managed, high-tax state. Of course, the prospects might be better than they would first appear. After all, we have a new attorney gen- eral who has lost only one major constitutional case in the courts so far (on legislative redistricting). Unfortunately for him, his client is, frankly, very much in the wrong. C A R O L I N A May 2002 JOURNAL Opinion 21

came to be called the Intolerable Act. This ultimately led or the other.” to the Revolution and the founding of the greatest nation In 1774 North Carolinians, responding to the Boston ANIMAL HOUSE the world has known. Today, we face a new age of intoler- Tea Party, avowed that the “cause of Boston is the cause of able acts that, in of themselves, demand rebellion. all.” And, truth be told, the Edenton Tea Party, held in that A state university should run a hotel. NOT On April 1 North Carolina Citizens for a Sound city by 51 women from at least five counties, is noted as Economy and the John Locke Foundation launched a two- the “earliest known instance of political activity on the part week-long statewide campaign called the “Tax Awareness of women in the American colonies.” niversities should be, as once noted by Benjamin Tour” to argue against unnecessary tax increases. The It is long past time for a new tea party. Last year the Disraeli, places of “light, of liberty, and of learn- solons of Jones Street would do well to remember that the less-than-honorables raised spending by $700 million and U ing.” Unfortunately, in America they are becom- Intolerable Acts led directly to the Quartering Act, which taxes by $685 million. When revenue drops, the sensible ing more prominent as engines of crass commerce than of stipulated, in essence, that colonists would be required to thing is to restrain spending. That’s what working Ameri- enlightenment. provide room, board, and sundry provisions to the Crown cans do when their income falls. And while North Carolina State University, via its Cen- military upon demand. Perhaps now we should therefore But politicians claim an unlimited bounty upon our tennial Campus, isn’t exactly aping to become a Motel 6 consider further provisions for our legislators in need. income. Their endless desire for our sweat and toil for their franchise, its development moguls are, at least, hoping to At the three Tar Heel Tea Parties — held in Winston- own dispensation and the succor of their political needs tread at the heels of a Hilton or a Sheraton. Salem, Wilmington, and Raleigh — and dozens of smaller leaves Joe Six-Pack with a bitter taste. Rather like the bad Private developers, originally approached by N.C. gatherings in every corner of the state, CSE’s Jonathan Hill breath from a poorly brewed and very bitter tea. State officials to develop a high-end hotel and golf course said that North Carolina citizens were “concerned about No amount of leavened honey, tart lemon, or sweet resort on the Centennial Campus, pulled out of the option the future of our economy and the fiscal crisis we face. They grains of sugar will lessen this burden. Only responsible when they determined the project would not be profitable. are concerned about higher property taxes, higher sales government can lighten our distress. This is called common sense. Enamored of their own pre- taxes, higher income taxes — and they all know that these And so, we march on. Cut taxes. Cut them now. And tensions to high-end development, the trustees of the uni- tax increases are all coming out of their pockets one way leave us alone. CJ versity have eschewed considerations of market efficiency to build a $65 million hotel, golf course, and conference center on the Centennial Campus. While they hope the complex will become one of North Carolina’s most “luxu- rious resorts,” as reported in The News & Observer of Ra- leigh, the campus administration “plans to issue $80 mil- Redistricting and Judicial Activism lion in taxable bonds to pay for” the project. The effort has been tainted from day one when the private developers originally intending to build the project, roof positive of the uncertain implications of the years or so, our state’s attorneys have lost virtually doubtful about its profitability, wanted the university to North Carolina Supreme Court’s decision on every major constitutional case in state and federal guarantee up to 40 percent of its business. This, in and of P legislative redistricting is that the day after the court. In Stephenson v. Bartlett, they might just as well itself, suggests that the private developers knew early on ruling came out, both Democratic and Republican lead- have not even bothered to show up. that the project was not economically viable. Otherwise, ers privately said their party would gain in November. At same point, might we consider hiring some why would they request a revenue guarantee? The uni- Obviously, both parties can’t prevail. The partisan folks at the Department of Justice with the ability to versity refused to go along and so the private investors impact of the decision will only be predictable when a win big cases, or at least the judgment not to go to pulled out. It is not hard to see why. new set of maps is drawn and affirmed by the various court with patently ridiculous arguments? It is with less than faint praise that we question why a actors in this drama, including the U.S. Justice Depart- OK, rant concluded. The next issue for the Court state institution, having already been told that a privately ment and the state courts. was what to do next. The plaintiffs had argued that envisioned resort complex would be a money loser, would But one thing is for certain: the court’s the whole-county provision meant what it move forward on the project financed by taxable bonds, decision in Stephenson v. Bartlett — the name said. The only way to preserve it while subsidized by the state, and in direct competition with a of the case, and one destined for fame in respecting the principle of “one-person, private market that has already determined the project’s North Carolina politics — has further ad- one-vote” would be to use multimember, lack of support. vanced the notion that judges should legis- multi-county districts to preserve intact PKF Consulting, and Benchmark Hospitality also late from the bench. counties. That is, you might live in a dis- weighed in, in their own financial interests, suggesting the Let me say right off the bat that much of trict that includes all of your own county project will not impinge upon the private market. Claim- the court’s majority decision, written by plus one, two, or more additional whole ing the effort would offer conference and entertainment Chief Justice Bev Lake, is not only a counties. You’d vote for several legisla- facilities incomparable in the Raleigh market, we can only commonsensical application of law but also tors, possibly as many as 10 in one county suggest that if there were a marketable demand for such a elegantly written. There were two big is- John Hood (Mecklenburg). facility in the Raleigh area, we would already have one or sues to resolve. The first was whether the There are many practical problems more private interests in the midst of fulfilling that vision. state constitution’s requirement that “no county shall with this remedy. I don’t like it any more than I As it is, private developers, via their initial refusal, have be divided in the formation of a senate or representa- suspect the plaintiffs did. What they were saying was indicated the effort does not represent a viable enterprise. tive district” was still in force. that if North Carolinians wanted a more rational In a time when we forever hear the bleating of vested Everyone stipulated that the legislative maps drawn redistricting process, they would have to amend the interests of the necessity for ever more dollars to be spent by the Democratic majority last year, maps gerryman- constitution, through their legislative representatives on the education of our young, on succoring the universi- dered to virtually eliminate competitive elections, had and then a public vote, to establish new and neutral ties and massaging their allegedly skin-tight budgets, it is divided a huge number of counties in contradiction of rules. not at all easy to swallow the idea that a top-notch recre- the constitution’s whole-county provision. What Lake did instead was write such rules in ational resort with a four-star hotel is in any way an edu- Furthermore, both parties agreed that in 40 of Stephenson v. Bartlett. While I mostly like the new cational enterprise dedicated to the pursuit of “light, lib- North Carolina’s 100 counties, the provision had been standards — particularly the Court’s order that new erty, and learning.” Disraeli was wrong about many things rendered inoperative by passage of the federal Voting districts must be “compact,” the ultimate neutral rule and correct about many others. On this point, he shines. Rights Act, which now exercises jurisdiction in those to subvert gerrymandering — I don’t like how they North Carolina and its subsidiary entities must get out counties with a history of voting-rights violations were achieved. The compactness standard, for ex- of the “business” of business. Whether it is N.C. State’s against racial minorities. ample, was derived from the “intention” of the whole- proposed 250-room Centennial Campus Executive Confer- The issue was whether the federal government’s county provision to provide voters with rational and ence Center, the Microelectronics facility, the Global preemption of the whole-county provision in part of recognizable political boundaries. I am all for original TransPark, or any variant thereof, these efforts are simply the state necessarily invalidated it in the other 60 coun- intent but this sounds an awful lot like the kind of graft for politicians and, yes, special interests to profit at ties. The plaintiffs, mostly Republican leaders, said no. judicial invention, complete with penumbras and the public trough. The defendants, mostly Democratic leaders, said yes. phantom rights, about which conservatives have com- We are sickened at the endless effort of connected plained for years. wheeler-dealers to profit at the public’s teat while they for- Harmonizing State and Federal Law There is nothing wrong with an activist judiciary ever demand more in taxes. Put a no-vacancy sign on this when its activism involves strict enforcement of real hotel and shut the doors before it ever opens. Five of the seven justices agreed with the plaintiffs. constitutional rights. I don’t want judges to be supine Reading the decision, it is easy to see why. Longtime and unduly deferential to legislatures when those standards of judicial interpretation, historical practice legislatures pass unconstitutional laws (as they often in North Carolina and other states, and just plain logic do). But in this case, the Court affirmed an argument TAX TEA PARTIES argued that you only throw out state regulation when against multimember districts — that they violated it is in actual conflict with federal law. As Lake ob- the equal protection clause of the state constitution — served, “to accept defendants’ logic would necessarily that neither party made at trial and that flies in the High taxes clash with free governments imply that any time Congress enacted a law which even face of more than 200 years of state history. superficially touched upon an area of primary state What happens next may be salutary. But I don’t responsibility, all related state provisions within the like how we got here. CJ n Dec. 17,1773, Massachusetts Patriots tossed 342 challenged area of state jurisprudence would be imme- chests of tea from three East India Company ships diately and entirely nullified.” Ointo Boston Harbor to protest trade restrictions. This would be, to use less elevated language, a silly Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation, publisher In response to the rebellion, lead by Samuel Adams, the result. The court rightly rejected it. of Carolina Journal, and author of Investor Politics: The British potentates proffered the Coercive Acts of 1774 to As an aside, I would note that the state’s attorneys New Force That Will Transform American Business, punish the Massachusetts colony, considered the core of essentially predicated their whole argument on this Government, and Politics in the 21st Century, pub- resistance to British rule. From the Coercive Acts to the silliness. They lost, embarrassingly. In the past dozen lished last year by Templeton Foundation Press. Boston Port Bill and the Administration of Justice Act, the Crown sought to make colonial subjects victims of what May 2002 C A R O L I N A 22 Opinion JOURNAL

Editorial Briefs

Taxpayers Pay for Living Wages

For some years, liberal groups such as the Asso- ciation of Community Organizations for Reform Now have pushed to get so-called living-wage laws enacted in cities and counties throughout the coun- try. More than 60 jurisdictions have enacted living- wage ordinances since the first in Baltimore in 1994. Typically, living-wage laws require city con- tractors to pay their employees a wage significantly higher than the minimum wage as a condition for doing business with the city. Living-wage rates are often tied to the poverty- level income for a family of four, which was $17,761 per year in 2000 or $8,959 for a single person. One effect of a living-wage law is to pay single people and two-earner couples considerably more than a living wage, as defined by the poverty level. The point is that it is silly to assume every worker is the sole wage earner in a four-person family, as living-wage advo- cates do. Living-wage campaigns are mainly fronts for municipal employee unions who want to raise labor costs for potential private competitors. In fact, a new study by economist David Neumark finds that existing government employees are the primary beneficiaries of living-wage laws. This is the main reason why he finds that living- wage laws raise local wages. However, Neumark also finds that forcing up wages causes demand for labor to fall; while workers covered by the living- wage law typically see a 3.5 percent increase in The Verdict: Yes for Military Tribunals wages, there is a 7 percent increase in unemploy- ment among low-wage workers. By MARC ROTTERMAN can see classified evidence. Asthma Linked to Ozone Contributing Editor ¥ Juries are made up of three to seven officers ap- RALEIGH pointed by the military. Self-reported asthma cases have doubled in the he United States Constitution is not a suicide pact,” ¥ A defendant can present evidence at his trial and United States over the past 20 years, and pediatric stated Justice Robert Jackson of “Nuremberg trial” cross-examine witnesses for the prosecution. cases rose from 3.7 percent of children to 6.9 percent T fame. ¥ A defendant is not required to testify or incriminate between 1980 and 1996. Pre-existing lung ailments When President Bush, backed by Attorney General himself. can be aggravated by exposure to air pollutants, but John Ashcroft, advanced the concept of using semisecret ¥ A two-thirds majority is necessary for a guilty ver- does air pollution cause asthma? military tribunals to try suspected foreign terrorists, whether dict. Most civilian trials require a unanimous verdict. A study in the medical journal Lancet (Feb. 3, captured abroad or here in the United States, there was an ¥ A death sentence requires a unanimous vote of a 2002) compared asthma rates among children in 12 outcry from the handwringers in the press and from such seven-member panel. southern California communities from 1993 to 1998 luminaries on the left as Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chair- With these standards — and compared to our enemies’ with measured levels of ozone, airborne particu- man of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Conservative col- concept of justice — our arguments over military tribunals lates, nitrogen dioxide, and other pollutants. umnist William Safire also voiced strong resistance to and the protection of military sensitive evidentiary infor- The only pollutant for which it found a correla- military tribunals. mation seems minor. tion with asthma was ozone. The debate over constitutional questions in military Consider the alternatives and that is this — full civilian In the four communities with the highest ozone tribunals clearly crosses party and ideological lines. At trials for probable terrorists. Imagine the circus that would levels, the 8 percent of children in three or more team issue is not an academic exercise of American jurispru- become. The O.J. Simpson trial would pale by comparison. sports were 3.1 times as likely as less-active children dence, but the security and survival of this nation and its Ambulance chasers like Johnny Cochran would come out to become asthmatic. But in the eight communities people. of the woodwork — racing to their defense and potentially with lower ozone levels, asthma was unrelated to After Sept. 11, it is not clear to Americans that the a guilty terrorist might walk free. sports participation. And overall asthma rates did Constitution in its entirety is to be applied to noncitizens, Worse still, a prolonged trial would provide a golden not differ between the high- and low-pollution ar- especially those who have demonstrated their hatred of the opportunity for a hostage-taking scenario. It is not difficult eas. United States and everything for which it stands. Perhaps to imagine a situation where Americans could be kid- it would be fair to try to judge these criminals by their own napped and executed on a daily basis until the defendant Disparities in Medical Treatment standards of justice. Maybe they would respect us more. is released. From a purely propaganda standpoint, a pro- But America does not work that way. America has longed public trial could play into the hands of our en- Dartmouth College physician John Wennberg always tried to walk the extra mile to be humane to prison- emies. believes there is little scientific basis for the differ- ers of war and to be conscious of the principles on which Bin Laden and his thugs would love to make the War ences in the ways medicine is practiced across the this country was founded. on Terrorism a “holy war” between Islam and the rest of the United States and little evidence that giving more One part of the Constitution, which we always work to world. All Al Jazeera TV would have to do is to rebroadcast care always extends lives. He believes we could save apply, is the Eighth Amendment — forbidding cruel and the defense attorney’s arguments on behalf of their terror- a lot of money if we figured out what care is valuable unusual punishment. Physical torture, cutting off hands ist client. and what is not — and provided more of the first and and feet, and beating people to death is not acceptable to Let’s be clear. Foreign terrorists are enemy saboteurs. less of the second. our nation, regardless of the charges against the accused. That pursuit historically demands the death penalty as A few examples of the disparities in medical This is not true of all counties around the globe. reflected in both the Geneva Convention and Uniform treatment he has found: First and foremost, military tribunals are not a new or Code of Military Justice. A typical 65-year-old in Miami, Fla., will cost novel idea. In the history of this nation, military tribunals President Bush is right to pursue military tribunals for Medicare $50,000 more in his or her lifetime than the have been used numerous times. During the Revolution, foreign nationals properly charged with terrorism against average 65-year old in Minneapolis, Minn. George Washington routinely used them; Lincoln as well the United States. Selected journalists should be allowed to Three of every 1,000 Medicare beneficiaries un- during the Civil War, and Franklin Roosevelt, backed by cover the trials with the same guidelines that were applied dergo heart bypass surgery each year in Albuquer- the U.S. Supreme Court, tried Nazi saboteurs during World during World War II; that is authorization prior to broad- que, N.M., but 11 in 1,000 do in Redding, Calif. War II. Six of those eight defendants were sentenced to cast or publication. The networks and the newspapers will Only 14 percent of the terminally ill in Sun City, death and executed. point out that this is prior restraint, so be it. By letting Ariz., enter an intensive-care unit in the last six Here are some of the rules as outlined by the Pentagon selected journalists in, it does allow for objective record of months of their lives, but 49 percent do in Sun City, for military tribunals: the trials. Calif. ¥ A defendant is presumed innocent until proved Battlefield captives are another matter. Military tribu- The research highlights two facts about Ameri- guilty. nals should be convened on the battlefield and the same can health care. The first is lack of knowledge; we ¥ A defendant has the right to a lawyer. He will be given standards would apply for tribunals as they would in the still know little about which treatment for some a military lawyer for free and can hire outside civilian United States. There is no reason to drag them to America. maladies is best. The second is the focus on cost counsel. Frankly, this is more than they would do for us. CJ rather than quality, decades of tinkering with Med- ¥ A tribunal can find someone guilty only if the evi- icaid and managed care were aimed mainly at sav- dence is beyond a reasonable doubt. ing money. CJ ¥ A defendant has the right to see the evidence against Marc Rotterman is a senior fellow at the John Locke Foundation him, unless it is classified. His military defense attorney and treasurer of the American Conservative Union. May 2002 C A R O L I N A JOURNAL Opinion 23 International Trade Improves Our Standard of Living

By MICHAEL WALDEN better used preparing for the next contest or game. Even United States. Contributing Editor when a person or country does everything best, they’re If true, then certainly these are points domestic compa- RALEIGH better-off focusing on that which they do the very best and nies making competing products would want to advertise. recently conversed with a citizen from western North then trading for other products. But ultimately it’s the U.S. consumer who must weigh Carolina who asked a simple, yet telling, question. these factors against the possible lower prices of certain I How could anyone be in favor of trade with foreign The costs of trade foreign-made products. If U.S. consumers don’t like how countries if that trade results in job losses here at home? foreign products are made, then they have the option of not The question is a reasonable one for North Carolina. If individuals and countries specialize and trade, and buying them. Liberalization of trade with foreign countries has cost if specialization and trade increases their standard of liv- North Carolina tens of thousands of textile and apparel ing, then why can trade be controversial? Trade wouldn’t Can we survive? jobs. Now, our state’s furniture industry is facing new be controversial if the economy stood still. But it doesn’t. competition from furniture makers in China and other Economies are constantly changing. For one, the talents Some see trade with foreign countries as a death path countries. and competencies of people and countries can change over for the U.S. economy on two counts. First, they see U.S. So why should anyone, and especially North Carolin- time. Countries that once didn’t produce workers ultimately not being able to com- ians, support more international trade? Won’t we always competitive products can do so at a later pete with cheaper foreign workers. Sec- lose in trade with countries who pay their workers pennies time. Japanese vehicles and electronic The U.S. has run a ond, they see trade with foreign countries compared to U.S. workers’ dollars? And hasn’t greater products are good examples. resulting in a trade deficit for the United international trade resulted in the United States running a Also, the “rules of the game of trade” trade deficit for sev- States, which trade critics consider to be trade deficit? There are the headline questions — now let’s can change over time. Historically, coun- eral years, but most bad. get to the answers. tries have erected trade barriers to in- economists view the Both of these worries are unwar- hibit trade and protect selected indus- ranted. U.S. workers can compete with The logic of trade tries. However, eventually countries may trade deficit as a sign lower-paid foreign workers as long as realize lower trade barriers and greater of strength. U.S. workers are more productive. The Trade results from specialization. Long ago economic trade improves the living standards of cost of a worker is not the wage per hour man and woman found their lot in life could be dramati- most of their citizens. Indeed, this has but the wage per output produced per cally improved if they specialized in a few activities and occurred in many countries in recent decades. hour. In many industries, the higher wages of U.S. workers then traded with others who specialized in other activities. But when this happens, industries that were protected are more than offset by their higher productivity. The romantic vision of families being self-sufficient was and now can’t compete with foreign producers lose. Such The productivity improvements of U.S. manufactur- just that — a romantic, and impractical, vision. industries lose sales and profits and dismiss workers. ing workers has allowed U.S manufacturing output to Specialization and trade benefit economies in two ways. grow in recent decades, despite public perceptions to the First, they allow talents and expertise to be exploited and Is it worth it? contrary. enhanced. Second, they also allow efficiencies to be devel- The United States has run a trade deficit for several oped through the knowledge and experience gained by Numerous studies have documented that, although years, but most economists view the trade deficit as a sign focusing efforts on a few tasks or enterprises. lower trade barriers may cost jobs in formerly protected of strength, not weakness. U.S. economic growth has been The idea of specialization and trade for individuals industries, consumers benefit more by having access to so rapid, on trend, that our appetite for goods and services and families can be extended to countries. Like people, lower-priced products. must be satisfied by both domestic and foreign producers. countries can focus on activities they do best and trade with Also, although the headlines focus on job losses from Furthermore, as a percent of the total economy, the trade other countries that have likewise specialized in other trade, trade also creates new jobs in many industries. So, deficit is relatively small. products and services. So, for example, it makes sense for the gains to the winners from trade outweigh the losses to The verdict on trade is that it advances, rather than the United States, with its educated work force, to trade the losers. retards, economies and the standards of living of most high-tech products to Saudi Arabia for oil, which that This sets up a classic solution to the issue of workers citizens. Changes in trade patterns can cause pain for country can produce cheaply and in large quantities. displaced by international trade. If laws and treaties ex- selected workers and communities, and for them the coun- But what if a country does everything better than tending trade benefit consumers more than they hurt se- try should consider assistance for retraining, relocation, another country — will trade still occur? The surprising (to lected workers, consumers can compensate workers and and revitalization. But for the large percentage of citizens, some) answer is, yes. This is where the economic idea of still be ahead. Indeed, recent trade treaties signed by the trade enhances opportunity, choice, and ultimate well- comparative advantage comes in to play. To explain, let me United States have recognized this tradeoff by providing being. CJ go back to individuals. Choose the best-conditioned athlete retraining and other compensation to displaced domestic you can imagine. Clearly that person could mow the lawn workers. at one of his mansions faster than anyone he could hire. Some critics of international trade say it doesn’t occur Michael Walden is a William Neal Reynolds distinguished pro- But well-paid athletes don’t mow their lawns — they on a “level playing field” because foreign-made products fessor of agricultural and resource economics at North Carolina hire (translated, trade for) a lawn service. Why? Because are often of lower quality and are made without the same State University and an adjunct scholar with the John Locke the time the athlete would expend mowing the lawn is protections to workers and the environment as in the Foundation. Believe It or Not: In-State Tuition for Illegal Immigrants

By RICHARD WAGNER for a group of people that have flocked to North Carolina this country? Editor by the hundreds of thousands in the past decade. Since RALEIGH 1990 their numbers have increased from about 100,000 to Taxpayers hold the bag rom deep within the wackiest files of Ripley’s Be- almost 400,000 in the state. The senators’ concern is so lieve It or Not comes legislation by North Carolina profound, in fact, that an impartial observer might suspect Who would pay for the tuition break? Wouldn’t it be F Sen. William N. “Bill” Martin, D-Greensboro. Martin ulterior motives are hard at work. the law-abiding citizens and taxpayers of North Carolina? is the chief sponsor of a bill that establishes a study commis- Shouldn’t the legislature first perform a comprehensive sion that — hold onto your bloomers — offers in-state An expensive study study to determine the total cost of state benefits already tuition to ILLEGAL immigrants. That’s correct — in-state provided to ILLEGAL immigrants? tuition to ILLEGAL immigrants. The bill allocates $60,000 from the General Fund over Why should ILLEGAL immigrants get a break when Why would Martin want to do that? “The big issue is: two years to pay for the study. The bill also allows the American citizens from out of state pay premium rates? If there’s a prospect that they are going to be remaining Legislative Services Commission to assign professional What about all the LEGAL immigrants, who are earn- here, would it not be wise to allow them to be as well staff to assist the commission in its work and clerical staff ing their citizenship the right way? Why should they make prepared to be productive contributors to society as they from the House and Senate to be help the commission. And the effort? Wouldn’t the bill make a laughingstock out of could be?” Martin told a reporter from The News & Observer of course members of the commission will receive subsis- immigration laws in the United States? Why should the of Raleigh. “If all they see is a dead end, they could end up tence and travel expenses. United States try to enforce immigration policy and safe- being more of a drain.” But maybe our elected representatives could save the guard its borders? Total tuition and fees at the University of North Caro- $60,000 and hundreds of millions of dollars down the road Isn’t there a war going on? Haven’t thousands of lina at Chapel Hill for in-state students is $3,219, while for by first answering a few obvious questions: Americans already lost their lives in it? What is terrorism? out-of-state students the total cost is $13,211. So, under What does ILLEGAL mean? Wouldn’t SB 812 actually Hasn’t lax enforcement of immigration laws contributed to Martin’s bill an ILLEGAL immigrant would save — at reward ILLEGAL immigrants for flouting the law? How terrorism within our own borders? taxpayers’ expense — about $40,000 on a four-year degree. many of them have violated numerous other laws by Why has North Carolina become the butt of jokes But the bleeding-heart Martin isn’t alone. Eight of his falsifying documents, such as driver’s licenses, birth certifi- around the nation for having a porous Division of Motor Democratic colleagues have signed onto Senate Bill 812. cates, and Social Security papers so they could live and Vehicles? Haven’t tens of thousands of ILLEGAL immi- They are Sens. Charles W. Albertson of Beulaville, Walter work in the United States? Rather than helping ILLEGAL grants obtained North Carolina driver’s licenses? H. Dalton of Rutherfordton, Linda Garrou of Salem, Wib immigrants, shouldn’t our elected representatives be de- Is this just more race baiting by a political party to Gulley of Durham, Eleanor “Ellie” Kinnaird of Carrboro, manding that they be prosecuted and deported? attract a new bloc of voters for future elections? Aren’t we Howard N. Lee of Chapel Hill, Jeanne H. Lucas of Durham, Martin acknowledged that ILLEGAL immigrants pose sick and tired of being taken for suckers? and Allen H. Wellons of Smithfield. a risk, so didn’t he unwittingly make a case for enforcing Don’t the obvious answers to these questions negate It’s very touching that all these senators care so deeply immigration laws and cracking down on their entry into any reasons for proceeding with this outrageous bill? CJ May 2002 C A R O L I N A 24 Parting Shot JOURNAL Wake County Gets Comprehensive Education “Kids are going to do it anyway” informs a whole new approach to teaching kids about dangerous activities

By JON NATHAN SWIFT upon the popularity of the latter, the program allows for Modest Proposal Correspondent optional lectures on how to obtain Cuban cigars and on the Clintonic method, an option also allowed under the chool officials in Wake County are considering a pro- comprehensive sex-ed program). Wake County schoolchil- posal to move away from the state’s abstinence-un- dren will also be taught how to make informed choices Stil-marriage focus on sex education to a “compre- (for their safety) among beer, wine, and spirits. Students hensive program” that could involve discussions of such will also learn safe handling procedures of razor blades, to topics as sexual practices and contraceptives. prevent dangerous cuts from the construction of fake IDs The abstinence policy has been in practice since it was or the formation of cocaine lines. Importantly, the “Officer made standard by the General Assembly in 1995, and since Smiley” policeman program to teach children how to rec- 1995 the teenage pregnancy rate in North Carolina has been ognize and avoid drugs will be discontinued in favor of dropping. Proponents of the move away from the absti- the “Friendly Homey” program to teach children how to nence policy say it doesn’t protect students who are going ensure the purity of narcotics purchased from street-cor- to engage in sexual activities anyway. Especially for stu- ner vendors, so that they don’t buy recreational drugs “cut” dents who will engage in sexual activities, the comprehen- with other, even more dangerous drugs. sive program will include an emphasis on the importance of contraceptives. Bill Clinton, Fidel Castro: exploring different uses for cigars. Comprehensive chemistry Enlightened by this new pedagogic approach of “Kids are going to do it anyway,” Wake County school officials ence: Never Without Protection.” Especially for students Now, Wake County chemistry teachers stress safety are reportedly considering other proposed “comprehen- who will drive recklessly, the comprehensive program will around the lab and try to explain to students the dangers sive education” initiatives intended to keep children safe include an emphasis on the importance of airbags. of carelessly mixing chemicals; in fact, a large portion of when they engage in dangerous activities that they’re go- chemistry instruction in Wake County involves teaching ing to engage in anyway. Among these are: Comprehensive drug education students which combinations of chemicals are combustible and dangerous to life and limb. Wake County officials un- Comprehensive driver’s education Wake County’s approach to teaching kids about to- derstand, however, that kids are prone to experimentation bacco, alcohol, and drugs is all wrong. Kids are going to anyway and that no amount of telling them not to do it or Wake County’s driver’s education program currently smoke, drink, and use drugs anyway, and a responsible it’s dangerous will stop them. Thus the proposed compre- relies on a naive assumption that kids won’t break North drug-education program ought to teach kids how to be hensive chemistry education would teach children safe, Carolina traffic laws. Under the more realistic assumption more responsible when they choose to do these dangerous aseptic approaches to chemical experimentation under the that kids are going to break traffic laws anyway, the pro- activities. The comprehensive drug-education program facilitation but not direct supervision of the instructor. Top- posed comprehensive driver’s ed will expand on the cur- proposed for Wake County would teach kids, for example, ics include “Boom and Bust: Chemical Experimentation at how to discern between cigarette brands, including a de- rent program to include lectures on “Safe Speeding: How Arm’s Length,” “H2-NO!: Classroom Gerbils and Other Al- to Exceed the Posted Speed Limits Responsibly,” “Smart tailed description of differing tar and nicotine contents and ternative Methods of Disposing Burner Contents,” “Tidy Racing: A Few Tips to Remember to Have a Good Time,” what they mean, a look at menthol cigarettes, and a dis- Lockers, Safe Hallways: The Importance of Locker Stabil- “Don’t Stop: Dealing with Society’s Expectations Around cussion at cigarette alternatives, such as clove cigarettes ity for Spill-Proof Chemical Smuggling,” and “Stop, Drop, Stop Signs & Stop Lights,” and “Driving Under the Influ- but also snuff, chewing tobacco, and cigars (depending and Roll: Not Just for Fire Drills Anymore.” CJ

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