Legislature: Some New Voices, Same Tune Republican Lawmakers May Find Themselves Watching from Sidelines
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•Congressional Staff Pay • Pushing for Carolina Now on Web, P. 5 North, P. 12 ETJ in Angier, P. 16 C A R O L I N A Auditing Sit-In Group, P. 17 Statewide Edition A Monthly Journal of News, Analysis, and Opinion from December 2006 • Vol. 15, No.12 the John Locke Foundation www.CarolinaJournal.com JOURNAL www.JohnLocke.org Legislature: Some New Voices, Same Tune Republican lawmakers may find themselves watching from sidelines By MITCH KOKAI Associate Editor Members of the N.C. Senate at work during RALEIGH the 2006 session (CJ file photo) ome new voices might join the leadership chorus in the next openly campaigned to succeed Jim Black, General Assembly, but the ba- the Mecklenburg County representative Ssic song will likely remain the same. who has led House Democrats for four That’s the assessment lawmakers and years as minority leader (1995-98) and analysts offered after the election Nov. a record-tying eight years as speaker 7 helped Democrats consolidate legisla- (1999-2006). tive power. By Carolina Journal’s press time, “There is a tremendous agenda- Democrats expected to work with a 68-52 setting power that goes along with majority in the state House, and a 31-19 Democrats in the General Assembly are expected to have a 68-52 majority in the state House being the majority party,” said Andrew majority in the Senate. That means party and a 31-19 majority in the Senate in the 2007 session. (CJ photo by Don Carrington) Taylor, an N.C. State University politi- leaders could pass the most hotly con- Tony Rand, D-Cumberland, who over- delighted with the way things turned cal scientist, “so there’s not really much tested legislation next year, even if seven sees the Democratic caucus as Senate out, but now we’ve got to turn our at- Republicans can do on their own.” House Democrats and five Democratic majority leader. “We worked quite tention to what we need to do now and That means Republicans might senators objected. Democrats worked hard, and we think that our message of how we can continue to move North have to watch on the sidelines as the with smaller margins of 63-57 and 29-21 improving education and job creation House chooses a speaker. As early as during the past two years. and protection of the environment—we election week, a handful of Democrats “We’re very pleased,” said Sen. think these things are important. We’re Continued as “Legislature,” Page 2 Coalition Seeks Redistricting Reform for Voter Choice By MITCH KOKAI Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Cobey on Oct. chaired the state GOP. “Can you believe “The General Assembly is bur- Associate Editor 24 at a Raleigh news conference for the that more than half of all legislative races dened with the task of redistricting every RALEIGH N.C. Coalition for Lobbying and Gov- in our state this year have no competi- 10 years after the Census,” Valentine oncerned about the shrinking ernment Reform. “But come November, tion?” said. “This gigantic chore usually con- number of competitive races for most voters won’t have a choice. On the other side of the political sumes a huge portion of the legislative the General Assembly, a state- “There’s something wrong with divide, former Democratic U.S. Rep. I. time, and the process bleeds into other Cwide coalition is pushing for redistrict- democracy in our great state when 63 T. “Tim” Valentine agreed with Cobey important public business. ing reform. state House candidates and 22 state that the time has come for a change in “North Carolina’s voters deserve Senate candidates face no competition the way North Carolina draws legislative choice in who they elect,” said former on Election Day,” said Cobey, who also and congressional election maps. Continued as “Coalition,” Page 3 Do you think a Democratic majority 80in Congress will raise your taxes? The John Locke Foundation NONPROFIT ORG. Contents 200 W. Morgan St., #200 U.S. POSTAGE Raleigh, NC 27601 PAID RALEIGH, NC North Carolina 3 PERMIT NO. 1766 Washington Watch 6 Education 8 Higher Education 12 Yes 52% Local Government 16 No 34% Books & the Arts 20 Not Sure 13% Opinion 24 Parting Shot 28 John William% Respondents Pope Civitas in June Institute Civitas Poll, Institute November Poll 2006 CAROLINA C A R O L I N A North Carolina JOURNAL JOURNAL Legislature: New Voices, Same Tune Richard Wagner Continued from Page 1 Editor Carolina forward.” Don Carrington Democrats will continue to focus Executive Editor on familiar goals, Rand said. “I think that has served us well,” he said. “We’re Paul Chesser, Mitch Kokai, still ranked as the best place to do busi- Michael Lowrey, Donna Martinez ness. Obviously a lot of people like Associate Editors North Carolina because our population is growing. They’re electing to come Chad Adams, Shannon Blosser, and be a part of what we’re doing. So I Andrew Cline, Roy Cordato, Paige Holland Hamp, David Hartgen, think our priorities have stood the test Sam A. Hieb, Lindalyn Kakadelis, of time now.” George Leef, Karen McMahan Even some members of the Repub- Karen Palasek, Susan Robinson, lican opposition say they expect the same Marc Rotterman, Mike Rouse, issues to draw lawmakers’ attention. “I Jim Stegall, George Stephens, hope there’s still going to be a continued Jeff Taylor, Michael Walden, emphasis on education and transporta- Karen Welsh, Hal Young tion and jobs and the economy,” said Contributing Editors Sen. Richard Stevens, R-Wake. “Those are certainly things that we all heard about in the campaign—regardless of David Bass, Richard Carney, which side you were on.” Geoff Lawrence, Michael Moore Neither Rand nor Stevens pre- Kati Pharis dicted the larger Democratic majorities Editorial Interns would lead to a wholesale rejection of Members of the N.C. House of Representatives mull legislation during the latter days of GOP input in the legislative process. “I the 2006 legislative session. (CJ file photo) think people expect us to work together,” Published by Rand said, “and we don’t dismiss people and 62 members, a House majority, The John Locke Foundation because of their party orientation. signed on to the proposal filed as House 200 W. Morgan St., # 200 “This last session we had Republi- “We need to advance Bill 55. A bipartisan group of 24 senators Raleigh, N.C. 27601 can [committee] chairmen, and I suspect also endorsed the measure in its Senate (919) 828-3876 • Fax: 821-5117 we’ll continue to do that because we those ideas that we’ve form, Senate Bill 8. Neither bill cleared www.JohnLocke.org want all people in North Carolina to feel a committee. like they’re part of what we’re doing. We been talking about, As the 2007 session nears, North Jon Ham want talent to be recognized wherever it those ideas that we feel Carolina is now surrounded by states Vice President & Publisher is. And I think working together makes that have approved constitutional mar- for a far more harmonious—and I think strongly about. Clearly, riage amendments. But there’s no sign John Hood a better—result.” that House or Senate leadership will Chairman & President Rand’s Republican counterpart they’ve [Democrats] got offer the idea new support. says he and his colleagues will not shy “On the practical level, one reason Bruce Babcock, Herb Berkowitz, away from debate. “We need to advance a majority. They’re going James Culbertson, Jim Fulghum, that might be a problem is that if there Bill Graham, Robert Luddy, those ideas that we’ve been talking to be able to pass what- is no amendment limiting marriage to Assad Meymandi, Baker A. Mitchell Jr., about, those ideas that we feel strongly one man and one woman at a time, there Carl Mumpower, Maria Ochoa, about,” said Sen. Phil Berger, R-Rock- ever they want to pass.” could be a lot of litigation in the state,” J. Arthur Pope, Tula Robbins, ingham, in an interview with News 14 said Erik Root, research director for the Thomas A. Roberg, David Stover, Carolina’s statewide program “Political Sen. Phil Berger N.C. Family Policy Council. “States sur- Robert Stowe III, Andy Wells Connections”. “Clearly, they’ve got a R-Rockingham rounding North Carolina, generally the Board of Directors majority. They’re going to be able to pass whole South, have something similar on whatever they want to pass. the books after the Nov. 7 election. The “To the extent that there are things for failing to act on “important, popular amendment would settle the question Carolina Journal is a monthly journal that we agree with, then we’ll be sup- legislation,” in the words of then-GOP once and for all in North Carolina.” of news, analysis, and commentary on state portive,” Berger added. “To the extent state Chairman Ferrell Blount. and local government and public policy issues that we feel they’re doing things that The news conference highlighted Voting trends in North Carolina. are not in the best interest of North a half-dozen specific measures: a consti- Carolina or not consistent with those tutional amendment defining marriage, Critics could argue that N.C. voters ©2006 by The John Locke Foundation things we believe, then we’re going to a bill requiring a 24-hour waiting period have offered no mandate for the mar- Inc. All opinions expressed in bylined articles riage amendment or any other measure are those of the authors and do not necessarily oppose them.” for abortions, an “Academic Bill of identified primarily with Republicans.