• Little Bang for Bucks • UNCW Banishes In Public Schools C A R O L I N A College Republicans Security at N.C. Ports ‘Life at the Bottom’

Volume 13, Number 1 A Monthly Journal of News, January 2004 Analysis, and Opinion from JOURNAL the John Locke Foundation www.CarolinaJournal.com www.JohnLocke.org Redistricting Commissions Aren’t ‘Silver Bullets’

Twelve states employ appointed panels but partisanship remains

By PAUL CHESSER Associate Editor RALEIGH wo years ago, state Rep. Russell Capps, R-Wake, complained that T his newly redrawn, Democrat-lean- ing district resembled the main course at a holiday dinner — sort of. “If you hold it upside-down,” Capps said at the time, “it looks like a turkey.” But odd-shaped, gerrymandered dis- tricts are not unique to North Carolina. Reapportionment in Pennsylvania two years ago enraged state senators because of a resulting redistricting plan that was said to resemble a “mutated starfish.” Lawmakers in Nevada likened their new 2001 legislative districts to: a battered Carolina Journal photo by Jon Sanders cowboy boot; “one of those old telephones;” Storm clouds have hovered over North Carolina’s Legislative Building ever since the General Assembly undertook the task of redistricting. a Gila monster; a “big, ugly [coyote] that’s biting at itself;” and “a poodle trying to turn around and bite The Spaghetti Bowl” (a Las Iowa’s Success: Nonpartisanship and Relocation Vegas-area transportation project of en- tangled highway ramps and flyovers). By PAUL CHESSER If the legislature doesn’t approve the Gov. Tom Vilsack on a later plan may have Capps’s district was changed after a Associate Editor first maps, the bureau gets two more cracks motivated legislative Republicans to accept successful GOP court challenge and he was RALEIGH at it, and lawmakers are not allowed to the second plan instead of taking its chances re-elected in 2002. However, the North Caro- f any redistricting procedure should be amend those plans, either. with the court. lina General Assembly is again causing ag- viewed as exemplary, Iowa may be the gravation, mostly for the majority of its Ibest model for other states. History of votes The effect of pairing incumbents Republican members, with maps it drew in After the state Supreme Court struck November. Judges will review districts down its districts in the 1970s because its The first Assembly vote on districts Iowa hesitates little to pair incumbents again soon to determine whether they meet population variance was too great, the Iowa under the new process was in 1981, when in existing districts, and because of that, the criteria for constitutionality laid out by General Assembly turned redistricting re- the bureau’s third plan was adopted. The lawmakers feel free to move about the state. the state Supreme Court in 2002. sponsibilities over to legislative staff. 1991 Democrat-led legislature approved the Leach, a 27-year veteran of the U.S. House, The Legislative Services Bureau, which first plan presented to it, which appeared to relocated to the 2nd District after his pair- No silver bullets draws both legislative and congressional throw elections wide open. Two years later ing with Nussle. The move to the Demo- maps, is required by statutory authority to Republicans held four of Iowa’s five seats in crat-leaning district made more sense for Trying to avoid the tussle for power, disregard political affiliations and incum- Congress. the liberal Leach rather than his conserva- some North Carolina legislators have pro- bency when designing new districts. The In 2001, with both chambers under GOP tive counterpart. posed the establishment of a nonpartisan only demographical information it may use control, the legislature overwhelmingly Likewise, decennial redistricting moti- commission to handle redistricting duties. is population (Iowa is not subject to the adopted the bureau’s second offering. The vates several state legislators to uproot. They argue that such panels minimize po- Voting Rights Act). plan paired 64 incumbents in state legisla- Despite the changes in 2001, Republicans litical considerations such as incumbency, The bureau must draw districts with tive districts, and Republican Reps. Jim still held a 54-46 advantage in the Iowa and instead endeavor to follow constitu- the following considerations, in order of Nussle and Jim Leach were thrown together House and a 29-21 lead in the Senate. tional guidelines such as compactness and highest priority to lowest: in the 1st Congressional District. Even with the ever-changing districts, communities of interest. • Population equality Iowa’s lawmakers also face strict dead- litigation has been avoided since the 1970s. But a review of the practice in other • Contiguousness lines to get new districts drawn. If the As- “They’ve had no suits, and got the job states shows that commissions are usually • Respect of county and city unity sembly doesn’t pass one of the three bureau done,” said Peter Wattson of the National still partisan, and are rarely the silver bul- • Compactness plans, it must draw its own plans by Sept. 1, Conference of State Legislatures. Once the districts are drawn, the legis- or the state Supreme Court decides on the But unlike North Carolina, in Iowa no lature must vote up or down on the plan. new districts. lawmaker is forced to move from his Continued as “Redistricting,” Page 3 No amendments or changes are permitted. The prospect of a veto by Democratic beachfront home or mountain abode. CJ

Best Way to Cut Business Taxes The John Locke Foundation NONPROFIT ORG. Contents 200 W. Morgan St., # 200 U.S. POSTAGE Rate Reduction 55% Raleigh, NC 27601 PAID Targeted Credits 31% RALEIGH NC PERMIT NO. 1766 Not Sure 14% Calendar 2 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 • The latest changes in test reporting from • The Durham City Council adopted a JOURNAL the College Board are gathering both ap- tough new ordinance that restricts where, • Is the appointment of an independent re- proval and protest from education policy how, and what people can sell at intersec- districting commission the solution to analysts and test takers. Page 8 tions in the city, and panhandling is also breaking North Carolina’s unrelenting con- covered by the ordinance. Page 16 flicts over the process in the General Assem- HIGHER EDUCATION bly? A look at other states with such panels • An interview with Virginia Postrel, New Richard Wagner doesn’t produce optimism. Page 1 • On Nov. 10 the University of North Caro- York Times economics columnist. Page 17 Editor lina at Wilmington derecognized the Col- NORTH CAROLINA lege Republicans student group, freezing its THE LEARNING CURVE Paul Chesser, Michael Lowrey funds and disallowing its use of campus Donna Martinez • A precedent set in July by the N.C. Su- facilities. Page 10 • A review of the book Life at the Bottom: Associate Editors preme Court enabled a Lumberton family The Worldview That Makes the Underclass by to win a quick resolution in a dispute with • College textbooks published in the United Theodore Dalrymple. Page 18 social workers. Page 4 States but exported to booksellers overseas Karen Palasek, Jon Sanders are in many cases cheaper for students to • Reviews of the books Economics for Real Assistant Editors • Allyson Duncan, a former member of the “reimport” than it is for them to buy from People: An Introduction to the Austrian School North Carolina Utilities Commission who domestic booksellers. Page 12 by the Ludwig Von Mises Institute by Gene Andrew Cline, Roy Cordato, left in 1998, a year before the end of her Callahan, and Houston Freeways: A Histori- Charles Davenport, Ian Drake, eight-year term, represented a newly • Jon Sanders writes about an ethics com- cal and Visual Journey by Eric Slotboom. Tom Fetzer, Nat Fullwood, formed gas authority before the commis- plaint against Sen. Edward Kennedy by Ju- Page 19 John Gizzi, David Hartgen, sion within months after resigning. Page 5 dicial Watch, which alleges that Kennedy Summer Hood, Lindalyn Kakadelis, obstructed the confirmation of a judge un- OPINION Kathleen Keener, George Leef, EDUCATION til after racial-preferences cases concerning Kathryn Parker, Marc Rotterman, the University of Michigan and its law • Richard Wagner asks whether a recently R.E. Smith Jr., Jack Sommer, • The Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll on pub- school were decided. Page 13 approved package of “incentives” for cor- John Staddon, George Stephens, Jeff Taylor, Michael Walden, lic attitudes toward public education hinted porations is about the economy, or about Karen Welsh at it, and two studies now confirm the LOCAL GOVERNMENT stupidity. Page 20 Contributing Editors public’s intuition about school spending: We aren’t getting the achievement “bang • Accessing North Carolina’s seaports in • Donna Martinez writes that for those who for the bucks” we’re spending. Page 6 Wilmington and Morehead City will get believe government programs are the an- Jenna Ashley, Paul Messino, more complicated over the next few swer to solving social problems, the 2003 Andrew Symons • Under the federal No Child Left Behind months, but the short-term inconveniences North Carolina Child Health Report Card Editorial Interns law, teaching professionals must meet spe- will lead to physical and technological im- is a reason to celebrate — at least that’s what cific criteria for their credentials. North provements state and local officials believe its authors want you to think. Page 23 Carolina hasn’t met its own targets for 2003- are necessary for long-term security from 04 yet, but it has made substantial progress terrorists. Page 14 PARTING SHOT in some areas. Page 7 John Hood • A John Locke Foundation report high- • An ambitious new campaign by state po- Publisher • Lindalyn Kakedelis writes that unions’ lights the increasing burden local govern- litical leaders calls for the dramatic — liter- monopolistic control of the teacher educa- ments in North Carolina place upon taxpay- ally — expansion of new biotechnology fa- Don Carrington tion market doesn’t lead to educational free- ers through increased taxes and fees. cilities on college campuses in North Caro- Associate Publisher dom. Page 7 Page 15 lina. Page 24

Published by Calendar The John Locke Foundation 200 W. Morgan St., # 200 Raleigh, N.C. 27601 (919) 828-3876 • Fax: 821-5117 Human Events Editor Terence Jeffrey to Speak in January www.JohnLocke.org

n Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2004, the John elections, the 2000 elections, the Florida Bruce Babcock, Ferrell Blount, John Carrington, Hap Chalmers, Locke Foundation will host a recount controversy, and the war on terror- Sandra Fearrington, Jim Fulghum, OHeadliner luncheon featuring ism. He has been pitted in one-on-one tele- William Graham, John Hood, Terence P. Jeffrey, editor of the national vised debates with figures as diverse as Kevin Kennelly, Lee Kindberg, conservative political magazine Human former Michigan Gov. John Engler and Robert Luddy, William Maready, Events. Oakland (Calif.) Mayor Jerry Brown, the J. Arthur Pope, Assad Meymandi, In 1987, while a student in a two-year Rev. Jesse Jackson and Ari Fleischer, Ann Tula Robbins, David Stover, masters program at Georgetown Univer- Stone, and Naomi Wolf. Jess Ward, Andy Wells, sity, Jeffrey took a summer job as an intern Jeffrey, the seventh of 11 children, was Art Zeidman on the editorial page of The Washington born in San Francisco, Calif., on July 26, Board of Directors Times. He was soon hired as a full-time 1958. He holds a bachelor’s degree in En- editorial writer and dropped out of gradu- glish Literature from Princeton University. ate school. The Times later nominated him He, his wife Julie and their five children live Carolina Journa is a monthly jour- for the Pulitzer Prize in editorial writing. in suburban Virginia near Washington, D.C. nal of news, analysis, and commentary on In December 1991, Jeffrey left the Times The cost of the luncheon is $20 per state and local government and public policy to become research director for Patrick person. The event will begin at noon and issues in North Carolina. Buchanan’s Republican primary campaign will be held at the Brownstone Hotel in against President George H.W. Bush. In the Raleigh. For more information or to prereg- ©2004 by The John Locke Foundation summer of 1992, he helped coordinate the ister, contact Summer Hood at (919)828- Inc. All opinions expressed in bylined ar- ticles are those of the authors and do not campaign’s efforts to ensure that the Re- 3876 or [email protected]. necessarily reflect the views of the editors of publican Party approved a conservative Carolina Journal or the staff and board of platform at its national convention in Hous- Shaftesbury Society the Locke Foundation. ton. In 1993, Jeffrey became executive direc- Human Events Editor Terence Jeffrey Each Monday at noon, the John Locke Material published in Carolina Jour- tor of the American Cause, an educational Foundation plays host to the Shaftesbury nal may be reprinted provided the Locke foundation dedicated to the principles of In September 1996, Jeffrey returned per- Society, a group of civic-minded individu- Foundation receives prior notice and ap- limited government, traditional values, and manently to journalism, becoming editor of als who meet over lunch to discuss the propriate credit is given. Submissions and a foreign policy rooted in the national inter- Human Events-The National Conservative issues of the day. The meetings are con- letters to the editor are welcome and should Weekly be directed to the editor. ests of the United States. , the oldest conservative journal in ducted at the Locke offices in downtown Jeffrey was back in campaign mode in America. During his time as editor, Human Raleigh at 200 W. Morgan Street, Suite 200. Readers of Carolina Journal who wish 1995, serving as national campaign man- Events has featured hard-hitting investiga- Parking is available in nearby lots and decks. to receive daily and weekly updates from CJ ager for Buchanan’s second Republican tive reporting focusing on national-secu- editors and reporters on issues of interest to presidential campaign. This time, he helped rity threats to the United States, corruption “Carolina Journal Radio” North Carolinians should call 919-828- formulate and execute the strategy that led and waste in government, and the inside 3876 and request a free subscription to Buchanan to underdog victories in the New story on politics as it is practiced in the The staff of Carolina Journal co-produce Carolina Journal Weekly Report, deliv- Hampshire primary, and in the Alaska, nation’s capital. a weekly newsmagazine, “Carolina Journal ered each weekend by e-mail, or visit Louisiana, and Missouri caucuses. Leading Jeffrey is often a guest on national tele- Radio,” which appears in syndication on 16 CarolinaJournal.com on the World Wide Web. Those interested in education, higher up to the 1996 Republican convention in vision talk shows, including MSNBC’s radio stations. Visit CarolinaJournal.com to education, or local government should also San Diego, Jeffrey again helped coordinate “Hardball” and CNN’s “Inside Politics.” In locate an affiliate in your area. Also, sub- ask to receive new weekly e-letters covering the campaign’s efforts to ensure the Repub- recent years he was seen on television dis- scriptions to a monthly CD containing se- these issues. lican Party adopted a conservative national cussing the 1996 campaign finance scandal, lected episodes of the program are avail- platform. the Clinton impeachment scandal, the 1998 able by calling (919) 828-3876. CJ C A R O L I N A January 2004 JOURNAL North Carolina 3 Redistricting Partisanship Present in Many Commission States

Continued From Page 1 lets that prevent court battles. Twelve states employ some form of a States With Legislative Redistricting Commissions commission that assumes the responsibil- ity for redistricting, according to the Na- Who Drew the Maps after the 2000 Census and How They Fared tional Conference of State Legislatures. Ev- ery state panel is constructed differently. Number of Can Public Challenged Rejected and Some have as few as three members, such as State Members Who Appoints? Officials Serve? in Court? Corrected? in Arkansas, or as many as 18 members, such as in Missouri. Alaska 5 Gov, 2; Senate president, 1; House No Yes Yes While size doesn’t matter much, ap- speaker, 1; chief just. of sup. ct, 1 pointing power does. The states that assign independent mapmakers largely strive to Arizona 5 Senate maj. & min. leaders, 1 each; Yes Yes No, but court designate an equal number from represen- House maj. & min. ldrs, 1 each; appeal pend- tatives of the two largest parties. But every Those 4 choose a nonpartisan chair ing commission requires someone to cast the winning vote, whether it is the odd-num- Arkansas 3 Commission consists of governor, Yes Yes No bered final appointee, majority representa- sec. of state, and atty. general tion on the board, or some other designee. Those tiebreakers often cause the nonparti- Colorado 11 Senate maj. & min. ldrs, 1 each; Yes Yes Yes san nature of the commissions to dissolve. House maj. & min. ldrs, 1 each; In fact, the purpose for many commis- Governor, 3; Judiciary, 4 sions has not been to prevent partisanship, but to avert or overcome deadlocks in legis- Hawaii 9 Senate maj. & min. ldrs, 2 each; No No No latures over redistricting. House maj. & min. ldrs, 2 each; “The number one thing a commission Those 8 choose the ninth (chair) does is make sure a plan is passed, because they’re always set up with some kind of Idaho 6 Senate maj. & min. ldrs, 1 each; No Yes Yes tiebreaker,” said Peter Wattson, counsel for House maj. & min. ldrs, 1 each; the Minnesota state Senate, and a redistrict- GOP & Dem. Party chairs, 1 each ing analyst for the National Conference of State Legislatures. “Depending on what the Missouri House: 18 Governor selects 9 each in House, 5 No No No partisan makeup is, that determines how Senate: 10 each in Senate, from two lists submit- you break the tie.” ted by the major political parties

States use backup commissions Montana 5 Senate maj. & min. ldrs, 1 each; No Yes No House maj. & min. ldrs, 1 each; Connecticut, Illinois, Mississippi, Okla- Those 4 choose the fifth (chair) homa, and Texas employ backup commis- sions in case their government leaders can’t New Jersey 10 GOP & Dem. Party chairs, 5 each; Yes Yes No get legislative redistricting plans passed. If plan not adopted on time, chief Both Illinois and Texas, split almost evenly justice of Supreme Ct. appoints 1 between Republicans and Democrats, had to resort to their backups in 2000. Ohio 5 Commission consists of governor, Yes Yes No In Texas, lawmakers failed to produce auditor, sec. of state, and one each legislative maps by the May 28, 2001 dead- from GOP & Dem. parties line, leading to the creation of the Legisla- tive Redistricting Board. The panel con- Pennsylvania 5 Senate maj. & min. ldrs, 1 each; Yes, but not as the Yes No sisted of the lieutenant governor, the speaker House maj. & min. ldrs, 1 each; chair of the House, the attorney general, the comp- Those 4 choose the fifth (chair) troller of public accounts, and the commis- sioner of the General Land Office — which Washington 5 Senate maj. & min. ldrs, 1 each; No No Legislature produced a 4-to-1 Republican majority. House maj. & min. ldrs, 1 each; made changes In November 2001 a three-judge fed- Those 4 choose a nonvoting fifth eral panel approved the Texas board’s Sen- (chair); Supreme Court chooses fifth ate maps and tweaked its House maps to in case of deadlock comply with the Voting Rights Act. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the maps in Notes: Connecticut, Illinois, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas employ “backup” commissions when their legisla- June 2002. The result: 19-12 GOP control of tures fail to meet their deadlines. the Senate; 88-62 GOP control of the House. Illinois’s backup commission drew maps that were approved by state and federal courts. A lottery in Illinois

Illinois appointed an eight-member, bi- Texas’ backup commission drew state House maps that were corrected by a federal court, and state partisan backup commission after its legis- Senate maps that were approved by federal courts. lature failed to produce maps. Still stale- mated, a tiebreaking ninth member was Maine and Vermont have advisory commissions. added in September 2001, who was chosen by lottery. The Illinois constitution requires Source: Peter Wattson, National Conference of State Legislatures the secretary of state to pick a name actually out of an Abraham Lincoln stovepipe-style hat to decide who is the tiebreaker. Courts correct commission maps tion. Alaska had to correct its House plan to Mason University. Polsby is an advocate of The Democrats prevailed, and 20 days pass muster with its state courts, and the using neutral criteria, such as mathematical later passed maps favorable to them. Re- North Carolina’s desire to avoid seem- Idaho Supreme Court twice rejected plans measurements of compactness, to constrain publicans filed several lawsuits objecting to ingly endless litigation over redistricting is for both chambers of its legislature, before gerrymandering. A commission to enforce individual districts, and even challenged unlikely to be alleviated simply by recourse approving its commission’s third attempt. such rules may be useful, he said, but “you’re the constitutionality of the lottery. A three- to a commission. At least half of the states Not all states with redistricting com- not going to take the politics out of politics.” judge U.S. district court panel said the with such panels produced maps that were missions experienced turmoil. Hawaii, Sen. Ham Horton, a Forsyth Republi- tiebreaker was constitutional. The state Su- challenged in court. where Democrats dominate, historically has can, introduced a bill to create a redistrict- preme Court and federal courts approved New Jersey and Colorado, both some- had maps approved with no conflict. Ar- ing commission for North Carolina. the maps as well. Illinois Democrats lead what evenly split between Democrats and kansas also has an overwhelmingly Demo- “I think it would help restore the confi- the House 66-52, and the Senate 32-27. Republicans, were scrutinized by state and cratic legislature, and only a lawsuit from dence of the electorate,“ he said. “They The troubles for Texas and Illinois show federal courts. But even commission states the state NAACP challenged districts drawn know that they are being toyed with in the that commissions often do not prevent par- where legislatures hold solid partisan ma- by its panel. It was dismissed. legislature.” tisan battles and court challenges. jorities have not been able to escape the “I think one should avoid raising ex- But would a commission eliminate ran- “In states where partisan divisions are courts. Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, and Ohio, pectations unduly about [commissions],” cor or partisanship? “As long as your deal- close,” Wattson said, “you’re going to have with decisive Republican advantages in the said Daniel Polsby, associate dean for aca- ing with imperfect, sinful human beings, trouble whether it’s a commission or not.” legislature, created maps that led to litiga- demic affairs and professor of law at George your going to have problems,” he said. CJ January 2004 C A R O L I N A 4 North Carolina JOURNAL

Around the State Homeschool organization intervenes, defends family’s privacy rights Ruling Aids Family in Social Services Dispute • President Bush arrived in North Carolina Nov. 7 armed with good news for a state reeling from By PAUL CHESSER job losses. He announced that Associate Editor 285,000 new jobs were created in the RALEIGH private sector during the third quar- precedent set in July by the N.C. ter, and emphasized in a speech at Supreme Court, which limited Forsyth Tech Community College A some Department of Social Services the need to adjust to a shifting powers, enabled a Lumberton family to economy. “As the economy changes, win a quick resolution in a dispute with as technology changes, the slowest social workers. part of change is the work force,” he Robeson County District Judge J. said. “And we’ve just got to under- Stanley Carmical ruled Sept. 25 that DSS stand that we’ve got to make sure workers had no grounds to demand private our workers, who are the most pro- interviews with the three sons of Charles ductive in the world… have the skills and Ramona Bevel. The judge’s decision necessary to move on with their was based at least partially on a recent state lives.” Still, the president was Supreme Court ruling in a similar case, in greeted by plenty of protesters in which a homeschooling family refused to Winston-Salem, angry over his han- allow social workers into their home. dling of the economy and the war in On Aug. 20 Robeson County DSS re- Iraq. But in an interview with The ceived a tip that the Bevels’ children were Washington Post, Democratic presi- “left at home every day” and that the Bevels dential candidate and North Caro- “allowed [their] 9-year-old juvenile to quit lina Sen. John Edwards said simply school and stay home with the other juve- bashing George Bush will be a los- niles.” The Bevels’ children are ages 12, 11, ing strategy for his party. “As long and 5, and the parents have homeschooled (From left) Rashade, 11; Jireh, 5; and Joshua, 12, were at home while their parents were at a hospital. as we’re not getting people inspired their children legally since January 1999. and excited about what we can do for this country,” Edwards said, “we Bad back Bevel said at first he handled the ques- future discussions would need to be with will not win this election.” tions “pretty nonchalantly,” but as the in- his HSLDA lawyer. He didn’t hear from Mrs. Bevel’s back started to hurt on terview continued he said, “I felt I should be DSS again, except for a court summons. • In response to pleas from the Aug. 18 this year, because of an injury she a little more guarded.” In September, lawyers for the Bevels textile industry in North Carolina suffered in an accident in which she had to Despite the false allegations, Locklear filed a motion to dismiss the DSS com- and the politicians that represent turn her vehicle to avoid a propane tank demanded to interview the three boys away plaint. Based on a July state Supreme Court them, the Bush administration in that fell off the back of a truck. The pain was from Bevel and to search their home. decision in the matter of Joanie Stumbo, the mid-November implemented quo- so bad that her husband took her to the “I said, ‘No, you can’t go through my lawyers argued that “not every report of tas on some Chinese imports. Presi- Southeastern Regional Medical Center in house,’” he said, adding that he wouldn’t neglect triggers a full-scale investigation.” dent Bush has been under pressure Lumberton. Despite Mrs. Bevel’s suffering, permit her to interview the children pri- The court ruled in Stumbo that “before any to act against China not only by the Bevels were surprised that doctors vately, either. investigation is initiated… the proper in- Democrats in North Carolina, such wanted to keep her overnight for tests. They According to Bevel’s court affidavit, he quiry that must be made by DSS is whether as Gov. Mike Easley, but by mem- scheduled an MRI for the next morning. offered for Locklear to interview the boys in an investigation is mandated based upon bers of his own party such as U.S. “But as sometimes happens,” Bevel said, his presence. She declined, saying she the first… reports that show a pattern of Rep. Sue Myrick and Sen. Elizabeth “things didn’t go as planned at the hospi- needed to interview them far enough away neglect.” Dole. Myrick in August told a Gaston tal.” from their father so he couldn’t hear the Four years ago the Stumbo family, who County audience, “If (President Mrs. Bevel ended up staying at the hos- conversation. live in Kings Mountain, was investigated Bush) doesn’t care about us, we pital for three days. Bevel, an assistant man- Bevel asked Locklear what law he had by the Cleveland County DSS because the won’t care about him come election ager for a motorcycle dealership, stayed violated to trigger her inquiry and whether agency received a tip that alleged possible time.” Dole told political leaders home with his sons the morning of Aug. 19 there was a law that placed limitations on child neglect. In September 1999 two-year- from across the state in October, until he learned Mrs. Bevel’s MRI was de- age and length of time for children to be left old Joanie Stumbo, who had yet to get “Many of North Carolina’s economic layed until Aug. 20. He went to work at 11 alone at home. dressed one morning, chased her kitten out woes related to manufacturing can a.m. — a seven-minutes’ drive from home “She said there’s not a set amount of the front door of her home. An older sibling be summed up in one word, and I — leaving their 5-year-old son in the care of time, and it’s up to the maturity of the kids,” retrieved Joanie and brought her back in- know you know what it is: China.” his older brothers. He instructed them not Bevel said. He then felt that any judgment side. Easley commended the action by to open the door for anyone and to call him she reached would be subjective. The Stumbos, defended by HSLDA law- the administration, but called upon if they needed him. That evening he took Locklear called her supervisor, Tina yers, refused to allow DSS workers to inter- the president to negotiate further the boys to visit their mother. Dawson, to the Bevels’ home, who also view their children privately, although they with China to produce fair trade On Aug. 20, Bevel went to work for two demanded private interviews with the chil- showed the children were healthy and ex- agreements. hours, then returned home for a 2 1/2 hour- dren and a search of the home. By that time, plained to workers what happened. A com- lunch with his sons. At 1:30 p.m. he left Bevel said, the children had been in and out plaint alleged obstruction of an investiga- • North Carolina Republican them home again and returned to work. He of the house where Locklear could see they tion by the Stumbos, and a judge and the gubernatorial candidates met twice said that he is one of only two employees were in good condition. state Court of Appeals found in favor of in early December to state their indi- who answer the phone at the dealership The social workers wanted Bevel to DSS. The N.C. Supreme Court unanimously vidual cases to be the challenger to and that he is always reachable. sign the report Locklear had filled out about overturned that decision in July. Gov. Mike Easley this year. Six of At about 6 p.m. Bevel’s 11-year-old the incident, which he said he would do if the seven office seekers conducted a called and told him that a stranger had they gave him a copy of it. The women Case dismissed civil discussion in Raleigh at the state come to the door about an hour earlier, and refused. Bevel said they refused to tell him Republican Party headquarters, de- that the visitor was still sitting on the front in writing what the allegations against him In his decision to dismiss the DSS com- spite GOP fracturing within the Gen- porch. Bevel returned home immediately. were or to read him his rights. He declined plaint against the Bevels, Carmical wrote eral Assembly. Still, state House Co- to sign the document. He also refused again that because “the initial screening by DSS… Speaker Richard Morgan was the Interrogation begins Dawson’s request to interview the children failed to reveal any pattern of neglect or subject of some discussion. Most privately, although he called the three boys abuse of the children” or “any failure to candidates condemned Morgan’s When he arrived, he encountered so the women “could see that they were provide proper care, supervision, or disci- lack of solidarity with the party, but Heather Locklear, a social worker, who told well-dressed, well-fed, and healthy,” ac- pline… the Department should have con- conceded that the GOP must band him of the allegations. Bevel told her that cording to his affidavit. cluded that a statutorily mandated investi- together in order to defeat Easley. the report was untrue, because he has no 9- The workers left without interviewing gation was not necessary and dismissed the “We need to unify this party,” state year-old child and because his children are the children or searching the house. report.” Senate Minority Leader Patrick homeschooled. He also explained that the Bevel said that it is not unusual for Ballantine said. “The Democrats are children were at home for a few hours at a Home School Legal Defense parents to leave 12-year-old children at good. They know how to win.” Two time the previous two days because of his home in charge of siblings. The American days later four of the GOP candi- wife’s hospitalization, and that he was eas- Bevel contacted lawyers at the Home Red Cross even offers baby-sitting classes dates spoke at the North Carolina ily accessible. School Legal Defense Association the next for youths as young as age 11. He said his Manufacturing Executives Summit Locklear started to interrogate Bevel, day, Aug. 21. Meanwhile, another social two oldest boys are more mature than their in Greensboro, and blasted the gov- beginning with basic questions such as worker, Verneice Oxendine, interviewed years would suggest. ernor for the state’s economic woes. where he works. But the interrogation be- Mrs. Bevel at the hospital, who backed up “Parents know their kids more than “We have not done nearly as well as came more intrusive. Locklear asked Bevel her husband’s account. anybody else,” he said. “We wouldn’t leave the states around us,” said former whether his family had a history of abuse or On Aug. 22, Bevel told Oxendine that them home for an extended period where Charlotte Mayor Richard Vinroot. CJ mental illness and whether he or Mrs. Bevel he would not consent for her to interview they couldn’t contact us. had ever been arrested for drug use. his children or search his home and that all “I had no trepidation about it at all.” CJ C A R O L I N A January 2004 JOURNAL North Carolina 5

Duncan argued for gas district shortly after leaving regulatory agency Bush Appointee Represented Client Before Utilities Commission

By PAUL CHESSER sented AREA governments, AREA eco- Associate Editor nomic development agencies, or AREA it- RALEIGH self. One of the most repeated complaints llyson Duncan, a former member was that NCNG had the exclusive franchise of the North Carolina Utilities for 40 years and did nothing with it. Dixon A Commission who left in 1998, a asked the commission to allow AREA “to year before the end of her eight-year term, be the appointed franchise of (its) five- represented a newly formed gas authority county area.” before the Utilities Commission within months after resigning. Bond funds pass Duncan’s early departure to join the Kilpatrick Stockton law firm raised ques- The gas bond referendum passed Nov. tions about how quickly she should repre- 4. On Nov. 12 AREA members and Duncan sent clients before the commission. Her rep- met with Gisele Rankin of the N.C. Utilities resentation of the gas district escaped scru- Commission Public Staff, a separate agency tiny, by the media or otherwise. from the commission that is designed to The Senate unanimously confirmed represent the public before the commission Duncan in July 2003 to the U.S. 4th Circuit in utilities cases. The attendees discussed Court of Appeals. She has received biparti- procedures to apply for the bond money, san praise, with both GOP Sen. Elizabeth despite the fact that NCNG’s franchise was Dole and Democrat Sen. John Edwards sup- theoretically still unresolved. porting her nomination by President Bush. AREA also began to entertain offers She is a Republican. from outside gas companies who were in- North Carolina Sens. John Edwards and Elizabeth Dole supported the nominations of Judge terested in serving the northeast, now that Allyson Duncan (second from right) and Judge Louise Wood Flanagan. Duncan leaves commission the $200 million bonds were passed. How- days later about Duncan’s situation and the natural-gas district. At a Pasquotank County ever, no companies sought to obtain rights Duncan joined Kilpatrick Stockton on “revolving door phenomenon.” commissioners’ meeting Aug. 3, Chairman to serve the northeast themselves or request May 11, 1998. Shortly after her arrival, “The state has a duty to eliminate the Jimmie Dixon (also chair of AREA) said the the bond money on their own, lending cre- Duncan began to meet with the Albemarle dilemma with laws requiring those in cer- gas authority had hired Duncan to lobby dence to Dixon’s claim that AREA would be Regional Energy Authority, which was tain government posts to avoid dealing with the legislature. first to receive bond funds. formed by five counties — Camden, agencies they represented or with related Dixon also felt confident enough to Meanwhile, in submitted written argu- Chowan, Currituck, Pasquotank, and ones for a year or two,” the editorial said. make another claim in the August meeting. ments to the commission, Duncan battled Perquimans — and four municipalities — The Triangle Business Journal also re- According to the minutes, Dixon said, NCNG lawyer Edward Finley over admis- Elizabeth City, Edenton, Hertford, and ported Duncan’s move and potential repre- “(AREA) has the support of the North Caro- sibility of testimony and requests for infor- Winfall — in northeastern North Carolina. sentation of clients before the commission. lina Public Utilities Commission….” The mation. AREA was a natural-gas district. “Our firm has been at the forefront of minutes also stated that Dixon “noted that On Dec. 7 and Dec. 8 the commission Officials, both elected and appointed, reshaping the telecommunications, utilities, although there are other regions in the state heard oral testimony about the fate of from each jurisdiction made up the AREA and natural gas industries in the South- interested in forming natural gas authori- NCNG’s franchise rights to the northeast. board. The northeastern local governments east…” Jim Cain, Kilpatrick Stockton’s se- ties, the Albemarle Regional Energy Au- Duncan reported to AREA in a Dec. 14 for years had been frustrated by what they nior partner in Raleigh, told the Business thority would be the first to receive funding meeting that “North Carolina Natural Gas believed was lackluster economic develop- Journal in an April 13, 1998 article. “Allyson for expansion of natural gas.” NCNG’s fran- became very contentious during the hear- ment, and blamed part of the problem on fits extremely well in that focus.” chise rights hadn’t been addressed by the ing, and questions from the Utilities Com- insufficient natural-gas service. North Caro- The Journal reported that “it’s not un- commission yet, AREA was in its infancy, mission were very hostile.” The minutes lina Natural Gas held the franchise rights to common for commissioners to join law firms and the bonds wouldn’t be approved until said Duncan “felt extremely positive about the northeast, but did not extend service to after their term ends,” but said “Duncan is November. the hearing.” much of the territory because it wasn’t eco- believed to be the first sitting utilities com- In an interview this spring, commis- At a Jan. 11, 1999 AREA meeting Duncan nomically viable to do so. missioner to make such a move.” sion Chairman Jo Anne Sanford said she reported that wording in the bond legisla- The willingness to expand gas pipe- The General Assembly has been criti- didn’t know why Dixon made that claim. tion required gas districts to be franchised lines in the northeast changed in 1998, how- cized in the past for not passing legislation “We don't foretell decisions,” Sanford said. to receive bond money. The minutes state ever, when voters approved $200 million in that slows down the ”revolving door.” “By what he meant or said, I don’t know.” that Duncan questioned the commission bonds for areas with undeveloped gas ser- “I think that it is not unreasonable to Dixon did not respond to questions about it at its last meeting, and the commis- vice. AREA hoped it could position itself to say that people in certain [government] roles about promises made to AREA, which were sion found out from bill drafters that “that harvest a large portion of the bond money. might be limited in their contacts for a cer- submitted to him in writing as he requested. sentence was not meant to be included in But AREA’s first order of business was tain period,” said Ken Broun, a professor at Duncan did not answer questions about the bill.” According to the minutes, Duncan to persuade the Utilities Commission to the University of North Carolina School of her role with AREA or her relationship, if “asked the Commission to follow up on this revoke NCNG’s franchise rights to the Law who teaches professional responsibil- any, with the commission at the time, when situation.” northeast counties. NCNG came under re- ity. “A year strikes me as an appropriate reached by CJ last week. On March 8, 1999 AREA set a deadline view in July 1998 by the commission under time.” “I don’t think you have your facts to receive proposals from private compa- a new state “Use It or Lose It” law, in which Both The News & Observer and Triangle straight,” she said, without giving CJ the nies to serve the northeast, even though gas companies were required to provide Business Journal noted that Duncan could opportunity to explain the information it AREA did not own franchise rights. On service in their franchise areas within three possibly represent BellSouth Corp. and wanted to ask about. March 17 the commission revoked NCNG’s years or lose their rights to the territories. Enron Corp., two Kilpatrick Stockton cli- “I don’t think this is productive,” she franchise rights for 14 of the 17 northeast NCNG was prepared finally to extend gas ents, before the commission. AREA wasn’t added. “I don’t have any problem with my counties, including those represented by service to many unserved areas if it could far enough along in its development to be representation of AREA.” AREA. secure a sizable amount of the bond funds. noted by the media, and Duncan’s repre- By August 1998 AREA geared up to Sanford told The News & Observer at the AREA formed at its first meeting in sentation of the group so soon after leaving challenge NCNG’s right to serve 17 north- time, “It will be a free-for-all [for the fran- Elizabeth City on March 30, 1998. Duncan the commission was never reported. eastern counties. The commission sched- chise], in a good sense of the word. The resigned her position on the commission in uled a public hearing in Raleigh for Oct. 27, franchise that prevented anybody else from early April, and joined Kilpatrick Stockton Working for AREA and AREA told all its members to plan to providing gas service will no longer act as a the following month. appear at that hearing. barrier.” However, no “free-for-all” mate- Duncan was introduced to AREA board In early September the bond referen- rialized, as the territory was ceded to AREA Potential conflicts of interest members at a meeting on June 15, 1998. dum had been approved for the November by all other companies, even though the Kilpatrick Stockton also represented gas 1998 ballot, and Dixon and Duncan urged group had no expertise in the gas business. News reports at the time raised the companies Frontier Energy, El Paso Gas leaders from the northeastern local govern- By March 2001 AREA’s successor orga- issue of Duncan’s potential conflicts of in- Company, and Enron. According to the ments to work for passage of the referen- nization, the Albemarle Pamlico Economic terest if she represented utility clients be- AREA meeting minutes, Duncan informed dum. Dixon, at a Sept. 8 Pasquotank com- Development Corporation, in partnership fore the commission too quickly after leav- the group that she formerly served on the missioners meeting, again claimed that with Carolina Power & Light, had been ing. An article in the May 20, 1998 News & Utilities Commission and that the commis- AREA would have priority for funding if awarded the northeast franchise and $188.3 Observer of Raleigh reported that Duncan sion “wants to see natural gas expansion the gas bonds passed. million of the $200 million in bond money was contemplating “what would constitute occur in the state.” The meeting minutes At an Oct. 12, 1998 meeting Duncan by the commission. an appropriate ‘hiatus’ before she might stated that “her firm” would underwrite reported that she was trying to get the com- It is still unclear why Duncan left the begin appearing before her former col- the cost of an expanded gas study, which mission to move its scheduled Oct. 27 pub- commission early and whether Kilpatrick leagues on behalf of telecommunications AREA agreed to. Duncan told CJ that it was lic hearing to Elizabeth City, which would Stockton hired her with specific client(s) in companies or energy marketers.” Frontier that would underwrite the study, produce greater representation from AREA mind. CJ was unable to contact Jim Cain of “You sort of have to chart your own not Kilpatrick Stockton. members to speak against NCNG. She suc- the law firm after leaving phone messages, course,” Duncan told The News & Observer. On July 13, 1998 AREA informed the ceeded. Of the 17 individuals who testified and Cain has yet to respond to questions The newspaper ran an editorial four commission of its intent to organize as a against NCNG at the hearing, 16 repre- submitted by electronic mail. CJ January 2004 C A R O L I N A 6 Education JOURNAL

NC News In Brief Big Bucks Don’t Spell Success, Studies Say 2003 NAEP results released Families, communities and choice are necessary elements for achievement The North Carolina State Board of Education and Depart- By KAREN PALASEK Still, the ALEC report ranks North competition. “Parental choice has spurred ment of Public Instruction released Assistant Editor Carolina 30th in the nation on a composite parents to participate in their children’s the results of the National Assess- RALEIGH of NAEP achievement measures for 1990 learning. It has focused needed resources ment of Educational Progress 2003 he Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll on through 1996. on the low-income, unruly, and at-risk stu- reading and math tests. public attitudes toward public edu- The ALEC Report Card uses a 20-year dents the traditional public schools have This is the first time the results cation hinted at it, and two studies history of each state’s standings on the Na- long since abandoned or written off. It has have been available to the state in T now confirm, the public’s intuition about tional Assessment of Educational Progress improved standardized tests for the most the same year that the tests were school spending: Americans aren’t getting reading and math tests, the Scholastic As- disadvantaged students.” taken. the achievement “bang for the bucks” their sessment Test, the American College Tests, Choice within public schools pays off, This allows parents, teachers, governments are spending. As parents told high school graduation rates, and comple- the report states. Charter schools outper- and education officials to look at the pollsters this year, families, communi- tion of a minimum of college prep core cur- form other schools among low-income and how North Carolina students are ties, and choice play a larger role in achieve- riculum courses in high school. By compar- at-risk students, “those most victimized by doing before they head into the ment than total or per-pupil spending. ing academic progress to spending in a the last two decades of demographic 2004-05 school year. The tests will When parents were surveyed in 2003 state, the Report Card generates a picture of change.” be required now at least once ev- about the reasons for a persistent black- how effective that spending has been. ery two years by the No Child Left white achievement gap in education, PDK/ According to ALEC, some of the most NC policy inputs Behind federal law. Gallup revealed that only 16 percent of par- popular policies haven’t returned divi- Fourth-grade students scored ticipants chose “quality of schooling” as the dends as promised. The study finds that Drs. Michael Walden and Mark Sisak in the statistically “average” range cause. At least 80 percent chose “other fac- raising teacher pay and lowering the pu- of N.C. State University studied factors that in reading and math, and above tors.” These parents thought that parental pil-teacher ratio overall don’t raise achieve- influence achievement in North Carolina the average numerical scores for involvement, home life and upbringing, ment. Average SAT scores have dropped 1.8 schools in “School Inputs and Educational the nation. student interest, and community environ- percent since 1972. In 1972 the average na- Outcomes in North Carolina: Comparison Eighth-grade students had sta- ment were the most important influences tional score on the SAT was 1039. The 2002 of Static and Dynamic Analyses.” The au- tistically higher than average math on student achievement. average score was 1019, although it rose by thors compared the influence of school scores, and scores at about the na- The attitudes of survey participants are one point to 1020 in the 2003 round. policy variables with socioeconomic-fam- tional average in reading. hardly proof that education spending poli- On the NAEP, the ily factors in two different The achievement gaps be- cies are ineffective, but two statistical stud- 2002 reading test showed models. Their dynamic tween racial groups have not nar- ies now support the intuition of the parents fourth-graders improv- …school policy factors analysis showed that rowed significantly on the NAEP, who answered the PDK/Gallup survey. ing, nationally, eighth- school policy factors ac- State Superintendent Michael graders leveling off, and account, at most, for count, at most, for 10 to Ward said. The gap widened in National trends 12th- grade students los- 10 to 20 percent of the 20 percent of the variation male-female reading levels for the ing ground. These results variation in student in student achievement in eighth grade. The American Legislative Exchange prompted the authors to North Carolina. Council recently released its Report Card on say that “this disturbing achievement in North The findings from Minority population rises American Education : A State-By-State Analy- pattern suggests that the Carolina. the dynamic, value- sis 1976-2002. Increased spending doesn’t longer students remain in added model, Walden Increasing numbers of minor- necessarily lead to better academic perfor- the public school system, and Sisek said, “suggest ity students are straining school mance on measures such as the National the worse their performance becomes.” student performance is heavily dominated resources, according to the News & Assessment of Educational Progress and by socioeconomic inputs and unobservable Observer of Raleigh. In Wake the Scholastic Aptitude Test, the study Demographics, pay, and parents innate abilities of students.” Strongly posi- county, 68 percent of the school finds. tive socioeconomic factors include having age population is white, but only According to the ALEC report, total The District of Columbia’s student at least one parent with a college degree. 58 percent of the public school en- U.S. spending on public schools reached population declined by 4.1 percent in the Racial factors were not significant for rollment are white students. $334 billion in 2000-01. North Carolina con- 1990s, its teachers were the seventh most achievement differences. Some analysts fear that the tributed $6,208 per pupil to that total. highly paid in the nation, per-pupil expen- Some policy factors such as increasing school system’s socioeconomic as- North Carolina, according to the ALEC diture remains at or near the top of the na- the number of pupils (without additional signment policies are causing flight report, increased its public school student tion, and yet average test scores are the low- teachers), increasing the number of pupils from the public schools. They cite enrollment by about 12 percent from 1980 est in the United States, the authors note. identified as “gifted,” and accelerating the the move to private or home to 2000. Per-pupil expenditure, measured North Dakota, with teacher pay ranked 50th number of teachers with graduate degrees, schools by some affluent white in 1998 dollars, grew by more than 35 per- in the nation, produced the country’s top had negative results. families, suggesting that the flight cent during the same period. average composite SAT score and the fifth- The authors conclude that since socio- is designed to escape growing mi- In an effort to boost academic achieve- best average NAEP scores in the nation. economic factors have such significant ef- nority influence and county assign- ment, the state lowered its pupil-teacher ra- “What money cannot buy” in our pub- fects, scarce resources might be used to im- ment policy. According to the re- tio to 13:1 in 2000-01, well below the na- lic schools, the authors write, is the influ- prove socioeconomic factors that influence port, 4,600 net new students joined tional average of 16:1. ence of parental choice and inter-school achievement. CJ the Wake system in the 2003-04 school year. Only 924, or about 20 percent of the new students, are white.

Quality points discussed North Carolina Operating Expenditures per Pupil: 197

The State Board of Education discussed several proposals to $7,000 $6,694 change the grade-quality points $6,105 system for high school courses. At $6,000 the board’s meeting in December, $5,584 the following proposals were in- $5,000 troduced: 1. Award weighted quality points to Advanced Placement-In- $4,000 $3,501 ternational Baccalaureate courses only. Require AP test. $3,000 2. Award two extra weighted $2,398 quality points for AP-IB only; no $2,000 AP test required. 3. Follow proposal 2; add one $1,000 weighted quality point for mini- mum courses required for univer- $0 sity admission. 4. Follow proposal 3; make two arts education courses eligible for 1969-70 1979-80 1989-90 1999-00 2003 honors credit. The board has not decided Sources: National Center for Education Dollars per Student in ADA Statistics, NC Dept. of Public Instruction, which plan to adopt for use in U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis future years. CJ January 2004 C A R O L I N A JOURNAL Education 7

No Child Left Behind: NC Teacher Quality Measure Agencies Control 90% 90% 83% 80% The Spoils of Power 80% 70% 69% ontrol is defined as the power or authority to 60% 55% regulate or restrain. It also limits freedom. If 50% C I want to stay in control, I never allow those who disagree with me any power or authority. 40% 35% Controlling the philosophical view assures the con- 30% tinuation of individuals in control. There is nothing new about this strategy, but individuals outside the 20% clique need to be aware of the power play. 10% When it comes to teacher training and teacher educa- 0% tion programs, there are a few folks who tend to be control Highly Qualified Teacher Professional Development Qualified Paraprofessional freaks. Of course, these are the same folks who want to be in control of the education Current NC score 2003-04 goal Source: NC DPI establishment blob. Recently I obtained a partial list of over- lapping officers, directors, Other education professionals have farther to go and members of six powerful education organizations — Lindalyn the National Education As- Kakadelis sociation, the National Edu- North Carolina Nears Federal Mandate cation Association Foundation for the Improvement of Education, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Commission of Teaching & America’s Of ‘Highly Qualified’ Teachers in Schools Future, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, and the National Board for Pro- fessional Teaching Standards. By KAREN PALASEK tary and Secondary Education Act’s No Child Left Behind For example, Sandra Feldman is the president of Assistant Editor website. AFT, on the board of NBPTS, founding continuing RALEIGH Core subjects are English, reading and language arts, member of NCTAF, and on the executive board of he N.C. Department of Public Instruc- math, science, foreign languages, civics and government, NCATE. Arthur Wise is a founding and current tion recently released its update on federal teacher economics, arts, history, and geography. To demonstrate member of NCTAF, president of NCATE, former Tquality measures. Under the federal No Child Left competence, new elementary teachers must take the Praxis board member of NBPTS, and former NFIE chair- Behind law, teaching professionals must meet specific cri- II exam, which covers all areas of the basic elementary cur- man. Reg Weaver is the president of the NEA, on the teria for their credentials. North Carolina hasn’t met its own riculum. executive board of the NCATE, and a former board targets for 2003-04 yet, but it has made substantial progress Because they often teach multiple subjects, the require- member of NBPTS. Shari Francis is vice president in some areas. ments for new middle and high school teachers are more for state relations for NCATE, on the board of NBPTS, The three most critical areas for teaching personnel rigorous. These teachers must pass a Praxis II in each sub- and a former senior policy analyst for NEA. Even within the federal law are classroom teachers of core cur- ject area, or meet one of the following requirements for former North Carolina Gov. James Hunt, who is riculum subjects, paraprofessional requirements for teach- every core area in which they teach: They must hold an chairman of the Hunt Institute for Educational Lead- ers’ aides, and requirements for meaningful professional undergraduate degree in each subject, have the equivalent ership and Policy, is chairman of NCTAF and the development for teachers and other edu- of a college major (in terms of credit founding chairman of NBPTS. cators, including administration person- hours), hold a graduate degree, a One of NCTAF’s central recommendations is nel. Unlike “adequate master’s level or above licensure in the “no teacher should be allowed to teach without The DPI released information in De- area, or hold National Board for Profes- having been trained at an NCATE-accredited cember that showed 83 percent of the yearly progress”…the sional Teaching Standards certification in school.” Hunt’s ties to NBPTS suggest why North state’s public school classes were taught definition of the “highly each subject taught. Carolina teachers get a 12 percent pay increase for by “highly qualified” teachers. In high- qualified” teacher is Experienced teachers can establish National Board certification. Other states do not poverty schools, 78 percent of the classes their “highly qualified” credentials us- have these mandates or overvalued pay increases. were taught by highly qualified teachers. determined by the fed- ing an alternative means, the North Caro- The public education system is virtually a mo- According to preliminary information, eral law. lina High Objective Uniform State Stan- nopoly of the K-12 grades, while teacher unions, North Carolina is among 33 states that dard for Evaluation (HOUSSE). To do state boards of education, and a few policy makers have an average of 80 percent or more of this they must have taught full-time in a erect another monopoly of teacher education ac- classes taught by highly qualified teachers. Missing the fi- single school system, private, or charter school for a mini- creditation, licensing, and certification. nal benchmark will involve state intervention into the mum of six consecutive months, and hold a valid recipro- Remember that underlying all of this accredita- teacher and school personnel preparedness process. cal state license. tion and certification are the issues of control and The current timetable to reach 100 percent standard of money. A dean of a small private university recently Highly qualified teachers highly qualified teachers by 2005-06 has the state at 90 per- told me the cost was more than $25,000 to comply cent by the end of the 2003-04 school year, and at 95 per- with these mandates. If all the schools of education No Child Left Behind places a 2005-06 deadline on cent in 2004-05. in the country were mandated to obtain this private reaching 100 percent coverage of core subjects with highly accreditation, the organization would receive about qualified teachers. Although the state hasn’t reached its Teacher development and paraprofessionals $3 million annually with a bonus of about $4 million own goal of 90 percent for the 2003-04 school year, press every five years for recertification. If all teachers releases from the DPI are upbeat, and the department says Highly qualified school personnel include more than were required to obtain National Board certifica- results actually are higher than expected. just the classroom teacher, under No Child Left Behind. tion, NBPTS would receive about $6 billion. “We are pleased to see numbers that are this positive,” Teacher’s aides, or paraprofessionals, are under mandate Does all this accreditation make effective teach- State Superintendent of Schools Mike Ward said in the press to meet new standards as well. This will means that aides ers in the classroom? At this time there is no conclu- announcement. “The NCLB standards are very rigorous in Title I high-poverty schools must have completed two sive data to link student achievement with teacher especially for teachers in middle and high schools… At years of study in an education school, or undergo formal college accreditation or National Board certifica- the same time, I recognize that ‘Highly Qualified’ is not assessment in math, reading, and writing instruction. The tion. The other concern is the control of teaching the same as highly effective.” 2003-04 goal is 55 percent, rising to 75 percent in 2004-05, methods. Education historian Diane Ravitch docu- Unlike “adequate yearly progress” and other standards and 100 percent by 2005-05. North Carolina’s current 35 ments how the ideology of “progressive education” under NCLB, the definition of a “highly qualified” teacher percent level is significantly under the 2003-04 goal. has controlled the teaching pedagogy for most of the is determined by the federal law. There are flexible provi- Professional teacher development is being revamped 20th century. sions that allow states to delay implementation of some under the No Child Left Behind law. One-day conferences It is understandable why the control of the teach- timelines and requirements, but every state is supposed to and short meetings no longer count, according to the law. ing profession is important. Monopolies at any level arrive at the “highly qualified” goal by 2005-06. The requirements specify that development be “scientifi- are a cause for concern, and control of the teacher Specific, visible elements make up the federal criteria cally based ” and “focused on improving student academic education market doesn’t lead to education free- for “highly qualified” under the law. The highly qualified achievement.” At 69 percent, the state is still short of the dom. CJ teacher must hold a minimum of a bachelor’s degree, hold 80 percent goal for 2003-4. The state is scheduled to step full state licensure or certification, and have “demonstrated up activity to reach the 90 percent mark by next year, hop- subject area competence in each of the academic subjects ing to reach the federal target of 100 percent by the 2005-06 Kakadelis is director of the NC Education Alliance. in which the teacher teaches,” according to the Elemen- deadline. CJ January 2004 C A R O L I N A 8 Education JOURNAL

Around the Nation Timed and untimed tests are treated alike in scoring

Correcting the SAT stigma SAT Changes for the Disabled May Skew Results

The Americans with Disabili- By KAREN PALASEK ties Act case that changed report- Assistant Editor ing methods for standardized tests RALEIGH was brought by Mark Breimhorst he latest changes in test reporting in 1999 against the Educational from the College Board are gather- Testing Service. Ting both approval and protest from Breimhorst was born without education policy analysts and test takers. hands, and received permission to The College Board has decided to stop take the Graduate Management “flagging” the results of Scholastic Assess- Admissions Test in California with ment Tests taken with special accommoda- accommodations. He was granted tions in their reports to colleges. 25 percent more time than nor- Disability advocates generally applaud mally allotted, and allowed to use this move, but removing the asterisk from a trackball-equipped computer, the scores that appear on student tran- rather than paper and pencil, to scripts, according to Miriam Freedman in take the exam. As was customary, EducationNext, compromises the ability of the GMAT scores that Breimhorst admissions officers to make informed de- received from ETS, and those that cisions about college applicants. were reported to schools, were The purpose of the SAT has always flagged as exceptions to standard been twofold. It was designed to assess the test-taking practices. “developed verbal and mathematical skills Lisa Fine, writing for Educa- of students,” and to “predict, on average, tion Week, relates the subsequent how students will perform in their first year events. Breimhorst’s applications in college,” Freedman said. to several business schools were The changes in SAT “flagging” policy rejected. He then appealed to the took effect in October 2003. Writing in Na- policy mean? Abrams suggested that at is important that they do not “overpredict” Educational Testing Service to re- tional Review Online, Peter Wood echoed least some of the students being granted ac- college achievement. This can mean several move the disclaimer from his re- Freedman’s sentiments. He argued in “The commodations were less in need of them things in the college setting, including more sults. ETS refused. SAT Asterisk” that the asterisk is akin to a than those getting extended or untimed “unexpected” failures, pressure to inflate Breimhorst filed a lawsuit driver’s license notation that indicates re- tests back in 1987. Reflecting on the 300 per- college grades to avoid excessive failure against ETS in August 1999, with strictions for corrective lenses. Wood wrote: cent increase in special considerations, rates, or pressure to make accommodations the International Dyslexia Asso- “I wore glasses when I took the eye exam Abrams asked, “If this has been occurring for these students in their college courses ciation and Californians for Dis- for my driver’s license. In effect, I took the with flagged scores, what will happen when as well. ability rights joining the legal ac- exam under ‘nonstandard conditions,’ and the scores become unflagged?” According to Freedman, the College tion. The plaintiffs argued that the the Commonwealth of Massachusetts pru- “As of October 2003,” according to Board need not have bowed to the “disabil- special notation on scores gener- dently took notice.” Freedman’s ‘Disabling the SAT,’ “admis- ity” interests. They claimed a violation of ated under nonstandard condi- Wood may risk injury and accident if sions officers’ ability to assess the meaning the 1973 Rehabilitation Act in their threat- tions sent a “stigmatizing mes- allowed to drive without lenses, but are of test results and to make reasonable deci- ened suit against ETS. Citing the 1979 Su- sage,” and conveyed the idea that there really dire consequences if students sions for all students will be compromised.” preme Court decision in Southeastern Com- they were obtained using an “un- who receive extra time, or take untimed Freedman reported that 79 percent of col- munity College v. Davis, Freedman quoted fair advantage,” or “should be SAT tests, are made indistinguishable from lege admissions officers opposed dropping the court as stating, “Section 504 imposes viewed with scepticism.” those who adhere to the strict time limits? the “nonstandard administration” tag from no requirement upon an educational insti- Based on these claims, test scores. tution to lower or to effect substantial modi- Breimhorst’s lawyers from the SAT report 2003 fications of standards to accommodate a Disability Rights Advocates of The value of speed handicapped person.” Oakland argued that flagging vio- Unlike state results from the National “Perhaps the recent attacks on the SAT, lated the Americans with Disabili- Assessment of Educational Progress, the Freedman reported in “Disabling the especially University of California Presi- ties Act, as well as section 504 of North Carolina SAT Report 2003 makes no SAT” that a panel study, conducted by ETS dent Richard Atkinson’s 2001 proposal to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. mention of the number or in 1998, found that extra eliminate the SAT as a requirement for ap- That law bans discrimination percentage of students time would not make a plication, have made the Board wary of con- based on physical or mental dis- taking an SAT test with As of October 2003, significant difference in troversy,” Freedman’s reports suggested. ability in federally funded pro- accommodations. Disag- admissions officers’ SAT test scores — 10 In an interesting and somewhat unex- grams. gregated SAT statistics points at most on the ver- pected turn, the New York Times reported Rather than go to trial, ETS report male, female, ra- abillity to assess the bal and 20 points on the that applications for accommodation on the settled the case and discontinued cial, and the other usual meaning of test results math. Students whose SAT were down 10 percent in 2003 com- the practice of flagging its GMAT subcategories. No state- …will be compro- overall score in math was pared to the same July through September scores. Disability Rights Advo- level statistics are re- below 400 would gain no period in 2002. The board is turning down cates gained ground when a panel ported on test-takers mised. advantage. more applications than before, and requir- of disability rights “experts” with disabilities, or on Another study in ing that students have a diagnosis of their joined the College Board in a panel how many students receive accommoda- 1998 allowed disabled students, who had disability four months before testing. to study the validity of flagging on tions. already taken the SAT under standard con- the SAT and other ETS testing pro- Samuel Abrams, a research fellow in the ditions, to retake the test with extra time. Earlier changes in the SAT grams. Center for Basic Research in the Social Sci- The panel reached the conclusion that the The stigmatizing effect was ences at Harvard, reported in “The Demand students’ improvement in scores, two to The new ruling from ETS isn’t the first the main drawback, DAR argued, For Special Accommodations” that since four times larger than those in the earlier change in SAT policy. Significant changes and caused some disabled people 1987, the total number of students taking 1998 study, were “more representative of have been under way since 1994. In 1994, to “avoid using accommodations the SAT has grown by 18 percent, but the their true performance than are the scores the SAT began to emphasize critical read- to which they are entitled.” As a number taking it with accommodations has they would obtain from a standard admin- ing, use longer reading passages, require result, “the College Board increased by 300 percent. istration.” To date, there is no research that math computation, and allow calculators. dropped the flags on SAT scores,” “Ordinarily, when the number of dis- compares disabled and nondisabled stu- Antonyms were removed from the test. Psy- Miriam Freedman wrote in advantaged students taking the SAT in- dent results when both get extra time. chometric experts “smoothed” the results EducationNext. creases, average scores decline,” Abrams Psychometricians on the ETS flagging to make them consistent with earlier ver- As of Oct. 1, 2003, the board writes. Just the opposite has occurred with review panel were asked whether SAT sions of the SAT. will no longer note “Nonstandard the SAT. “Verbal scores on nonstandard ad- scores achieved with extra time were com- Changes in 1995 “recentered” the SAT, Administration” on the scores of ministrations of the SAT are up by about .2 parable to those taken in a strict time for- re-establishing the average scores for each any students who take the SAT standard deviation since 1987… But math mat. As experts in testing and the compa- of the math and verbal portions at 500, and with extended time,” their an- scores are up by .4 standard deviations, a rability of test results, they answered “not aligning the verbal and math scale scores nouncement read. The American large gain.” sure” and “no” to the questions. As a re- to make them comparable. This was done College Testing service, which ad- In North Carolina, average yearly gains sult, the College Board “ignored industry to accommodate shifts in the demograph- ministers the ACT college admis- in SAT scores since 1989 have been 3.5 standards,” and “compromised its flagship ics of test-takers. The reference scores for sions test, dropped its flags two points, according the N.C. Department of product” by removing the test accommo- the SAT were established in 1941, and had weeks later. In a statement to the Public Instruction. Nationally, the average dation flags on SAT scores Freedman said. not been readjusted until the 1995 revision. press, the ACT said that its deci- annual gain was 1.3 points over the same The potential costs of treating ex- The public is now being prepared for sion was an independent one, but period. SAT scores for North Carolina stu- tended-time SAT scores as equivalent to the 2005 revision of the SAT. College Board that it had been watching the SAT dents topped 1000 for the first time ever in standard-format scores can be significant. and North Carolina officials have an- situation closely. CJ 2003. If SATs are to remain a reasonable predic- nounced that the 2005 test will revise writ- What does the change in reporting tor of freshman performance in college, it ten, math, and verbal test items. CJ January 2004 C A R O L I N A JOURNAL Education 9

National and NC home-school groups warn of ‘bait and switch’ tactic Beware Of ‘Trojan Horse’ Programs, Education Organizations Say

By KAREN PALASEK NCHE supports any parent-directed Assistant Editor choice in education. “Our organization be- RALEIGH lieves that is the right and duty of the par- ublic school parents and home- ents to direct the education of their children, schoolers alike may be wondering by whatever method seems appropriate,” P what to think of one of the latest including the public schools, as long as par- ideas to hit the school-choice arena: public ents believe that the school meets the child’s charter schools for home-schoolers. needs. “That’s their choice,” Young said. Seemingly well within the growing The appeal of home-based charter pattern of choices for parents of school-aged schools represents a threat to the indepen- children, the charter home school is pub- dence of home schooling, Young said. “The licly funded education for parents who pre- most insidious of these offerings, in my fer to teach their children at home. opinion, are those specifically meant to be These schools aren’t yet a real presence Trojan horse programs, aimed at ‘recaptur- in North Carolina, but there is enough evi- ing’ — a term used by their promoters — dence of how home-school charters and students ‘lost’ to homeschooling.” “virtual” charters operate in Alaska and California to gain some insight into their California attractiveness as well as their drawbacks. In December, a CJ editorial noted the Choice, or Trojan horse? operation of charter home-schools in Or- ange County, Calif. The California Home attractive by threatening home-school home-school rules proposed. They seem to How does the movement for choice in Education Program appeals to home-school families with interference by the state. be designed to take our freedom of choice public education intersect the choice for families on its “Who We Are” web page by as home school parents away… To suggest home education? In California, and even noting that “parents who wish to home Alaska that I may not teach my children religious- more so in Alaska, state education depart- school benefit from support.” Through based curriculum, paid for with personal ments have been courting home-school par- charter and virtual charter schools, CHEP Alaska has an even more extensive funds, meeting up with the requirements ents with the offer of state “support” for supplies textbooks, lesson plans, oversight home-based public-school program. As of the state of Alaska and that my choices their educational efforts. The charter home- via certified teachers, testing, grading, stu- early as 1997, Alaska made private, home, must line up with the public school system school and virtual charter home-school pro- dent-teacher and parent-teacher confer- and correspondence school students eli- is simply ridiculous. Why do you think I grams these states offer are the vehicles for ences, as well as computers, Internet access, gible to enroll part-time in public schools. home school?” this program. and software. Alaska initially offered a package to home- In 2002, Alaska required home-school The draw of these arrangements is that California home-schoolers have four school parents that included texts of their students enrolled in public correspondence parents can “home-school” at virtually no options under the law. Parents can estab- choice, plus computers and Internet access schools to take the statewide assessment cost to the family. Charter schools operate lish a private school at home as long as they in some grades. test, and to have it monitored and graded on taxpayer dollars. can prove they are “ca- Although Alaska by a state-certified teacher. Alaskan home- But support may come with significant pable of teaching” and has one of the best home- school students in these programs now strings attached, said Michael Smith, presi- meet several other re- Parents who enroll school laws in the nation, have a mandatory conference with a certi- dent of the Home School Legal Defense As- quirements. They can their children in these 75 percent of home- fied teacher, minus parent, at least once a sociation of Purcelville, Va. In the Home also hire a certified tutor, school families enrolled month. Grades are determined by a certi- School Court Report “Charter Schools,” run an independent pub- virtual charter schools in the state’s publicly fied teacher, not the parent, curriculum Smith said, “Despite all of the attractions lic school program (such are actually creating supported home-school must be aligned to state standards, and a for home schoolers, virtual charter schools as CHEP) in their home, programs. Private home- certified teacher must review and approve are supporting home schooling in name or run a home-based pro- small public schools in school support organiza- curricular materials for each student before only. Parents who enroll their children…are gram under the direction their own home. tions atrophied. parents can be reimbursed by the state. actually creating small public schools in of a private school. Then the rules began Alaska dropped the proposal to disal- their own home.” Even though home to change. In what low all religious-based instruction, but pro- In a recent interview with Carolina Jour- schooling is legal in California, in 2002 the Young described as a “bait and switch” tac- hibits state support for religious materials nal, Hal Young, president of North Caro- Chino Valley, Galt Joint Union, and tic, the Alaska Department of Education or teaching in its home-school programs. linians for Home Education, expressed Morengo Unified school districts contacted eliminated the eligibility of all religious ma- As for North Carolina, Young rebuffs “deep concern” about public charter and parents who had filed the required private- terials, and publishers whose texts have a the idea that homeschooling is a “protest virtual charter schools for home-school school affidavits, according to the Home religious foundation. Next, education offi- movement.” “The vast majority,” he said, families. “Certainly there is occasion to School Legal Defense Association. Letters cials proposed a ban on all religion-based “have pursued home education in search move a public school student out of the asked parents to “call the districts regard- teaching in public-school satellite pro- of academic benefits or the opportunity to classroom for health, family, or disciplin- ing the enrollment status of their children.” grams, even if families purchase the reli- raise their children in the framework of the ary reasons… However, I am concerned The districts announced that small private gious materials themselves. parents’ religious or philosophical beliefs when these programs are targeted at home- schools would be “visited to make sure that In a letter to the Juneau Empire, one par- (of whatever type)… rendering meaning- schooling families, sometimes including fi- they are in compliance” with state laws. As ent who was participating in the correspon- less the notion that homeschoolers are just nancial or other material incentives,” Young a result, the California Department of Edu- dence home-school program expressed holding out for a better package from gov- said. cation has made programs like CHEP more alarm. “I am greatly concerned by the new ernment education.” CJ

CarolinaJournal.com is Your Daily Launching Pad to the Best North Carolina News, Analysis, & Opinion

Your Home on the Web for North Carolina Public Policy ¥ Reports and columns on the legislature, politics, culture, and local government from Carolina Journal editors and reporters. The John Locke Foundation’s brand new, completely redesigned home page is your best source of research, analysis, and information on the critical public ¥ Carolina Journal Publisher John Hood’s exclusive “Daily Journal.” policy issues facing North Carolina state and local governments. ¥ Timely links to important stories and editorials from the state’s major A fully searchable, comprehensive database of reports, studies, briefing newspapers, magazines, and other media organizations. papers, datasets, press releases, events notifications, and articles can provide an excellent starting place for those drafting legislation, researching policy ¥ Instant access to state & national columnists, wire reports, and the issues, preparing news stories, planning political or lobbying campaigns, or John Locke Foundation’s other public policy web sites. seeking information with which to be an informed voter and citizen. See what one Raleigh paper called “Matt Drudge with Class” January 2004 C A R O L I N A 10 Higher Education JOURNAL

Course of the Month UNCW Derecognizes College Republicans; I know why a caged dog barks

Dogs are man’s best friend, it’s Faculty Says Group Seeks to Discriminate said, and deliciously absurd courses are CM’s best friend. And this month’s By JON SANDERS posed a serious threat to the selection is a vewwy, vewwy good boy, Assistant Editor well-being of their group” oh wes he is, wes, oh wes, he is! RALEIGH — that being opening up It’s a course offered by the Depart- n Nov. 10, the University of North their group to other politi- ment of Germanic Languages at the Carolina at Wilmington de- cal parties. University of North Carolina at Chapel recognized the student group the Adams spoke at the Hill. It is this: O College Republicans. The university took Pope Center for Higher the extreme measure — which involves Education Policy’s recent GER 006: CANINE CULTURAL STUDIES freezing its funds and disallowing its use conference in Raleigh, and of campus facilities — because the CRs re- during his remarks he dis- Now please understand; CM has fused to add to its constitution the nondis- cussed UNCW’s then- limited space in which to try to answer crimination clause the university requires. threat to derecognize the the question, “Just what the crud is ‘Ca- The university also has turned down a CRs. nine Cultural Studies?’” We simply conservative student group’s application “The College Republi- haven’t the space to answer such ques- for registration for the same reason. cans are being told that they tions as: “Why does the German Dept. The issue with the CRs came up when must adopt a pair of nondis- offer Canine Cultural Studies? What, UNCW’s Student Organization Committee crimination statements so is barking now a Germanic language? decided to review the group’s constitution. broad that, if enforced, will Is UNC-CH really pulling our legs?” The issue, according to the university require them to admit According to the course overview, is discrimination — the university does not Democrats as members of students will “ask such questions as: want student fees to go to student groups their organization. And, of When in history were dogs treated that will not include the university’s own course, Democrats will more as companions than workers and antidiscrimination clauses in its bylaws. have to admit Republicans. why? How does our representation of The issue, according to the CRs and the con- I suppose that the Jewish UNCW Prof. Mike Adams speaks at the conference. the dog relate to how we define our servative group, Students for a Stronger Student Association will own” — here it comes; you know ev- UNCW, is their First Amendment protec- have to admit Nazis, all in the name of tol- ery course description must include Afterward, you can kick them out tion of freedom of association as well as the erance, diversity, and inclusion.” The List — “sexuality, class, race, na- equal protection of the law. Citing the First Amendment protec- Brenner, who teaches Creative Writing, tion, and gender? How does the dog At issue are two nondiscrimination tions, Adams said the issue is “not complex, criticized Adams as “ill-serving the stu- delineate between private and public clauses that the Student Organization Com- legally speaking.” Nevertheless, he noted, dents he advises” by giving them and his spaces?…” (There are many more such mittee requires to be in student groups’ con- university administrators say that student Townhall.com readers “misinformation and questions; you get the idea.) stitutions. One is the nondiscriminatory groups “must let in anyone, regardless of factual errors.” The web site for the course — membership clause, which is required to religious beliefs, political affiliation, and a Of the CRs, she said, “the club is still www.unc.edu/courses/2003fall/ state: “This organization does not discrimi- host of other factors.” free, even as an unofficial, unaffiliated germ/006m/002 — contains a wealth nate against any student, faculty, or staff In other words, Adams said, the “ad- group, to meet on campus, post flyers on of material. (Or possibly evidence of based on race, color, national origin, reli- ministrators have concluded that their campus, and even set up a booth at the cam- an elaborate hoax? We hope.) gion, sex, age, handicap, or sexual orienta- handbooks trump the United States Con- pus Involvement Carnival to recruit new Here is a small sample of questions tion.” stitution.” members. They can also regain their uni- the class will ask or items the students The other clause would state: “This or- versity affiliation at any time if they simply will learn: ganization would adhere to all University add the antidiscrimination statement to • “Can a woman’s canine affec- Bigots fighting to discriminate? rules, regulations, and policies, as well as their constitution.” She also added that as tions break apart normative gender to all local, state, and federal laws.” Other UNCW professors saw the issue the CRS — “like any UNCW student orga- roles?” Michael Pomarico, president of the CRs differently. Wendy Brenner, a faculty mem- nization — can create their own rules re- • “Talking Dogs: The literary tra- and also founder of SSUNCW, said the non- ber who serves on the Student Organiza- garding club leadership and voting proce- dition of dogs who talk. How literature discriminatory membership clause is “un- tion Committee, wrote to both The Seahawk dures” and that “I, for one, would have articulates the leap of fantasy into a constitutional and should not be forced to (UNCW’s student newspaper) of Dec. 4 and been happy to help them word their con- world that seems fuller, more sensu- go in” groups’ constitutions. The second the Wilmington Star-News of Dec. 2 that the stitution so as to protect against the unlikely ous, and more natural than our own.” clause appears OK, Pomarico said, until one CRs are merely “fighting for the right to dis- event of a Democratic takeover.” • “Dog Rights and the Pit Bull examines it closely. criminate.” Adams said, “Brenner’s argument re- Debate: The tensions between animal For example, he said, “I have no prob- UNCW English Professor Richard Veit minds me of those made by white racists in inarticulateness and human morals. lem following local, state, and federal explored this line of reasoning much fur- the South who argued that blacks should The role of the media in sensationaliz- laws,” but this clause “is a backdoor at- ther. In a letter to the editor of the Star-News stop complaining about sitting in the back ing the debate and playing up class tempt to eliminate ‘discrimination’ based Dec. 13, he charged that the “Young Repub- of the bus. Those people should just be glad differences.” on political affiliation,” which is also for- licans” (meaning the CRs) are “fighting for that they get to ride on the bus! Clearly, • “The field of Canine Cultural bidden by university policy. the right to keep out black people and Brenner thinks the CRs weren’t denied citi- Studies is vast” Pomarico said he realized “that I as Jews,” to avoid being “forced to associate zenship. They’re just second-class citizens, • “The Rabies Scare and Sexuality” College Republican president could not tell with Catholics or Arab Americans,” to and that’s not so bad.” (class lecture) a Democrat they are not allowed to join our “make fun of gays,” and to avoid “being Concerning Brenner’s argument to help • “That He-Dog Look: ‘Turner and group.” Nothing could stop Democrats around blind people or students in wheel- the CRs word their constitution, Adams Hooch’” (film in class) from taking over the College Republicans chairs.” He concluded that the “Young Re- wondered if it were “better to a) force stu- • “How does Hooch signify a if, for example, they decided as a group to publicans” are fighting “to return us to the dent to allow opponents to join their group, tough masculinity? How does he then “join” the CRs and vote in Democrat days when segregation was a proud tradi- while helping them craft policies that deny reprogram Turner to be a ‘real’ man?” changes. tion.” these opponents leadership positions, deny (assignment) Faydra Stratton, UNCW’s assistant to CR President Pomarico is Catholic. them the right to vote, as well as procedures • “Women and Their Dogs: Dog Student Organizations in the Campus Ac- Veit is a on the UNCW Faculty Senate for kicking them out of the group, or b) just Love, “Unconditional Lovers” and tivities and Involvement Center, tried to and also a former chair of the UNC Faculty let the groups keep their opponents from “Sex and the Single Dog” (class lecture) persuade the CRs to adopt the university’s Assembly, the elected body of representa- joining in the first place.” • “As you read Sue Coe for the first perspective on the issue. In a letter written tives of the faculty of the 16 UNC campuses. Regarding the decision to review the time, mark an X in the margin at each before the vote to derecognize the CRs was The constitution proposed by the CR’s constitution, both Stratton and point where you felt a personal chal- held, Stratton told the CRs: “We’re not ask- SSUNCW said the group would be “stead- Brenner suggested the study was part of a lenge to your attitudes or beliefs. Make ing that you keep everyone who wants to fastly committed to defending causes of systematic review of all student organiza- a brief note in the margin about what be a member of your group but we are ask- academic and intellectual honesty, patrio- tions’ constitutions. you feel or about what in the text cre- ing that initially you give them a chance by tism of country, free speech for all students, The CRs said all along that they were ated the challenge. Now look again at not discriminating” (emphasis added). fair and balanced classrooms and forums, singled out, and according to Adams, one the places you marked in the text Pomarico’s concern was echoed by and the ideals that we deem attributable to of the five students on the committee told where you felt personally challenged. UNCW Criminal Justice Prof. Mike Adams, a fair and properly functioning campus him that the CRs were right, the committee Email me what patterns you see.” (as- the group’s faculty advisor. As Adams community.” In rejecting the SSUNCW, did single them out for review. Further- signment, referring to Coe’s book Pit’s wrote in his Nov. 19 Townhall.com column, members of the SOC wrote such comments more, the student was the only Republican Letter, in which, according to “By making groups adhere to ‘all Univer- as “I wonder about an agenda that proves on the committee, and he was never told of Amazon.com, “a hapless canine de- sity rules, regulations, and policies,’ factors to be divisive,” “What’s this? Is it a witch- the meeting in which the CRs’ official sta- scribes her desolate life”) such as ‘political affiliation’ enter into the hunt against ‘non-patriotism’ (e.g., speak- tus was revoked. Naturally, the course can be turned mix. Because the graduate catalogue in- ing out against the government)?” and “this As CAROLINA JOURNAL goes to press, this into “a service component by volun- cludes political affiliation and because the isn’t for a student organization to deter- issue is still ongoing and not near resolu- teering at the Orange County Animal CRs have members who attend graduate mine. This should be omitted. Academic tion. CJ will of course keep readers updated Shelter and writing” about it. CJ school, they realized that the second clause freedom is already guaranteed.” on this topic. CJ January 2004 C A R O L I N A JOURNAL Higher Education 11 UNC-Chapel Hill Officials to Develop ‘Safe’ Sex Behavior 240-Acre ‘Carolina North’ Research Park And Drunken Driving

By JON SANDERS bortion advocates were promoting “safe” sex Assistant Editor as part of an October awareness week at RALEIGH AUNC-CH, this one entitled “EC Week.” n early December, officials at the University Why “EC Week”? The initials stand for “emer- of North Carolina at Chapel Hill unveiled gency contraceptives” — and not, as one might sup- Iits plans for “Carolina North,” a satellite re- pose, to be a pun for “easy.” As announced by UNC- search campus on the university-owned Horace CH junior David Barbour in a letter to the editor of Williams tract off Airport Road in Chapel Hill. The Daily Tar Heel Oct. 28, The plan calls for developing 240 acres of a “EC Week” is sponsored by 963-acre tract, which is about 1 1/2 miles north “Choice USA” and “is of the main campus, as a satellite campus. UNC- geared towards raising CH officials envision Carolina North to comprise awareness on campus about a mixture of corporate and university research, emergency contraceptives as well as shops and homes. In some respects it and also promoting healthy, would be similar to the Centennial Campus of safe sex behaviors.” Emer- N.C. State University, but on a smaller scale (the gency contraceptives, of Centennial Campus comprises 1,334 acres). course, are things sought Unique to the UNC-CH research park design, post-coitus after sex behav- however, are the homes and shops. iors regardless of whether When completed, UNC-CH officials antici- they were safe, and as for pate, the project will have 13,000 to 18,000 em- healthy, well… say, did you ployees working in about six million square feet know that “EC” stands for Jon Sanders of research and office space, and also have an “emergency contracep- estimated 1,800 homes. The estimated cost for tives”? infrastructure is about $100 million. Part of “celebrating” emergency contraceptives The plan calls for seven phases of develop- Site for UNC-Chapel Hill’s planned Carolina North development. involved “barhopping on Franklin Street passing out ment, which would take a half-century to com- condoms and dental dams to unsuspecting patrons.” plete. The first phase, which would require an estimated neighborhoods. In other words, to celebrate emergency contraception five to seven years to complete, would develop a mix of Especially worrisome to them is the proposed new week, abortion advocates actively encouraged the anticipated uses of Carolina North. This phase would north-south corridor to connect Carolina North to Home- drunken people to go have sex. build 700,000 square feet in offices and research laborato- stead Road and the Weaver Dairy Road Extension. UNC- Now this is plain irresponsible, not to mention ries, 300,000 square feet in residential space, and 70,000 CH planners say the road is necessary to provide an alter- dangerous and foolish. Why? Because even when used square feet in space for retail on the eastern side of the native entry into the satellite campus, other than Airport properly, condoms cannot prevent AIDS, let alone property. It would also develop a “quad” near the entrance Road. Residents also worry about the prospect of cut- pregnancy. According to Dr. Ruth Westheimer, while of the tract in order to project a “university campus” at- through traffic through neighborhood streets between the latex condoms can prevent the virus from entering the mosphere as well as visually tie the satellite campus in with two main roads. vagina, “condoms do break once in a while; some the main campus. The quad will be patterned similarly to Another traffic concern is that through the building of people are careless in removing the condom and leak- the one on the main campus, McCorkle Place. many thousands of parking spaces and roads, UNC-CH age could seep into the vagina.” The adding of laboratory, office, home, and retail space will not do enough to encourage use of mass transit and You are using the condom properly only “if you would continue in the next six phases of development. alternative means of travel, such as walking or biking, at are careful not to tear the condom when opening the Parking lots and vehicle access points by building or ex- Carolina North. package and while putting it on, if you make sure to tending roads would be added. Some Chapel Hill residents also are concerned about leave an empty reservoir tip at the end when you put The plan hinges upon the closing of the Horace Will- the project’s environmental impact. Carolina North plan- it on, and if you are careful to hold the rim of the con- iams Airport. At present, North Carolina legislators have ners have designed around watershed areas and other en- dom when you take it off so that there is no leakage, mandated that the plan cannot close before Jan. 1, 2005 — vironmentally sensitive zones. Also the plan calls for the then a condom is a very effective method of protec- a mandate that came in response to an earlier attempt by completed project to occupy only about one-fourth of the tion against pregnancy.” UNC-CH Chancellor James Moeser to close the airport. land. But UNC-CH officials will not permanently ban de- That’s not exactly the kind of meticulous atten- (The airport’s landing strip is visible in the two pictures velopment on any of the remaining property, which has tion to detail one expects to find among the plowed. accompanying this article.) some residents worried. But even following those procedures, the thing might Another issue facing the university is the cleanup of break, at which point, pardon the pun, you’re screwed. an abandoned municipal landfill that takes up 35 acres on Concerns over a sweetheart land swap So to pass them out under the “healthy, safe” banner the property, as well as an old chemical waste dump, which is dangerously misleading. But contracting diseases occupies about one-fourth acre). In a separate land acquisition, an agreement between isn’t the concern regarding “emergency contracep- Financing could become a significant hurdle for Caro- the university and a recently elected Chapel Hill Town tives” — only pregnancy is. lina North. Doug Firstenberg, a consultant with Council member had some residents suspicious of a po- A Princeton web page (ec.princeton.edu) linked Stonebridge Associates Inc., told The News & Observer of tential sweetheart deal. The university had been acquiring by UNC-CH explains that there are two kinds of emer- Raleigh Dec. 3 that according to his economic model for properties around Cameron Avenue in order to build a gency contraceptives: the copper-T intrauterine device the project, infrastructure alone would cost nearly $100 mil- parking lot and a transfer station. It had not acquired one (IUD), which carries a slight risk of pelvic infection lion (present value). This includes “streets, water and sewer property, however, that being a house owned by council and infertility, and the “morning-after pills,” which systems, sidewalks, and other transportation corridors.” member-elect Cam Hill. To acquire Hill’s property, the uni- often have the side effects of nausea and vomiting. The plan is presently still in draft format, UNC-CH versity agreed to trade a house on 412 E. Rosemary Street In other words, the EC Week people promote tak- officials point out. After drawing Chapel Hill residents’ plus $100,000 for Hill’s house on Cameron Ave. ing chances on sexually transmitted diseases, preg- ire with earlier campus de- The university could nancy, infection, infertility, and nausea and vomiting. velopment plans (an Au- not sell the Rosemary Street If that is “healthy, safe sex behavior,” then buckling a gust proposal to build a house, because it could not boozer’s seatbelt is “healthy, safe running-your-car- parking deck and chiller keep the proceeds from a into-a-tree behavior.” Sure, it will cut the risk, but only plant near the town’s sale. The agreement was after winking at the much riskier behavior. Gimghoul Historic District reached in August while Backing this idea are Choice USA, Planned Par- was especially controver- Hill was seeking election. enthood and NARAL — abortion advocates. Why? Are sial), university officials The deal appeared too they seeking new constituents by encouraging have sought to be more convenient to many in drunken students to have a “safe” tumble in the sack? open to residents in pre- Chapel Hill, leading Hill to Or are they counting on the inebriates’ fumbling with senting its plans as a way to hold a press conference in condoms to cause them later (and out of necessity) to allay concerns about uni- which he said he had spo- “become aware” of emergency contraceptives? versity growth at their ex- ken about the agreement It would be tragic if they would also have to “be- pense. many times during his come aware” of living with a sexually transmitted dis- Residents’ concerns ap- campaign but neither his ease. It’s quite likely they won’t take Westheimer’s ad- pear to center around traf- opponents nor the media vice on how to be protected against AIDS: “in addi- fic. The prospect of several pressed him for details. The tion to using condoms, both partners should be tested thousand new workers and Daily Tar Heel of Nov. 25 for the virus first, and after you’ve been given the all nearly 20,000 new parking quoted Hill as saying “I, in clear, you have to be able to trust one another not to spaces has Chapel Hill resi- no way, at any time, tried cheat and have sex outside of the relationship.” dents worried about a glut to hide this deal from any- For some reason it seems doubtful that EC Week of traffic and accompany- one. I gave people plenty to advocates would offer AIDS testing to unsuspecting ing social ills of more dan- nibble on or bit on to ask bar patrons while explaining their risks. CJ gerous streets and noisier Artist’s conception of completed Phase One of Carolina this question.” CJ January 2004 C A R O L I N A 12 Higher Education JOURNAL

Bats in the Belltower Students ‘Reimport’ Textbooks Top 10 Nuttiest Campus Events From Overseas, Save Money In N.C. Higher Education 2003 By JON SANDERS kets dictate the price difference. Economic Assistant Editor theory suggests that price discrimination RALEIGH can succeed when firms can avoid resent- ast year’s Top 10 list of the nutti- revolutionary anti-imperialist who ollege textbooks published in the ment over the different prices or prevent est campus events included a spent more than1 4 years in federal United States but exported to book lower-price purchasers from arbitrage, i.e., L hope for “more of the same in prison as a political prisoner.” Turns out C sellers overseas are in many cases reselling to the higher-price buyers for a 2003.” This hope has been fulfilled, and her jailbird years owed to her convic- cheaper for students to “reimport” than it profit while still undercutting the prices this column marks the occasion. So here’s tion in 1985 for setting off a bomb in is for them to buy from domestic booksell- they had been paying. Publishers can no to thee, 2003 — and we anticipate much the U.S. Capitol. When many on cam- ers. With textbook prices skyrocketing, col- longer avoid American resentment now more, 2004. On to the list: pus called this terrorist a “terrorist,” lege bookstores in North Carolina and na- that the Internet can quickly show them the 10. Watch what you say in the Free Becky Thompson, the visiting profes- tionwide are discussing ways to exploit vastly different foreign prices, and Lewin’s Expression Tunnel. One night students sor in African and African American those cheaper overseas prices. article provided examples of students en- painted offensive slogans in N.C. State’s studies at Duke who invited While the issue has been a popular gaging in textbook arbitrage. Under this Free Expression Tunnel. This was itself Whitehurst, defended her by saying, topic for the past few years with the Na- new environment for textbook sales, it is nothing new. What was new was the “Her work was actually the opposite of tional Association of College Stores, which likely the price differential between foreign campus response. Chancellor Marye terrorism.” Whitehurst called herself a also has been discussing it with the Asso- and U.S. prices for the same textbooks will Anne Fox issued a statement on the pacifist, because terrorism is “the tar- ciation of American Publishers, it broke na- fall. “highly offensive, hurtful and disrespect- geting of civilians,” and as her bomb tionwide after The New York Times published In late fall 2003, articles in some student ful graffiti” where she announced, “The killed no one, she’s “never been in- articles and op-eds on the subject in late newspapers in University of North Caro- offensive graffiti has been removed, and volved in targeting civilians.” October 2003. lina schools — in UNC-Wilmington’s The I have asked our Campus Police to in- 4. Even The News & Observer calls The crux of the matter is, as Times writer Seahawk, UNC-Greensboro’s The Carolinian, vestigate this incident.” him “czar.” N.C. State hired José Picart Tamar Lewin wrote Oct. 21, that the “very and UNC-Chapel Hill’s The Daily Tar Heel 9. Duke frat party and the need for as its “diversity czar”; that is, its new same college textbooks used in the United — discussed the money-saving potential of “discipline.” The Sigma Chi fraternity at head of the hilariously named “Office States sell for half price — or less — in En- ordering books overseas. Duke University held a “viva Mexico” of Diversity and African-American Af- gland.” Two recent changes have occurred Not only are students going to foreign party that incensed Hispanic activists, fairs.” Picart wasted no time in an- that are making reimportation easier, Lewin distributors (whether just to save them- who called it a “hate crime.” Sigma Chi’s nouncing, “We must put diversity into said. The Internet makes it easy to see for- selves money or to make money through president, Marc Mattioli, who is himself academics.” By that he meant, “Profes- eign book prices, and in 1998 the Supreme textbook arbitrage). As Lewin wrote, Hispanic, apologized for giving offense sors should integrate diversity into the Court ruled “that federal copyright law “Many college bookstores [are now] arrang- and explained that the party was “de- classroom of every discipline, no mat- does not protect American manufacturers ing their own overseas purchases.” signed to be a lighthearted celebration of ter how technical.” from having the products they arranged to They include UNC-CH’s Student the Mexican tourist scene.” The activists 3. UNCW prof has friends with sell overseas at a discount shipped back for Stores. An article in the DTH of Nov. 6 said, still demanded that Duke respond by terrorists and lawyers. UNCW Profes- sale in the United States.” “Student Stores officials are looking into the creating programs in ethnic studies, na- sor Lisa Pollard claims during a “teach- Textbook publishers say that the differ- possibility of purchasing textbooks from tive American studies and Asian Ameri- in” on the war in Iraq that she has ences between American and foreign mar- overseas.” CJ can studies and strengthen the Latino friends in terrorist networks, but when and sexual studies programs. student Michael Pomarico quotes her 8. “University of the People” seeks in a letter to the editor of the student a different set of people, part I. For the newspaper, the Seahawk, Pollard threat- second straight year, a bill before the state ens to sue the newspaper. The paper CAROLINA JOURNAL Publisher Senate (Senate Bill 987) would give ille- pulls both letters about the teach-in — gal immigrants and other noncitizens ac- the other didn’t even mention Pollard cess to in-state tuition rates at UNC. or her admission. John Hood Garners Praise 7. Every month, a campus journal- 2. There are ways to show how tol- ist wildly exaggerates rape statistics. At erant we’ve become, but this ain’t one. Duke, “There are probably 200 to 250 In February, Martha Lamb, UNC-CH for His Most Recent Book: undergraduate men on this campus who professor of social work, told her are rapists (one out of 15),” wrote Jillian graduate class about how much more Johnson in the Feb. 27 Chronicle. Emily tolerant and accepting her discipline Steel of the University of North Carolina has become since her days as a student. at Chapel Hill wrote in The Daily Tar Heel Unfortunately for her, she chose to il- April 24, “A woman is raped every two lustrate this point with an example of Investor Politics minutes. Almost one in every four the intolerance she used to encounter. women between the age of 18 and 24 is a In the 1960s, unlike today, she told her The New Force That Will Transform American Business, survivor of sexual assault.” The Wellness class, such expressions as the NAACP Government, and Politics in the 21st Century Center at UNC-Greensboro told the Caro- stands for “Niggers Ain’t Acting Like linian Sept. 5 that “one in four women is Colored People” were commonplace. sexually assaulted in their college years.” For this, Lamb was forced to resign. “John Hood has produced a timely and informative account of the most Jason Eder of North Carolina State wrote 1. “This year we’re going to grab significant demographic shift of this century — the rise of a shareholder in Technician Nov. 11 that “more than one the bull by the balls, and kick those democracy in America.” — Jack Kemp out of every four college-aged women punks off campus.” UNC-Chapel are victims of rape or attempted rape.” Hill’s attempt to derecognize Christian “Investor Politics is chock-full of interesting historical anecdotes, clever Meanwhile, back at Duke, Emily LaDue student groups and especially UNCW’s wrote in the Chronicle Nov. 19, “By now, success (so far) in derecognizing the policy analysis, and surprising musings.” — National Review it is becoming more and more common College Republicans have a Dean knowledge that one in six women at Vernon Wormer-esque quality to them. “John Hood offers many astute observations about the reasons govern- Duke is raped before graduation.” While not quite as inventive as “double ment social programs are imperiled.” 6. “University of the People” seeks secret probation,” the UNC schools’ — Greensboro News & Record a different set of people, part II. UNC- excuse for derecognition — that these CH seeks “relief from” the “18 percent student groups didn’t include the uni- cap on undergraduate out-of-state stu- versities’ nondiscrimination policies in “I highly recommend Investor Politics to any reader interested in under- dents.” According to the UNC-CH plan, their group charters (which would have standing how our government turned into an entitlement trough.” the state’s current cap forces UNC-CH forbid the Christians and Republicans — Kevin Hassett, AEI to “decline admission to thousands of ex- from turning away atheists and Demo- ceedingly bright out-of-state applicants crats) — was certainly brazen. Espe- whose presence on campus would add cially because those student groups had “Hood has delivered a thoughtful and very engaging text that will help to the geographic, intellectual, artistic, been singled out for investigation in move the debate from last century’s entitlement-dependent view of and cultural diversity of the student this manner. Apparently concerning society to the country’s Jeffersonian roots of self-reliance” population, as well as offset the ‘brain campus conservatism and Christianity, — Chris Edwards, Cato Institute drain’ of North Carolina talent to other our UNC schools decided the time had states.” come for someone to put his foot down, 5. A speaker who bombed. Duke’s and that foot was them. It’s likely Dept. of African and African American they’ve put that foot in their mouth, so Look for Investor Politics in bookstores or at www.TempletonPress.org. Studies invited Laura Whitehorn to to speak; time (and probably the courts, speak on campus, advertising her as “a too) will tell. CJ January 2004 C A R O L I N A JOURNAL Higher Education 13

Special-interest groups plan strategy with a few leftist senators Memo Leaks Reveal Depths of Conspiracy to Save Racial Preferences

By JON SANDERS a series of Democrat 6th Circuit is in dire Sixth Circuit investigated and found that, Assistant Editor memos leaked to the need of additional Martin did act outside his authority, espe- RALEIGH Wall Street Journal in judges.” This sud- cially in withholding the petition for hear- he watchdog group Judicial Watch November 2003, Issues in den outbreak of con- ing en banc. Inc. has filed an ethics complaint show just how far science was quickly Nevertheless, because “this court has T with the U.S. Senate Select Commit- those partisan poli- Higher quelled, however: taken and is taking corrective action regard- tee on Ethics against Sen. Edward Kennedy tics went. Com- “Nevertheless, we ing all the issues raised,” the court chose to of Massachusetts. The complaint centers on plaints of miscon- recommend that conclude the complaint of judicial miscon- allegations that Kennedy deliberately ob- duct and violations Education Gibbons be sched- duct. structed the confirmation of Tennessee aside, however, the uled for a later hear- The same day that it filed the complaint Judge Julia S. Gibbons to the Sixth U.S. Cir- actors in this sordid ing; the Michigan against Kennedy, Judicial Watch also cuit Court of Appeals — until after the court affair achieved their case is important.” lodged an ethics complaint against Sen. Ri- had decided en banc the racial-preferences key aim. The NAACP’s chard Durbin of Illinois for similar obstruc- cases concerning the University of Michi- Jones is also facing scrutiny for her role. tion of judicial nominees. Durbin, accord- gan and its law school. ‘Concerned about the propriety’ Several concerned organizations have filed ing to the complaint, “improperly devel- The July 2002 issue of CAROLINA JOURNAL a complaint with the Virginia State Bar oped and engaged in a racially-motivated noted that at the time of that ruling, “the According to the Judicial Watch ethics against Jones. They charge Jones “violated scheme to obstruct the confirmation of Sixth Circuit is only half its normal size, complaint against Kennedy, which was both the spirit and letter of the Virginia judges at the behest of political interest thanks to the Democrat-controlled Senate’s hand-delivered to members of the ethics Rules of Professional Conduct when she in- groups.” out-and-out refusal to confirm any nomi- committee Dec. 2: tentionally acted to influence and disrupt In one memo, a staff member told him nees sent to them from the Republican “According to press reports citing an an impartial tribunal that was then in the that leaders of several civil rights organi- president, George W. Bush. There are eight April 17, 2002 memorandum, Senator deliberative process of considering a land- zations — People for the American Way, vacancies on the court (one of the judges Kennedy and members of his staff, acting mark constitutional case in which she was NARAL, Alliance for Justice, Leadership ruling in the Michigan case having taken as Senator Kennedy’s agents, improperly counsel to one of the parties.” Conference on Civil Rights, NAACP Legal ‘senior status’ last December). Bush has so and unlawfully developed and engaged in Jeffrey Mazzella, director of the Center Defense and Education Fund, the Ameri- far sent seven names to the Senate without a scheme to obstruct the confirmation of for Individual Freedom, one of the com- can Association of University Women, the one confirmation.” Tennessee Judge Julia S. Gibbons to the plaining groups, told The Washington Times National Women’s Law Center, and the The ruling, which upheld Michigan’s Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Sena- that what Jones did was “no less than tam- National Partnership — identified Miguel use of racial preferences, set the stage for a tor Kennedy and his agents deliberately pering with a jury or bribing a judge.” Some Estrada, nominee for the D.C. Circuit, as narrow Supreme Court ruling in favor of stalled the confirmation of Judge Gibbons other groups behind the complaint were the “especially dangerous, because he has a universities’ use of racial preferences for the in order to improperly influence the out- Coalition for a Fair Judiciary and Project 21, minimal paper trail, he is Latino, and the purpose of diversity. come of the Sixth Circuit affirmative action an African-American leadership network. White House seems to be grooming him for In the en banc ruling, dissenting Judge decisions dealing with the University of In January, Judicial Watch had also a Supreme Court appointment.” Danny J. Boggs filed a unique “Procedural Michigan and its law school.” lodged a complaint against Chief Judge An earlier “talking points” memo said Appendix” to “record as an explanation of In that memorandum, a Kennedy Martin for possible judicial misconduct in “We can’t repeat the mistake we made with the manner in which this case came before staffer writes him to say that “Elaine Jones the Michigan case and another case. The Clarence Thomas.” CJ the particular decision-making body that of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund… now decided it.” Boggs explained that would like the Committee to hold off on any when the original request for an en banc 6th Circuit nominee until the University of hearing was made, in May 2001, there were Michigan case regarding the constitution- 11 active judges in the circuit — a conser- ality of affirmative action in higher educa- vative majority. The request, he explained, tion is decided by the en banc 6th Circuit.” failed for some reason to be circulated to The staffer explains, “The thinking is that every judge. In fact, the request was not the current 6th Circuit will sustain the af- revealed nor granted until after two con- firmative action program, but if a new judge servative judges retired, giving the circuit with conservative views is confirmed be- a liberal majority. fore the case is decided, that new judge will As the CJ article put it, “some features” be able, under 6th Circuit rules, to review of the ruling “raised the red flag of parti- the case and vote on it.” For more than 12 years, Carolina Journal has provided its san politics.” A judicial-misconduct com- The Kennedy staffer admitted he was thousands of readers each month with in-depth reporting, plaint filed against Chief Judge Boyce Mar- “concerned about the propriety of sched- informed analysis, and incisive commentary about the most tin Jr. of the Sixth Circuit, the complaint uling hearings based on the resolution of a pressing state and local issues in North Carolina. With a against Kennedy, other complaints and also particular case. We are also aware that the particular emphasis on state government, politics, the General Assembly, education, and local government, Carolina Journal has offered unique insights and ideas to the policy debate.

Now Carolina Journal is taking its trademark blend of news, analysis, and commentary to the airwaves with a new program — Carolina Journal Radio.

A weekly, one-hour newsmagazine, Carolina Journal Radio is hosted by John Hood, publisher of Carolina Journal, and features a diverse mix of guests and topics. Education reform, tax policy, the state legislature, affirmative action, air pollution, freedom of the press and the courts — these are just a few of the subjects that Carolina Journal Radio has tackled since the program began production in May.

Currently broadcast each weekend on 16 commercial radio stations Ð from the mountains to the coast Ð Carolina Journal Radio is a one-of-a-kind program that seeks to inform and elevate the discussion of North Carolina most critical issues, and to do so in a fair, entertaining, and thought-provoking way.

For more information or to find an affiliate of Carolina Journal Radio in your community, visit www.CarolinaJournal.com. January 2004 C A R O L I N A 14 Local Government JOURNAL

Town and Country State’s Ports Reinforce Their Security

Bicycle lanes for N.C. 711 Federal grants enable Wilmington, Morehead City to defend against terrorism

The governor’s Moving Ahead By DONNA MARTINEZ road improvement program includes Associate Editor $350,000 to build bicycle lanes on N.C. RALEIGH 711 between Lumberton and Pem- ccessing North Carolina’s seaports broke, The Fayetteville Observer reports. in Wilmington and Morehead City The money for the bike lanes will will get more complicated over the be added to another project, which in- A next few months, but the short-term incon- cludes $2.3 million for improvements veniences will lead to physical and techno- to 7.7 miles of N.C. 711 in 2005. The logical improvements state and local offi- project starts at the Interstate 95 inter- cials believe are necessary for long-term change with N.C. 711 and ends at the security from terrorists. Pembroke city limits. Using a $4.9 million grant from the U.S. The bike-lane project would add Department of Homeland Security, the N.C. 2 feet to each side of the road, creating State Ports Authority is implementing ma- a 4-foot shoulder for bicycles in each jor upgrades to both ports, based on a com- direction. The University of North prehensive security assessment conducted Carolina at Pembroke is near the in- in late 2002. The study revealed physical terchange. vulnerabilities at the sites as well as the The bike lanes will cost about need to identify and track people accessing $45,000 per mile. A stand-alone bicycle the ports from both land and sea. project typically costs $150,000 per A design-engineering group from Okla- mile, said Tom Norman. He is the di- homa City has been hired to determine the rector of the state Division of Bicycle most efficient way to spend the money for and Pedestrian Transportation. the necessary equipment and services, said Container ships and their cargo pose a challenge to officials in charge of state port security. Sublease of aquarium approved Doug Campen, director of safety and secu- rity for the ports authority. The grant dic- tates that the enhancements be completed the vessel, those leaving foreign ships for work of all containerized cargo. The con- The Council of State approved a by July, but Campen said NCSPA will re- shore don’t have picture identification with tainer numbers and seal numbers must plan to fund a $24 million expansion quest an extension. them. “We want to have a way to track these match the shipper’s manifest. If anything is by leasing one of the state’s aquariums people,” Campen said. “In the event he amiss, the shipper must reconcile the dis- to a private booster club, the News and Main security gates top the list jumps ship or doesn’t want to come back, crepancy before the cargo is cleared. Observer of Raleigh reports. we’ll have a picture I.D” to give to law However, only the containers deemed In a quick and easy vote, the coun- The two ports cater to different types of enforcement or government officials. “high risk” are physically opened and visu- cil, made up of the state’s top elected cargo, but their security needs are virtually Addertion thinks the cards also will ally inspected by U.S. Customs and Border officials, approved the State Property the same, Campen said. First on the address a key safety issue: locating people Protection, the agency with that responsi- Office leasing the aquarium at Pine NCSPA’s priority list is to move and rede- during an emergency. He wants to avoid bility. John Quealy, area port director for Knoll Shores to the booster club. The sign the main security gates at each facility the confusing situation faced by emergency the agency, cited security concerns in de- club would sublease the aquarium in order to fortify and secure the main entry workers in New York City when the World clining to reveal the exact percentage of back to the state when construction is and exit corridor. Because local highways Trade Center was attacked Sept. 11, 2001. cargo that meets the high-risk definition. finished, and the state would use ad- lead straight to the gates, there’s no space Frantic relatives desperate to determine He said the agency uses an automated sys- missions fees from its three aquariums for inspections or searches without ham- whether their loved ones were inside one of tem to target cargo for visual inspection, to pay the sublease. The club would pering the public. The existing system dates the towers, or had been off the premises, looking at among other things, the country use the money to repay the loan. to 1945, when the General Assembly cre- carried photos down the streets, searching of origin and countries it passed through Funds cut if school merged ated the agency. for anyone who had seen their family mem- before its arrival in North Carolina. The upgrades are welcome news to bers. The card system will eliminate that It’s the unknowns of containerized Mike Addertion, director of emergency uncertainty. cargo that concern Warren Lee, director of As in Surry County, the bottom management for Carteret County, home to “At any given time, we could tell who emergency management of New Hanover line when it comes to merging the Morehead City port. He considers the was on property and who wasn’t, this is County, home to the Wilmington port. “That Davidson County’s three school sys- site attractive to terrorists, with perimeter who came to work today, where they are, presents a lot of opportunity for mischief,” tems is, well, the bottom line, the Win- security a primary concern. “For potential etc. In the emergency response business, Lee said. “We’ve made great strides and ston-Salem Journal reports. targets, a port is probably number one be- that would be important,” Addertion said. done a lot of things necessary, but there are School officials in the Lexington, cause of military use and economic im- Activity on ports property will be moni- always going to be weaknesses, but I think Thomasville and Davidson County pact,” he said. The port, four miles from the tored by a grant-funded closed-circuit tele- we’ve come a long way.” school systems say money is the main ocean along the Newport River and Bogue vision system. A high- A prominent home- reason they haven’t merged. The cit- Sound, serves as a shipping point primarily tech intrusion detector land security analyst ies get more federal and state dollars for raw materials such as rubber and scrap system will help com- agrees, but cautions with separate systems, the county’s “For potential targets, metal, rather than the finished products mand center staff recog- against falling prey to a taxpayers don’t want to pay more for a port is probably num- that typically flow in and out of Wilmington. nize and locate security numbers game that schools, and the potential savings breaches, a feature ber one because of equates mass inspections from combined services are exagger- New ID cards required Campen looks forward with safety. ated, officials said. military use and eco- to. “There’s all kinds of James Jay Carafano, “We sort of look at it as an impos- After visitors and employees reach the new technology avail- nomic impact.” a senior fellow with the sibility,” said Russ Eagle, finance di- new gates, they will be required to show a able,” he said. “It will be a Heritage Foundation, be- rector for Lexington city schools. — Mike Addertion new ports authority identification card to tremendous boost to our lieves it’s a mistake to “Merger doesn’t happen overnight, gain entry. No tracking system currently security.” waste time and money but if it did we would lose between exists for the 1,000 to 1,200 staff, visitors, Rounding out the items to be purchased screening as much cargo as possible, like $1.5 million and $2.7 million overnight tenant employees, and longshoremen, who with the grant are sophisticated lighting the airlines screen people and baggage. That in state and federal money.” move on and off, and around, port prop- systems for both ports, including generator approach would severely impede commerce Davidson schools have about erty. backup, and portable concrete barriers to in an era when the United States is becom- 19,000 students. Lexington has about “We have to start over on them. We protect ships. The barriers will be placed ing more dependent on maritime trade. 3,200 and Thomasville has about 2,500. have to go to the company where they’re near vessels that need extra security — “The measure of our effectiveness shouldn’t School merger has been an occa- working and get information and verifica- mainly Navy ships — and will provide be how much cargo we inspect, but are we sional issue in Davidson County for tion in writing that people work for them,” protection from attacks such as a car bomb. inspecting the right cargo,” he said. “Secu- at least two decades. Campen said of what will be needed to rity at the port begins with the CIA trying to Most recently, in 1997, the Lexing- implement the new system. A government Threat from containerized cargo find terrorists.” ton city council cut its school tax rate document, such as a driver’s license, Social The threat posed by containerized cargo in an attempt to close the gap between Security card, or birth certificate, will be While the new measures will make the is clear to the ports authority as well, even city and county financing and to en- required of every person considered for a landside of the ports less of a soft target for though it doesn’t play a role in visual in- courage merger. port I.D. terrorists, concerns about seaside threats spections. The agency has applied for an The merger fell through when Crewmembers of docking ships will from container ships and their cargo re- additional $9.2 million Homeland Security none of the three school systems also be scrutinized and tracked with the main on the minds of security experts and grant to supplement the $4.9 million that is wanted to go along. Even the Lexing- system. Currently, the ports authority re- local first-responders. Cargo security mea- already on the way. At the top of the wish ton school board opposed merger, for ceives a crew list 96 hours before the ship’s sures are already in place, but officials con- list is a container radiation detection system financial reasons, and the issue has arrival. Shore passes are prepared and dis- cede that no system can completely elimi- that would be affixed to the crane that lifts been politically dead ever since. CJ tributed, but because the ship’s captain is nate threats. containers from cargo ships. News on the mandated by law to keep crew passports on The ports authority examines the paper new grant request is expected any day. CJ January 2004 C A R O L I N A JOURNAL Local Government 15

Combined City & County Tax Burdens Local Innovation Bulletin Board Per Capita for N.C. Cities of Population 25,000+

Total Prop. Tax Total Prop. Tax Rank/City Revenues Revenues City/Rank Revenues Revenues 1. Charlotte $2,017.88 $1,175.14 14. Salisbury $1,369.01 $806.96 Rails to Trails Controversy 2. Wilmington $1,820.63 $1,164.42 15. Concord $1,359.25 $891.71 3. Durham $1,661.15 $995.38 16. Fayetteville $1,199.45 $673.32 ver the past decade the federal for off-peak and weekend energy than it 4. Hickory $1,607.69 $944.85 17. Gastonia $1,191.43 $748.53 government has spent $4.5 bil- costs. Utilities, in turn, earn an abnor- 5. Chapel Hill $1,595.04 $1,036.08 18. Rocky Mount $1,181.01 $629.86 lion on Rails to Trails, a pro- mally high profit from off-peak consump- 6. Asheville $1,551.14 $860.58 19. Greenville $1,173.66 $581.25 O 7. Greensboro $1,550.51 $936.83 20. Wilson $1,170.51 $692.31 gram created in 1983, ostensibly to pre- tion and loses money from peak sales. 8. High Point $1,524.95 $937.65 21. Kannapolis $1,093.27 $719.74 serve abandoned rail corridors as trails If energy companies were allowed 9. Cary $1,510.58 $979.36 22. Burlington $1,032.72 $607.20 until the day the nation might need them to vary the price of retail power accord- 10. Winston-Salem $1,499.86 $849.56 23. Goldsboro $1,018.30 $487.40 again for rail traffic. ing to actual costs, consumers would be 11. Huntersville $1,486.83 $1,006.53 24. Thomasville $988.93 $581.78 Although popular with conserva- able to pocket the difference in produc- 12. Raleigh $1,465.81 $875.722 25. Jacksonville $819.11 $399.54 tion groups, the program has run into tion costs by shifting energy usage away 13. Monroe $1,370.12 $690.99 opposition recently from farm groups, from peaks and toward troughs. landowners, property-rights lawyers, Separating the market for energy and Notes: Total revenues include property, sales, and other monies collected by local governments. and some members of Congress. They the market for delivery (by the monopoly argue that trails invade privacy, invite local utility) would create a competitive crime and, in some cases, violate the U.S. environment that benefits customers Constitution by taking land that should while opening opportunities for new By the Numbers 2004 revert to others. market entrants and the development of In the early 1900s there were 300,000 new technologies. miles of rail lines in the United States, Reported in the Wall Street Journal. Local Taxation Rises 6% in 2001-02 but about half of the nation’s routes have fallen into disuse. More than 12,000 miles Urban growth and the military By MICHAEL LOWREY Local tax burden up of hiking and biking trails have been Associate Editor created from the former rail lines with Military bases throughout the coun- CHARLOTTE In fiscal 2001-02, the average resident of grants from the federal government to try, many of which were once located in new Center for Local Innovation the median county in North Carolina paid improve the right-of-ways. isolated areas, are finding themselves report highlights the increasing $968 in taxes and fees to county and munici- North Carolina Rail-Trails, a non- enveloped by the spread of the suburbs. burden local governments in North pal governments. This accounted for 4.21 profit group that works to preserve the Residents complain about noise from A former rail lines, lists 14 rail trails in the planes or artillery, dust, and danger of Carolina place upon taxpayers through in- percent of personal income and represents creased local taxes and fees. a 5.7 percent increase over 2000-01, when state. An additional 12 trails are under accidents. The report, “By the Numbers 2004,” collections were an inflation-adjusted $916 development. The trails are located One reason for the encroachment is calculates the amount of revenue each or 4.07 percent of personal income. Collec- throughout the state with local govern- that military installations are major eco- county and municipality collects per capita tions in 1999-00 were $920 per capita, or 4.14 ments overseeing most of them. nomic engines. As development has from property and sales taxes and other percent of personal income. In September, trail opponents per- crowded closer and closer, missions have taxes and fees. For fiscal 2001-2002, the lat- The growth in local revenues was broad- suaded the House Appropriations Com- been halted and bases have closed. est period for which information is avail- based; per-capita collections were up in 85 mittee to delete $600 million in program In North Carolina, Beaufort and able, the report shows the typical amount of the state’s 100 counties. funding, but in the full House, trail back- Washington counties are preparing to collected per person by local governments The weakening economy also had an ers restored the funding. sue the Navy over its plans to build an in taxes and fees increased by nearly 6 per- effect on local government finances. Per- The original 1983 Rails to Trails law outlying landing field near Plymouth. cent over the previous year. capita sales taxes were lower in most juris- decreed that an “interim use” as a trail The strip would be used primarily by dictions in 2001-02 than in 2000-01. Almost would stop the land from legally revert- fighter planes based at Oceana Naval Air Calculating burdens all of the increase in local government rev- ing to its previous owners. But the heirs Station in Virginia Beach, Va. and at enues from 2000-01 to 2001-02 came from of some previous owners are suing be- Marine Corp Air Station Cherry Point as Local governments in North Carolina higher property tax collections. In 2001-02, cause the railroads in the 1870s in some they train for developments on aircraft are required to file audited financial state- median property tax collections were $510, cases bought only temporary rights for a carriers. The Navy has also announced ments with the Department of State Trea- or 2.10 percent of personal income. specific use. Some railroads simply took plans to base 24 of its newest fighter, F/ surer each year. “By the Numbers” builds land from farmers. A-18 Super Hornet, at Cherry Point. Of- upon this information, which is available Combined city/county taxes According to the ficials project that online at www.nctreasurer.com/dsthome/ Justice Department, about 1,000 jobs would StateAndLocalGov. Among large and comparable urban about 5,000 landown- About 5,000 landown- be created by the move. ers are in federal The Pentagon, the The center’s analysis examines prop- areas, Mecklenburg ($2,092), New Hanover ers are in federal erty tax, sales tax, and total local govern- ($1,791), and Durham ($1,780) ranked high courts, and the ex- National Governors ment collections of all taxes and fees. For in the average revenues per paid collected penses of defending courts, and the ex- Association, and many each category, a revenue per-capita figure by county and municipal governments. these cases can be penses of defending states are trying to ad- is computed. “By the Numbers” lists the More generally, Dare and Currituck enormous. In Kansas, dress the issue of ur- per-capita combined county and municipal counties were among the highest ranked, the government was these cases can be ban growth near mili- property, sales, and total local tax and fee but this is in part due to the statistical quirk required to pay land enormous. tary facilities with a collections for every community in the state. created by large numbers of out-of-county owners $10,000 each mix of voluntary Municipalities are divided into four popu- landowners and tourists. Hoke, Caswell, for taking their land guidelines and laws lation groups and ranked against each other Gates, Alexander, and Madison county resi- — and reimburse the lawyers who rep- designed to protect the ability of the in the three categories. Counties were also dents paid the lowest average amounts in resented them for more than $900,000. military to carry out its missions. ranked against each other. taxes and fees to local governments. The Bush administration is considering Arizona has adopted some of the The amount local governments collect The results were somewhat different opposing more trails unless states foot toughest measure to address the prob- per person tells only part of the story. Per- when looking at the local tax burden as a increasingly steep legal bills. lem. The state requires that all communi- capita personal income varies widely across percentage of personal income. Dare County Reported in the Wall Street Journal. ties where there are military installa- the state. County-only and county-plus-mu- again leads the way with county and mu- tions must develop land-use plans that nicipality collections are also given as a nicipal revenue accounting for 11.37 per- Electric usage patterns will restrict development near the base. percent of per-capita income in “By the cent of per-capita personal income. Second Developers must notify prospective Numbers.” through fifth were Brunswick (7.13 percent The California electric power sys- buyers that military training occurs While “By the Numbers” shows the of per-capita personal income) , Hyde (7.13 tem unfairly subsidizes costly peak- nearby and disclose noise levels; if they cost of local government, it does not at- percent), Bladen (6.94 percent), and power use from off-peak users, says do not, they can face fines. tempt to measure the quantity or quality of Currituck (6.86 percent) counties. Nobel prize-winning economist Vernon The military and some states and services provided in exchange for those By comparison, taxes and fees collected L. Smith. local authorities have tried other solu- dollars. Nor does the report consider the by local government accounted for 2.72 In California and elsewhere, the de- tions. Among them: creating agricultural additional out-of-pocket costs to individu- percent of personal per-capita income in mand for electricity at peak levels is preservation areas around bases, allow- als for services that their local government Alexander County. In eight other counties , more than twice the demand of off-peak ing conservation trusts to purchase land may not provide. In unincorporated areas, total collections were at 3.25 percent of per- levels, although the additional cost of and, in rare cases, having the military for example, homeowners may have to con- capital personal income or less. producing a kilowatt at peak demand buy or lease tracts of land. tract privately for garbage pickup, while Among the 25 cities with populations can be three to 10 times the off-peak cost. With another round of national base those living in a town or city may well over 25,000, Charlotte had the highest com- Under current regulatory pricing closings looming in 2005, urban growth receive this service, paid for through their bined city-county tax and fee collections policy, consumers pay rates based on the will be one factor considered when de- municipal property and other taxes. Mu- per capita. The lowest per-capita collec- average hourly cost of energy and in- ciding which installations to close. Re- nicipalities may also use some of their tax tions were in Jacksonville. dustry capital investment. As a result, strictions on a base’s operations reduce a dollars to provide a higher quality of fire The entire “By the Numbers” report is consumers pay much less for peak util- facility’s value to the military. protection, which may translate into lower available on line at www.johnlocke.org/ ity power than it costs, and much more Reported in USA Today. CJ homeowners insurance rates. policy_reports/. CJ January 2004 C A R O L I N A 16 Local Government JOURNAL

From Cherokee to Currituck ‘Intelligent Highways’ Offer Durham Restricts Vendors, Some Hope for Congestion Panhandlers at Intersections

hen newspapers publish my were no roads to run on? columns about light rail, I of- That question has been answered By MICHAEL LOWREY than above. Burying phone and cable tele- W ten get responses from people by the re-introduction of Toyota’s 2004 Associate Editor vision lines currently strung alongside elec- asking about personal rapid transit. PRT Prius. Most people know the Prius, CHARLOTTE trical wires on poles would cost extra. is a dream of combining the convenience which was introduced by Toyota in 1997, urham City Council has adopted a Burying lines in new developments, of the automobile with the mass produc- as a hybrid gas-electric car. That means tough new ordinance that restricts however, was often cost-effective, the com- tion of transit. an electric motor powers the car, as- Dwhere, how, and what people can mission staff noted. Such systems experi- As described in www.taxi2000.com, sisted on demand by a gasoline engine, sell at intersections in the city. Panhandling ence fewer outages, but repairs take longer PRT’s four-passenger cars which also recharges the is also covered by the ordinance. when a problem does arise. Some cities, would run on fixed guide- batteries for the electric The new rules come after four years of including Charlotte, already require buried ways elevated above the motor. on-and-off-again debate about the issue. In lines in new developments. About 75 per- ground that would blanket The original Prius was 2002, city officials had urged council to ban cent of Progress Energy’s new lines are an urban area on a grid. Rid- a four-passenger car in the all sales at intersections as a safety measure. buried. ers would go to a station no same size class as the bot- Strong opposition from the Herald-Sun of The commission’s staff also recom- more than a couple of blocks tom-of-the-line Toyota Durham, whose venders operate at about mended burying existing overhead wires from their homes, get on the Echo. But it got 50 miles to 20 intersections in the city, prompted the in areas that are particularly prone to power next empty car, punch in the gallon and produced city to adopt a less-sweeping solution. outages. their destinations, and the less than 10 percent of the The ordinance sets 14 specific require- computer-controlled car will emissions of many other ments for sales or panhandling at intersec- Greensboro OKs electric fences whisk them there at 70 mph. cars sold in the 1990s. tions. A permit is required, which costs $20 While a motorist’s car The new five-passenger per year. The Durham city manager may The Greensboro City Council has ap- just sits during the 20 hours Randal O’Toole Prius is bigger, more like a refuse to issue a permit to anyone deemed proved the use of electric fences within the a day that he isn’t driving it, Camry or Ford Taurus, yet incapable of understanding the rules. This city, the News & Record of Greensboro re- PRT vehicles could be used all day long. it actually gets better gas mileage: The may serve as a means to keep at least some ports. The move comes after at least 10 Advocates claim that PRT could be built EPA rates it at 60 mpg in the city and 51 mentally ill individuals from begging at business had used the fences for sometime and run at a profit and wouldn’t need the mpg on the highway. The city rating is intersections. not knowing that they were illegal in the subsidies required for other rail transit. better because the car uses regenerative Sellers and beggars may operate only at city. My response is always: PRT sounds braking to help recharge the batteries. intersections with raised or grass-covered The council heard from one of the busi- attractive, but it’s not going to happen. Like its predecessor, the 2004 car is medians or on streets with curbing. nessmen, Mark Whitesell, manager of Grand We already have a personal rapid transit rated a “super ultra low-emissions ve- Sales at intersections Rental Station. He had the system. It is called the automobile. The hicle.” It not only produces far less toxic are allowed only of items fence installed after cost of building a parallel system would chemicals such as carbon monoxide and protected by the First thieves broke into his es- be huge, and few people would use it nitrogen oxides, it produces less carbon Amendment. Sellers and beggars tablishment, loaded up a until the system covers an entire urban dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Panhandling at inter- may operate only at vehicle with equipment, area. Even after it were built, many people So the Prius is Earth-friendly, but sections is prohibited intersections with and drove off through a would still want to drive. No financier how would it run on intelligent high- from 20 minutes before gap in his existing, non- would want to risk building a PRT with ways? The answer can be found in a sunset to 20 minutes after raised or grass-cov- electric fence. That such reduced revenues. new feature on the 2004 Prius: It can sunrise. Panhandlers may ered medians or on prompted Whitesell to in- I am not convinced that PRT is supe- park itself. Simply drive it to a parking also not operate in work stall an electric fence, rior to autos, because autos don’t require spot, and the car will use sensors and zones. Beggars must wear streets with curbing. which his competitors did a walk to a station. Also, being privately steer itself into the parking place. reflective vests and a not have. owned, automobiles provide the same An intelligent car needs a radio to photo ID badge and may “They’re still getting sort of security provided by private prop- receive signals from the highway, and it approach a vehicle only from the driver’s hit, but I have not had another occurrence erty vs. the common areas in New Urban needs to steer, accelerate, and brake it- side after it has stopped at a red light or stop with the fence up,” Whitesell told council. developments that lead to more crime self. The self-parking Prius is the first sign. Under the rules adopted by the city (see www.operationscorpion.org.uk/ car to have all of these things. All it “This is certainly better than what we council, electric fences are legal if sur- design_out_crime/policing_urbanism needs is the software to be able to inter- have now,” said Council member Lewis rounded by a separate, nonelectric fence. .htm). pret signals from an intelligent high- Cheeks to the News & Observer of Raleigh Warning notices are also required every 50 Even if PRT were superior to autos, way, and (at least for Macintosh users) when the ordinance was adopted. The new feet. The energized fences can carry only 12 the classic problem in technological software upgrades are easy. regulations went into effect Jan. 1. volts of electricity, the same as emitted by change would arise: Once one pattern has Toyota was the first company to an automobile battery. been established, it is hard to change to a make a hybrid electric vehicle, but Burying power lines costly new pattern even if it is superior. Honda now has two, and Detroit isn’t Asheville towing laws In any case, I doubt that the econom- far behind. Toyota is the first to sell a In December 2002, an ice storm struck ics of PRT would pencil out unless the self-parking vehicle, but soon other com- North Carolina and knocked out power for An ordinance recently went into effect vast majority of people could be per- panies will follow. When enough self- about 2 million customers across the state. in Asheville which requires that more ex- suaded to switch. Planners wouldn’t be parking, self-driving vehicles are out Some homes were without power for more plicit warnings be posted about towing able to do that without first giving riders there, all transportation agencies will than a week. In the wake of the storm, policies in private parking lots. Parking-lot a PRT system that serves every place they have to do is install sensors on little- numerous officials at both the state and owners who fail to comply with the new might want to go. But who would risk the used HOV lanes and dedicate the lanes local levels called for more power lines to be rules face fines of up to $300 per car re- billions of dollars needed to make that to anyone who can read the sensors. buried instead of strung overhead from moved. investment if there is no guarantee that it Because cars won’t need to be spaced poles, and thereby made less vulnerable to The new regulation requires that park- would lead most people to switch? several car-lengths apart, intelligent- ice and falling trees. ing-lot owners in downtown Asheville and While the dream of anonymous PRT highway lanes will easily have triple or A new study by the public staff of the Biltmore Village post signs that state when vehicles running on overhead tracks quadruple the capacity of ordinary high- N.C. Utilities Commission examines the towing is enforced, how much towing fees seems unlikely to ever happen, there is a way lanes. Once a network of intelligent costs of burying the lines. The results are far are, and where people can call to pick up way to turn automobiles into a PRT sys- highways are running, computers can from encouraging. their cars. Those who have their cars towed tem that combines the advantages of pri- also automatically route people on the “To put everything overhead now un- must be able to retrieve them within half an vate ownership with the safety features least-congested route. This can make derground is an impossible task,” Ben hour of calling the posted number. of computer control. It’s called “intelli- congestion a thing of the past without Turner, staff director of the electric division Reaction to the ordinance has been gent highways,” and it involves putting having to build a lot more roads. of the commission, said to the News & Ob- mixed. “I already had signs posted in my sensors in the roads that will control the For the immediate future, Ameri- server of Raleigh. lots,” Karen Ramshaw, who manages four steering, acceleration, and braking of au- can cities will need to remove bottle- The commission’s staff found that it downtown parking lots, said to the Citizen- tos driving on that road. Drivers would necks and make other improvements to would take 25 years and cost $41 billion to Times of Asheville. “Because the wording keep hands off as long as they were on the deal with congestion. In the long run, bury all lines. For every $1 billion spent doesn’t exactly meet the requirements of intelligent road. Drivers would take con- however, the 21st century solution to burying power lines, customers would have the ordinance, I’ve had to spend $1,300 for trol of their vehicles only when they left congestion will be intelligent highways, to pay $2.34 per month. It would cost cus- new signs.” the road. not that 19th-century technology known tomers about $95 per month to bury all Sam Moore, who had his car towed The problem with intelligent high- as light rail. CJ 68,000 miles of overhead power lines in the before the ordinance went into effect, ex- ways is the same problem with PRT: Who state. pressed a different view to the paper. “I was would build intelligent roads if no one Most residential and small businesses parked illegally, but the sign was hidden had a car that could run on them? And Randal O’Toole ([email protected]) is the director would also have to pay about $400 to have behind a bush. You couldn’t even see it. If I who would buy an intelligent car if there of the American Dream Coalition. their electric meters rewired to accept power had seen the sign I wouldn’t have even coming from lines below ground rather parked there.” CJ January 2004 C A R O L I N A JOURNAL CJ Interview 17 Virginia Postrel: the Substance of Style and Its Importance

By CAROLINA JOURNAL STAFF tional tool. It’s definitely not CJ: This is not Fritz Lang’s Metropolis or RALEIGH a luxury. You know, we’re anything like that. irginia Postrel, New York Times eco- not talking about people nomic columnist and former edi- buying Armani clothes and Postrel: No. Vtor of Reason magazine, visited Ra- fancy stoves and such, al- leigh in December to discuss her most re- though I also talk about that CJ: Now one of the issues of style and appearance cent book, The Substance of Style: How the in the book. that really comes up a lot in governmental Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce, This is not something circles, particularly local government, is the Culture and Consciousness. She spoke with about keeping up with the issue of housing, development, what physical Carolina Journal Publisher John Hood. Joneses. The Joneses never landscapes and physical neighborhoods look like. see your toilet brush. If you There’s a lot of interest in attempting to make buy a nice toilet brush or sure they look classy, they look good. Protect – I CJ: What is aesthetic value? When you say that something that’s expressive want to protect myself from my neighbor’s tacky the rise of aesthetic value is remaking much of or has a little style, it’s just aesthetic sense. our life, what do you mean by that? for the pleasure that it gives you in adding a little bit to Postrel: Right, or just different aesthetic Postrel: Well, the aesthetics, the look and this functional good. sense. Yes, this is part of the downside of feel of people, places, and things, the sen- this trend. As we care more about aesthet- sory content around us, is increasingly im- CJ: Now separate from this ics, as we pay more attention, as our expec- portant as a source of value in the market- idea may clash with some of tations for the world around us rise, whether place and that that reflects its increasing the traditional ways people you’re talking about shopping malls or importance to us as individuals and in our think about business and prod- Starbucks or whatever, suddenly instead of society and culture. ucts, it also clashes with the just saying the guy down the block has a And then when you ask what is the sort of a general cultural or tacky house, it’s “visual pollution” and source of aesthetic value, why is it that we even educational teaching that someone needs to do something about it. value aesthetics, what is the substance of we all hear. What matters is And often in an ex post facto way. It’s one style? It comes from two sources. One is the on the inside, not what’s on Virginia Postrel speaks at the John Locke luncheon. thing if you have a homeowners associa- pleasure, just we enjoy being in a more the outside. tion and people have gone into it. interesting, more stimulating, more beauti- This is a moral of fairytales; this is a lesson fabled 21st century now and that’s not what ful environment. And the other is the mean- that we teach kids. Don’t fixate so much on what it looks like. In fact, it is very diverse. There CJ: You know what the rules are going in. ings that we attach to things, the way we you look like or what your friends look like. are a tremendous number of different styles use the look and feel of our surroundings to Think about what’s inside. Is what you’re ar- coexisting. There’s not a sort of an old-style Postrel: But for example there’s a case now express something about who we are as ticulating here something that people will per- hierarchy where, you know, the rich people going on in Florida where a guy painted his individuals or if you think about a com- ceive as superficial, as focusing on artificiality have one thing, and middle-class people house purple and gold to match his frater- pany designing a product, what is that prod- as opposed to substance? have another thing and every body is trying nity colors and the neighbors went to the uct, how does it stand out from other prod- to emulate the people further up the… It’s local planning board and they got it de- ucts that are similar? What sort of person is Postrel: Well, definitely the reason this book not like that at all. clared against the law. And he has to paint it trying to attract? is called the substance of style is that there’s There’s a lot of personal expression it. So I’m arguing that people care about this kind of sense that styles doesn’t have going on, different styles. It’s certainly not this, they actually care about the expres- CJ: When you talk about look and feel and substance and I’m arguing that it does. It this grim, efficient, everyone wearing the siveness. And it’s a great advantage to them aesthetics and how this is influencing the mar- says something about identify. It gives us same clothes and eating carrots for break- and for most of the neighbors you can just ket and actors in the market, consumers, and pleasure. fast. look away. CJ producers looking for — searching for value, But you do have to understand. One of this is a story or an approach to the economic the messages of the book is that aesthetic is world that I think many might find a little bit a good. It’s something people legitimately different, perhaps even bracing. I mean we’re value, it appeals to deep human instincts, it used to thinking about economic problems in helps us express something about who we terms of, you know, how can we make things are inside, to show who we are inside cheaper, how can we deliver them faster, how through the outside world around us, but can we make things with new technologies or that it is not the only good and its own good. mass production that generate economic value. Beauty is not truth. Beauty is beauty. Beauty We’re not so used to thinking about it in these is not virtue. But at the same time, beauty is terms. not frivolous or trivial or stupid or any of those other things. Postrel: Right, and in fact what I call today’s aesthetic imperative comes from the fact CJ: And of course people who say “I wish that that businesses have been so incredibly suc- beauty didn’t matter” or “I wish that aesthetics cessful in those other areas. So that func- didn’t matter,” they don’t get to change human tional quality of so many products is very, nature. very high. Cost is low, price is low, things are cheap. Distribution is much more effi- Postrel: That’s right. That’s right. And it is cient and products are much more available the case that we are, as a guy I quote several than they used to be. times in the book says, visual, tactile crea- And so then the question is, what next? tures. We are creatures who care about the What do you do? How do you stand out sensory environment, who learn through from the crowd? How do you get people to our senses, who define ourselves through come to your restaurant versus the restau- our senses. That’s not the only way we rant down the street in a very competitive learn, it’s not the only way we define our- market. How do you get them to buy your selves. But it is the first way and it’s very cell phone versus another cell phone? Your fundamental. toilet brush versus another toilet brush. CJ: There are lots of people, I think, who have CJ: I often look for the color of a toilet brush. That gotten this wrong. I mean, I’m a fan of science really matters to me. fiction and I think you actually make some references to imaginations of the future and Postrel: You may be joking, but the very what they would be like. And there lots of either cheapest toilet brush is the $4.99 version at dystopias or just straight science fiction stories Wal-Mart and comes in seven different col- that imagine that in the future everybody wears ors. the same unitard or cover-all. You know, there might be a slight shade difference in color. Of CJ: It’s really a rather interesting question. Why course in the old Star Trek movies or “Star would that be? That’s because people really do Trek” shows everything was very colorful be- respond to the look and feel of products. cause they didn’t have any other money to spend and had a lot of very revealing, colorful clothing. Postrel: People respond to it. They take But in more recent science fiction everything is pleasure in it. And the reason I write about drab and gray and cool and cold. And what toilet brushes is not really that it’s an obses- you’re saying is that’s not really the future. sion of mine, but because that’s such an interesting example. It is definitely a func- Postrel: Well, you know, we’re living in the January 2004 C A R O L I N A 18 Learning Curve JOURNAL

From the Liberty Library Book review

• BioEvolution: How Biotechnol- Life at the Bottom: Socialism Destroys Freedom ogy is Changing Our World explains what biotechnology is all about and • Theodore Dalrymple: Life at the Bottom: chological comforts of victim hood. describes recent scientific advances. The Worldview That Makes the Underclass; Reporting from “the ground zero of Ivan R. Dee; 2001; 263 pages experimentation and clinical trials,” On-the-job research author Michael Fumento shows how By ARTHUR E. FOULKES Unlike the sociologists, criminologists, biotechnology has already demon- Guest Contributor and suicidologists who study the strated the potential to cure almost TERRE HAUTE, IN “underclass” in the aggregate and from any disease; extend human lifespans arl Marx argued that the socialist afar using statistical correlations and other well past the 120-year range; and dawn would break when the plight complex data, Dalrymple speaks face to wipe out not only famine but malnu- of the workers had reached its na- face with members of this class nearly every trition while using less land, less K dir. The Iron Law of Wages would guaran- day. “When you talk to people about the water, and fewer chemicals. He also tee that as the exploiting capitalists got richer most intimate details of their lives, it could debunks several myths, writing for (and fewer), the proletarian class would scarcely occur to you that they are other example that the bitter fight over em- sink deeper into a pool of living misery. than fully conscious agents, in essence no bryonic stem cells is a distraction Finally, at the point of starvation, the prole- different from yourself… only in extreme from wonders already being per- tariat would rise up and overthrow their circumstances is helplessness experienced formed with nonembryonic adult parasitic, nonproducing oppressors. in the way the blueness of the sky is experi- stem cells. He also counters both the enced. Agency, by contrast, is the common emotional and scientific claims experience of us all. We know our will’s against so-called “Frankenfood” and Growing socialism in Britain free…,” he said. shows how it will help feed a hun- The opposite may be true. Socialism (if Indeed, many of his patients tacitly or gry planet. See www.encounter not a socialist paradise) may be dawning, at frankly admit they do not really believe the books.com for more information. least in Britain, with the fattening of the determinist philosophy they are milking. masses, not their starvation. While it does “That their outlook is dishonest and • Beginning in the late 1960s, seem that as societies grow richer their self-serving is apparent in their attitude John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr “nonproducing” classes become larger, it is towards those when they believe to have say, the study of communism in not the ranks of the “idle rich” that is swell- done them wrong. For example, they do not America was taken over by revision- ing; it is the ranks of the statists and their or their genetic makeup is to blame. say of the policemen who they allege (often ists who attempted to portray the dependents. Dalrymple’s patients’ faith in this meta- plausibly) have beaten them up, ‘Poor United States as the aggressor in the First, there is the expanding, tax-funded, physical mishmash of beliefs is the source cops!… They need counseling. They need Cold War and saw suspicion about “bureaucracy of compassion” with its at- of their misery, he believes. their heads sorted out.’” the American Communist Party as tendant caregivers, social workers, regula- baseless paranoia. In Denial: Histori- tors, intellectuals, and social scientists. This ans, Communism, and Espionage shows Dalrymple exposes self-deception Self-righteous social scientists group comprises the ever-growing state how, years after the death of commu- sector of the new order. And, as a doctor sworn to help his Likewise, of course, the social scientists nism, leading historical journals and Second, there is the expanding, tax- patients, he has “come to see the uncover- responsible for perpetuating this philoso- many prominent historians still teach supported group that Theodore Dalrymple, ing of this dishonesty and self-deception as phy do not see their own lives as deter- that America’s rejection of the a doctor in a British prison and inner-city an essential part of my work. When a man mined. Determinism explains the behavior CPUSA was a tragic error and that hospital, calls the “underclass.” These tells me, in explanation of his anti-social of lesser mortals than they. Their comfort- American Communists were actually people are dependent on the state for their behavior, that he is easily led, I ask him able, self-righteous insulation from reality unsung heroes working for demo- day-to-day existence. They live in public whether he was ever easily led to study is apparent. cratic ideals. Haynes and Klehr ex- housing, are guaranteed an adequate sup- mathematics, or the subjunctives of French Indeed, in one telling essay, Dalrymple amine the ways in which revisionist ply of food and a minimum allowance, and verbs. Invariably the man begins to laugh: explains that his left-liberal colleagues in scholars have ignored or distorted (like all Britons) receive free medical care. the absurdity of what he has said is imme- the British intelligentsia often ask him if he new evidence from recently opened They are not “poor” in a global or his- diately apparent to him. Indeed, he will doesn’t “make up” the conversations and Russian archives about espionage torical sense, yet their lives are devoid of acknowledge that he knew how absurd it experiences he relates. When he assures links between Moscow and the hope. With no incentives apart from instant was all along, but that certain advantages, them his imagination is incapable of such CPUSA. Also from Encounter Books. gratification, they grow bored, restless, un- both psychological and social, accrued by artistry, they dismiss his experiences as bi- happy, and increasingly violent. In keeping the pretense up.” ased because, in his medi- • For generations, the collective Dalrymple’s words, they suffer from a Or consider the bur- cal practice he meets, American consciousness has believed “sheer ignorance of how to live.” This group glar who “demanded to “funny people.” that The Great Depression ruined the “It is a mistake to sup- provides the moral and philosophical justi- know from [Dalrymple] Yet the “funny” country and the New Deal saved it. fication for the activities and livelihoods of why he repeatedly broke pose that all men, or at people Dalrymple works Endless praise has been heaped upon the first group. into houses and stole with are not so few in President Franklin D. Roosevelt for least all Englishmen, VCRs. … ‘[S]omething numbers and are, accord- reining in the Depression’s destruc- must make me do it!’” he want to be free.” ing to his analysis, grow- tive effects and propping up the Desperation and determinism said. “’How about greed, ing in size. “Freedom country on his New Deal platform. Theodore Dalrymple Dalrymple’s book, Life at the Bottom: the laziness, and a thirst for from want” has not In FDR’s Folly: How Roosevelt and His Life at the Bottom WorldviewThat Makes the Underclass does excitement?’” Dalrymple brought about the crime- New Deal Prolonged the Great Depres- not directly address socialism or even point suggested. “’What about free utopia the redist- sion, historian Jim Powell argues that a particularly accusing finger at the welfare my childhood?’ he ributionists have always the New Deal itself, with its short- state. Instead it simply relates the misery, asked.” imagined. On the contrary, it has bred ego- sighted programs, deepened the De- violence, crime, illiteracy, and desperation The underclass is bathed in this doc- tism, selfishness, and a disregard for tomor- pression, swelled the federal govern- in the lives of Dalrymple’s patients while trine of behavioral determinism, yet, like row among his patients. Far from being ment, and prevented the country exposing the intellectual and philosophical Marxism itself, this philosophy is not a prod- helpless victims of an unjust and cruel capi- from turning around quickly. More foundations that helps foster their lifestyles. uct of class it purports to aid or explain. It talist system, they are, if victims at all, vic- at www.randomhouse.com. Dalrymple’s thesis, arrived at after in- rather has “percolated downward from aca- tims of a system of “subsidized apathy” in terviews with thousands of patients from deme.” which there is “nothing to hope for and • Author James Bovard, in Ter- the lowest rung of British society, is that the Dalrymple’s patients may not know nothing to fear, nothing to gain and nothing rorism and Tyranny: Trampling Free- members of the underclass have absorbed how to multiply six by nine or when World to lose.” dom, Justice and Peace to Rid the World — despite an almost total lack of education War II took place, but they know that “sci- of Evil, says the war on terrorism is — the popular intellectual Zeitgeist of our entists” have shown that their upbringing, the first political growth industry of Freedom withers at both ends time: determinism. their genes, or some form of “addiction” is the new millennium. In his most re- This determinism comes in many forms: responsible for their behavior. In a pincers movement, then, freedom cent book Bovard offers an unrelent- biological, genetic, environmental, eco- Dalrymple’s book is important for read- is eroded from above and below. Freedom ing examination of the Bush admin- nomic, and cultural; take your pick. ers of Carolina Journal because he shows is surrendered at the bottom because those istration and its motives for prosecut- Dalrymple believes, whatever form it takes, how determinism ultimately leads to the at the top ensure that helplessness pays. ing a war on Iraq. He tells a story of it is simply a modern articulation of the old conclusion that human choice is a meaning- Dalrymple is probably not a libertarian, yet the toll that the war on terrorism is Marxian idea that “it is not the conscious- less fiction and human behavior is analo- his fine book offers much to friends of lib- taking — from airport security follies ness of men that determines their being, but gous to movement of billiard balls on a pool erty everywhere. Indeed, the first line of that protect no one, to increased sur- on the contrary, their social being that de- table. It therefore opens the door for “scien- Chapter One is perhaps the book’s most veillance of individuals and skyrock- termines their consciousness.” tific” social engineering, i.e., dictatorship. haunting: “It is a mistake,” he writes, “to eting numbers of detainees. Bovard This philosophy is the fountain from But Dalrymple shows how the underclass suppose that all men, or at least all English- postures that the state tramples per- which Dalrymple’s patients drink and take naturally takes advantage of the implica- men, want to be free.” CJ sonal freedoms and ignores the solace. They are not in the least responsible tions of this “dishonest fatalism” using it as wishes of its citizens. Learn more at for their actions (or inaction); an unjust a perpetual “getout” for all their actions www.palgrave.com. CJ capitalist society, criminal justice system, while simultaneously enjoying all the psy- Arthur Foulkes is a freelance writer in Indiana. January 2004 C A R O L I N A JOURNAL Learning Curve 19

Book Review Economics for Real People: A Readable, Basic Austrian School View

• Gene Callahan: Economics for Real People: needs of society, without prices, they could market “excesses” is no panacea. In attempts An Introduction to the Austrian School by not determine what means should be used to correct alleged market failures — includ- Ludwig von Mises Institute; 2002; 299 pp.; $11 to fulfill those needs. ing unsafe products, externalities, inad- The conclusion follows because there equate investment by private firms in sports By E. C. PASOUR, JR. cannot be market prices without markets, arenas, and path dependence — “screwups” Guest Contributor and there would be no resource markets if by government are just as pervasive and RALEIGH the government owned all resources. Plan- more difficult to correct than those of the ene Callahan’s stated objective is ners in a market economy attempting to market because of information and incen- to introduce the intelligent lay improve the use of land and other resources tive problems. Gman to the main ideas of the Aus- confront information problems similar to Part IV focuses on the political economy trian School, and I know of no close substi- those facing socialist planners. of the Austrian School. The author con- tute for the book he has written. Logically Frederic Bastiat contended that in eco- trasts views of Lachmann, Hayek, Mises, organized and written in a witty and enter- nomic matters we should not judge solely and Rothbard to show the wide range of taining style, the book consists of four parts by what is seen but also by what is not seen. views held by key Austrian figures con- and two brief appendices. Callahan follows Bastiat’s dictum in ex- cerning the appropriate role of government. plaining the effects of price fixing, includ- This discussion is closely related to the first Step-by-step economics lesson ing minimum wages and price ceilings, and appendix, which provides a short descrip- drops in the stock market. He has the clearest tion of the history and development of the Part I focuses on human action. Callahan explanation I have seen for why a fall in the Austrian School. uses the Robinson Crusoe model of an iso- stock market, as in 2000-2001, is best viewed The second appendix contrasts praxeo- lated individual alone on a desert island to as a change in relative prices rather than a logical economics with mathematical eco- explain basic economic concepts — includ- reduction in wealth. nomics. Callahan explains why the latter ing value, saving, time preference, capital, The pitfalls of using “efficiency” crite- approach, though useful in certain situa- and uncertainty. ria for resolving legal disputes and to justify tions, is unable to capture the logic of eco- Part II describes the market process. interventionism are often ignored in eco- nomic events. When another person joins the island, the level. The author explains why inflation is nomic analysis. The author shows that at- law of comparative advantage leads to spe- best viewed as a rapid increase in the money tempts to maximize “social utility” through Austrian vs. ‘mainstream’ cialization and the division of labor and supply rather than an increase in CPI (or nonmarket approaches, including the legal exchange. The author then expands the other price index), even though a price in- process, fail to recognize the importance of I recommend this book to anyone in- simple island economy to show the impor- dex is useful as long as it is taken as a rough market prices and secure property rights in terested in a highly readable, nontechnical tance of money in exchange and in eco- approximation of changes in the value of achieving the most productive pattern of presentation of the basic ideas of Austrian nomic calculation. He emphasizes the role money. resource use. economics and an explanation of how it of the entrepreneur, explaining why entre- In Part III, Interference with the Mar- Callahan uses an ingenious metaphor differs in a number of important ways from preneurship plays little role in mainstream ket, Callahan, in describing the calculation involving a bus driver at the edge of a desert “mainstream” economics. Although some theory, which emphasizes equilibrium problem, explains why socialist planners — too long to describe here — to explain the of the topics could have been explained analysis where all decisions are perfectly could not do what they purport to do, even Austrian business cycle theory. Credit ex- more completely in a longer book, the avail- coordinated and there are no profit oppor- if all citizens were properly motivated as pansion by the central bank and erroneous able space is used quite effectively. CJ tunities. perfect socialist citizens. A race of saints entrepreneurial expectations are the critical The distinction between mainstream would still be unable to perform economic factors in explaining why modern econo- and Austrian views of inflation and defla- calculation in the absence of market prices mies tend to swing through boom times E. C. Pasour is professor emeritus, Department tion comes out in the discussion of pitfalls for the factors of production. Even though and recession. of Agricultural and Resource Economics, North in using price indexes to measure the price they all desired to fulfill the most urgent Moreover, government regulation of Carolina State University.

Book Review Houston Freeways: A Road Map for Other Growing Regions to Mimic

• Eric Slotboom: Houston Freeways: A His- leafs at the junction of two freeways. These provides fascinating information about both advanced than freeways in most Eastern torical and Visual Journey; Slotboom; 2003; often force drivers to slow to as low as 20 the political history of freeways and the cities and tend to be more advanced that 404 pp; illustrated with hundreds of color mph, which becomes a major source of technical details of freeway design. Among freeways in most Western cities. In reality, photos and maps; $29.95 plus shipping congestion. Houston freeways were built the innovative designs illustrated here are: Houston probably wasn’t the most con- ($34.95 in stores, mainly in Houston). instead with flyovers stacked four and oc- • Vehicle impact attenuators — the gested urban area in 1983 and it is probably casionally five high so that people could go rubber bumpers found covering many con- less congested than current rankings indi- By RANDAL O’TOOLE from one road to another without signifi- crete barriers, invented by our friends at the cate as well. Contributing Editor cantly slowing down. Texas Transportation Institute and now sav- PORTLAND, OR There are plenty of junctions, as ing lives all over the country; Impressive reference book ome people collect books about cars. Houston’s network includes three major • Wishbones — ramps to get vehicles Some collect books about airplanes. rings (counting a small, inner-city ring) and on and off transitways that are in the center Slotboom isn’t uncritical of Houston’s S I collect books about trains. Eric 14 spokes heading in all directions of the of freeways and otherwise cutoff from the freeway designers. He notes that the region Slotboom hopes there are collectors of books compass. Not all of the spokes reach all the outside; would have been better off with a grid about freeways, because he wrote, designed, way into the hub, but there are still close to • The Texas-T ramp — an alternative to pattern instead of the hub-and-spoke sys- and paid for the printing of this lavish, 30 major freeway junctions. wishbones; tem that leads to congestion at the hub hard-bound book about Houston’s freeway Slotboom describes how Houston’s • The Z-pattern high-mast configura- because it forces many people to drive network. freeway were built in two major waves. The tion of nighttime lighting — designed to through downtown even if their destina- Before I read this book, I knew that the first started in 1948 and ended in the late provide light above and behind drivers so tion is somewhere else. He points to embar- Houston urban area, which has about 2.5 1960s when inflation caused highway con- they wouldn’t have to look directly into a rassing failures, such as a bridge that was million people, has more miles of freeway struction costs to grow nearly four times floodlight; built too low across the Houston Ship Ca- per capita than any other urban area larger faster than gasoline taxes and other high- • The merits of building roads with 15 nal, leading to many collisions with ships. than 1.5 million people. In fact, it has nearly way revenues. Like other cities, Houston inches of concrete instead of just eight. I probably won’t keep this book on my three times as many miles of freeway per had an anti-freeway movement that man- In its most recent mobility report, the coffee table, but I certainly will keep it as a million people, and well over twice as many aged to stop a few planned roads, but lack Texas Transportation Institute ranked reference for what other growing regions lane miles of freeway, as Los Angeles. of funding and Houston’s rapid growth Houston, the nation’s ninth largest urban should (and sometimes shouldn’t) do to were the real problems. area, 48th out of the 50 largest urban areas in ensure mobility for their residents. Innovations started in Houston By 1983, the Texas Transportation In- America. This isn’t so much because Partly because I am sympathetic to stitute ranked Houston as the first or sec- Houston’s congestion has lessened over the someone risking their own time and money But I didn’t know that, from the very ond (depending on measure) most-con- past two decades as that congestion every- on publishing, but mainly because I am beginning of post-war freeway construc- gested urban area in America. The region where else has worsened. By the institute’s impressed with the outcome, I encourage tion, freeways in the city of Houston were responded that year by creating the Harris measure, Houston’s congestion is 9 percent you to go to http://houstonfreeways.com/ built to the most advanced designs: wide County Tollroads Authority, leading to the worse than 20 years ago, while Los Angeles’ to review sample pages of the book and lanes, wide shoulders on both the inside second wave of construction of advanced is 41 percent worse. consider ordering it. CJ and outside of the lanes, high-speed junc- freeways, now including busways and As I’ve written elsewhere, the Texas tions, and frontage roads on both sides for carpool lanes. study oversimplifies congestion by assum- local traffic. At nine inches by 12 inches, Houston ing that all freeways are alike in speeds and Randal O’Toole is the director of the American Many states and regions use clover- Freeways is almost a coffee-table book. Yet it flow capacities. But Houston’s are far more Dream Coalition (americandreamcoalition.org). January 2004 C A R O L I N A 20 Opinion JOURNAL

Is It the Economy, Or Is It Stupidity?

s it the economy, or is it stupidity? That’s what North Carolina's citizens want to know after Ithe General Assembly recently approved a pack- age of “incentives” for corporations that Gov. Mike Easley said would boost the state’s economy. Legislators staged a special session Dec. 9, in less than a day, to study the incentives and work their miracles. Alacrity of such magnitude proves once again that no one can spend money — someone else’s — faster than a bunch of poli- ticians. During the fast and furi- ous legislative session, Easley and the GA gang gave away hundreds of millions of dol- lars in subsidies primarily to two corporations that really need it: the gigantic Merck pharmaceutical company and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings. The deal comes, Richard Wagner paradoxically, a few years after North Carolina, led by then-Atty. Gen. Easley, and other states sued tobacco companies and won billions in a settlement. The way Easley and some legislators are selling the “investment,” North Carolinians are getting a real funds have been drained so dry that it’s doubtful they will bargain. We’ll break even on the Merck deal, they say, Editorials recover anytime soon, if ever. in about 11 years. After 20 years, though, is when we 5. Ban Economic Development Programs. So-called get the really big payoff: $20.6 million, which is called economic development represents a comparatively new “a net positive impact on the state budget." branch of state government that knows no bounds. Almost If those numbers are reliable — and we all know N.C. RESOLUTIONS any corporate project, especially one that generates a lot of how reliable our state’s politicians are — my calcula- publicity for politicians, can be classified as “economic tor tells me that the rate of return on the state’s so- Ten ways for leaders to change their ways development.” Moreover, the amount and number of the called investment would be much smaller than the giveaways, although technically framed by law, actually yield in any market. North Carolina officials would are limited only by the imagination and guile of the state’s have served the state better by investing, say, even in hank goodness New Year’s gives everyone an op- political class on a case-by-case basis. A special session of an index fund. That’s assuming, of course, that Merck portunity to renounce their sinful ways and turn the legislature called by Easley on Dec. 9, identifying Merck lives up completely to its end of the agreement of T their lives around. North Carolina’s leaders, espe- and RJR for special consideration, demonstrated the basic investing hundreds of millions of dollars and generat- cially, could use the opportunity. To help them along, unfairness and absurdity of state-sponsored programs to ing hundreds of jobs in the state. Keep in mind that we’ve compiled a Top 10 list, in reverse priority, of New manipulate the economy. RJR recently eliminated more jobs than the 800 the Year’s resolutions state leadership should adopt: 4. Winnow Government Nonprofits. The scandal sur- company is supposed to bring to North Carolina. 10. Bag the Global TransPark. All their pipe dreams rounding U.S. Rep. Frank Ballance, D-1st District, and his But wait, there’s more, as they say on those cheap about the GTP having failed, state leaders should once and John A. Hyman Foundation last year dramatically illus- TV commercials that sell each and every product for for all line up the crosshairs on the white elephant in trated glaring weaknesses in North Carolina’s accountabil- $19.99. These investments will boost North Carolina’s Kinston and pull the trigger. No more Boeing boondoggles. ity of hundreds of nonprofits the state funds to the tune of gross state product by as much as $1.43 billion over 20 No more FedEx fiascos. Any politician who still believes about $700 million annually. Beyond the state auditor’s call years. That figure may sound gross, but it is actually the GTP will earn a profit probably is tripping on PCP. for periodic reports to be filed by individual nonprofits, the trivial — something in the hundredths of one percent 9. Derail “Smart Growth.” A better term for smart legislature should consider why and whether the state of the cumulative gross state product North Carolina growth should be “malignant growth.” Besides depriving should continue to fund so many of these organizations. is likely to experience over the years. homeowners of their rights, making real estate unaffordable, 3. Change Redistricting. Perhaps no other issue has so Among investors, I certainly couldn’t be consid- wasting billions of dollars in public transit projects, herd- poisoned the atmosphere in North Carolina as redistrict- ered an expert. But I would imagine that any broker ing people into hamster cages, fouling traffic, and worsen- ing. Because of the political machinations, the public has on Wall Street who tried to sell a scheme like that ing air pollution, smart growth makes sense. Let consum- lost what little confidence it had in leaders to conduct its would be investigated by the feds and probably thrown ers, through the free market, decide where business. The bitter battle in the legisla- into the pokey for a long time. and how they want to live. ture and in the courts seems to have no More and more people in the business world 8. Snuff Out Golden LEAF. Born in Easley should start of- end nor reflect any moral consciousness nowadays are finding out that the public isn’t in any blackmail, Golden LEAF amounts to a fering… economic in- by the participants. The public witnessed mood to suffer any more corporate con artists. But in slush fund manipulated by Gov. Mike what it long suspected: Allegiance to state-government circles it’s quite OK to soak the Easley and Senate leader Marc Basnight. centives to under-ap- party affiliation, and pork-barrel com- public. It’s OK because state leaders passed laws that The hundreds of millions of dollars flow- preciated citizens to mitments, rather than obligation to con- enabled them to do it. Instead of being called corpo- ing into Golden LEAF would be better stituents as a whole, guide the thoughts rate predators, in North Carolina though, they’re just spent on health-care programs, as origi- keep them from mov- and actions of North Carolina’s leaders. called creative and caring politicians. nally intended, or on alleviation of North ing away… A commission might help, but there is no Now that a lot of legislators have swallowed the Carolina’s excessive tax burden, much of substitute for a coherent set of neutral, bait, Easley and his allies hope to turn the incentives which pays for health care spending. enforceable rules and honorable leaders into a feeding frenzy. Cries for a slice of the pork are 7. Restrain Annexation. North Carolina is among a who put the state’s welfare ahead of their party’s interests. coming from everywhere. handful of states that allow municipalities to annex nearby 2. Crack Down on Corruption. The downfall of former Rep. W. Eugene McCombs wants a huge helping unincorporated areas with little restriction. Residents to be Agriculture Commissioner Meg Scott Phipps and the prob- for Rowan and Cabarrus counties, which “have lost annexed are powerless to stop the seizure. An easy way to ability of federal charges being brought against Ballance 5,000 jobs and no one, it seems like, is trying to help fatten general funds, annexation has become a weapon of laid bare a serious problem in state politics. Phipps’s cava- them.” Rep. Edgar Starnes said he wants to know choice among municipalities. In the 1990s Charlotte added lier manner in breaking the law and and legislative what good the incentives package would do for his about 61,000 people through annexation. Raleigh, Jackson- leadership’s lack of public rebuke of Ballance reveal the constituents in Caldwell County. Folks in Lenoir ville, and Fayetteville each added about 35,000. In the political elite’s arrogance, or perhaps tacit acceptance of County want to know what happened to a sweetheart 2000s, Cary, Greensboro, Carolina Shores, and Fayetteville wrongdoing. The situation cries for forceful action by state deal that they were promised would bring Boeing again are planning annexations. It’s time for the legislature leaders to demonstrate they are serious about ridding aircraft company and save the Global TransPark. to give suburbanites a real say in the matter. North Carolina of corruption and about restoring the Not to worry. Easley has assured us to just wait, 6. Stop Raiding Trust Funds. Using the budget deficit public’s shaken faith in government. there’s more. The General Assembly will bless the rest as a convenient excuse, Gov. Mike Easley and his political 1. Taxpayer Development. Personal income taxes and of North Carolina with more and bigger “incentives” allies have raided many trust funds to finance programs sales taxes have risen so much under the Easley adminis- when the legislature reconvenes this spring. Maybe they liked better than those stipulated by the trusts. Among tration that growing choruses of North Carolinians are we’ll see the governor doing a $19.99 TV commercial the high-profile funds they tapped were the Highway beginning to howl they’ve had enough. Forget about offer- to set the stage before then. Trust Fund, a 911 fund for cellular telephone users, the ing enticements to selected corporations. Easley and his But I have a sick feeling it will cost us a lot more Repairs and Renovation Reserve for upkeep of state build- legislative allies should start offering economic incentives, than that for a long time. CJ ings, and special revenue that traditionally was held by the i.e. tax cuts, to under-appreciated citizens to keep them state and reimbursed to municipalities. Many of these from moving away to states where the taxes are lower. CJ January 2004 C A R O L I N A JOURNAL Opinion 21

of most Council of State offices and appellate judgeships to gubernatorial appointments with legislative confirma- INFLECTION POINT tion, prohibitions against state officials having any policymaking or fiduciary role in local governments or The Use and Abuse Time for a new state constitution private organizations receiving state funds, an end to de- vices that allow private companies or institutions essen- of Partisanship tially to issue state bonded debt, and clearer language to he genius of the American system of government, shield voluntary contracts and private market transactions that which set it apart from the rest of the world at from second-guessing by state regulators. he institutions of free, representative gov- Tthe time of the Founding and continues to do so There are probably other good ideas to consider, too. ernment and those of political partisanship today, is the establishment of a written constitution. Let’s get to work. North Carolina needs a new constitu- have been intertwined – and at odds – since But those intellectual “demigods,” as one attendee tion of liberty. T the founding of the Republic. As with so many other called them, who convened that hot summer in 1787 to public disputes, the problem lies in failing to draw fashion a new structure out of the wreckage of the Articles bright lines to keep each in its proper place. of Confederation did not invent the concept. They were The Founders were deeply concerned about the merely bringing to the federal sphere what the various state influence of what they called “factions.” James legislatures had already accomplished for their govern- FLIGHT OF FANCY Madison wrote about the issue in The Federalist Pa- ments: a constitution to specify how political power could pers, hoping that the constitution would serve to be exercised, and to what ends. City attempts to lay a guilt trip on the state frustrate attempts to subvert power to private ends. North Carolina played a key role in the new country’s Each of the first three presidents offered strong debate over constitutions. condemnations of partisanship. George Washing- Our founding charter, the Fundamental Constitutions of n for a pound, in for a penny, according to the orga- ton warned “in the most solemn manner against Carolina (co-written in the 1660s by the English philoso- nizers of the disappointing “Festival of Flight” event the baneful effects of the spirit of party.” John pher and physician John Locke), helped establish an early Iin Fayetteville a while back. The festival celebrating Adams urged Americans never to “lose sight of the tradition of religious toleration that competed with — and the centennial of the Wright brothers’ flight at Kitty Hawk danger to our liberties if ultimately supplanted — other traditions of established ended up drawing far fewer visitors than expected. anything partial or extra- state churches and sectarian discrimination. That left a number of the festival’s vendors holding neous should infect the The state’s 1776 constitution was perhaps the new the bag for nearly $300,000. So far, the five-member execu- purity of our free, fair, country’s most anti-authoritarian, imposing severe limita- tive committee have managed to send a token check of a virtuous, and indepen- tions on the power of governors and judges. few hundred dollars to each vendor while trying to close dent elections.” Thomas Then, after the new federal constitution was signed in the gap with private contributions. Now, the board is also Jefferson wrote that “the 1787 and sent to the states for ratification, North Carolina seeking a bailout from city, county, and even state taxpay- greatest good we can do was the only one to call a convention and then say “no.” ers. our country is to heal its Every other state participating in the process said “yes” The Fayetteville Observer reports that city officials, at party divisions and (the other holdout, Rhode Island, hadn’t even sent del- least, are inclined to kick the problem upstairs. City Man- make them one people.” John Hood egates to the constitutional convention). North Carolinians ager Roger Stancil told the newspaper that he will not rec- Update the lan- were suspicious because the new constitution granted sig- ommend that the council appropriate funds to the cash- guage and you would have the substance of much nificant power to the federal government without shield- stripped festival. “My first recommendation is that the City of the rhetoric we hear today in national politics ing citizens from its abuse with a Bill of Rights. Council send a letter to the state that they support this fes- and in North Carolina, where increasing partisan After the election of President George Washington and tival as they have others,” Stancil said. competition in Raleigh during the 1990s seemed to Congress in 1788, work began on amendments. Heartened repel many observers and even practitioners. by this turn of events, North Carolina leaders held another If one, why not the other one? Of course, this rhetoric can’t be taken at face convention and joined the union. value. Adams and Jefferson, for example, were in- Over the years, our own state constitution has been By others, he particularly means the subsequent fes- cessant partisans. The simple truth is that if you amended and rewritten a number of times. As has been tivities at Kitty Hawk. The First Flight Centennial Com- have electoral politics, you will have political par- the case at both the state and federal levels, efforts to change mission and related activities received state appropriations ties. And in the American system of winner-take- the constitution tend to come in clumps, spurred by par- since the mid-1990s to run the centennial celebration on all elections, you will probably have only two com- ticular events or political movements such as North the Outer Banks. The total tab reportedly came to $5.1 mil- petitive parties at a time. Good government will not Carolina’s constitutional convention in 1835 (held because lion. come from attempts either to quell partisan rivalry of the rise of political power in the Piedmont and west), What Stancil is arguing is that if taxpayers from or to let it run rampant. Instead, parties must be the post-Civil War federal amendments and state consti- Asheville to Wilmington and everywhere in between were allowed to contest elections boldly and energetically tution of 1868, and the Progressive amendments in the appropriately coerced to funding a big party in Dare – but only within parameters that the party cur- 1910s (authorizing the income tax, the direct election of County that few of them attended, why shouldn't rently in power cannot easily evade or change. U.S. senators, women’s suffrage, and prohibition). Fayetteville’s underwhelming event get similarly gener- In other words, the political game will attract ous treatment? the public’s involvement only if there are (at least) Constitution no longer meets needs Why not indeed? The problem with opening the state two distinct and competitive teams, but it will not government’s purse to localities, nonprofits, and activities command the public’s confidence without neutral We believe that North Carolina has come to another far afield from the state’s core functions is that there is little rules and nonpartisan referees and commentators. such inflection point. The state’s current constitution, en- rational basis for closing it, again. In journalism and public policy, for example, acted in 1971, no longer meets the needs of a state that is Sure, the Wright brothers actually flew their plane on it’s okay to have opinions about issues and to ad- far more populous and far more diverse in myriad ways. the Outer Banks, and in December, so a commemoration vocate them (though not in writing the news). But Constitutions shouldn’t be amended on a whim or in Fayetteville in May might seem a little less of a natural it’s not okay for partisanship to intrude. Commen- filled with specific legislation. They are — or at least should “fit.” tators should be willing to criticize either Demo- be — essentially negative documents. But the Festival of Flight folks aren’t asking for $5 mil- crats or Republicans on principle or performance. That is, they should restrain the potential power of lion. They’ll take a small percentage of that, no doubt. Regarding elections, partisanship shouldn’t be elected or appointed officials to encroach on the natural Surely it would be impossible to argue that the First Flight squelched. I think “nonpartisan” elections for lo- and inalienable rights of individuals and the private insti- Centennial event is worth a lot to state taxpayers, but the cal or judicial offices are worse than pointless. They tutions they form through voluntary contract. Government, Festival of Flight is worth absolutely nothing. rob voters of useful information and allow the out- Washington reminded us, “is not reason. It is not eloquence. Naturally, advocates of all this subsidy bunkum will come to be disproportionately influenced by simple It is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful say that honoring the Wrights is an “investment” in the name-recognition or special interests. On the other master.” state’s tourism industry. But government does not exist to hand, partisanship shouldn’t be allowed to rob vot- Thomas Jefferson remarked that, “in questions of play venture capitalist or press agent for a private busi- ers of political choice through gerrymandering or power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, ness or industry. manipulation of the election laws. but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Just to clarify matters, many if not most attendees of A polity without effective partisan competition Constitution.” In North Carolina, recent mischief by pub- such events will be from North Carolina. Whatever dol- devolves into sloth and corruption, as has happened lic officials — such as fiscal mismanagement, raids on lars they will spend at events, at hotels, at restaurants, and in both Democratic and Republican regions. And a “trust” funds, bribery, self-dealing appropriations, and self- at other attractions is money they would have spent in some polity with over-the-top and abusive partisan com- serving gerrymanders — cannot effectively be remedied other way. It is both wrong and economically deleterious petition devolves into, well, sloth and corruption, simply by the resort to (rigged) elections or the prosecu- to force the owners of the businesses that will lose revenue because each team’s attention drifts to fights over tion of individual miscreants, as important as they may from the tourists in order to subsidize the latter’s recre- the rules of the game rather than cultivating talent be. ation. and formulating effective plays to move the ball. We need institutional changes to “bind down” further Fayetteville officials and event organizers are laying a When politicians tell you how sorry they are the powers and prerogatives of politicians and to ensure guilt trip on state government. And, now that we think about “partisanship” and how much they’d like to that the public’s general interest has at least as much of a about it, North Carolina policymakers should feel guilty transcend it, they are singing a very old political chance of prevailing in political debates as do the special — but not for overlooking the Fayetteville Festival of Flight tune. I’m not vilifying them for it.. But I’d take them interests of rent-seeking insiders. in their funding schemes. They should feel guilty for in- more seriously if they would promise to be enthu- Our own preferred list of changes to the state consti- dulging in such subsidy scheming at all when there are siastically factional – but only about ideas, not about tution would include: a strict cap on annual increases in bonafide state needs and perpetual state budget deficits to power for its own sake. CJ public expenditure, strict lifetime term limits on all office- worry about. holders (including an end to gubernatorial succession), If North Carolina politicians can't distinguish the rela- clearer language to forbid governments from preferring tive importance of imprisoning criminals and partying on Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation, pub- one business over another through taxes or subsidies, an the beach, there is no hope for rational budgetary deci- lisher of Carolina Journal, and a syndicated columnist. independent commission for redistricting, the conversion sions in Raleigh. CJ January 2004 C A R O L I N A 22 Opinion JOURNAL

Editorial Briefs

Health Savings Accounts

Surprisingly, Congress has added tax breaks for health savings accounts to the new Medicare law. Consumers will now be able to obtain relatively inexpensive health insurance policies with high deductibles combined with savings accounts. The contributions to the accounts will be tax deductible, the money will accumulate year after year tax free, and it can be withdrawn to pay for a variety of medical expenses. According to John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, employees could replace vanishing retiree health benefits with “401h plans” financed by savings accounts that they can take with them when they retire. Currently, over a million people are covered by a variety of consumer-driven health plans, most of which involve a spending or savings account, says Tom Beauregard, a health care consultant with the Hewitt Associates consulting firm. As employers shift an increasing share of health costs to workers, a growing number need to put aside money to pay those bills, he says. Only days before the bill passed, UnitedHealth Group, the largest insurer, bought the Golden Rule Insurance Company, a pioneer in selling medical savings accounts, a less-favored version of HSAs, for $500 million. Aetna, which already had 45,000 members in high-deductible health plans that include savings accounts, jumped in with a plan to add 100,000 more under the new law. Power, Profits, Big Business: Not a Slam Dunk HSAs have long been a goal of conservative lawmakers and academics who want to add cost- By MICHAEL L. WALDEN The fact that most power utilities are monopolies regu- cutting competition to the health insurance market- Contributing Editor lated by the government explains the high concentration of place and offer a way for workers to save money for RALEIGH sales in that industry. And the information sector, which medical expenses in their retirement. President Bush et’s admit it — we all watch a lot of TV and movies. includes computer software production, publishing, and says that under the new law, people with health In fact, for many Americans, TV programs and broadcasting, has been undergoing a wave of mergers in savings accounts would “save between 10 to 35 movies have replaced newspapers, magazines, and recent years that may explain its high concentration. percent on any costs covered by money in your L books as sources of information on all sorts of subjects. There are also exceptions in local or specialized mar- account,” depending on their tax bracket. One of these subjects is the economy and how it works. kets where a few firms may dominate. Air transportation is Reported in the New York Times. I think it’s fair to say many people form their a good example, where one or a few carriers perceptions about the operation of the may control most of the flights originating in a Vaccine production economy from what they see on TV and in local market. Passenger cruise ships are an movies. example of a specialized market where only There has been a steady erosion in the number of A common theme running through many eight companies control almost 90 percent of vaccine producers over the past three decades. In the Hollywood productions is that big business the sales. 1970s, there were 25 vaccine makers; today, because controls the economy. Movie and TV scripts But the conclusion seems to be that big of slim profit margins and legislative and liability often like to portray David and Goliath situ- business isn’t the dominant force in the issues, there are just five. With such a small number ations where little David, often a worker or economy that many think it is. Collectively, of producers, shortages can develop quickly as a consumer, is pitted against a large Goliath, large companies account for a minority of sales result of manufacturing problems or a bad guess on namely big business. and a minority of employment. Perhaps even the expected demand, according to a report by the For many of us, these fictional dramas more interesting, studies show no increase in Institute of Medicine, an arm of the National Acad- correspond to what we see in our daily inter- the relative importance of big business in our emy of Sciences. actions with business. Many of the retailers economy over time. For makers of all types of vaccines, the Institute we shop are part of nationwide chains. There Michael L. Walden of Medicine’s report traced the decline in manufac- are only four, maybe five, major fast-food Puny profits turers’ interest to the fact that the U.S. government , restaurants. The nearest airport may have predominantly through the Vaccines for Children just two or three airlines we can use. If we go back to the economic teacher for most program run by the Centers for Disease Control and Thus, it’s easy to conclude big business rules the eco- Americans — TV and movies — we also learn that busi- Prevention, buys slightly more than 50 percent of the nomic world, and by extension, has tremendous influence nesses make big profits. If fact, some would say “obscene” vaccines in the United States, and keeps prices low over public policy. profits. So how close is this talking point to the truth? (the percentage is much lower for flu vaccines, which Yet there’s always a danger in generalizing from our Not very! People (and I guess TV and movie script are given to many more adults than children). own experiences and perceptions and making sweeping writers) see the money going in to a business, but they don’t Under the Vaccines for Children program, the conclusions. That’s one reason why studies and statistics see the money going out. The money going out certainly CDC negotiates a discounted price with the manu- are valuable. They can help us see beyond our immediate includes employee salaries and benefits, but also rent or facturer. It then allocates to each state a credit bal- “trees” to the “forest” beyond. payments on buildings and equipment, insurance, adver- ance, which states can use to buy vaccines from the tising, utility and maintenance costs, the costs of money manufacturer at the discounted price. Does big business rule? tied up in inventory, and, let’s not forget, taxes of all kinds The program offers free vaccines to uninsured — property taxes, business fees and permits, federal and children under 18 years of age or to those who are So what do studies and statistics say about the relative state corporate income taxes, and the employer’s share of eligible for Medicaid or care from federally qualified dominance of big business in our economy? Are we in an FICA. health centers. economy increasingly run by big business, or is reality So when all these costs are recognized, how much The report concluded that the price squeeze, something different? profit does the average business owner make? The answer coupled with a heavy regulatory burden, has dis- Fortunately, there are statistics collected by the U.S. is 5 percent to 7 percent. That is, out of every dollar in couraged investment and driven drug companies Census Bureau and others that directly address this ques- receipts, the average business keeps 5 cents to 7 cents in out of the vaccine business. The U.S. vaccine market tion. The statistics tell us the percentage of total sales in an profits. Also, this is “before inflation.” The profit rate is is only a couple of billion dollars a year in sales, and industry accounted for by the largest firms in that industry. even lower in “after inflation” terms. many pharmaceutical companies can make more Generally, the statistics don’t show that we’re an So there you have it, the real “scoop” on business money on other products than on hard to make and economy dominated by big business. For example, the four power and profits that you won’t see on TV or in the market vaccines. largest firms in most industries usually account for less movies. It almost makes you want to hug the next business Reported in the Wall Street Journal based on, than 10 percent of all sales in that industry. Even the 50 owner you see. CJ Committee on the Evaluation of Vaccine Purchase largest firms account for less than one-third of total sales. Financing in the United States, “Financing Vaccines There are some exceptions — utilities and the informa- in t he 21st Century: Assuring Access and Availabil- tion sector, for example. The latest numbers show the 50 Michael Walden is a William Neal Reynolds distinguished ity,” Institute of Medicine of the National Acad- largest utilities garnering almost two-thirds of all utility professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Eco- emies, August 4, 2003. CJ sales, and the eight biggest information companies have nomics at North Carolina State University and an adjunct more than half of all sales. scholar with the John Locke Foundation. January 2004 C A R O L I N A JOURNAL Opinion 23 Mom and Dad, Not North Carolina, Improve Children’s Health

By DONNA MARTINEZ government support system of friends and relatives that ing that home can be a dangerous place for far too many of Associate Editor help moms and dads and serve as role models and mentors. our children.” RALEIGH Ironically, groups like those that created this report say Weiss will cochair the House Interim Committee on or those who believe government programs are the they’re supporters of families. No doubt that’s their well- Child Abuse and Neglect, Foster Care and Adoption. Why answer to solving social problems, the 2003 North intentioned goal. But to ignore the hard work and commit- do she and the report’s authors downplay the many non- F Carolina Child Health Report Card is a reason to cel- ment of parents is thoughtless and a disservice to those governmental factors and people who influence children’s ebrate. At least that’s what its authors and supporters want looking for a balanced assessment of the interrelated role of development, health, and welfare? What’s the motive be- you to think. Compiled by the North Carolina Child Ad- individuals and government. hind these assertions that taxpayer-funded services are the vocacy Institute and the North Carolina Institute for Medi- answer to our problems? cine, the press release announcing the data boldly pro- Middle class at the government trough claims that “North Carolina Child Health Mirrors Invest- And the answer is — taxpayers’ money ments Made by General Assembly.” Proponents of limited government ap- Apparently, the improvements in our preciate and support society’s moral obliga- Money. children’s health are taking place because tion to provide assistance to those who can’t “Regrettably, the current state budget crisis is placing government is on the job. When bad things help themselves, those truly at risk or in much of this progress in jeopardy, with some critical health happen or pose a threat to children, it’s danger. Children are certainly part of that services being reduced and most remaining seriously un- because there’s no taxpayer-funded program equation. But unfortunately, government ser- der funded,” the introduction to the report states. to prevent them. vices originally intended as a helping hand Imagine working in a field where good news is posi- to a small segment of society have grown tioned as progress that’s “in jeopardy” because it’s a road- What about mom and dad? into entitlements for North block to the goal of gaining legislators’ Carolina’s expanding attention and, ultimately, their votes and Tell that to a dedicated mom or dad and middle class, who are per- our tax dollars. you’re likely to get laughed out of the house. fectly able to handle their HHS spending will Budget history shows that North Government isn’t in the kitchen making a child-raising responsibili- grow by more than Carolina’s Department of Health and healthy dinner for Johnny after his soccer Donna Martinez ties on their own. Human Services doesn’t need extra help game, or in the garage securing Susie’s knee Just as government is $250 million — be- getting additional funding. HHS spend- pads and helmet before a bike ride. Yet, the release reads as positioned as the reason for progress in cause of appropria- ing will grow significantly over the next if it’s a no-brainer that Johnny and Susie are just one certain areas, lack of government involve- tions passed by the two years — by more than $250 million government program shy of abuse or obesity. ment is tagged as a risk factor for the use — because of appropriations in the bien- That’s a shame because this illogical argument diverts of alcohol and tobacco, illegal substances, General Assembly… nial budget passed by the General As- attention away from the real progress that’s detailed in the obesity, asthma, and abuse and neglect. sembly this summer. report, which compares data from 1997 to 2002. Thirty- While some policy advocates con- seven of 56 health indicators received an “up” arrow to Yet another ‘epidemic’ in North Carolina tend the HHS budget takes a 6 percent cut in fiscal 2003- denote improvement in the health of North Carolina’s 2004, a closer look reveals that more than $400 million in children. “Were it a communicable disease, child abuse and “cuts” are on paper only. In one instance, emergency For example, infant and child deaths are down, as are neglect would be declared an epidemic in North Carolina,” federal Medicaid relief temporarily replaced state dollars, teen pregnancies. Equally positive is that immunization said Rep. Jennifer Weiss, D-Wake, at the press conference and in another, a previously inflated rate of Medicaid rates and the number of insured children are both up. announcing the report’s findings. “Paradoxically appro- spending was corrected. That’s wonderful news. Problem is, it’s government priations to mitigate this problem have been reduced by Child advocates needn’t worry about public assistance that gets the credit. Nowhere does the press release cel- the General Assembly. Tragically, deaths due to abuse spending in our state, which is on an upward trend. It’s ebrate the contributions of parents, families, and the non- represent about half of all child homicides, further confirm- their mindset we should be concerned about. CJ Save Money and Time by Changing the College Admission Process

By GEORGE LEEF Sjogren seeks 10 changes in admissions rejected regardless of what the counselor or English teacher Contributing Editor writes.” RALEIGH Sjogren sets forth 10 specific changes he’d like to see. • Concentrate on the student’s high-school academic nfrequently, a reader comes across an article that is so All are at least worth considering, and several are, in my performance. The best indicator of college readiness is the unusually candid, expressing such unexpected opinion, “no-brainers.” Let’s take a look at some of them. student’s success (or lack thereof) in high school coursework. I thoughts, that he feels like sending up a • Get rid of the student essay. At most Sjogren is perfectly aware that grading standards are not cheer for the author. Recently, I read an article colleges and universities, and all of the com- uniform (and I would add, subject to varying degrees of like that. petitive ones, each applicant has to write a inflation), so he recommends the establishment of a na- It was written by Cliff Sjogren, 75, who personal essay, contrived to catch the atten- tional program that would enable grades to be compared at worked for many years as the head of admis- tion of the admissions people and persuade least approximately on an apples-to-apples basis. sions for the University of Michigan, and later them that he has a glittering combination of He would have high schools that wanted to participate as head of admissions at the University of characteristics that would greatly enhance life submit data on the percentages of A’s, B’s, C’s, D’s, and F’s Southern California. His essay, “A Radical on campus. There’s just one problem — many in all their academic courses, the percentage of students Plan for a Simplification of the College Admis- of those essays are as phony as a $3 bill. Stu- taking accelerated courses, percentage of students who sion Process” reveals a lot of truth that most dents are usually coached on what to say and enroll in four-year colleges, the median SAT scores for college admissions personnel would never how to say it. Relatives often help, and for juniors, among other information. From the data, a grading divulge. They probably wish Sjogren had kept those willing to shell out some money, there “degree of difficulty” would be created so that students his big mouth shut. George Leef are services that will “polish” the essay until it who earned B’s at rigorous schools would not be penalized shines like the brass work on a luxury liner. in comparison with students who have A averages in College admissions too complicated The essay helps only students from wealthy or schools where A averages are commonplace. Sjogren doesn’t at least very literate families to look bet- say what to do until that program is up After decades in the admissions business, Sjogren be- ter than they really are. Sjogren would and running, but I suggest that colleges lieves that it has become a costly waste. Here’s his conclu- drop the requirement and merely include The admission pro- look to see if students took courses that sion: “In a well-intended albeit futile attempt to be all a blank page on which the student could cess is loaded with are hard to fake, such as chemistry and things to all people, colleges and universities have seri- write a little about himself if he wanted trigonometry, and use that as a rough ously complicated application procedures for the student, to. Even that might be going too far, by ‘time-wasting drudg- proxy for academic difficulty. overly burdened high school counselors, and substantially opening a back window to the essay. ery,’ which leads to • De-emphasize extracurricular ac- increased the colleges’ costs for enrolling freshman classes.” • Drop the early-admissions gim- tivities. Sjogren sees no point in down- The admission process is loaded with “time-wasting drudg- mick. Sjogren recounts that, as head of ‘bulging institutional grading students just because they didn’t ery,” which leads to “bulging institutional administrative admissions at the enormous University administrative costs.’ or couldn’t participate in a lot of extra- costs.” of Michigan, he ran a system that notified curricular activities. It’s a strong indictment, but Sjogren backs up his all applicants of the school’s decision to Sjogren also recommends eliminat- words. “Few colleges have validated by research the effec- admit, reject, or wait-list by October, and gave them until ing financial aid that isn’t need-based, getting rid of legacy tiveness of such commonly used selection criteria as rec- May 1 to respond. The benefit of that system, Sjogren says, and faculty preferences for students, and reducing the ommendations, essays, the interview, extracurricular ac- is that “we could assume that all students enrolled because reliance on SAT scores. tivities, and even entrance examinations,” he writes. What they wanted to be at Michigan and were not there because Admissions bureaucrats will probably complain that he doesn’t say, but I think I detect between the lines, is the of an October commitment to the college!” Sjogren’s ideas would “turn back the clock,” but I think he’s idea that admissions departments have made things far • Eliminate or greatly reduce recommendations. Why on target. CJ more complicated than they need to be out of self-interest. bother counselors and teachers with the need to write Like all bureaucracies, admissions departments want to fawning letters that rarely make any difference? As Sjogren puff up their importance and budgets by making their says, “Students with strong grades and test scores will George Leef is the director of the Pope Center for Higher Educa- work seem far more demanding than it really is. probably be admitted, and weak students will likely be tion Policy. January 2004 C A R O L I N A 24 Parting Shot JOURNAL State Initiative Foists Science on Atypical Schools N.C. School of the Arts, beauty college, and aviation school can do biotechnology too, dadgummit

By PAUL CHESSER have been wooing two cosmo-technology research The Future is Now Correspondent companies: Epidermigen, Inc. and Follicle Pharma RALEIGH Corp. n ambitious new campaign by Gov. Mike Easley “These two companies are on the cutting edge and State Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight of skin and hair technology,” Basnight said, “and I A calls for the dramatic — literally — expansion of deserve credit for bringing them here.” new biotechnology facilities on college campuses in North The companies agreed to come because they Carolina. would be able to use the beauty clinics on the The leaders said new high-tech training facilities will campuses for free. In exchange the companies prom- be built at three higher-education institutions in the state ised to use only North Carolinians for their experi- that are not known for science programs. ments. The state has dedicated millions of dollars in recent Epidermigen is synthesizing human tissues years, through various agencies, to exploit the favorable with cockroach cells in an effort to arrest the aging economic conditions for the biotechnology industry. The process. efforts of state commerce and economic development offi- “We are literally trying to make peoples’ skin cials have produced mixed results. Some high-tech re- crawl,” said Epidermigen President Phineas T. search and development companies have taken advantage Creep. of North Carolina’s incentives, but many more have gone Students from the NC School of the Arts perform an interpretive dance elsewhere because of more business-friendly environments. depicting the emergence of rocombinant proteins from a tobacco plant. Carolina Air Flight Training “Our investments in education, workforce, and infra- structure are paying off,” Easley said. “But we really need “The problem is that citizens just don’t understand Easley and Basnight revealed that the third prong of to do more, and find creative new ways to entice these high- why their tax dollars are being thrown at these progressive their innovative biotechnology training initiative would be paying jobs to Nawth (North) Carolina.” companies,” said Wade Hobgood, chancellor of the School administered by an aviation school based in New Bern. of the Arts. “Our mission is to take the complex work that Carolina Air Flight Training will conduct much of the state- N.C. School of the Arts they do off the top shelf, and put it on the bottom shelf funded research at the Global TransPark in Kinston. where the layman can grasp it.” “There is a company who is almost ready to go to Easley visited the state’s premier arts college campus The new facility will cost an estimated $3.2 million, and market with its product,” Easley said. “They believe that, in Winston-Salem last week, and he said he was impressed will include a proportional-scale petri dish that will enable with the $20 million we are giving them, the TransPark is by the school’s biotechnology presentation. humans to credibly re-enact the movements of microscopic the perfect place to complete their research.” “They made a very persuasive case for themselves,” bacteria and enzymes. Windbag, Inc., has completed its work in Washington, Easley said at this week’s press conference. “The School of D.C. The company invented a device that captures the the Arts really deserves this new facility.” Carolina Beauty College bluster of self-absorbed politicians who make fallacious Ballet students last week performed interpretive dances claims about bringing jobs to their states. The poisonous that depicted the extraction of recombinant proteins from Meanwhile, Basnight announced a new biotechnology properties are extracted from the collected gaseous bragga- tobacco plants. The drama department offered a skit that project sponsored by the state in which Carolina Beauty docio and the remaining matter is converted into a fuel showed how immunotherapeutic antigens are synthesized College will conduct science experiments. For months, substitute. The FAA is expected to approve the diesel from plant tissues. economic development groups with connections to Basnight alternative once Windbag’s research is finished. CJ

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