INSIDE THIS ISSUE: DEPARTMENTS Government North Carolina 2 C A R O L I N A Education 7 goes all out Local Government 10 From Page 1 13 to bolster Higher Education 17 the biofuels Books & the Arts 20 Opinion 24 market/2 A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF NEWS, ANALYSIS AND OPINION Parting Shot 28 JOURNALFROM THE JOHN LOCKE FOUNDATION June 2012 Vol. 21 No. 6 STATEWIDE EDITION Check us out online at carolinajournal.com and johnlocke.org EPA special agents interrogate Asheville Perdue Team Headed To Court man about email knowledged the flights and toldCJ that By Karen McMahan travel provided to Perdue when she Contributor Several aides may be was conducting official state business RALEIGH was treated by the Office of the Lieu- n Asheville businessman called to testify tenant Governor as a gift to the state is left with more ques- from those providing the flights. tions than answers after about illegal giving A Wake County grand jury in- aA May 2 visit to his home by two dicted Stubbs Nov. 28. He is accused of armed special By Don Carrington funneling more than $28,000 through agents from Executive Editor his law firm to pay for aircraft to fly the U.S. Envi- RALEIGH Perdue to campaign events during ronmental Pro- ven though Gov. Bev Perdue’s 2007 and 2008. The free flights were not tection Agency, 2008 campaign for governor reported on campaign finance reports, accompanied ended nearly four years ago, the a violation of campaign finance laws. by an Asheville Eupcoming trial of New Bern attorney The two specific charges are obstruc- police officer, Trawick “Buzzy” Stubbs should offer Trawick “Buzzy” Stubbs at a May 11 court tion of justice and causing the Perdue apparently to question him about further insight into her campaign’s appearance. (CJ photo by Don Carrington) campaign committee to file false re- what the EPA interpreted as a mysterious aircraft provider program. ports. If convicted, in addition to fines craft to attend political fundraisers. “cryptic and concerning” email. Wake County District Attorney and possibly prison, Stubbs likely In addition, Perdue has not ex- The incident is under inves- Colon Willoughby maintains that the would lose his law license. tigation by the office of Sen. Rich- plained fully a number of flights that Stubbs and his attorneys do not 10 flights Stubbs paid for, reported by she took as lieutenant governor. A Car- ard Burr, R-N.C. Perdue’s campaign staff months after dispute the basic facts surrounding the Larry Keller, who runs a olina Journal review of 2007-08 expen- charges, but they believe Willoughby the election, amounted to illegal cam- ditures by Perdue’s office reveals that, computer consulting business paign donations. should have focused on the Perdue from his Asheville home, sent in addition to not paying for a number campaign organization instead of The trial, scheduled to begin June of campaign-related flights, she also an email April 27 to the EPA 11, also may provide insight into Per- Stubbs. in an attempt to reach Al Arm- made no payments to private aircraft “We can’t blame [Stubbs] be- due’s decision not to seek a second endariz, EPA regional admin- owners for travel related to official cause the campaign was disorganized term as governor. istrator for Region 6. Two days state business. and didn’t know what it was doing,” Perdue never has acknowledged earlier, a video from 2010 was Records show flights that com- Stubbs’ attorney David Rudolf said at publicly when she learned her cam- bined official business with cam- paign did not pay for more than 40 Continued as “EPA,” Page 13 paign events. In October 2010, Perdue flights she took in privately owned air- spokeswoman Chrissy Pearson ac- Continued as “Members,” Page 14 ‘Sustainability’ Plan Involved Payments to SAS

PAID According to the agreement, four RALEIGH, NC U.S. POSTAGE counties selected by McKoy — Orange, PERMIT NO. 1766 NONPROFIT ORG. Commerce’s McKoy Yadkin, Buncombe, and Edgecombe — each would have received $600,000. brought software Each county would keep $60,000 for participating in the scheme and trans- firm into scheme fer the remaining $540,000 to the North By Don Carrington Carolina Sustainability Center, a non- Executive Editor profit that McKoy chaired last year. RALEIGH Under the plan, the NCSC would Cover of a presentation produced by retain $165,000 from each county — ocuments obtained by Carolina SAS in November 2011 which identifies Journal show that a plan re- Henry McKoy as a new “key stakeholder.” $660,000 overall — and provide some cently scrapped by the North planning services for each county. The who oversees the annual allocation NCSC then would transfer the remain- DCarolina Department of Commerce in- of approximately $40 million in fed- ing $375,000 from each county, or a to- cluded a provision to pay Cary-based eral Community Development Block tal of $1.5 million, to the North Caro- software developer SAS $1.5 million in Grants, created the plan. Each dollar lina Association of Regional Councils federal funds meant to assist low- and would have traveled through three of Government, also known as COGs. moderate-income families. other entities, including a nonprofit Assistant Secretary for Commu- organization McKoy created, before The John Locke Foundation 200 W. Morgan St., #200 Raleigh, NC 27601 nity Development Henry C. McKoy, reaching SAS, documents show. Continued as “McKoy,” Page 15 PAGE 2 JUNE 2012 | CAROLINA JOURNAL North Carolina C a r o l i n a Government Tries To Bolster Biofuels Market By Dan E. Way Charlotte native and Appalachian State University graduate Journal Contributor now working as a research fellow at the Property and Envi- RALEIGH ronment Research Center in Bozeman, Mont. Rick Henderson Managing Editor he unprecedented goal of creating a biofuels sector in “There’s mandate after mandate” from government North Carolina, from the planting to the propelling of for ethanol, Scarborough said. “But people aren’t going to Don Carrington vehicles with the renewable fuel, “is astonishing and buy it when it turns out to be more expensive than thought.” Executive Editor enormous,”T Steven Burke admits. Government sets arbitrary targets “to drum up sup- Burke is president and CEO of the North Carolina Bio- port for the program, and the chances of meeting those are Sara Burrows, Mitch Kokai fuels Center in Oxford, created by the General Assembly in probably pretty slim,” he said. That includes a federal push Michael Lowrey, Barry Smith 2007 as a tax-fueled catalyst to foster a cellulosic biofuels to require ethanol to be 15 percent of the blend in gasoline Associate Editors market from trees, grasses, and nonfood crops. to goose the market artificially. The legislature allocated $4.5 million to the center in There are mandates for cellulosic ethanol production Chad Adams, Kristy Bailey the current fiscal year, down from $5 million in previous and the amount that needs to be blended in gasoline. The Kristen Blair, Roy Cordato years, to solve the still prohibitively costly renewable en- federal Renewable Fuel Standard Program mandates use of Becki Gray, Sam A. Hieb Lindalyn Kakadelis, George Leef ergy riddle. 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel annually by 2022. But Karen McMahan, Donna Martinez “North Carolina will use 500,000 acres of its land to producers have been fined for not blending enough of the Karen Palasek, Marc Rotterman produce 7.5 million tons of new [bio]mass that in $4.3 billion fuel. Michael Sanera, John Staddon worth of new facilities will make 500 million gallons of fuel” “The reason they weren’t blending it was because there George Stephens, Michael Walden by 2017, Burke said of the legisla- wasn’t any being made; there isn’t Dan E. Way, Karen Welsh ture’s “colossal” policy directive. a market,” Scarborough said. “It Hal Young, John Calvin Young Burke acknowledged “the just isn’t cost-effective without Contributors audacity of our goal, which I char- massive subsidies.” acterize as not impossible, just Biomass producers will get very hard.” involved once government energy Ziyi Mai, Baxter Rollins portfolio standards “create a pseu- Daniel Simpson, Alissa Whately But critics of this and similar Shane Williams projects argue that there would be do market” for their crops by gov- Interns no market for biofuels without tax- ernment mandate, not consumer payer subsidies and government demand, Scarborough said. mandates. They see the project as “Then energy producers are Published by a waste of public funds and an un- forced to go out and find that [sup- The John Locke Foundation warranted diversion of cropland ply], and they lobby governments 200 W. Morgan St., # 200 from the production of food to the to encourage people to produce Raleigh, N.C. 27601 creation of inefficient fuels. those resources at cost-effective (919) 828-3876 • Fax: 821-5117 The Biofuels Center is not a prices to them,” Scarborough said. www.JohnLocke.org science agency, does not produce “It simply cannot survive without anything, and has no research labs some sort of economic incentives, Jon Ham which means taxpayers.” Vice President & Publisher of its own. Yet it expects to foster an industry that would provide 10 Creating fuels from bio- mass is “an inefficient process” John Hood percent of North Carolina’s future because the feed crops are not Chairman & President transportation fuel needs by 2017 energy-dense. They require large and spin off bioplastics, biomateri- amounts of land and, of concern als, and biopharmaceutical manu- for drought-prone North Caro- Bruce Babcock, Herb Berkowitz facturing. Charlie Carter, Jim Fulghum lina, lots of water, Scarborough said. The center is working with universities, companies, Ethanol delivers “roughly about 30 percent less ener- Chuck Fuller, Bill Graham farmers, growers, counties, and municipalities to create the Robert Luddy, Assad Meymandi gy” than gasoline, so even when it’s selling for less per gal- Baker A. Mitchell Jr., Carl Mumpower, biofuels sector, Burke said. lon, it costs motorists more because they don’t get as many J. Arthur Pope, Thomas A. Roberg, The center has awarded nearly $11 million in research miles per gallon, he said. David Stover, J.M Bryan Taylor, grants, conducted education programs, and opened a re- “It’s a politically friendly story,” Scarborough said. Andy Wells search and development incubator on its campus. “You tell people instead of getting oil from evil terrorists Board of Directors The center has spawned 20 research projects statewide you’re going to grow it in your backyard” on local farms and is exploring 17 potential feedstocks — three trees, six and keep the money in the state economy. Carolina Journal is energy grasses, four oil-producing crops for diesel, and four The problem with that is terrorists generally operate a monthly journal of news, starch-producing crops. outside of government and are not affected by global energy analysis, and commentary on Burke believes the first showcase facility is on the politics, said Peter Van Doren, senior fellow at the Cato In- state and local government horizon in Sampson County. Chemtex, a chemical technol- and public policy issues in stitute in Washington, D.C. ogy and engineering firm, may be on track to open a $170 Research shows every nation’s economy is shocked North Carolina. million cellulosic ethanol processing plant in a few years to ©2012 by The John Locke Foundation during crude oil market convulsions whether the country is Inc. All opinions expressed in bylined articles produce 20 million gallons of fuel annually. a net importer or exporter of fuel, so more home-grown fuel are those of the authors and do not necessarily Paolo Carollo, Chemtex international vice president won’t insulate the state economy, he said. reflect the views of the editors of CJ or the at its U.S. headquarters in Wilmington, said the company Still, politicians from both parties vote for renewable staff and board of the John Locke Foundation. hopes to finalize a loan guarantee through the U.S. Depart- energy policies because voters favor them, usually without Material published herein may be reprinted as ment of Agriculture and start construction in six to eight knowledge of drawbacks, such as the high tax-based subsi- long as appropriate credit is given. Submis- months. The plant could be in operation by the end of 2014 dies and enormous land use. sions and letters are welcome and should be or 2015. “The calculations I see is you’d literally have to take all directed to the editor. “The interest in the market is not something that wor- the land in the United States and plant it in grass to substan- CJ readers wanting more information ries us at all,” Carollo said. “One of the conditions for ap- tially reduce” reliance on crude oil-based fuels, Van Doren between monthly issues can call 919-828- plying to USDA was to have a good part of the supply chain said. 3876 and ask for Carolina Journal Weekly already in place, with agreements,” he said. North Carolina has construction and production tax , delivered each weekend by e-mail, Report “What we are producing here is going to be used by an credits and incentives for biofuels. Federal government as- or visit CarolinaJournal.com for news, links, and exclusive content updated each weekday. American fuel marketer that is already committed to us for sistance includes a tax incentive of up to $1.01 per gallon for Those interested in education, higher educa- a multiyear agreement” for fuel to be used in the Southeast, cellulosic biofuel producers. tion, or local government should also ask to Carollo said. To help create a market and to get the industry started, receive weekly e-letters covering these issues. Not everyone is as enthusiastic about the imminent “more than incentives” are needed, including mandated commit- promise of biofuels. That includes Brandon Scarborough, a ments for biofuel targets from government, Carollo said. CJ JUNE 2012 | CAROLINA JOURNAL PAGE 3 North Carolina Heritage Report Chides N.C. Delegation for Abandoning Free Trade By Sam A. Hieb voted “no.” “powerhouse” in his 6th Congressio- II. Northern textile factories lost nearly Contributor More recently, Riley points to nal District. 300,000 jobs between 1950 and 1970, GREENSBORO 2011 votes on free trade agreements “The agreement with South Ko- while at the same time some 280,000 recent Heritage Foundation re- with Colombia, Panama, and South rea will provide instant, duty-free ac- workers were employed in southern port says North Carolina’s con- Korea. cess for virtually all textile and apparel textile mills. gressional delegation “seems Sens. Kay Hagan, a Democrat, products, while giving U.S. producers The reason? Lower wages. toA be rejecting” the state’s “long and and Richard Burr, a Republican, split no time to adjust,” Coble said in his “But, just as these industries had honorable record of support for open on those votes, with Hagan casting a statement. “The goals of this Congress once moved from New England to the markets,” much to the detriment of the “no” vote. should be to prioritize fixing U.S. trade South, where wages were once lower, many thousands of constituents who On the trade policy, stopping the state’s textile and apparel manu- facturers also increasingly moved jobs owe their jobs to free trade. agreements with manufacturing job overseas,” Riley writes. The report, Trade and Prosperity in Panama and Co- loss, and closing the Free trade works both ways, Ri- the 50 States: The Case of North Carolina , lombia, the state’s trade deficit.” ley maintains, and as a result, North was authored by Bryan Riley, a senior 13 House members H o w e v e r , Carolina’s economy has benefited both trade policy analyst at the Heritage were divided, with Coble went on to from foreign investment by companies Foundation’s Center for International six members vot- say that the agree- such as Daimler Trucks and Electrolux Trade and Economics. ing for the agree- ments with Panama and exporting products such as pork. Riley analyzes votes by North ment with Panama and Colombia did (North Carolina is the second-largest Carolina’s delegation on key trade and seven members not present a simi- pork-producing state.) agreements during the past nine years voting for the agree- lar threat because Indeed, Riley notes that North and concludes the delegation “has ment with Colom- “trade between Carolina’s agricultural exports in- been relatively hostile to U.S. trade lib- bia. these great nations creased 79 percent between 2001 and eralization.” The free trade is healthy and bal- 2010 as worldwide demand not only Riley finds the delegation’s luke- agreement with anced.” for pork but poultry and sweet pota- warm attitude toward trade odd, as South Korea was Hagan’s expla- toes increased. he says expanding trade will boost the another story, how- nation of her vote On the flip side, restrictive trade state’s economic vitality. “Yet even as ever. While Hagan was less specific. policies have an adverse affect on local these politicians have been seeking to and Burr again split “Our state has companies. block markets from competition, some their votes, only one member of the suffered more than most from unfair Riley notes the adverse effects sectors of the state’s economy have House — 4th District Rep. David Price trading practices for years, and I am high tariffs on imported sugar have been thriving in the global market- — voted in favor. tired of shipping good North Carolina on local companies, notably doughnut place,” Riley writes. “Every member of Of the members voting no on the jobs — in industries like textiles and manufacturer Krispy Kreme, which pays 56 cents per pound for sugar Congress who is facing a vote on trade- free trade agreement with South Ko- furniture — overseas to countries that while the rest of the world pays 31 related legislation should consider the rea, Riley singled out longtime GOP don’t play by the same rules,” Hagan cents. said. “It is time we start protecting jobs impact of that legislation on every Rep. Howard Coble, writing that Co- While the price of sugar wasn’t worker and his family in his state, not ble’s vote “may seem like the right one here at home.” cited as a factor in Krispy Kreme’s first- just on one sector.” for one group of workers,” i.e., those In his report, Riley traces North quarter revenue decline, it certainly Riley’s analysis dates to the vote employed by the textile and furniture Carolina lawmakers’ support for free couldn’t have helped. on the 1993 North American Free Trade industries, but “many more of his con- trade to the state’s agrarian roots, as it Riley’s bottom line is while no Agreement, which many regard as the stituents will benefit from the increased relied on foreign markets to sell cotton one wants to contribute to job losses in start of the decline of North Carolina’s opportunities that greater openness to and tobacco. this economy, it “would be a mistake core manufacturing industries, textiles, trade and investment will create.” Riley also notes that the state for North Carolina’s elected officials in and furniture. In a statement following the vote, benefited from the migration south of Washington, D.C., to focus their policy The state’s House members vot- Coble said the Korean trade agreement New England textile companies fol- decisions based solely on the relatively ed 8-4 in favor, while Republican Sens. would be “devastating” to the U.S. tex- lowing the Civil War. The trend contin- small sectors of textile, apparel, and Jesse Helms and Lauch Faircloth each tile industry, which at one time was a ued in the years following World War furniture manufacturing.” CJ Subscribe to JLF’s Research Department Newsletters Go to http://www.johnlocke.org/key_account/ to sign up

Vice President for Re- Director of Research Director of Education Director of Fiscal Policy Director of Regulatory search Roy Cordato’s and Local Government Studies Terry Stoops’ Studies Fergus Hodg- Studies Jon Sanders’ weekly newsletter, En- Studies Michael Sane- weekly newsletter, Edu- son’s weekly newsletter, weekly newsletter, vironment Update, fo- ra’s weekly newsletter, cation Update, focuses Ferg’s Fiscal Insight, Rights & Regulation cuses on environmental Local Government on the latest local, state, offers pro-liberty per- Update, discusses cur- issues, and highlights Update, provides analy- national, and interna- spectives on the latest rent issues concern- relevant analysis done sis and commentary on tional trends in pre- research and news in ing regulations, rights, by the John Locke Foun- North Carolina city and K-12 education politics, taxation and govern- and freedom in North dation and other think county policies based policy, and practice. ment spending. Carolina. tanks, as well as items on their proper role in a in the news. free society. PAGE 4 JUNE 2012 | CAROLINA JOURNAL North Carolina State Briefs Study: N.C. Has High Licensing Burdens JLF: Curb high spending By Sara Burrows trades conspire to reduce the availability of skilled crafts- North Carolina state govern- Associate Editor men in order to raise wages … little has changed since that ment is spending more money per RALEIGH time,” the report says. person this budget year than ever orth Carolina ranks 29th of the 50 U.S. states (plus “Occupational practitioners, often through profes- before. A new John Locke Founda- tion report documents that fact, the District of Columbia) when it comes to impos- sional associations, use the power of concentrated interests which gets lost in ongoing debates ing laws requiring people wishing to perform cer- to lobby state legislators for protection from competition about state budget “cuts.” tainN occupations to get a license from the government, ac- though licensing laws,” it continues. “Total state spending per cap- cording to a new study by the Institute for Justice. It says trade groups sometimes mask their anti-com- ita is at its highest level ever in the In its report — License to Work: A National Study of Bur- petitive motives with “absurd” appeals for protecting pub- 2012 fiscal year and has more than dens from Occupational Licensing — the libertarian public-in- lic health and safety. tripled since 1970,” said report au- terest law firm found that North Carolinians need a govern- For example, the report notes the 2011 legislative ses- thor Fergus Hodgson, JLF director ment-issued license to work dozens of relatively low-tech, sion in North Carolina saw efforts to license music thera- of fiscal policy studies. “Adjusting low-paying jobs. pists as a means of “safeguard[ing] the public health, safety, for inflation, state spending has in- From landscape workers to athletic trainers to cosme- and welfare. …” creased in that period from $1,701 tologists, the state forces would-be entrepreneurs to spend “It is possible to use music harmfully,” a music thera- per person to $5,247.” thousands of dollars and sometimes several years in school py professor told a group of state lawmakers last June. “You That spending expansion to start their careers. can use music that’s the wrong tempo or … that does not has far exceeded personal income The states at the top of the list impose fewer licensing have the right musical qualities, and it can affect someone growth, Hodgson said. “State requirements than those at the bottom. physiologically in a way that it can be damaging.” spending stood at 10.9 percent of Licensing laws often serve to protect professions, not Other occupations requiring a license to practice in personal income in 1970, dipped consumers, the study found. They tend to keep the poor North Carolina are auctioneer, sign language interpreter, as low as 9.3 percent in 1984, and and those with less formal education out of certain fields of makeup artist, locksmith, and painter. never exceeded 12 percent prior to work; a disproportionate share of people seeking work in 2008,” he said. “Yet for 2012 it is on these occupations are members of racial and ethnic minori- Alternatives, recommendations course to be 14.4 percent of North ties. These policies decrease competition and the availabil- Rather than force every practitioner of an occupation Carolinians’ income.” ity of services, while increasing consumer prices and unem- to spend the time and money to qualify for a license, the Hodgson documents state ployment, the report says. report urges states to allow spending facts and explains how a voluntary certification pro- those facts are obscured in public Barriers to entry cess through a professional debate. He also recommends new constitutional spending limits, an A number of occupa- association. That way leaves increased focus on state govern- tions have higher-than-aver- professionals free to distin- ment’s true spending and liability age barriers to entry in North guish themselves from their numbers, and action on a federal Carolina, the report said. For peers, letting consumers balanced budget amendment. example: choose among all providers Spending on all reported • North Carolina re- and decide for themselves state budget categories has more quires almost two years of how much value to place on than doubled since the mid-1970s, education to become a bar- such credentials. Hodgson said. “This is true for ber, compared with the na- The report also noted education, corrections, health and tional average of slightly third-party consumer organi- human services, transportation, more than a year. zations, like AngiesList.com, and debt payments.” • It takes three years enable consumers to hold oc- to become a landscape con- cupational practitioners ac- tractor or a fire/security countable for the quality of alarm installer, compared their goods and services. N.C. sour on ObamaCare to national averages of one- The authors of the re- A poll conducted by Elon and-a-half years or less. port recommended that law- University in late April found • Aspiring pest con- makers “demand proof that that, two years after the pas- trol applicators must spend there is a clear, likely and sage of the Obama administra- two years in an apprentice- well-established danger to tion’s health care law, 46 percent ship, despite 32 states requir- the public from unlicensed of North Carolinians believe “it ing no experience at all. practice” of an occupation was a bad thing for Congress to Often the education when considering whether pass the law,” compared to 38 per- requirements North Caro- to adopt or repeal a licensure cent who say it was a good thing lina and other states impose law. When they do find licen- and 9 percent who aren’t sure. don’t seem consistent with sure necessary, lawmakers Forty-five percent believe the demands of the job. should determine carefully that when all of ObamaCare’s While it takes only 39 how much of the burden provisions go into effect, the law days of training to earn a placed on applicants is neces- will make the health care situation license as an emergency medical technician in the state, it sary to ensure public safety. worse. Thirty-four percent said that takes substantially more to become a licensed manicurist “Forcing would-be workers to take unnecessary it would make the situation better. (70 days), massage therapist (117 days), skin care specialist classes, engage in lengthy apprenticeships, pass irrelevant “The interesting thing about (140 days), cosmetologist (350 days), or barber (722 days). these results is that North Carolin- exams, or clear other needless hurdles does nothing to en- “Occupations like these, where training required does ians are evenly split on whether sure the public’s safety,” the report says. “It simply protects not line up with public safety concerns, make possible tar- they think it is the responsibility of those already in the field from competition by keeping out the federal government to ensure gets for reform, as well as occupations that are more difficult newcomers.” that everyone has health care cov- to enter in North Carolina than elsewhere,” the report says. “Finding a job or creating new jobs should not re- erage,” said John Robinson, direc- “North Carolina could open more prospects for its quire a permission slip from the government,” the au- tor of communications for the Elon low- to moderate-income workers by lowering or eliminat- thors conclude. “As millions of Americans struggle to University Poll. “That suggests ing such high and unnecessary barriers to entry in licensed find productive work, one of the quickest ways legisla- that it is the Affordable Care Act it- occupations.” tors can help is to simply get out of the way: Reduce or self that many of them object to, not Protectionism remove burdensome regulations that force job-seekers the idea of coverage.” CJ and would-be entrepreneurs to spend precious time and “More than 200 years ago, Adam Smith observed that money earning a license instead of working.” CJ JUNE 2012 | CAROLINA JOURNAL PAGE 5 North Carolina In New Book, JLF’s Hood Urges State Put ‘Best Foot Forward’

By CJ Staff ment programs don’t function as intended. Our Best State leaders should change course on their en- RALEIGH Foot Forward presents a plan for promoting effective ergy policy, Hood added. “Improve the state’s busi- reat North Carolina as if it were a separate investment in the state’s economy and thus making ness climate by abolishing all mandates to purchase country, and its economy would be one of the state more competitive.” high-cost energy and allowing offshore and onshore the weakest in the developed world based on Hood’s Carolina Manifesto draws its name development of North Carolina’s energy reserves.” averageT employment rates, while its tax climate for from the 75-year-old Conservative Manifesto. Dem- Two planks of Hood’s Carolina Manifesto fo- economic growth would be nothing short of “hor- ocratic U.S. Sen. Josiah Bailey of North Carolina cus on infrastructure. “Increase effective investment rendous.” played a key role in drafting that document to in North Carolina highways to relieve congestion, re- John Locke Foundation President John Hood fight federal government overreach duce cost, and increase the productivity of the state’s reaches those conclusions in his new during the New Deal era. Like Bai- economy,” he said. “Encourage private investment book, Our Best Foot ley and his conservative colleagues, in North Carolina infrastructure through competi- Forward. Hood of- Hood spells out his manifesto in 10 tive contracting, asset sales, and public-private part- ficially will unveil points. nerships.” his book during a “First, rewrite North Caro- North Carolina deserves more bang for the noon speech Mon- lina’s tax code to make it simpler, buck from public education, Hood said. day, June 11, at the fairer, and more efficient, while “Increase return on investment in North Caro- JLF office in Raleigh. reducing the bias against sav- lina public schools, colleges, and universities by hir- “In a 21st-centu- ings and investment,” Hood ing and paying teachers on the basis of performance, ry economy based on said. “Second, enact a Taxpayer worldwide markets, Bill of Rights at both the state setting higher academic standards, and expanding North Carolina isn’t and local levels of govern- options for distance learning and career education,” just competing with ment to cap annual spending he said. “Encourage competition, innovation, and other states,” Hood growth. Require supermajor- private investment in human capital by offering edu- said. “We are compet- ity votes or public referenda cation tax relief and scholarships so North Carolina ing with other nations. to increase tax rates. Set aside families and workers can obtain the education and Our political leaders have larger rainy-day reserves.” training services of their choice.” long recognized this fact. Hood also addresses Hood backs up the Carolina Manifesto’s 10 They have talked about key drivers of govern- planks with pages of data, history, research, and making North Carolina a ment spending increases, analysis. “This book offers ideas that will make hot spot for investors, ex- including growing debt North Carolina a better place to live, work, invest, ecutives, and entrepreneurs and rising Medicaid bills. and create jobs,” he said. “Most of these ideas al- from other lands. Our cur- “We need to repair North ready have proven themselves successful in other rent economy falls short of Carolina’s public balance states or nations. They may sound good, and reflect that mark.” sheet by speeding up the principles of free enterprise and constitutional Over the course of the payment of existing government, but that’s not why I’m recommending nearly 200 pages, Hood docu- debt and building assets them. These ideas work.” ments North Carolina’s cur- to cover future liabilities,” he said. “Re- “They will strengthen our economic founda- rent economic woes, then spells form Medicaid and other public-assistance programs tions and encourage invention, innovation, and prof- out an investment plan to help the state change to free up resources for both private and public in- itable investment,” Hood added. “This is not a hope. course. That plan features a 10-point “Carolina Man- vestment in North Carolina.” It is a prediction, based on hard evidence from other ifesto for Growth.” North Carolina needs a reduced regulatory economies and from North Carolina’s own past.” “In this book, you will not read a thoroughgo- burden, Hood said. “Cut red tape for small business- Copies of Our Best Foot Forward: An In- ing indictment of all government,” Hood explains. es, repeal all rules that fail to meet a cost-benefit test, vestment Plan for North Carolina’s Economic Re- “Government performs indispensable tasks that and rewrite state laws that impose costly regulations covery are available at the John Locke Founda- make economic success possible. But many govern- on entrepreneurs.” tion’s website, www.JohnLocke.org. CJ

Books authored By JLF staFFers Efficiency and Externalities in an Open-Ended Universe

By Roy Cordato Vice President for Research John Locke Foundation “Cordato’s book is a solid performance, demonstrating impressive mastery of both the Austrian and neoclassical literature.” Israel Kirzner Cato Journal www.mises.org PAGE 6 JUNE 2012 | CAROLINA JOURNAL North Carolina Committee Proposes Means to Increase Government Efficiency

By Mitch Kokai Associate Editor RALEIGH tate lawmakers could take some steps this year toward zero-based budgeting, increased account- Sability for taxpayer investment, and greater use of something called “data analytics.” The General Assembly’s Legislative Research Commission vot- ed without debate May 16 to forward proposals on each topic to the full Gen- eral Assembly. Each bill sprang from the debates of the LRC’s Committee on Efficiencies in State Government, which met four times after the regular 2011 legislative session. One proposal emerging from that committee work calls on lawmakers to create an Efficiency and Cost-Savings The General Assembly’s Legislative Research Commission has voted to move forward on efficiency proposals. (CJ file photo) Commission, a 10-member group “for proposal, dubbed the Smarter Govern- with each other,” Hise added. “These tion for lieutenant governor, “was sur- the purpose of identifying an agency ment/Business Intelligence Initiative. recommendations in the legislation ad- prised to learn that State agency web- or agencies to undergo zero-based It would “establish the Government dress that all agencies will report to a sites do not provide clear definitions of budgeting review.” Business Intelligence Competency business intelligence unit under the of- “The committee looked exten- services provided, outcomes achieved, Center,” under direction of the state fice of [state] controller.” sively at beginning a process of zero- and costs associated with their various controller. The initiative also would “We will move forward with based budgeting across all areas of state programs,” according to the commit- “provide for a phased approach to- making all of state agency data avail- tee’s report. “Generally speaking, there government,” said committee co-chair- wards expanding the State’s business able and accessible,” he said. “This man Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell, dur- appears to be little information avail- intelligence capabilities,” according to allows us to utilize that information able to indicate performance levels.” ing a three-minute presentation to the the committee’s report. without necessarily having to go in full LRC. “The committee expressed a Mansfield’s original proposal “Business intelligence” is another and replace all the individual silos. “envisions the development of a sys- lot of concerns with the ability of staff name for “data analytics,” which Hise [We] would instead be able to commu- and time to be able to do that and came tem similar to the federal Governmen- detailed for his colleagues. “Data ana- nicate with them.” tal Accounting Standards Board, which back with a recommendation that mir- lytics is a process that can exist within The third piece of legislation sets accounting standards for all units rors what is House Bill 627.” any data set in which you establish tied to the committee’s work is the of government in the United States and “It does not implement zero- correlations between various data and Accountability for Taxpayer Invest- allows for comparison of data between based budgeting across state govern- others,” he said. “It is the strong belief ment Act, which would require state units,” according to the report. ment immediately,” Hise explained, of the committee that, as we move for- agencies “to develop, implement, and but it would start the process by iden- ward with efficiencies in state govern- maintain information systems that The unanimous LRC vote did not tifying the agencies that could undergo ment, data analytics will be a huge part provide uniform, program-level ac- represent an endorsement of any of the an “experimental” zero-based budget- of that movement.” countability information regarding the three proposals. Instead the commis- ing review. The legislation also would “When we looked at some con- programs operated by those agencies.” sion’s vote allowed each bill to move “begin to look at things such as what cerns we had kind of across state gov- This idea evolved from Sen- forward during the 2012 legislative would be the expected legislative and ernment with detecting fraud, waste, ate Bill 463, introduced by Sen. Eric session, which faces limits on the types staff times to implement this for vari- and abuse, one of the biggest problems Mansfield, D-Cumberland, and co- of legislation lawmakers can consider. ous programs, as well as across all of we have with data in state government sponsored by Hise and others in 2011. Each proposal would need sup- state government.” is that it exists in silos across state Mansfield, a freshman legislator who port from the full House and Sen- Hise also discussed a second agencies that cannot communicate recently lost his party’s primary elec- ate before it could become law. CJ Public Ignoring Methods That Allow Voluntary Giving to Government By Donna Martinez October 2011), Americans voluntarily turned over ing,” the legislation would allow citizens to donate Contributor $1,124,936.80, averaging $93,744.73 per month. That all or part of their state tax refunds to specific state RALEIGH represents more than two-and-a-half times the 2012 agencies. Options would include Cultural Resources, ederal data show that interest in donating monthly average to date. If 2012’s anemic gift pace Health and Human Services, Public Instruction, Pub- money to the federal government has declined continues, this fiscal year’s take will fall below the lic Safety, the General Fund, and The University of dramatically this fiscal year, despite claims by 2009 and 2010 grand totals as well, when donations North Carolina. Fprogressive advocates that Americans are willing to stood at $698,708.40 (FY 2010) and $1,827,286.61 (FY Earlier this year, Rep. George Cleveland, R- pay more to fund government activities. 2009). Onslow, one of H.B. 877’s primary sponsors, spoke Voluntary contributions made during the first Fiscal year 2008 was a banner year for volun- with Carolina Journal about the bill. “If you like big seven months of fiscal year 2012 to the federal ac- tary giving to the government, when deposits to the government and you’re comfortable giving the gov- count titled “Gifts to the United States” totaled a pal- federal account flirted with the $4 million mark — ernment your money to spend it the way they want try $250,028.44, according to Tom Longnecker of the $3,735,934.74. instead of you spending it, we have an avenue here U.S. Treasury Department, which oversees the ac- Total contributions between November 2005 for you to do it,” Cleveland said. count. That’s an average of just $35,718.35 per month and April 2012 sit at $10,405,498.95. Those wishing to send a donation to the federal between October 2011 and April 2012. Here in North Carolina, a bill that would set up government can mail it to: Gifts to the United States, The federal government has accepted gifts a similar gift account for state government has been U.S. Department of the Treasury, Credit Account- since 1843 to allow for “individuals wishing to ex- filed, but House Bill 877 did not meet requirements ing Branch, 3700 East-West Highway, Room 622D, press their patriotism to the United States,” accord- to be heard during the legislative session now un- Hyattsville, MD 20782. Checks, money orders, and ing to the Treasury Department’s website. derway. bequests are accepted. During the 2011 fiscal year (November 2010 – Titled “Check Off Donation: Government Fund- Visit www.fms.treas.gov for more information. CJ JUNE 2012 | CAROLINA JOURNAL PAGE 7 Education ‘Opportunity Scholarships’ Seen COMMENTARY As Civil Rights and Choice Issue The Return By Sara Burrows the system, then you create a down- Of Forced Busing? Associate Editor ward spiral.” RALEIGH She said public schools are “an n a recent New York Times op- simply allocate additional resources fter last year’s legislative ses- investment in our future, and by tak- ed, University of California at to predominantly black schools and sion lifted the cap on public ing away from our public schools it’s Berkeley professor and former hold those schools to high expecta- charter schools and created tax a way of making and rendering them IObama adviser David Kirp pro- tions. creditsA allowing children with disabili- more ineffective rather than making claims that forced busing “made all Despite his enthusiasm for ties to attend private school, Republi- them more effective.” the difference in the lives of black the idea, Kirp is not optimistic can lawmakers now are proposing tax ”We would be absolutely op- children — and in the lives of their about the immediate resurrection credits allowing low-income children posed to [the scholarship plan],” said children as well.” If integration of race-based busing. He identifies to attend private schools. Leanne Winner, director of govern- worked, he asks, why have Ameri- two significant barriers. First, what More than 1,200 parents and chil- mental relations for the North Carolina cans rejected it? he calls a “hostile majority on the dren — many of them black — rallied School Boards Association. Kirp is one among a growing Supreme Court” ruled that public and marched outside the General As- “We’ve had a longstanding posi- number of left-wing academics who school districts no longer could use sembly Tuesday to support the legisla- tion against any voucher [or] tuition have begun to call for a revival of race as a factor in student assign- tion. Darrell Allison, president of North tax credit,” Winner said. “If there’s student assignment policies that ment decisions. For decades, the Carolina Parents for Educational Free- going to be public dollars invested, it create racially heterogeneous public courts debated the legality of race- dom, spoke at the needs to go to public schools by forcibly busing based busing, but the is- rally, calling school entities so that tax- schoolchildren. While sue finally was put to rest choice one of the big- payers can see what’s much of the talk about by the U.S. Supreme Court gest civil rights issues going on” with their race-based busing has in 2007. In Parents Involved of the 21st century. money. come from intellectuals on in Community Schools v. House Majority Allison said the Left, a small but grow- Seattle School District No.1, Leader Paul “Skip” only half of the poor ing segment of the general a 5-4 majority ruled that Stam, R-Wake, told children in the state public has warmed to the using race as a factor in the crowd gathered pass end-of-grade idea. student assignment was in Children’s Garden, tests, compared to 80 Like many Ameri- unconstitutional. across from the leg- percent of children cans, Kirp and his allies TERRY Second, he finds that islature, that he and who are not poor. are frustrated by the STOOPS no “vocal pro-integration other state lawmak- “We have more sizable achievement gap constituency” exists to ers backed a bill that than 336,000 low- between white and black defend forced busing would provide op- income students that public schoolchildren — and justifi- based on race. Kirp’s dilemma is portunities for poor failed end-of-grade ably so. The achievement gap in that the “vocal pro-integration children to receive scholarships, up to tests last year, according to the Depart- states like North Carolina is star- constituency” has adopted a new $4,000, to be used for private educa- ment of Public Instruction,” he said. tion. “That’s 336,000 children that look tling, albeit typical. Less than half strategy: income-based busing. Corporations would make con- like these that are being failed each of North Carolina’s black students The Parents Involved ruling did not tributions to nonprofit organizations, year,” he added, pointing to a group of in grades three through eight are disqualify the practice of using which would administer the scholar- black students. proficient in reading and math. Pro- the percentage of students receiv- ships to children from lower-income A private school administrator ficiency rates for their white coun- ing federal free and reduced-price families. The corporations funding the from Asheville spoke, adding that the terparts are approaching 80 percent. lunch, a commonly used proxy for nonprofit scholarship organizations dropout rate for black males in her city The achievement gap between black family income, to assign students would receive tax credits for their con- is between 60 and 70 percent. and white male students is even to schools. Century Foundation fel- tributions. Allison called it an “academic larger. low Richard Kahlenberg, a leading “It will not cost the state mon- genocide.” He said while he thinks Kirp does not believe that advocate of busing, pointed out that ey,” Stam said. “It saves the taxpayers public charter schools can help ad- simply mixing black and white income-based student assignment money, while at the same time provid- dress the problem, there are only 100 students together brought about policies would “indirectly promote ing tens of thousands of scholarships currently in the state. There are more improvement in the lives of black racial integration in a manner that for children whose families earn up to than 700 nonpublic schools in the state, children (and their children). He is legally bulletproof.” Kirp believes about $50,000 for a family of four.” he said, and they have the capacity and acknowledges that there was no that income-based assignment The scholarships could be used the ability to help low-income children. “white magic,” as Abigail Thern- policies are useful, but he is among for private school or home school. “Parental school choice is one strom once called it, that passes those who strongly prefer a return Eight states have similar programs in of the main civil rights issues that we academic achievement from white to forced busing based on race. place. have to address in the 21st century,” students to their black counterparts. For proponents of race-based Stam warned that because of the Allison said. Rather, he suggests that busing, overturning Parents In- recession, scholarships wouldn’t be “If you’re wealthy in North Caro- race-based busing forced schools volved is a long-term goal. For now, available to all eligible families at first, lina, you have every educational op- to spend more on the education they will continue their efforts to “but it’s a start.” tion to make sure your child succeeds,” of blacks. This additional spend- cultivate a “vocal pro-integration But the proposal faces stiff resis- he said. “You’re probably zoned to a ing lowered class sizes, improved constituency” through universities, tance from the state’s education estab- school that works for your child or, school facilities, and upgraded edu- advocacy groups, and the media. As lishment. “I believe that is not in the if not, you’re able to cut a $10,000 or cational materials and equipment. a result, North Carolinians will hear best interest of public education, and $15,000 check to send them to a private He also speculates that busing a lot more about forced busing in more importantly, I don’t think that’s school. encouraged teachers and parents, coming months. CJ in the best interest of the students of “Or you have a two-parent home, particularly the affluent ones, to our state,” said state superintendent where you don’t need two salaries, and maintain high expectations for all June Atkinson. one parent can homeschool.” CJ children. If Kirp is correct, one won- Dr. Terry Stoops is director of “We are in a very difficult time ders why busing is necessary at all. education studies at the John Locke in our state when it comes to funding Presumably, school districts could Foundation. public education adequately,” Atkin- Contributor Dan E. Way provided son said. “When you continue starving additional reporting for this story. PAGE 8 JUNE 2012 | CAROLINA JOURNAL Education GOP’s Phil Berger Launches Ambitious Education Reform Plan By Dan E. Way cent, and the dropout rate has declined “It suggests that the House is tems to give teachers with at least three Contributor four consecutive years, Superinten- waiting for 2013 to unveil some large- years’ experience renewable contracts dent of Public Instruction June Atkin- scale education reform effort ... with of up to four years. At press time, it RALEIGH son said. the hope that there will be a Gov. [Pat] was unclear what other changes might hile Republican Senate lead- “We are in the middle of remod- McCrory in the governor’s mansion,” be made. er Phil Berger introduced eling public education, and I think that he said. Altering the tenure provision is a comprehensive educa- some of the work we are doing with “You don’t have to have bills in more in line with concerns Atkinson Wtion reform package at the opening Race to the Top will really be a game both houses to move things,” Stam expressed to Carolina Journal when of this year’s short legislative session, changer when it comes to public edu- said. “If [Berger] passes his, we’ve got Berger introduced the proposal. If the his GOP House colleagues are offer- cation outcomes,” Atkinson said of the all of that ... to consider.” intent of the legislation is to get rid of ing more limited, targeted changes in federal initiative to spark innovation “My guess,” Stoops said, “is the underperforming teachers, she said, school policy. and reform in K-12 education. bill that was filed by the Senate prob- lawmakers should streamline existing At press time, it’s unclear what, if “This is going to be an inter- ably won’t get passed policy while preserving due process. anything, could survive a vote in both esting session” for in the short session” Extending contracts to four or five houses and a possible veto by Gov. Bev education policy, for lack of time to go years “would certainly be something Perdue. And under pressure from state in part because through the commit- to consider.” education officials, Berger’s initial pro- temporary federal tee process. The North Carolina School Board posal was evolving at press time. edu-jobs money is “I think their Association’s Leanne Winner says the Berger, from Rockingham Coun- ending, said Terry merit pay plan is a association supports ending tenure for ty, rolled out his Excellent Public Stoops, director of good one because future teachers, but retaining tenure Schools Act in late April. It includes education studies right now there is for those who have attained it or are on prickly issues such as eliminating all at the John Locke no one merit pay track to obtain it. It advocates longer teacher tenure, establishing a teacher Foundation. system that has contracts to avoid costs and the work bonus and merit pay system, and issu- Some 5,400 been proven to be load of one-year contracts. ing an A-F report card to schools. teachers were paid wildly success- Atkinson is skeptical of the merit with that money. ful,” Stoops said. It makes pay component. “I have yet to see a Programs included Berger’s bill does not fund the sense to allow individual school dis- merit pay system in the United States Enhancing literacy, extending shortfall. Perdue’s budget would im- tricts to set it up. work,” she said. “Now, my mind is and funding the school year by five pose a three-quarter-cent sales tax to Ending tenure “makes it easier open to our being able to reward teach- days, creating a Teacher Corps Pro- make up that gap and cover separate for school systems to remove poorly ers who are doing a better job and gram modeled on Teach for America, discretionary education cuts of $74 performing teachers from the class- award schools doing a better job.” curtailing social promotions, and al- million, which are in addition to a $429 room,” Stoops said. Performance But not all teachers have end-of- lowing state employees to volunteer million reduction this year. pay allows schools to reward high- grade tests. Some teach in more dif- five hours monthly in public school The House budget that was un- performing teachers, who don’t need ficult subject areas. Some co-instruct literacy programs are included. der consideration at press time elimi- tenure. Poor teachers are protected by across curriculums for special proj- “In order to fix our state’s bro- nated funding the additional five days. tenure, Stoops said. ects or tackle additional duties such ken education system, we must stop In addition, House Majority Leader ‘Staunch resistance’ as mentoring younger colleagues, and constantly reaching for our checkbook Paul “Skip” Stam, R-Wake, launched others teach in troubled schools. At- and focus on reforming our playbook,” a proposal allowing a tax credit for “There’s going to be staunch re- kinson questioned how such divergent Berger said on the Senate Republi- corporations that funded scholarships sistance to this from the North Caroli- circumstances could be considered can Caucus website. “If bigger bud- for students who wanted to move na Association of Educators and other fairly in a merit-pay setting. gets could buy positive results, then from public schools to private or home groups,” he said. NCSBA supports performance North Carolina’s achievement scores schools. (See companion story on page That pressure may have led to pay but believes it would be best left and graduation rates would have im- 7.) some changes May 29, when the bill to individual school boards’ discretion proved years ago.” Aside from those provisions, “the went to the Senate Education Commit- and to phase it in with pilot projects North Carolina’s graduation House doesn’t have much of a plan for tee. The big one: Berger modified the rather than launch it in all 115 school rates are at an all-time high at 78 per- public schools,” Stoops said. tenure provision, allowing school sys- districts. CJ Visit our Wilmington regional page http://wilmington.johnlocke.org

The John Locke Foundation has five regional Web sites span- ning the state from the mountains to the sea.

The Wilmington regional page includes news, policy reports and research of interest to people in the coastal area.

It also features the blog Squall Lines, featuring commentary on issues confronting coastal N.C. residents.

The John Locke Foundation | 200 W. Morgan St., Raleigh, NC 27601 | 919-828-3876 JUNE 2012 | CAROLINA JOURNAL PAGE 9 Education Perdue Lame-Duck Budget Focuses on Taxes, Education By Dan E. Way in a less competitive position than oth- Contributor er states, than other nations,” Hodgson RALEIGH said. he three-quarter-cent sales tax And, he noted, the $20.9 billion centerpiece of Gov. Bev Perdue’s General Fund budget is only a portion $20.9 billion budget proposal of what the state actually spends. Twould be used to hire more teachers “This year’s total state spend- and launch jobs programs, but is a ing will be $51.5 billion, and that is a “nonstarter” for Republican leaders. record,” Hodgson said. “The state’s Meanwhile, political observers budget this year is at a record high say Perdue’s lame-duck status looms percapita, and any talk about it being large against her spending wishes and underfunded relative to past years is could have implications for this year’s misleading at best.” state elections. Per capita spending has jumped Perdue’s 2012-13 budget is 6.2 from $1,701 to $5,247 per person from percent higher than the current Gen- 1970 to 2012, he said. State spending eral Fund budget. At a May 10 press Gov. Perdue’s 2012-13 budget stresses education, jobs, military programs. was equivalent to 10.9 percent of per- conference, she said its three pillars — sonal income in 1970, compared to 14.4 education, jobs, and military programs tiatives for the film and television in- nors have submitted budgets several percent this year. — are essential to move North Caro- dustry and increase support for “the weeks in advance. Perdue’s budget plan will as- lina forward. clusters around biotech, energy, and “Governor Perdue’s budget sume new dynamics this year due to The sales tax hike, which would green jobs.” would force North Carolina families the governor’s race and legislative become effective July 1, w ould gen- “The budget that was passed and businesses to pay nearly $1 bil- elections. erate $760 million. It would be used, by last year’s General Assembly was lion in new job-killing taxes,” Berger’s “Obviously she’s not going to be in part, to add or save 11,000 teacher, shortsighted,” Perdue said. statement said. on the ballot, and what that will mean teacher assistant, and other education Despite the governor’s insistence “This could shatter our fragile is that Republicans will be very criti- positions. It would lower class sizes that the GOP’s budget is to blame for economic recovery. We must break cal of the budget and attempt to tie it in grades K-3, and, for the first time in “lost” jobs in public education, em- state government’s habit of throwing to the lieutenant governor,” said Andy four years, include a 1.8 percent salary ployment in PreK-12 public schools money at problems and adopt inno- Taylor, political science professor at increase for teachers and 1.5 percent peaked in April 2009, near the end of vative solutions and meaningful re- N.C. State University. for administrators. Gov. Mike Easley’s final budget cycle. forms,” Berger’s statement said. “The Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, the Demo- The budget would restore more The federal Bureau of Labor Sta- cycle of irresponsible taxing, borrow- cratic gubernatorial nominee, will face than $250 million in expiring federal tistics reports that the not seasonally ing, and spending must stop.” McCrory in the Nov. 6 general election. stimulus spending that was used to adjusted level of employment in lo- Berger press secretary Brandon “The lieutenant governor will compensate public school teachers. cal government educational services Greife said Berger would not call the embrace the things he thinks are politi- The budget would allocate an reached 240,100 in April 2009. It has governor’s budget dead on arrival. cally useful and distance himself from additional $58 million to community dropped by more than 4,000 every sub- But the three-quarter-cent sales tax is a those he doesn’t,” Taylor said. Per- colleges and $145 million to public uni- sequent April, to a preliminary count sticking point. due is “a lame duck in every sense of versities. “That specifically includes of 226,900 this year. “I guess it would be right to char- the word. That’s not going to provide $35 million to keep tuition affordable Perdue and Democrats controlled acterize it as a nonstarter,” Greife said. much leverage in a Republican legisla- for North Carolina students,” Perdue the General Assembly the first three of Berger’s position is that “raising taxes ture” opposed to tax hikes. said. those years. on the private sector, on businesses “It’s an election year, and they’re Perdue proposes a variety of Senate President Pro Tem Phil and struggling North Carolinians, is at loggerheads on their prescription for small business tax credits, including Berger, R-Rockingham, noted that Per- not the way to go about our priorities.” the way to go, so I do expect there to be $5,000 for each post-9/11 veteran and due gave lawmakers less than a week “Governor Perdue’s budget is fighting” among lawmakers, as well as unemployed state resident hired. She to review the budget before the short an example of why our state govern- between the General Assembly’s Re- wants to fund work force training ini- session opened. Historically, gover- ment is broken,” said Ricky Diaz, press publican leaders and Perdue, said Earl secretary for Republican gubernatorial Sheridan, chairman and professor of nominee Pat McCrory. “The governor the Department of Public and Interna- Locke, Jefferson and the Justices: introduced the budget in a vacuum, tional Affairs at UNC-Wilmington. and, instead of working together with Sheridan said it remains to be Foundations and Failures of the U.S. Government others in the legislature, she is more in- seen whether Democrats may get terested in picking political fights. Pat greater voter support for pushing edu- believes that the people of North Caro- cation and jobs themes, or whether Re- By George M. Stephens lina are tired of the political bickering publicans will benefit from a hold-the- and want leadership that will turn line approach to any new taxes amid Preface by Newt Gingrich North Carolina around.” a sour economy and high state unem- Fergus Hodgson, director of fis- ployment. cal policy studies at the John Locke But he doesn’t envision voter “This book is about American Foundation, said it is “particularly turnout being dampened even if North politics and law; it is also about concerning because the governor is Carolina experiences another protract- the roots of the Contract with touting this as a jobs plan” when it’s ed, clenched-fist budget battle. America. A logical place to find really a wealth redistribution scheme “A lot of voter turnout will be the intent of the Founders is in to move money and jobs from the pri- driven by the national election,” Sheri- Locke, [and] Stephens makes vate to the public sector. dan said. “[President] Obama will “Creating a stable and secure en- a contribution to highlighting probably be here, and [Gov. Mitt] Rom- vironment for investment and a lower ney will probably be here, and there this.” tax environment, that’s what really is will be a lot of attention given to North Newt Gingrich going to create jobs,” Hodgson said. Carolina, and I think it will probably Former Speaker The nonprofit Tax Foundation now heighten voter turnout.” U.S. House ranks North Carolina 44th in the na- Taylor agrees. of Representatives tion for state tax burden, and Perdue’s The budget process “is the tail,” tax hike proposals would only make Taylor said. “The dog is the presiden- that worse, he said. tial race, so that’s going to be driving “The key point is that it is adding turnout much more so than the lame- Algora Publishing, New York (www.algora.com) to a tax burden that already places us duck governor’s budget.” CJ PAGE 10 JUNE 2012 | CAROLINA JOURNAL Local Government Town and County Orange Board Supportive of Transit Tax Vote Harnett landfill fund By Dan E. Way lowering taxes, 13 percent; and expanding public transpor- Harnett County commis- Contributor tation, 4.5 percent. sioners recently learned that an ac- HILLSBOROUGH Durham County approved a half-cent sales tax in 2011 count to pay for the eventual clos- he Orange County Board of Commissioners narrowly but has delayed collecting it until voters in either Orange ing of the Dunn-Erwin Landfill approved a $1.4 billion light-rail project for Durham or Wake counties, or both, also vote to tax themselves for never has been funded. Now the and Orange counties and is expected to vote June 5 on the expanded transit services. Wake County is part of the county is facing an estimated $3.6 aT half-cent sales tax to fund the controversial transit plan. regional rail concept but has not decided whether to put the million in costs when it is closed “I think we have a majority of the board” that favors matter up for a referendum. without a reserve fund, reports the putting the issue before voters on a Nov. 8 ballot referen- The proposed 17.3-mile light-rail passenger service Fayetteville Observer. dum, Chairwoman Bernadette Pelissier said while the cost- would run from the University of North Carolina campus Federal regulations cover sharing agreement with Durham County and Triangle Tran- in Chapel Hill to East Durham along N.C. Highway 54. the closing process for landfills sit Authority was being hammered out. It would be managed, built, and operated by TTA. There and require that the site continue “We vote on the transit plan, and then it’s up to the would be 17 rail stations, four in Orange County. to be monitored after closure. Pri- public to tell us whether or not they want to do this,” Pelis- Other key components of the plan are expanding bus vate landfill owners are required sier said, acknowledging there will be differences of opinion service in the county (notably in undeveloped portions) and to post a bond to cover these costs. among voters. The commissioners split 4-3 in approving the to Durham, Raleigh, and elsewhere; construction of an in- Government-owned landfills gen- transit plan on May 15. tercity rail station in Hillsborough to accommodate Amtrak erally don’t need to post a bond But what Pelissier called a historic “tension between service; and building a dedicated bus lane on Martin Luther but must be able to pay for closing urban and rural Orange Coun- King Boulevard in Chapel Hill. the site. ty” guarantees the public vote According to the cost- The Dunn-Erwin Landfill will be contentious. share agreement, Durham opened in the mid-1990s, and the “I do not believe we have would be responsible for near- commission passed a resolution in the population density, nor do I ly $1.1 billion and Orange for April 1994 establishing a fund to believe we have the tax base to $316.2 million. Those amounts pay for its eventual closure. The support [light rail],” Commis- include federal matches of 50 county was supposed to set aside sioner Earl McKee said. “I don’t percent and state allocations $237,000 a year until the fund think that it is the best plan for of 25 percent. Durham would reached $1.49 million. the current conditions. I think pay the higher amount of the “The fund was created, but we need to look at expanding roughly 77-23 percent funding money was never allocated,” said bus systems.” split. Maintenance costs would county financial officer Sylvia “This plan focuses the be split at the same percentage. great majority of the funds to a Food, medical supplies, Blinson. “And as with everything, light-rail system that will serve gas, and utilities would be ex- the costs have gone up in time.” a very small percentage of resi- empt from the sales tax. Rental The county is looking at dents of Orange County and an car taxes and a $10 annual ve- funding the closure with higher equally small percentage of the hicle registration fee would help tipping fees or bonds. geography of Orange County,” pay for the project. McKee said. Should those revenues be Transit vote uncertain He wasn’t swayed by a Supporters and opponents disagree over whether the insufficient to pay the capital public opinion survey released Triangle can support, of if it even needs, a light rail costs, Orange is not obligated to Wake County may not let in mid-May by the Regional system such as the one above in Portland, Ore. (Photo pay more. The agreement calls voters decide whether to increase Transportation Alliance business courtesy of ProTransit.com) for a meeting to address any the sales tax to expand transit. leadership group that shows shortfall, with potential solu- This comes after a new poll cast majority support for the sales tax. tions being a schedule delay, a scaled-down light-rail proj- doubt on whether the tax increase ‘‘Nearly 60 percent of voters (59.6 percent) in Orange ect, a combination of the two, or discontinuing the light-rail would pass, reports the Raleigh County would be willing to support a half-cent sales tax to project. News & Observer. improve transit offerings,” Paul Fallon of Fallon Research In a Q&A attachment to the agreement posted on Or- A May poll by the Regional and Communications Inc. said in a written release from ange County’s website, the county says the transit plan is Transportation Alliance, a Triangle RTA. needed to accommodate anticipated growth. The state de- business advocacy group, found “This is the third year in a row with support between mographer predicts up to 1 million new residents will live support for the proposed transit 59 percent and 61 percent, and this year the number of re- in the Triangle by 2030, 40,000 of them in Orange County. tax at 50.2 percent of voters. That’s spondents opposing the measure fell to its lowest level Light rail and bus service will be needed to manage consistent with polls since 2009 ever” at 32.5 percent, Fallon said. “In addition, almost 50 growth better, increase economic development, preserve the percent of Orange County voters report using transit at least that have found support at be- natural environment, reduce stress and wear on roads, and occasionally.” tween 50 and 55 percent. enhance the quality of life as population booms and 29,000 McKee didn’t challenge the findings, but questioned “Given the level of support new jobs are created in the county, 97 percent of which will whether the survey was taken proportionately across the and likely active opposition, at be in Hillsborough, Chapel Hill, and Carrboro, the docu- county and pointed out that response to another of the sur- this point it’s hard to imagine a ment states. vey questions about light rail showed “very few people scenario where it would wind up The light-rail transit has a $1.378 billion capital costs on the November ballot,” said would actually access it themselves.” The survey showed only 7.7 percent of respondents price tag through 2035, with “more accurate capital costs” Harvey Schmitt, president and to come as the project progresses in future years, according CEO of the Greater Raleigh Cham- use public transportation very frequently, and just 9.7 per- cent “somewhat.” Those who don’t use public transporta- to the agreement. ber of Commerce. McKee said constituents in northern Orange County Commissioner Joe Bryan, a tion at all totaled 52.2 percent, and 11.4 percent said “not very” often. Another 18.3 percent use it only for special oc- are telling him they will not support a referendum, and that potential swing vote, agrees that it will drive his vote on whether to put the measure on the isn’t the proper time to put the is- casions. “So there seems to be a disconnect in the number of Nov. 8 ballot. sue before voters. “I’m going to vote no. I have voted no on this plan “You don’t move forward on people who would support light rail on a philosophical ba- for the past two months due to the fact I am adamantly op- a major issue like transit that could sis and the number of people who would actually use it,” posed to this light-rail project,” McKee said. set our county back six or seven McKee said. Pelissier said it is important to put the matter before years if it’s not successful, when He also noted that expanding public transportation was a distant fourth on respondents’ list of top priorities. voters. you’re going in with a 50 percent In order, the top priorities identified by the survey were: “Even if you’re not in favor of it as a commissioner — plurality,” Bryan said. CJ improving the quality of public education, 46.5 percent; at- and I am in favor of it — it’s not our vote,” Pelissier said. “We tracting more businesses and jobs to the area, 25.8 percent; owe it to the voters to tell us whether or not they approve.” CJ JUNE 2012 | CAROLINA JOURNAL PAGE 11 Local Government

Citing DOT’s Lack of Disclosure, COMMENTARY Court Blocks Monroe Connector Charlotte’s

By Michael Lowrey vation groups and the U.S. Fish and Associate Editor Wildlife Service found that difficult to Collectivist Class RALEIGH believe and asked repeatedly whether ver the past decade, the challenge in any case as much of federal appeals court has re- the “no build” baseline might have as- concept pitched by urban the city’s housing stock is obsoles- jected the state’s plan to build sumed the bypass had been built. N.C. studies guru Richard Florida cent — older, relatively small, and a 20-mile, tolled bypass around DOT assured the groups the baseline ofO the “creative class” has driven a often lacking the amenities like open Monroe.A In its decision, the three-judge made no such assumption. lot of economic development deci- floor plans that today’s homebuyers panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of After the state issued its record of sions by cities across the country value. Appeals found that the N.C. Depart- decision in 2010 supporting the bypass, and around the world. Charlotte has Still, Walton’s proposal is far ment of Transportation and the Feder- several environmental groups sued in bought into the theory in a big way. from the answer. Evidence support- al Highway Administration had failed federal court to prevent construction, In fact, Charlotte is now ing Florida’s notion that attract- to disclose critical information to the arguing that the state and FHA had doubling down on Florida’s theory ing the creative class is critical to public as required by law. violated the National Environmental — which says a region’s economic achieving high growth rates is scant. For years, N.C. DOT has want- Protection Act by conducting a flawed growth depends on its ability to Indeed, the cities that Florida identi- convince artists, intellectuals, and fies as the most creative aren’t nec- ed to build a bypass around Monroe. impact assessment and presenting various other bohemian types to live essarily the cities with the highest Funding problems and environmen- false and misleading information to there. Recently, Charlotte rates of entrepreneurship tal concerns had other federal and has spent hundreds of and business formation. proven difficult agencies and the millions of dollars on a Even if it were, it’s to overcome. In public. light rail line and hun- unclear why building 2007, the state The Federal Courts At a hear- dreds of millions more on additional light rail and thought it could ing before Chief arts buildings to attract street car lines — transit pay for the by- District Court the “creative class.” That spending accounts for a pass by making it Judge James De- hasn’t worked out so well third of Walton’s plan — a toll road. Work- ver, N.C. DOT to date as Mecklenburg would be the solution. The ing with the FHA, and FHA officials County’s unemployment city’s existing light rail the state began admitted that the rate is well above the line was built along South preparing an en- “no build” option national average. Even MICHAEL Boulevard in large part as vironmental im- did assume con- so, past failures haven’t LOWREY a redevelopment scheme. stopped the Queen City Then-Charlotte Mayor Pat pact statement to obtain the necessary struction of the bypass and that they from considering more McCrory famously called regulatory approvals needed to build had known this for some time. Even so, Dever ruled for the transportation new projects to attract the cool the street a “corridor of crap.” Light the Monroe Connector Bypass, as the crowd. rail hasn’t improved things much to agencies. The environmental groups road would be known. Charlotte City Manager Curt date, and private developers remain A key aim of the environmental appealed. Walton is proposing that Charlotte uninterested in building a signature impact statement was to determine The 4th Circuit took a much dim- spend $926 million through 2020 development at the Scaleybark Road how things would change if the bypass mer view of the transportation agen- on capital projects. Walton has station despite large city subsidies. were built. This would involve com- cies’ actions. It noted that NEPA was described the need for the projects And it’s not as if Charlotte paring a “build” option to a “no build” a process regulation, designed to force he’s identified in nothing less than and Mecklenburg County don’t baseline. agencies to take a hard look at the envi- apocalyptic terms. provide a lot of amenities already. The state got much of its data ronmental consequences of major proj- In Walton’s view, North Caro- Charlotte’s per capita local govern- for these calculations from the Meck- ects. The law also was intended to en- lina’s largest city ment tax and lenburg-Union Metropolitan Planning sure public involvement in the process. is on the cusp of fee collections becoming like all of $2,290 are the Organization, which had developed a The appeals court rejected the those old Rust highest of any travel demand model for the region. agencies’ stance that since they had Spending millions conducted a “thorough analysis of the Belt cities, with a city in the state This took projected population and environmental impacts” and accepted very small afflu- to attract the with a popula- employment changes for the area and comments from the public, construc- ent area pay- tion of 25,000 or allocated them into specific “traffic tion should proceed. ing most of the cool crowd more. Walton’s analysis zones” based on eight fac- “What the agencies would have property taxes proposal would tors: developable and redevelopable to Charlotte us ignore is that NEPA procedures while vast por- increase proper- residential land; population change; tions of the city ty taxes in Char- emphasize clarity and transparency water availability; sewer availability; house uninter- just not working lotte by another of process over particular substantive predicted growth; municipal growth esting, noncre- 8.2 percent. outcomes,” wrote Judge Diana Grib- ative people of Perhaps policy; and travel time to employment. bon Motz for the court. “Accordingly, The factors were not weighted equally, modest incomes and abilities — and Charlotte’s problem is the oppo- agencies violate NEPA when they fail low property values. site of what Walton imagines it to as travel time to employment was giv- to disclose that their analysis contains en a 20 percent weight. “If we don’t invest now, will be — people and businesses are incomplete information.” we see a markedly declining Char- finding the cost of living or starting In determining the “no build” She noted that this error was in lotte in five years? In my opinion, a business in Charlotte is too steep baseline, MUMPO assumed that all au- a critical portion of the environmental probably not,” The Charlotte Observer already. Adding to those costs won’t thorized future road projects would be impact statement and that the agencies quoted Walton as saying. “However, make it more attractive. built. The Monroe Connector Bypass had misled the public by not admitting if we don’t invest soon, and in in- If, as the saying goes, the was an authorized future road project, the data problem. The admissions be- novative ways, will we see decline definition of insanity is doing the so MUMPO’s model incorporated into fore the district court did not cure the in 10 years? Again, in my opinion, same thing over and over again the “no build” baseline the impact of failure to disclose. The appeals court yes.” and expecting different results, then the bypass on commuting time. remanded the case to district court so Walton’s proposal is hardly Charlotte’s existing creative-class- A sign that something might be that “the agencies and the public can surprising. Charlotte is running based policies certainly qualify as amiss in the modeling process came fully (and publicly) evaluate the ‘no out of room to increase its tax base insane, given the lack of success when traffic projections showed that build’ data.” through annexation; getting more they have brought to date. CJ tax revenue depends upon hav- there would be more traffic under the The case is North Carolina Wildlife ing existing property become more Michael Lowrey is an associate “no build” baseline than with construc- Federation v. North Carolina Department valuable. And that would be a editor of Carolina Journal. tion of the bypass. A number of conser- of Transportation (11-2210). CJ PAGE 12 JUNE 2012 | CAROLINA JOURNAL Local Government Emerald Isle Takings Case Could Have National Implications

By Dan E. Way “These folks still have access, still Contributor have beachfront properties,” he said. RALEIGH “And the town of Emerald Isle has our property owners suing the absolutely no incentive or desire to de- Town of Emerald Isle alleging an crease anyone’s property value.” unlawful taking of their beach- But Doran insists the town is be- Ffront lots would strike a blow nation- ing “callous, sneaky” in removing the ally for property rights protections if case to federal court. they win, their lawyers say. Decades of U.S. Supreme Court But Emerald Isle’s lawyers con- precedent say such takings cases first tend a property owners’ victory would must be heard in state court, even if impair government maintenance of they pose federal issues. Until all state and public access to the beaches that proceedings and remedies are exhaust- support the tourism livelihood of ed, the case is not considered ripe for oceanfront economies. federal litigation. “I would think any beach town Once a case is removed from state would have an interest in how this court to federal court, federal court plays out,” said Brian Edes, an attor- may either remand the case to the state ney with the Wilmington law firm of court to exhaust all state-level options, Crossley, McIntosh, Collier, Hanley, & or dismiss it for lack of jurisdiction. Edes that is defending the town. Doran worries that outright dis- Jeanette Doran, executive direc- missal by the federal court would, at tor and general counsel of the Raleigh- worst, prevent the property owners based North Carolina Institute for from ever being heard in a court set- Constitutional Law, filed an friend- ting. At a minimum, dismissal could of-the-court brief jointly with the Pa- run up attorneys’ fees in an attempt to cific Legal Foundation in support of discourage the property owners from the plaintiffs and for payment of their Gregory and Judy Watts, owners of the property shown above, are among a group of pursuing the matter. costs and attorneys’ fees. property owners claiming the town government of Emerald Isle has created nuisances “I really have some concerns that, Doran said Emerald Isle’s use of and has interfered with the use of their land. (Google Earth photo) if we don’t stop Emerald Isle from do- government power to crush property ing this, we do open the door for gov- rights has implications beyond North said. That amount will be better determined ernments across the state to use these Carolina’s beach towns. The portion of the property when we have appraisals” and loss es- kinds of tactics to avoid paying peo- “It could come up as if your prop- most affected is the dry sand area on timates, he said. The land value of the ple whose property has been taken,” erty were taken for a road, or a school, the oceanward side of the “toe of the properties is $1 million each, he said. Doran said. or a fire station,” Doran said. “Business dune,” which is the first dune one Edes finds the plantiffs’ chal- “You can’t have it both ways. You properties can be taken. Homes can be would encounter if walking inland lenge puzzling. “Our position on that can’t file federal claims and then say, taken. A portion of someone’s property from the water. is there’s a North Carolina general stat- ‘Wait a minute, we have to exhaust all can be taken. Farms can be taken.” Beach nourishment projects also ute that specifically authorizes beach of our state remedies first,’” Edes said. The case is in its infancy. The mer- play a role. Beach towns to regulate “If they weren’t ripe they its won’t be argued until a somewhat nourishment is the vehicle traffic on unusual decision is made in a pitched shouldn’t have filed a federal court process of replen- the beach,” Edes case in the first place” claiming fed- legal fight over whether the case be- ishing sand that said. Town officials eral statute infractions and violations longs in U.S. District Court’s Eastern erodes or drifts “It’s my un- of the Fifth Amendment’s due process District or state court. away. Easements say they are derstanding that and property takings guarantees, Edes Gregory and Diane Nies, George were obtained to they have been said. and Maria Tederick, John and Bar- allow for the proj- just trying to regulating vehicle “There’s nothing sneaky about bara Foster, and Gregory and Judy ects in 2005. traffic on Em- preserve public it,” Edes said. He said he told the plan- Watts claim ordinances and actions of Emerald Isle erald Isle as far tiffs’ lawyer of his intention to send the the town government on the 12-mile officials “never beach access back as the early island located in Carteret County’s sought or obtained ’80s,” Edes said. matter to federal court in their very Bogue Banks have created untenable permission from “They’re certainly first discussion. nuisances interfering with their use of anybody as far as acting within the “If every time somebody who has their land. I know to preserve that” easement ac- police power to promote the safety and their property taken files in state court, Those include “people driving cess right, Hornik said. welfare of the citizens.” then the government turns around and across their property, running over Another ordinance prohibits As for the property owners’ oth- removes it to federal court ... we end their furniture, scaring people off the placement of beach equipment in a 20- er claim, he said, “I think clearly they up in this procedural merry-go-round beach, including on their own proper- foot area running along the toe of the gave easements to perform the beach and it ultimately will end up with the ty,” said Robert Hornik of the Brough dune, Hornik said. That encroaches on nourishments.” government taking their property and Law Firm in Chapel Hill, who is repre- his clients’ private property. Edes said he has no knowledge never getting paid for their property,” senting the property owners. “The U.S. Supreme Court has rec- that anyone ever has asserted these is- Doran said. “My clients have asked, directed, ognized that perhaps one of the most sues against the town of 3,700 people “It’s been done in other places people to get off their property and important rights a property owner has before. across the country. It does not yet seem have been faced with uncooperative is the right to exclude others from their “I would say it’s a unique case” to be an epidemic, but certainly if Em- responses,” Hornik said. The property own property,” Hornik said. because “most beachfront property erald Isle were to succeed in keeping owners have been subjected to threats “These ordinances diminish their owners want to have a safe and orderly the case in federal court ... that will and intimidation, “fortunately, not all property value. They want to be com- beach. Most beachfront property own- encourage governments all across the that frequently.” pensated for the loss of value due to ers appreciate beach nourishment,” state to pursue the same kind of she- The plaintiffs contend one town the town’s actions,” Hornik said. Edes said. nanigans,” she said. law “authorizes people who get per- “They’re asking for just com- “I just don’t see how these people “If they can do it to property mits from the town to drive essentially pensation” under the North Carolina are harmed” by ordinances that pro- owners in Emerald Isle,” she warned, on parts of our clients’ property with- and U.S. constitutions totaling “hun- mote the health and safety of citizens, “they can do it to property owners out our clients’ permission,” Hornik dreds of thousands of dollars each. Edes said. in the Piedmont.” CJ JUNE 2012 | CAROLINA JOURNAL PAGE 13 From Page 1 Agents Interrogate Asheville Man About Email Sent to EPA Official

Continued from Page 1 asking for a thorough review of EPA protocol and has emailed EPA Admin- posted on YouTube in which Arm- istrator Lisa Jackson almost daily since endariz said his enforcement philoso- the incident, but has yet to receive a re- phy was to “crucify” officials from big sponse from her. oil and gas companies. It appears that Keller’s emails to The video became a sensation on Jackson and to Michael Daggett, the as- blogs, Twitter, and many conservative sistant deputy inspector general for the news websites. After seeing it, Keller EPA, were forwarded to Patrick Sulli- told Carolina Journal, he was troubled van, assistant inspector general, office by the comments and just wanted to of investigations organization. express his concerns to Armendariz, In his emailed response, Sullivan a public official whose salary is paid defended the EPA’s actions, saying by taxpayers. “I wanted to know why a thorough review of the facts failed someone in his position would say to find “any unprofessional behavior what he did. I wanted to question his by EPA OIG personnel” and that the reasoning and principles. It’s all about agents had acted in accordance with freedom of speech,” Keller said. “established Federal law enforcement An Internet search for Arm- policies and procedures.” endariz’s contact information directed Even though Sullivan’s message him to email David Gray, director of says Keller “answered the questions external affairs for EPA Region 6. Keller and the suspicious nature of the email sent the following email: “Hello Mr. was resolved,” he is not convinced the investigation is over, since the agents Gray-Do you have Mr. Armendariz’s The YouTube video that cost EPA official Al Armendariz his job can be seen at http:// stated the case was still open as they contact information so we can say hel- bit.ly/JfbbJ3. left his home. Also, the absence of any lo? -Regards-Larry Keller.” asked for a copy of the email, Woods his wife, Keller said. He also learned official written report to that effect Armendariz resigned April 30, said it was impossible because the in- after contacting the Asheville Police from either the Asheville Police De- after the ensuing national uproar over vestigation was not yet concluded. Department that another officer had partment or the EPA worries him. his comments. The EPA agents arrived At that point, Keller heard his remained in the cruiser throughout the The email also said Keller should at Keller’s home May 2. wife arriving home and asked the interview. contact Craig Ulmer, who supervises Keller told CJ that special agent agents to stay so his wife could meet This incident has been a life- field operations for the office of inves- Michael Woods asked if he had sent them and “see what all the fuss was changing experience, Keller said, as tigations, if Keller feels his concerns an email to an EPA employee. At first, about.” Woods said they had to get he’d never felt he had any reason to have not been addressed properly, and Keller said no, but then remembered going, and the trio started toward the fear his government. said he could speak by phone with Ul- the email to Gray. At that point, Woods back staircase, Keller said. The agents did not provide a rea- mer, or, if necessary, arrange a personal produced a copy of the email and Keller had asked for the agents’ son for their visit when they appeared meeting. asked if it was the email he sent. business cards, but after initially say- on his doorstep. They simply asked if After contacting Burr, Democrat- The second agent said Keller’s ing they had them, they later told Keller could sit and chat with them, so ic U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, and U.S. Rep. choice of words could be interpreted Keller they were “out of cards.” He in- Keller invited them into his home and Heath Shuler, D-11th District, Keller in many different ways and asked if sisted they give him the name of their to the back porch. said only Burr’s office has responded. Keller thought the content was suspi- supervisor, and Woods wrote the name Agents began by asking about his Burr’s legislative assistant, Matthew cious in any way. Keller said he didn’t and number on a piece of paper, Keller consulting business and seemed very Dockham, told Keller by phone that have anything to hide, and the email said. interested in the nature of his business “he should take this to the nth degree postscript had his company logo and Keller said he followed them — data visualization and analysis. at the EPA.” website address. outside and noticed a police cruiser After the meeting with the agents, In an email to CJ, Burr press sec- Keller made several attempts to reach The discourse quickly became parked in the neighbor’s driveway. retary David Ward confirmed that Michael Hill, the agents’ supervisor adversarial, Keller said. When Keller The agents left without acknowledging Burr’s staff has been in touch with in Atlanta. Eventually, Hill returned Keller. Ward also said the senator’s of- Keller’s phone call and said that or- fice has initiated an inquiry with EPA ders had come down from Washing- and “Senator Burr intends to pursue ton to check out every communication this matter vigorously.” Help us keep our presses rolling with Armendariz, as there had been CJ’s phone calls to the Asheville so many. Hill gave the impression that Police Department and EPA’s Sullivan Publishing a newspaper is an ex- everyone who had tried to reach Arm- have not been returned. CJ has received pensive proposition. Just ask the many endariz had received a visit from spe- a copy of the call for service from the daily newspapers that are having trouble cial agents. police department, but it provides no making ends meet these days. Later, Keller got an email from incident ID, only the date and time the It takes a large team of editors, re- Hill, in which he apologized, saying, EPA requested assistance and Keller’s porters, photographers and copy editors “I understand that you were inconve- home address. to bring you the aggressive investigative nienced when you consented to be in- On May 29, CJ called the Ashe- reporting you have become accustomed terviewed by our agents.” ville Police Department again to see to seeing in Carolina Journal each Hill’s email stated the EPA could if the officer’s report had been filed. month. not provide specific details other than Nearly a month after the incident, Putting their work on newsprint and it had wanted to know Keller’s inten- there is still no case number or report. then delivering it to more than 100,000 tions, given the timing of the email and During a May 11 interview with readers each month puts a sizeable dent in light of the “many threats against Pete Kaliner on WWNC-AM 570, in the John Locke Foundation’s budget. Dr. Armendariz” received at the same Keller said he believed the EPA may That’s why we’re asking you to help time Keller’s email was sent. have thought he was gathering data defray those costs with a donation. Just The only recourse Hill provided for the Republican Party, since his com- send a check to: Carolina Journal Fund, for Keller to learn more about the inci- pany deals with data visualization and John Locke Foundation, 200 W. Morgan dent was to submit a request under the analysis and he’s been active in GOP St., Suite 200, Raleigh, NC 27601. Freedom of Information Act. politics for some time. Keller told CJ he’s determined to Keller has prepared a written We thank you for your support. get a full explanation of why he was response to Sullivan and plans to re- targeted in the first place and whether quest a face-to-face meeting with EPA John Locke Foundation | 200 W. Morgan St., Raleigh, NC 27601 | 919-828-3876 the investigation has concluded. He’s officials. CJ PAGE 14 JUNE 2012 | CAROLINA JOURNAL From Page 1 Members of Perdue Campaign Team Head to Court Continued from Page 1 to violate campaign finance reporting laws. In October 2009, he called on the a recent court hearing in which Stubbs State Board of Elections to launch an sought to have the charges dismissed. investigation. After a lengthy inves- “Mr. Stubbs is sitting here as a scape- tigation by board staff, the board dis- goat for what the campaign didn’t do cussed the staff report at an August right,” Rudolf said. 2010 meeting. News stories often refer to Stubbs, The board’s three-member Dem- a Republican, as a close friend of Dem- ocratic majority rejected a proposal ocrat Perdue. He was the law partner from a Republican member to convene of Perdue’s late former husband, and public hearings on Perdue’s flying ac- his eight-member law firm continues tivities, so the board never questioned to bear the name Stubbs & Perdue. He dozens of aircraft providers about their is a seasoned political donor who has role in the free flights. made more than 250 campaign contri- In addition to Stubbs, also indicted are former Perdue campaign aides Peter Reichard (left) and Julia Leigh Sitton (center), and Robert Lee Caldwell of Morganton (right). The board fined the Perdue cam- butions to state or local candidates or (Wake County Sheriff’s Department booking photos) paign $30,000 and found “no intent of committees over the past two decades. wrongdoing.” Immediately after the He also served as treasurer for George merely advanced the costs of the flights He also banned Reichard from political board hearing, Willoughby said he Wainwright’s successful campaign for to the campaign and that the campaign fundraising or consulting for a period would review the case. the North Carolina Supreme Court in should have reported those flights as of two years. In September 2010, Willoughby 1998. debts and reimbursed him. A fourth person, Robert Lee acknowledged publicly that he asked In 2010, Willoughby asked the And yet in his motion, Stubbs Caldwell of Morganton, was indicted the SBI to look into Perdue’s unreport- State Bureau of Investigation to look stated that in October 2008, in consul- in February 2011. Caldwell, a former ed flights because he thought the elec- into issues that came up during a State tation with the campaign’s attorney, chairman of the board of Western tions board might not have addressed Board of Elections investigation of John Wallace, he attempted to turn the Piedmont Community College, was the issues fully. Perdue’s campaign organization. The flights into a $28,498 contribution to charged with causing the Perdue cam- The following month, Perdue elections board documented the un- the North Caro- paign committee acknowledged that federal authorities reported flights and fined the Perdue lina Democratic to file false reports also were investigating her campaign. committee $30,000. Party. Stubbs sub- and obstruction of In February 2010, Perdue said she had Stubbs’ defense team has indi- mitted paperwork Stubbs: At least justice. Caldwell’s hired high-profile criminal defense at- cated that it will subpoena former and a check to nine Perdue indictment states torneys Joe Cheshire and Wade Smith staffers who worked for Perdue at the the party. Wallace, that he solicited for legal advice related to the state lieutenant governor’s office, as well as who also was the campaign or and accepted a and federal investigations of her cam- members of her campaign staff. “We attorney for the check from James paigns. are evaluating everyone interviewed party, rejected the office staffers Fleming, a Mor- by the SBI during this investigation as contribution. ganton barber, Perdue’s comments limited a potential witness,” David Long, an- Stubbs said knew of flights in the amount of In a December 2010 interview other Stubbs attorney, told CJ. that at least nine $3,048.50 to pay with CJ and other reporters, Perdue Superior Court Judge Abe Jones individuals asso- for a chartered air- called the actions of members of her denied motions by Stubbs to have his ciated with either craft for Perdue. 2004 and 2008 campaign staff who did case dismissed or moved to Craven the campaign or the lieutenant gover- Caldwell then reimbursed Fleming for nor’s office were aware of the flights the check with money that came from not report free campaign flights “inex- County, where Stubbs lives. Stubbs cusable,” but would not identify who has filed a notice that he is appealing and the information necessary to re- an unidentified third party — a viola- port them. tion of campaign law. Fulenwider, an committed the violations that led to Jones’ decisions to the North Carolina the $30,000 fine by the State Board of He said he cooperated fully with acquaintance of Caldwell, originally Court of Appeals. He also filed a mo- Elections. Nor would she say if anyone election board investigator Kim Strach was invoiced for the flight. Caldwell ‘s tion asking that the case be put on hold had been held accountable for those in 2010. case has not been scheduled for a hear- pending his appeal. violations. ing. In January, Perdue made the sur- Others charged In a statement released Nov. 29, prise announcement that she wouldn’t Fulenwider has not been charged 2011, the day after Stubbs, Sitton, and seek a second term in 2012, but she has Morganton attorney Julia Leigh with any crimes even though he was Reichard were indicted, Perdue said: never said that the Stubbs situation or Sitton, also known as Juleigh Sitton, involved in the activities surround- “Over a year ago, at the conclu- the broader investigation of her cam- also was charged with obstruction ing Reichard’s and Sitton’s criminal sion of several months of investigation paign played a role in her decision not of justice and filing false reports. She charges, and he admitted he arranged by the State Board of Elections into cer- to run. worked for the 2008 campaign and lat- the flight mentioned in the Caldwell tain flights provided to my campaign, charges. Stubbs’ defense er joined state government as the man- the Wake County District Attorney be- ager of Perdue’s Western North Caro- The story so far gan an investigation into any possible In March, Stubbs’ attorney filed lina office. Like Stubbs, Sitton sought wrongdoing associated with those a lengthy motion to dismiss his indict- to have her case dismissed or at least CJ first reported in October 2008 flights and my 2008 campaign. ment “for failure to state crime and for moved to her home county of Burke. on Gov. Mike Easley’s unreported use “My campaign committee coop- violation of due process.” Jones ruled Jones also denied her motions, but a of private aircraft for his political cam- erated fully with that investigation. To- the motion was “without merit and trial date has not been set. paigns. In May 2009, shortly after The day, the District Attorney announced therefore denied.” Reichard, Perdue’s former cam- News & Observer also reported on Ea- several charges arising from the in- But the motion gives consider- paign finance director, worked out a sley’s flights, Perdue’s campaign com- vestigation. At the District Attorney’s able insight into Stubbs’ likely defense felony plea agreement In December. mittee quietly began revising her 2004 request, while those matters are pend- ing, I will not comment on the specific strategy. Stubbs claims that campaign Reichard was charged with funneling and 2008 campaign finance reports. charges or any aspect of the investiga- finance director Peter Reichard, along $32,000 from Morganton businessman Her campaign eventually disclosed tion. I will, however, reiterate what I Charles M. Fulenwider through a busi- with other campaign workers or em- and paid for 42 unreported flights val- made clear at the beginning of the in- ployees of Lt. Gov. Perdue’s office, so- ness Reichard owns to pay a portion of ued at $56,000. Perdue and others asso- vestigation, and what the investigation licited his assistance in arranging air Sitton’s salary with the Perdue cam- ciated with her campaign claimed that has confirmed: as a citizen, a candidate travel during 2007 and 2008. paign. Fulenwider already had given failing to report the flights was unin- for public office, and an elected official, Stubbs admits he arranged and the maximum $8,000 allowed dur- tentional. I have strived to follow the rules and paid for 10 flights through his law of- ing the primary and general election Then-state Republican Party laws.” fice, but contends that he furnished cycles. A judge sentenced Reichard to chairman Tom Fetzer didn’t accept that On Jan. 26, Perdue announced enough information for the campaign two years of unsupervised probation explanation. He claimed the unreport- she would not seek a second term as to report them. He maintains that he and ordered him to pay a $25,000 fine. ed flights were a deliberate attempt governor. CJ JUNE 2012 | CAROLINA JOURNAL PAGE 15 From Page 1 McKoy ‘Sustainability’ Plan Involved Payments to SAS Continued from Page 1 Finally, COGs would transfer the entire $1.5 million to SAS. SAS has been working on a soft- ware project called NCREPS — North Carolina Regional Economic Prosperi- ty Solution — that would be used by lo- cal governments. The company says it has put $4 million into developing the software but needs additional funds to finish the project. REPS, in fact, was developed for COGs, and SAS has an agreement with that organization, CJ has learned. Offer to help pay Sometime last year, McKoy learned of the project and asked to be involved. He also offered to help pay for it. SAS, a software firm with an international reputation, is located on HarrisonAvenue in Cary. (CJ photo by Don Carrington) McKoy’s plan to funnel money sion to the supervision of the assistant Crisco, and oversees more than 70 em- An April 2010 report in Philan- through the four counties to NCSC was secretary for energy in Commerce. ployees and a budget of approximately thropy Journal stated that Sustainable outlined in a Jan. 6 memo that he sent At press time, the budget was $50 million. North Carolina “is suspending op- to Commerce Secretary Keith Crisco expected to be approved by the full erations as it re-evaluates its future.” seeking approval. The money was to Sustainability Center come from surplus federal Community House. McKoy declined to comment for that Development Block Grant funds from McKoy is a relative newcomer to NCSC started in 1998 as an or- story. the years 2002, 2004, and 2007. public administration. Gov. Bev Per- ganization named Saving Our State. It On Aug. 2, 2010, the same day The plan engineered by McKoy due appointed him to the Commerce was renamed Sustainable North Caro- Perdue announced McKoy’s ap- and NCSC President Katie Kross was position in August 2010. He reports to lina in 2004. pointment to the Commerce position, being finalized as late as March 30, but McKoy filed a name change form with it was scrapped after CJ Online’s initial the N.C. Secretary of State’s Office, report, which appeared April 5. The renaming the organization the North SAS connection was not mentioned in Carolina Sustainability Center. McKoy the original set of documents CJ ob- signed the form with the title “Chair, tained for that initial report. Board of Directors.” Crisco asked McKoy to resign The address of NCSC’s current the day the initial CJ story appeared, headquarters is a mailbox at a UPS according to The News & Observer, but Store in north Raleigh. McKoy refused and remains on the job. NCSC’s latest Internal Revenue Repeated requests to interview Service Form 990, Return of Organi- McKoy or others in his division about zation Exempt From Income Tax, in- the plan were turned down by Tim dicates the center was not very active. Crowley, assistant secretary for com- It received $7,638 in grants and had munications and external affairs at $8,441 in expenses for the calendar Commerce. year 2010. The form lists McKoy as the In a May 21 email, Crowley said: center’s chairman. It was dated July 8, “We are going to be unable to accom- modate your request for an interview. I 2011, and signed by McKoy as chair- can say this. The economic well-being man. of our local communities is critical to CJ Online reported April 12 that North Carolina, and we will continue the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation au- to work with our many stakeholders thorized a grant of $150,000 to NCSC on finding ways to help them with on May 13, 2011. “Libby Smith [a se- their efforts. As I have mentioned pre- nior adviser to McKoy at Commerce] viously, the proposal related to the was listed as the president and contact N.C. Sustainability Center was not ap- person. Henry McKoy was involved in proved, no contract was signed, and no the pre-grant discussions with the ZSR money was ever disbursed.” about the grant request,” foundation executive director Leslie Winner told Budget eliminates position CJ. Even though McKoy remains on The 2009 Form 990 shows $51,834 the payroll at Commerce, his position in revenue and $89,743 in expenses for may not be active beyond June 30. The that year. The form, prepared by ex- budget adjustment for the next fiscal ecutive director Cyndy Yu-Robinson, year, approved May 24 by the House also lists McKoy as one of 11 board Subcommittee on Natural and Eco- members. nomic Resources, seeks to eliminate The 2008 Form 990, prepared by his assistant secretary’s position and president Katherine Ansardi, shows its $129,288 annual compensation. The total revenue of $225,816 and expenses House budget plan would move the The SAS software proposal presented to the N.C. Association of Regional Councils of $213,297, and also lists McKoy as employees and staff in McKoy’s divi- that Henry McKoy later asked to be a part of, even offering to help fund the project. one of 14 board members. CJ PAGE 16 JUNE 2012 | CAROLINA JOURNAL Interview Brooks: America Will Turn Away From Anti-Freedom Policies

By CJ Staff RALEIGH early 70 years have passed “What I show in this book, The Road to since economist F.A. Hayek Freedom, is that the road to freedom warned the Western world Nin his book The Road to Serfdom about for us as individuals goes through the dangers of moving toward bigger, more intrusive government. Hayek’s the system that allows us to earn our book proved to be a classic among clas- sical liberals and conservatives. Now, success — the fairest system that re- the head of the American Enterprise Institute has released a book titled The wards merit, and a system that liter- Road to Freedom. AEI President Arthur C. Brooks discussed key themes from ally is the only one that can lift up the his book with Mitch Kokai for Carolina poor by the billions around the world. Journal Radio. (Head to http://www. carolinajournal.com/cjradio/ to find a That’s the free-enterprise system.” station near you or to learn about the weekly CJ Radio podcast.) Arthur C. Brooks President Kokai: Many of the people in our American Enterprise Institute audience will know the title The Road to Serfdom. Was The Road to Freedom title a conscious effort to pay tribute to Hayek’s most famous work?

Brooks: It was. I mean, Friedrich emphasize the moral dimension to free testers are demanding. It’s like the an- that offends them the most is corpo- Hayek’s work has influenced me and enterprise? tithesis of what’s going on in Europe. rate cronyism, is the fact that certain my understanding of economics more It’s fantastic. They rose up for moral populations in the business ecosys- than anybody else. The Road to Serfdom Brooks: Well, just talking about reasons, to fight against overween- tem out there — companies, individu- is the most consequential work ever the material things won’t get the job ing nanny-state government policies, als — have disproportionate access to written to understand the proper role done. Conservatives and free-enter- against crushing debt — all of these government: special favors, lobbyists, of government and the importance of prise advocates, for generations, have types of things. government affairs offices, powerful freedom, and, frankly, what we lose been talking about simply the material Now … to make this live its lawyers, clever accountants. And so when we sacrifice the free-enterprise case for free enterprise. And it’s self- promise, to be more effective, for they get special breaks from the gov- system in favor of statism. So any way evidently the case that the government there to be a regeneration in the Tea ernment. that we can honor that and get people has grown, statism has expanded, Party movement, is to make sure that That actually is just the same more interested in The Road to Serfdom we’re moving toward a European-style the message itself is matching the en- thing as statism. Corporate cronyism is OK by me. social democratic state. Today, all lev- ergy and the reasons for the existence doesn’t exist if it weren’t for statism. els of government soak up 36 percent of the movement. In other words, it’s Corporate cronyism is the co-depen- Kokai: In writing The Road to of American [gross domestic product]. not good enough to say, “I want to fix dent wife of Big Government, you Freedom, what do you set out as the By 2038 — this is according to the gov- this country,” and then to go out and know, and when they complain that road? ernment itself — the government will scream, “We need fiscal consolida- it’s not fair for certain organizations to be eating 50 percent of American GDP. tion.” … “The debt limit is too high.” abuse the capitalist system and to take Brooks: You know, this is not a free-en- That’s not going to convince The road to freedom is, special deals out of it, they’re right. terprise society in which our skills and Americans. That’s not going to win effectively, free enterprise. The road to Now, they don’t know the difference freedom as a society is free enterprise. our passions can meet and we can keep souls. That’s not going to make people between real free enterprise and corpo- And the reason I say this is in response the rewards of our meritorious behav- say, “Yes, I want to join you.” Tea Party rate cronyism. Our job is to help them to a common mistake that people make ior. It’s a different kind of society, in advocates have to get out there and say, understand that they’re right about in the conservative movement: under- point of fact. And it’s one that, today, “The reasons I’m here are the reasons corporate cronyism, not because free standing free enterprise as nothing most Americans don’t like. They have that are written on my heart, for the more than an economic alternative, as to understand what their objection to reasons I love freedom and I love my enterprise is bad, but because we want a way to be more prosperous, as a way it is. country, and it’s my moral obligation true free enterprise. to make more money, to be the richest Seventy percent of Americans to pass on this great system of free en- Kokai: society in the history of the world. take more out of the tax system than terprise to my kids and my grandkids. If both parties are guilty In point of fact, that’s not the im- they put into it, and 50 percent of It’s not fair for me to steal this from fu- of straying from support of the free- portant thing about the free-enterprise Americans have no federal income tax ture generations. It’s not fair for me to enterprise system, do you have any system. It’s not an economic alterna- liability. So it’s not that they just want steal this from people I’ve never met, confidence that we’ll be able to put tive; it’s a moral imperative. What I lower taxes. What they want is more who just haven’t been born yet. That’s some people in office who do support show in this book, The Road to Freedom, freedom. They need it. Their souls just not right.” … When they can artic- policies that would lead to the road to is that the road to freedom for us as need it. That’s the moral case for free ulate it, then we’re going to see some freedom? individuals goes through the system enterprise, and that’s something that real victory. that allows us to earn our success — we have to focus in on, or we’re going Brooks: I am confident for the the fairest system that rewards merit, to lose this fight, and America is going Kokai: What about the Occupy following reason: Never bet against and a system that literally is the only to be the worse for it. movement? Are there messages in The America. If you did, at any time, in the one that can lift up the poor by the bil- Road to Freedom that could help mem- past couple hundred years, you would lions around the world. That’s the free- Kokai: Let’s discuss how you bers of the Occupy movement see have lost a lot of money. This is a great enterprise system. That’s why it’s the would target your message to a couple things more clearly? country, and it’s a country that can road to personal freedom. That’s the of different high-profile groups. First, renew itself. But the only way it will road to freedom for people, true free- the Tea Party. How would you target Brooks: Yeah, for sure. You listen renew itself is by remembering its val- dom. your message to Tea Party supporters? to the Occupy Wall Street guys, and ues and not just its material prosperity. you say, “Oh, man, they just hate capi- That’s the critical thing that we have Kokai: I understand that one of Brooks: The Tea Party move- talism,” and they don’t understand to keep in mind. I am optimistic that your key points is that the free-enter- ment is an extraordinary moral move- free enterprise, and it’s easier to write patriots, at all levels in American so- prise system represents more than just ment. It’s an ethical populist move- them off. But, you know, there are ciety, from the grass roots to the grass people scrambling for the most cash ment, where they’re rising up to reject some things that we need to listen to tops, can come together and say, “This they can get. Why is it important to exactly the things that the Greek pro- that they’re saying. One of the things must stop.” CJ JUNE 2012 | CAROLINA JOURNAL PAGE 17 Higher Education Fed Rules Prompt Change COMMENTARY Who Should Assess To UNC Sex-Assault Policy Faculty Work Loads? By Duke Cheston sides must present their supporting Contributor evidence. he wheels of reform move things into perspective, the U.S. slowly in the Ivory Tower— Bureau of Labor Statistics’ “quit” RALEIGH The “preponderance” standard sometimes undetectably so. he University of North Carolina has long been used in discrimination rate for private industry for 2012 ThisT is certainly the case when it is in the neighborhood of 16 to 17 at Chapel Hill has an unusual cases in federal courts and on college comes to assessing faculty work student disciplinary system. Al- campuses, but sexual assault had not percent — more than five times the loads in the University of North thoughT other schools sometimes in- previously been defined as a case of rate at Chapel Hill. Carolina system. Nearly a year ago, volve students in disciplinary proceed- discrimination. UNC-Chapel Hill’s It is therefore hard to see fac- Hannah Gage, chairwoman of the ings, UNC’s “Honor Court” is entirely Honor Court, for instance, used the ulty retention as a serious problem. UNC Board of Governors, con- Andrews added that aca- student-run and student-led. Students “beyond a reasonable doubt” measure vened a committee to explore how even prosecute students for sexual for sexual misconduct cases. But now, demic departments should be able the system’s faculty spends its time. to reduce the average teaching assault — but that soon may change as a result of the Dear Colleague letter, Five meetings were held, featuring following the issuance of new federal it will have to make the standard less requirements to as low as one class testimony by experts and profes- per semester, if that made them regulations. stringent. sionals. competitive with peer universities. In April 2011, the Obama admin- While these lower protections The result was a resolution He was not talking about special istration’s Office of Civil Rights sent for the accused won’t result in crimi- unanimously passed at the April situations in which researchers buy a “Dear Colleague” letter to colleges nal convictions, they very well may meeting of the Board of across the country to explain newly result in innocent students’ expulsion Governors. It directs UNC their way out of teach- created federal or suspension President Thomas Ross to ing through sponsored rules on dealing from school — implement some minor research, but as a general with sexual vio- a black mark changes in data collection. department standard. lence. A major following them To be blunt, deck chairs He also said that change was to for the rest of were rearranged enthusi- assessing faculty work lower the bur- their lives. Civil astically. loads is a job strictly for den of proof for libertarians are But faculty work those in faculty leadership colleges to pun- outraged at the loads are an issue that positions, such as “de- ish students for Dear Colleague cuts to the heart of higher partment heads, deans, sexual assault, letter, with law education reform, raising JAY provosts, and chancel- which ranges professors on a fundamental question: SCHALIN lors.” Otherwise, he con- from attempts several campus- Are faculty at state- tinued, “your norms will of forced kiss- es denouncing supported universities be imposed from without ing up to and the new rules as hired to serve the needs rather than evolving from including rape. “Kafka-esque.” of the larger public, or do they have within, and you’ll have a very dif- The new At UNC- a special status that entitles them ficult time securing faculty buy-in, rules ostensibly Chapel Hill, to more security than the rest of because they won’t have confidence come from a reinterpretation of Title IX many students are uncomfortable even society? in the people who are overseeing of the Education Amendments of 1972, with the current system. Furthermore, professors’ and supervising.” the law that prohibits colleges that re- I talked to one UNC student salaries are fertile ground for the This “faculty-centric” ap- ceive federal funds from discriminat- who identified as a rape victim who cost-cutting demanded in today’s proach, in which faculty members ing based on gender — best known for said that she regretted going to the economy; professors’ salaries ac- get to set their own standards, requiring women’s sports to be treated Honor Court with her case. She said count for approximately 40 percent with those standards adjusted to equally to men’s. Arguing that sexual that “most students see that the Honor of all instructional costs, a signifi- their own satisfaction so that they assault is a form of gender discrimi- Court is inadequate,” and does not cant amount. never want to leave their current nation, the OCR decreed a handful of think that an “untrained 20-year-old” At the governors’ meeting, positions, is exactly the opposite new regulations. should decide if someone has been a William Andrews — the senior direction than that which the UNC The most aggressive new inter- victim of sexual assault. associate dean of fine arts and system needs to take. Self-gover- pretation was a mandate that colleges Complaints about the current humanities at UNC-Chapel Hill — nance by vested interests should and universities lower the burden of system and the federal “Dear Col- said faculty retention is an increas- be questioned, especially in times ing problem with potentially disas- proof when deciding cases of assault. league” letter combined to lead UNC- requiring fiscal austerity. Many fac- trous implications for the system’s The bar was dropped to the lowest Chapel Hill to rework the way it deals ulty members have spent their en- ability to provide a quality educa- possible standard, a “preponderance with sexual assault cases. The pub- tire professional lives in a sheltered tion. Apparently, in the past, when of evidence.” In other words, a college lication Inside Higher Ed cited UNC- environment with traditions dating Chapel Hill professors were offered disciplinary committee merely needs Chapel Hill as one of the first schools back centuries; what they consider jobs elsewhere, the school was able to decide that an accused individual is to respond to the new federal rules. to be reasonable may, in fact, not be to retain two-thirds of professors more likely than not to have commit- Chancellor Holden Thorp told the Dai- reasonable at all. with counteroffers. Now, because of ted an offense. Those deciding the case ly Tar Heel, “The best way to comply To taxpayers and tuition- must be only 50.1 percent sure of guilt. with [the new policies] is to redo the tightening budgets, that figure has fallen to one-third. paying families, it is more reason- That standard is lower than the one whole thing.” able to adjust faculty work loads for used in criminal cases, which is “be- Administrators have yet to re- That argument collapses when the number of professors efficiency’s sake. If improvements yond a reasonable doubt,” and gener- lease the details of the new system, affected is considered. Each year, do not come from within, change ally thought of as 98 percent certainty but early indications suggest students only 12 to 15 of the 275 tenure-track will be imposed from without — of guilt. still will be involved with the sexual professors in the Arts and Humani- no matter how dissatisfied it makes In general, civil cases in the pub- assault disciplinary process, though ties faculty receive offers from other the faculty. CJ lic judicial system use the “prepon- with more training. CJ institutions that need to be coun- derance of evidence” standard. Those tered. If two-thirds of those leave Jay Schalin is director of state cases, however, have more protections — between eight and 10 profes- policy at the John W. Pope Center for for the accused than do the proceed- Duke Cheston is a reporter and writ- sors — then roughly 3 percent of Higher Education Policy (popecenter. ings on college campuses. The accuser er for the John W. Pope Center for Higher the faculty quit voluntarily. To put org). can be deposed under oath, and both Education Policy (popecenter.org). PAGE 18 JUNE 2012 | CAROLINA JOURNAL Higher Education Campus Briefs Speakers: Yes, English Majors Can Find Jobs t’s election season across North Carolina. On college campuses, By Duke Cheston als for helping graduates get ahead in this means that students heard Contributor their careers. politicalI speeches on graduation RALEIGH Stanton Green, a dean at Mon- day. Activists, politicians, and joke going around the Internet mouth University in New Jersey, had a members of the government spoke features a picture of the Dos Eq- number of suggestions for helping lib- at 13 colleges and universities in uis beer spokesman, the “Most eral arts majors find jobs. One was to North Carolina. AInteresting Man in the World,” with a make such students more aware of the At UNC-Chapel Hill, New caption: “I don’t always talk to English possibilities in front of them. “Where York City Mayor Michael Bloom- majors, but when I do, I ask for a venti do people find jobs?” asked Green. berg addressed a crowd of more cappuccino.” The joke is that English “Where they look for them,” he said, than 30,000 at the university’s foot- majors have a hard time finding a job answering his own question. He said ball stadium. During his speech, after college. liberal arts students have skills that Bloomberg lambasted the state of Speakers at a recent conference at could be applied to many different oc- North Carolina for its recent vote Wake Forest University agreed that it cupations if they would consider a va- on an amendment to define mar- is hard for English majors (and other riety of possibilities outside their fields riage as a union between “one man become the Jeff Immelts of the world, liberal arts majors) to find jobs after the Meg Whitmans of the world … of study. and one woman.” graduation. However, they maintained Organizers of the Wake Forest we don’t want them building spread- U.S. Attorney General Eric that, although colleges could do more conference devoted one panel to a dis- sheets. We want their judgment. We Holder spoke at the UNC School of to help them find jobs, liberal arts re- cussion of the characteristics of today’s want their sense of history. We want Law’s commencement. main a worthwhile field of study. college students. Neil Howe, author of them to have a breadth that allows Political journalist Fareed Za- The “Rethinking Success” confer- several books on what makes differ- them to lead.” karia delivered the commencement ence, held from April 11-13, had a dual ent generations different, spoke of the speech at Duke University. Donna Unfortunately, said Howard, the purpose — reaf- “millennials,” described as those born Brazile, a political strategist for the sluggish economy firming the value in the same general period as today’s Democratic Party, spoke at St. Au- of a liberal arts has let businesses college students. Millennials, Howe gustine’s College, telling students find applicants to “believe in a cause.” education and de- Selling liberal arts said, are remarkable as a generation in veloping practical with credentials that they feel entitled, pressured, and Three first ladies spoke at more closely North Carolina universities. Mi- ways to get gradu- to students and optimistic. They expect themselves ates with liberal aligned with spe- and those around them to succeed — chelle Obama spoke at N.C. A&T prospective cific jobs, reliev- State University, urging students to arts degrees into something that can make failure even successful careers. ing them of the more painful than usual. “seek change.” Laura Bush deliv- employers will be expense of train- ered the commencement speech at By liberal arts, the Howe also noted that the parents ing employees High Point University. And former speakers meant a tough job of millennials, “generation X-ers,” are who lack the skills first lady of New York Silda Wall the humanities, more bottom-line-focused and trust the jobs require. Spitzer addressed students at Mer- such as history colleges less than their parents did, in- edith College. and philosophy, as In fact, although cluding when colleges promote the lib- Current and former mem- well as the natural sciences — rather businesses still often say they are look- eral arts. Referring to today’s parents’ bers of government spoke at sev- than disciplines centered on skills nec- ing for “well-rounded” employees, skepticism, Howe warned that there eral schools. Alexis Herman, sec- essary for a specific occupation such as Howard (speaking from his experience is “a cold wind beginning to blow retary of labor under President marketing or accounting. working with several corporations) through your colleges.” Clinton, spoke at Bennett College Many speakers — college presi- said that when they do so, they are Cold wind or no, conference go- for Women. Maj. Gen. William K. dents, professors, authors, business “damned liars.” ers remained optimistic. CJ Suter, retired clerk of the U.S. Su- owners, and nonprofit leaders — - ar So, if the study of the liberal arts preme Court, spoke at the Camp- gued that a broad education is under- is to persist, selling it to students and bell School of Law graduation. appreciated in society. They contended potential employers will be a tough Duke Cheston is a writer/reporter for Former U.S. Ambassador William that if the public only understood the job. To make the medicine easier to the John W. Pope Center for Higher Educa- Swing delivered the commence- value of the liberal arts, it would have swallow, a few speakers had propos- tion Policy (popecenter.org). ment address at Catawba College. a more favorable opinion, more stu- Secretary of the North Carolina dents would enroll, and society would Department of Public Safety Reu- be better off. ben Young spoke at Elizabeth City One approach was to tell more State University. people about the benefits of liberal arts North Carolina politicians education. For instance, Mark Roche, participated in commencements as well. At Mount Olive College, University of Notre Dame professor state Rep. Efton Sager addressed and author of Why Choose the Liberal students. President of the Golden Arts?, suggested a national public re- LEAF foundation Dan Gerlach lations campaign promoting three spoke at St. Andrews University. values of a liberal education that he Erskine Bowles, former U.S. Senate outlined in his book. He said a liberal candidate and former president of arts degree has value in itself, inform- the University of North Carolina ing students’ personal philosophies; it system, spoke at UNC-Asheville. has practical value, through the skills Retired N.C. Supreme Court Jus- it promotes; and it has formative value tice Burley Mitchell spoke at Wil- in the intellectual virtues it cultivates. liam Peace University. And North Christopher Howard, president Carolina NAACP president Wil- of Hampden-Sydney College in Vir- liam Barber spoke at North Caro- ginia, largely agreed, insisting that a lina Central University’s com- broad liberal arts education remains mencement. CJ valuable in the long run despite the large number of underemployed bach- Jenna Ashley Robinson is out- elor’s degree holders. Referring to the reach coordinator for the John W. Pope top executives at General Electric and Center for Higher Education Policy Hewlett-Packard, respectively, How- (popecenter.org). ard said, “When college graduates JUNE 2012 | CAROLINA JOURNAL PAGE 19 Higher Education Opinion Universities Must Adjust to Difficult Times in Responsible Ways he University of North Caro- 3) Re-eval- research). The There’s too much low-cost competi- lina, like all public universities, uate academic public believes tion for this to be a large source of net faces two great challenges in programs. Some Issues that undergradu- revenue for public universities. theT near future. One is to balance its chancellors are ate education is the The best approach may be to budget. The other is to restore faith in doing this now — in core of the univer- work with providers of online educa- the university — or else funding will reviewing their Higher Education sity, not academic tion. For example, the company 2Tor decline further. The following 10 steps degree programs scholarship. The is helping the Kenan-Flagler Busi- would both keep the university on an and consolidating, public wants to ness School provide an online MBA even financial keel and help convey its eliminating, or know how many program. strengths to a wavering public. cooperating (with classes professors 9) Review administrative sala- other campuses) are teaching. 1) Limit en- ries. In 2008, the “Mary Easley affair” to make teaching more efficient. One 6) Rethink graduate degree rollment. Because shocked North Carolina. The gover- evaluation tool is to determine wheth- programs. If master’s and Ph.D. the university sys- nor’s wife had received an 88 percent er graduates in various majors are graduates can’t find jobs inside or tem has grown so raise, bringing her salary to $170,000 fast (twice as fast getting jobs. Another is assessing the outside academia, it is unconscionable intellectual value of courses, removing to keep producing them. for directing a speakers’ seminar at as the state’s popu- N.C. State — a part-time job. What lation in recent fads and lightweight courses. 7) Consider differential tuition. 4) Restore the humanities. incensed people the most, however, years), it’s time to Col- Should flagships like UNC-Chapel was learning about the high salaries slow down. Too lege is not just about jobs. Universities Hill and N.C. State University be of administrators and the luxurious many students are should teach the whole person — pre- allowed to raise tuition in return for safety nets granted to those who had not qualified for paring him or her not just for a job but fewer regulations and less state fund- for personal growth. An appreciation used bad judgment in hiring and later academic work. JANE ing? Should a school like UNC School of the accumu- Thirty-five percent SHAW of the Arts, which defending the first lady. lated knowledge 10) Revamp education of all students in competes mostly of the past is an schools. the UNC system with private After improving humani- important part of Universities, do not graduate from any UNC school schools, similarly ties, the second-most valuable step to that preparation. be “liberated”? after six years. like the rest restore confidence in the university Nothing would Letting a Rather than spend enormous would be to improve UNC’s schools advance the pub- few schools go to sums on remediation, academic sup- of society, of education. It is no secret that UNC lic standing of the the high-tuition port programs, and summer bridge education schools, like most others, university system model, while al- programs, it is time to set the admis- need to make have veered toward education theory more than restor- lowing others to rather than practice and focus on sions bar higher, as the university is ing respect for the some hard choices keep their tuition social issues rather than conveying the beginning to do. And need-based state humanities, the low, would ensure nuts and bolts of how to teach. This scholarships should include a merit traditional core of that all segments must change if we are to unlock the component to make sure that recipi- college — history, of the population full potential of North Carolina’s next ents are serious about their education. English, classics, philosophy. are served properly by the higher 2) Rely more on community 5) Re-evaluate teaching vs. education system. generation instead of limiting it. colleges. It is important that young research. The effort to be bigger 8) Admit that online education These are difficult times. It won’t people have access to higher educa- and better in research may boost the is not a financial panacea. Taking be easy to adjust to them, but the tion. The way to do that without reputation of one or two schools, but advantage of distance education is universities, like the rest of society, are bankrupting the state is to allow more in this environment it is a dangerous very difficult. Only a few traditional going to have to do so. CJ state funding to go to community model. The value of much research is universities — Southern New Hamp- colleges. Community colleges teach being questioned today — especially shire University and BYU-Idaho come Jane S. Shaw is president of the John students for about one-third the cost research covered by faculty salaries to mind — have been able to adopt W. Pope Center for Higher Education to the state of teaching UNC students. (as opposed to federally funded it as a major educational component. Policy (popecenter.org). PAGE 20 JUNE 2012 | CAROLINA JOURNAL Books & the Arts

From the Liberty Library Book review

anatics, terrorists, and ap- peasers have tried everything Chinese Girl a Shocking But Inspiring Immigration Story to silence Geert Wilders — Ffrom putting him on trial to putting • Ying Ma, Chinese Girl in the Ghetto, Seattle: Create Space, to return to school, Ying’s mother warned her about telling a price on his head. But Wilders, 155 pages, 2012, $9.99. anyone about the visits from these relatives, but 5-year-old a member of the Dutch parlia- Ying forgot her mother’s warning and waved her painted By Melissa Mitchell nails for all to see. In the end, Ying was told that she could ment since 1998, refuses to be si- Contributor lenced — and one result is his new no longer wear nail polish to school because it was unfair to book, Marked for Death: Islam’s War RALEIGH the other students who did not have access to nail polish, Against the West and Me. For years ike most readers, when I decide to read a book, I have “so I should try not to make them feel bad,” says Ying. Wilders has sounded the alarm an idea what the book is about. I saw a small snippet Because she is a shy, quiet child, Ying’s parents per- about the relentless spread of Islam of an interview with Ying Ma and was intrigued by ceive her as less intelligent than her more talkative older in the West. And he has paid a steep Lher story. As a non-English-speaking immigrant, she real- brother and worry about her getting into good schools in personal price, enduring countless ized the American dream, receiving an undergraduate de- China. But once in school, it becomes apparent that she is death threats. Since 2004 he has gree from Cornell University and a degree from Stanford not only a very gifted student, but a very determined one — been forced into a permanent state Law School, and working for a Fortune 500 company. She qualities that allow Ying to achieve in the inner-city Ameri- of hiding. Marked for Death is a stark is a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, her writings can schools she will attend. warning about a growing threat to have been published in numerous publications, and she is a The second part of the book looks at the nightmare our liberties written by a man who member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Ying and her family encountered after moving to Oakland. has lost his freedom — and would But I was totally unprepared and shocked when I read Although their apartment was larger and they had running not see the rest of us suffer the same her autobiography, Chinese Girl in the Ghetto. The first shock water, the family now lived in abject poverty and in fear of fate. For more information, visit was her reason for writing the book. The original idea was their black neighbors who, she writes, regularly beat and www.regnery.com. to write a book about a “journey from authoritarianism to robbed Asians. Ying’s parents now worked six days a week a free society,” states Ying, but in to support their family. Her mother became a seamstress in 2010, multiple crimes by black a sweatshop, and her father took a job cut- teenagers against Asians in Oak- ting up fish. Ironically, Progressivism has so cor- land, Calif., changed the tenor Ying says her parents rupted the modern political mind- of her book. Readers will be discovered that Chinese set — in both parties — that it has shocked by the black-on-Asian immigrants “derived obscured the secret of the Consti- crime and abuse she and other great satisfaction from tution’s success: the way it har- Asians experience. treating each other poor- monized freedom and tradition. Like many, I assumed ly,” and “their employers In America’s Way Back, American that once someone legally im- treated them as if they Conservative Union vice chairman migrates to the United States were subhuman.” Donald J. Devine points to the es- from a communist country, Ying works hard sential paradox that Nobel laureate life becomes easy, but Ying’s in school, but has few F. A. Hayek highlighted: “A success- book provides a realistic look friends. Evenings often are ful free society will always in large at a life filled with poverty spent helping her parents measure be a tradition-bound so- and daily fear due to racism. with paperwork and taking ciety.” America’s Way Back makes a “I morphed from a them to medical appoint- powerful case for a new “fusion” of carefree and happy child ments. She also cleans and libertarianism and traditionalism. living under post-Mao Chi- cooks supper after school. Just as the fusionism of William F. nese authoritarianism to a Using an uncle’s ad- Buckley Jr. and Frank Meyer led to bitter, foul-mouthed teen- dress, she is able to attend a conservative revival in the 1960s, ager fighting against the better schools in a more afflu- a new harmony between freedom shadows of the American ent area. One of Ying’s most and tradition will revive America inner city,” states Ying. disappointing moments hap- today. Learn more at www.isi.org. The first half of pens after she pours her heart the book is dedicated to into researching and writing a her life in Guangzhou, 40-page paper on the Hudson China. The family’s liv- River School of Art and receives Peter Collier’s Political Woman ing conditions, which a B+. Knowing that other stu- is the first biography of Jeane Kirk- were typical of most dents with inferior papers got patrick, Ronald Reagan’s U.N. am- families in Guangzhou, As, Ying questions the teacher were meager. Ying and bassador and the administration’s about her grade and learns that her family slept in one most forceful presence in shaping the teacher never read the paper the Reagan Doctrine and fight- bedroom, while her because it was handwritten. Ying ing the Cold War to a victorious paternal grandparents had escaped the ghetto schools, conclusion. A pioneering feminist and uncle slept in the but not the poverty that prevented and academic, and an important other. They shared a kitchen her from owning a computer. After Democratic Party activist, Kirkpat- and bathroom with the family next door. There was her brother heard what happened, rick would be hated for leading a no hot running water, and the toilet had to be flushed by he took his savings and bought her a computer. group of Democratic liberals into bailing water from a large ceramic tank. the Reagan administration after Ying may have been carefree, but her parents were Chinese Girl in the Ghetto is a fascinating and eye-open- what she saw as the trashing of the not. The tenets of Mao’s communism remained. Her mother ing story about legal immigration. There is some rough lan- Roosevelt coalition and capitula- and other adults constantly feared the government and cau- guage within the book that illustrates her plight, but it is not tion to Soviet advances. Political tioned her children to be careful about what they said and offensive. Woman also shows the price she did, reminding them they were fortunate not to have lived It is an inspiring story about one girl’s triumph over paid for her success in a private life under Mao’s rule. seemingly insurmountable odds. Much of her initiative filled with sorrow and loss as pro- When Ying was five she was sent to a kindergarten and determination come from her Chinese heritage. After found as her epic achievements. across town, where she stayed throughout the week and reading this book, I concluded that the United States needs For more, visit www.encounter- returned home only on the weekends. During this time, a legal immigrants like Ying Ma to provide an example for books.com. CJ relative visited from Hong Kong and brought Ying a pres- Americans who have lost their work ethic and desire for ent of nail polish and painted Ying’s nails. When it was time educational excellence. CJ JUNE 2012 | CAROLINA JOURNAL PAGE 21 Books & the Arts N.C. Novelist Robert Ruark More Than a ‘Hemingway Spin-Off” mitation is the sincerest form of flat- Although Ruark never aban- event, but the other day I sat with Er- to hunt, and to fish, and used those les- tery.” I heard that idiom more than doned his love of small-town North nest Hemingway to watch a bullfight sons to school Ruark on bigger things once as a student. An adviser rou- Carolina, his writing ability and ambi- in the same town he immortalized in such as compassion, integrity, and, tinelyI recommended that I study good tion soon led to larger opportunities. ... The Sun Also Rises.” That encounter well, life. authors’ writing styles and then mimic After serving in the U.S. Navy during sparked a friendship and future corre- In these stories, vivid descriptions them in my papers. In time, he prom- World War II, the Tar Heel worked in spondence. portray the rural North Carolina land- ised, my own style Washington, D.C., as a columnist and The North Carolinian in some scape and describe a crusty yet endear- would emerge. a novelist. He wrote regularly for the ways imitated Hemingway, too. The ing grandfather. In his African novels, I remem- Saturday Evening Post, Colliers, Esquire, Old Man and the Boy may well remind though, Ruark’s attention to detail bered that idiom and Field and Stream. His columns were one of Santiago shocked some readers who deemed when recently republished in fu- and the young his exhaustive descriptions too violent. hearing about ture book-length boy in Heming- Even so, with the African novel Some- Robert Ruark, one collections, includ- For a good way’s The Old thing Of Value, Ruark earned more than of North Caro- ing I Didn’t Know It Man and The Sea. $1 million from royalties and later film lina’s — and the Was Loaded (1948) beach read And Ruark, like rights. A 1957 movie of the same name nation’s — best- and One for the Hemingway, was starred Rock Hudson and Dana Wyn- known writers of Road (1949). this summer, an outdoorsman ter. the 20th century. TROY The Old Man try N.C.’s who embarked on Few things, if any, in this world Some critics belit- KICKLER and The Boy (1957) African safaris and are outright new. People take what tled the Wilming- is a collection of his Robert Ruark used his real-life exists and add to it, improve it, or in- ton native as sim- monthly Field and observations and corporate it into their current projects ply a “Hemingway spin-off.” Ruark Stream columns. travels as material — whether it’s writing style, coaching admired Hemingway’s lifestyle and Americans enjoyed for his novels such basketball, or technology. I can’t imag- work, true, but that’s a simplistic and reading Ruark’s bucolic tales empha- as Horn of a Hunter: The Story of an Afri- ine an iPad, for instance, being in exis- unfair characterization of the nation- sizing nature and man’s interaction can Hunt (1953) and Something of Value tence today without the clunky Apple ally known columnist and novelist. with it. The accounts of a grandfather (1955). I personal computer kit of the late ’70s. On Dec. 29, 1915, Robert Ruark and grandson’s friendship also ap- But readers appreciated Ruark’s What’s new has roots in the past. entered the world. As a 15-year-old, pealed to Field and Stream’s wide read- wit and unique style. He could be Before I forget! If you want a he enrolled at the University of North ership. homey and always appreciated the good, beach read this summer, take a Carolina. At 19, he graduated with a Ruark was indeed a Heming- particular, as evidenced in The Old Robert Ruark work with you. CJ journalism degree and started working way fan. In 1953, he met the iconic Man and the Boy. He recounts his boy- for North Carolina papers, including American author in Spain and gush- hood experiences on the North Caro- Dr. Troy Kickler is director of the the Hamlet News Messenger and Sanford ingly wrote about it: “You will pardon lina coast near Southport. There his North Carolina History Project (northcar- Herald. a small boy’s enthusiasm for a current grandfather taught him to train dogs, olinahistory.org).

More research at your fingertips at the redesigned JohnLocke Foundation home page You can now search for research by John Locke Foundation policy analysts much easier than before. Our new web page design allows you to search more efficiently by topic, author, issue, and keyword. Pick an issue and give it a try. Or choose one of our policy analysts and browse through all of their research. Ei- ther way, we think you’ll find the infor- mation presented helpful and enlight- ening. http://www.johnlocke.org PAGE 22 JUNE 2012 | CAROLINA JOURNAL Books & the Arts

Short Takes on Culture Book review ‘October’ About Redemption Ladies: Not All Women Collectivist • “October Baby” it’s the twists and unpredictability • John Blundell, Ladies for Liberty: conviction, but courage, risking bodily Directed by Andrew Erwin of the predicaments that drive the Women Who Made a Difference in Ameri- harm or severe financial loss. That was Provident Films tension and interest to a conclusion. can History, New York: Algora Publish- the case with several of Blundell’s la- It’s also pretty standard that it’s ing, 2011, 230 pages, $32.95. dies for liberty, starting with the first went into “October Baby” with difficult to distinguish the bad guys in the book, Mercy Otis Warren. She very low expectations; I came out from the good guys consistently — By George Leef was the sister of the outspoken patri- recommending it to everyone, in- these are positions with considerable Contributor ot James Otis, who was attacked and Icluding people who I know are put off in-built flexibility in the spy business, RALEIGH beaten savagely for expressing his op- by cheesy religious dramas. “October anyway. n contemporary American politics, position to British rule. Mercy was ev- Baby” isn’t that. It is a powerfully real This story, set in the current day, women generally are assumed to ery bit as much an opponent of British story of pain and hurt and struggle juxtaposes a Russian millionaire’s be more inclined toward socialistic tyranny as her brother and engaged and redemption. desire to leave his criminal brother- Iideas than men are. Women are more in a variety of treasonous activities The story centers around a girl hood behind — and tell all to British likely to favor candidates and policies along with famous male patriots. She who, in her freshman year of college, intelligence — with the vacation plans that are supposed to help people, to was instrumental in establishing the discovers that she was adopted fol- of a pair of ordinary British tourists provide a “safety net” against misfor- Committees of Correspondence that lowing her very premature birth due in whom our Russian protagonist tune, and to promote “social justice.” knit together opposition to British rule to the failure of an attempted abortion. confides. That confidence draws the (Of course, many men hold those throughout the colonies. Understandably, she loses it. pair into an increasingly dangerous views as well.) Abigail Adams could have been The issues are myriad — anger plot, wherein secrets on both sides are John Blundell’s book Ladies for hanged for spying had the British au- at her adoptive parents for never tell- revealed, and ultimately — brutally Liberty is a strong antidote to the notion thorities intercepted some of her let- ing her any of it, confusion about her — protected. that women are prone to mushy, collec- ters to her husband that informed identity, bewilderment at the idea that The dialogue of debriefings and tivistic thinking and are hostile to indi- him of redcoat troop movements in her biological mother tried to abort confessions is a large part of the text, vidualism. He has written 20 short bio- and around Boston. her, and general confusion about what and the audio format works well for graphical sketches Abigail also argued all this means and how she goes on. that. But le Carre’s plot is complex, of American women strongly (again It’s difficult and complicated and and it behooves the listener occasion- who fought — some- through her letters) heart wrenching. And I haven’t even ally to revisit portions of the book’s times at great risk that the Declaration told you everything yet. narration. to themselves — for of Independence freedom. But while “October Baby” is, — KAREN PALASEK should denounce Blundell, who undoubtedly, a film about abortion, slavery, and she was I don’t think that’s really its most im- served as director disappointed when portant theme. Rather, it’s ultimately • The Decline of Men: How the American general of the Insti- the document con- a film about forgiveness. Male is Tuning Out, Giving Up, and tute of Economic Af- tained no such lan- “October Baby” presented a Flipping Off His Future fairs in London until guage. Finally, she difficult issue with compassion and By Guy Garcia 2009, explains that attacked the many grace. It didn’t vilify anyone — not Harper the book grew out laws, both before the adoptive parents or the biologi- of his 2008 book on and after the Revolu- cal mother or the medical staff at the A recent cover story in Time Margaret Thatcher. tion, treating women abortion clinic — but it did challenge magazine proudly proclaimed that He did many speak- as lesser citizens. its viewers to consider the need that women are now the richer sex, in- ing engagements in Perhaps the we all have both to forgive and to be creasingly outearning the men in their the U.S. about that bravest of all was forgiven. lives. The article prompted me to pick book, and he was It’s difficult and messy and pain- up a copy of Guy Garcia’s The Decline asked often which Harriet Tubman. She ful, but in forgiveness there is healing, of Men. Garcia, himself a former staff American women was born a slave in even for the deepest wounds. I think writer for Time, offers nearly 300 pages he would compare Lady Thatcher to. Maryland and en- that’s a message we all need to hear. of depressing statistics and anecdotes In answering such questions, Blundell dured whippings in her youth — com- — JULIE GILSTRAP on the decline of the Western male. found out that few of his listeners mon punishment for any slave who In a nutshell, Garcia argues knew anything about American wom- got the least bit out of line. In 1849, from research indicating that men en who had advanced the cause of she ran away, avoiding the patrols of • Our Kind of Traitor are dumber, lazier, and more self- freedom, other than some well-known slave catchers paid by the state and By John le Carre destructive than women. He rightly names. That is why he decided to write reaching safety in Pennsylvania. She Unabridged audiobook argues that some traits of the modern the book. found work as a maid but saved most man are self-inflicted, but he gives It reads very rapidly, each chap- of her earnings for a planned return to I was surprised to realize that I scant reference to the major culprits of ter only 10 pages or fewer, getting Maryland to bring her family out of have read most of the 22 espionage an anti-man society and the pervasive right into the work each individual slavery. Harriet succeeded in getting novels so far produced by author John influence of radical feminism. did on behalf of freedom. Blundell’s her own family to freedom. And then le Carre. The most recently written, With the decline in the Judeo- profiles are arranged chronologically: she became “the conductor on the Un- Our Kind of Traitor, is the only one I Christian understanding of manhood Mercy Otis Warren; Martha Washing- derground Railroad” and helped many have accessed in audiobook rather — protector, provider, and servant ton; Abigail Adams; the Grimke Sis- other slaves escape from bondage. Fol- than print format. leader — many men have taken on the ters (Sarah and Angelina); Sojourner lowing the Civil War, she took up the At 11 1/2 hours of playtime, harmful role of manhood propagated Truth; Elizabeth Cady Stanton; Har- cause of women’s suffrage and also it is comparable in length to books by the media. Garcia sees the problem, raised the funds for a home for aged like Pride and Prejudice or Witness to but his solution — men need to adopt riet Tubman; Harriet Beecher Stowe; and infirm black people — private Hope. The disadvantage of audio in a more feminine traits, in a New Age- Bina West Miller; Madam C.J. Walker; charity long before government got book like this is the inability to pause type way — is faulty. Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter into the welfare business. unconsciously on a point and then The Decline of Men is a good Rose Wilder Lane; Isabel Paterson; Lila To those “profiles in courage” resume the story. resource for academic and statistical Acheson Wallace; Vivien Kellems; Tay- The author characteristically of- evidence of how men are suffering to- lor Caldwell; Clare Boothe Luce; Ayn Blundell adds other fascinating sketch- fers an intricate plot, as any le Carre day. Beyond that, it’s an empty tome. Rand; Rose Director Friedman; Jane Ja- es of women who spoke, wrote, and fan knows. In the spy genre, moreover, — DAVID N. BASS CJ cobs; and Dorian Fisher. acted to advance liberty. I heartily rec- Confronting authoritarians and ommend that you get a copy of this oppressors usually requires not just book and read it cover to cover. CJ JUNE 2012 | CAROLINA JOURNAL PAGE 23 Books & the Arts Book review Tyranny Will Arm You For Political Discussions With Liberals • Jonah Goldberg: The Tyranny of Cli- Fascism. In it, he reviewed the intel- liberal talking point that conservatives thickheaded. chés: How Liberals Cheat in the War of lectual history of contemporary liber- are dogmatic ideologues while liber- Riding this cliché, the Left argues Ideas, New York: Sentinel Publishing, alism and — with meticulous schol- als/centrists are pragmatic. (President that it is “empirical,” or “part of the 279 pages, 2012, $27.95. arship — showed the debt modern Obama: “The question we ask today is reality-based community,” while con- liberalism owes to early 20th-century not whether our government is too big servatives and libertarians embrace By Rick Henderson progressivism and fascism. Modern or too small, but whether it works.”) mysticism and cant. Managing Editor liberals may not advocate genocide, Goldberg makes quick work But modern liberalism is an ide- RALEIGH but many of their policy prescriptions of this canard, noting that Napoleon ology. It values some principles dif- memorable moment of the 1984 have pedigrees that Mussolini would Bonaparte took credit for inventing ferently than classical liberalism, or U.S. Senate campaign between have applauded. the term “ideologue” as an epithet to today’s conservatism and libertarian- Jesse Helms and Jim Hunt oc- While Liberal Fascism may be the describe the French revolutionaries his ism. Many modern liberals appear to Acurred in a debate when Helms said, sort of dense book you should read, coup replaced. Goldberg cites historian be ideologues and are ashamed of it, “Jim Hunt is a Mondale liberal and Tyranny of Clichés is the kind of book John B. Thompson, who noted that as while contemporary conservatives are ashamed of it. I’m a Ronald Reagan you want to read. the emperor was los- more likely to own their ideology and conservative and proud of it.” It’s both breezy and ing control, “Nearly be proud of it. The statement infuriated Hunt serious, with cita- all kinds of religious Goldberg then tackles clichés and his liberal allies, but it placed the tions from deep and philosophical with vigor, among them: dogma; di- chameleon-like governor on the de- philosophical tomes thought were con- versity; social Darwinism; social jus- fensive. It also injected a stark contrast interspersed with ref- demned as ideology. tice; the living constitution; and my between the unapologetic conserva- erences from Monty The term itself had favorite, “violence never solved any- tive Helms and the ideologically amor- Python. become a weapon thing.” (Really? Ask the millions of Eu- phous Hunt, giving voters a clear view Goldberg got in the hands of an ropeans who were liberated by Allied of where the candidates stood on the the idea for Tyranny emperor struggling forces in 1945.) key issues in the election. as he was promot- desperately to silence My main criticism is that Gold- Moreover, it was accurate. As ing Liberal Fascism. his opponents and to berg could have been tougher on con- Helms pointed out in his memoir He found that his sustain a crumbling servatives who get lazy. He notes that Here’s Where I Stand, Mondale’s politi- liberal critics often regime.” Russell Kirk saw conservatism as “the cal action committee sent out a fund- used facile slogans Marx later negation of ideology.” This is non- raising letter under Hunt’s signature, as crutches during “adopt[ed] Napo- sense, but Goldberg largely gives Kirk saying, “Walter Mondale believes as political discussions. leon’s definition of a pass because he saw “ideology” as you and I do in the very best for the The tendency afflict- ideology and add[ed] utopian fanaticism. Instead, Goldberg Democratic Party.” And Hunt failed ed seasoned journal- his own twist by uni- views ideology as a general, usually to distance himself ideologically from ists, intellectuals, and versalizing the idea consistent way of looking at the world. Mondale in any meaningful way. political activists. of an ideologue,” Goldberg writes. I agree. That incident came to mind as I “[P]eople invoke these clichés as Ideology, in Marx’s view, is “some- But that minor gripe should not read Jonah Goldberg’s The Tyranny of placeholders for arguments not won, thing you are born into. … It is entirely dissuade you from devouring this Clichés. Goldberg, a fellow at the Amer- ideas not fully understood,” he writes. a function of class.” book. Goldberg’s list of clichés is far ican Enterprise Institute, has compiled “At the same time, the same sorts of American pragmatists and pro- from complete, and the book may en- an enlightening and often mischievous people cavalierly denounce far more gressives have continued the embrace courage you to shoot down others collection of examples showing how thought-out positions because they’re of “ideology” as some sort of disease. you run across. After reading Tyranny, the American Left has grown sloppy too ‘ideological.’” Another recent book, The Republican you should be able to enter a politi- over time, leaning on trite phrases And this is where the book takes Brain, by journalist Chris Mooney, cal discussion with a lot more convic- rather than logic to defend its views. flight. Goldberg points out that- per argues that conservatives are closed- tion than someone who got his talk- Goldberg garnered fame and in- haps the most insidious cliché in to- minded and resistant to contrary ing points from a bumper sticker in famy with his previous book Liberal day’s political discourse may be the views because we’re hard-wired to be the parking lot. CJ Books authored By JLF staFFers Free Choice for Workers: Selling the Dream A History of the Right to Work Movement Why Advertising is Good Business

By John Hood President of the John Locke Foundation By George C. Leef Vice President for Research at the John William Pope Center for Higher “[Selling the Dream] provides a Education Policy fascinating look into the world of advertising and beyond ... “He writes like a buccaneer... Highly recommended.” recording episodes of bravery, Choice treachery, commitment and April 2006 vacillation.” Robert Huberty www.praeger.com (Call Jameson Books, 1-800-426-1357, to order) Capital Research Center PAGE 24 JUNE 2012 | CAROLINA JOURNAL Opinion

COMMENTARY Regulatory Reform Just Getting Started .C. Senate leader Phil would increase the water supply Berger recently told an N.C. and alleviate the need for restric- Chamber of Commerce con- tions. But permitting, plan approv- ferenceN that the General Assembly is als, and construction regulations not through with regulatory reform. can add an extra 14 years to the The 2011 General Assembly passed time it takes to build a new reser- Regulation Reform I, the 2012 short voir. session would pass Regulation • The 2010 smoking ban pro- Reform II, Regulation Reform III hibits smoking in bars, restaurants, would pass in 2013, and reforms government buildings, and vehicles. would continue until regulations Smoking’s not allowed in state pris- in North Carolina are lean, fair, ons or on hospital grounds. Local equitable, and help rather than hurt governments can enact even stricter citizens, taxpayers, and businesses. regulations, and Wrightsville Beach Among the 2011 is considering an outdoor reforms were measures ban. N.C. State University EDITORIAL banning state environ- may mandate a 100 per- mental regulations from cent smoke-free campus. being more stringent than Tobacco use is legal in Ivory Tower federal rules; mandating a North Carolina. Do we re- comprehensive review of ally need the government rules to reduce redundan- telling us we can’t smoke? Spending cy and inconsistencies; • Car insurance rules and requiring studies include a hidden tax of 6 t’s become an annual ritual. Uni- are spending on North Carolina resi- of the cost of new rules BECKI percent on every policy versity of North Carolina system dent students at community colleges to businesses, including GRAY that subsidizes insurance officials come to Raleigh, hats in and four-year institutions. an analysis of possible for risky drivers; this hand,I begging the General Assembly Several conclusions leap off the alternatives. As Berger said, this is a subsidy drives up the cost of car in- to increase funding so they don’t have page: good start. surance for safe drivers, and it’s not to raise tuition to unconscionable lev- • UNC students are not cheap. North Carolina has more regu- disclosed separately on your bill. els. Lawmakers typically give in, even In 2010-11, per-student spending in lations than any other state in the • North Carolina licenses as parents chafe from their higher out- the UNC system was $13,442. By con- Southeast. In addition to our high more than 100 occupations and of-pocket costs and taxpayers wonder trast, per-student community college where the money is going. spending was about 30 percent of that: tax rates, overburdensome regula- has more than 50 licensing boards. North Carolina’s public higher $4,041. tions are stifling our economy and Licensing mandates exist for Afri- education system is a source of pride, • UNC took a modest — not deterring businesses from growing can hair braiders, music therapists, and justifiably so. But we need better crippling — hit during the recession. and choosing to locate in North landscapers, locksmiths, property ways to assess the finances of higher In inflation-adjusted terms, overall Carolina. managers, and orthotic shoemakers. ed, because too much of the roughly spending on UNC increased by 35 Here are a few examples: Many argue that licensing require- $9 billion in annual spending seems percent from 2003-04 through 2007-08. • North Carolina law requires ments are not intended to protect impossible to track. Money for higher Then it fell, by 8 percent, from $2.08 12.5 percent of our energy eventu- the public but to appease special ed comes from myriad sources — billion in 2007-08 to $1.91 billion in ally to come from conservation interests that don’t want competi- direct appropriations from the leg- 2010-11. But enrollment grew by 7 measures or renewable sources. tion. islature, tuition, fees, scholarships, percent during the recession, leading Wind, solar, and biomass are renew- • In addition, state agencies research grants, donations, endow- to a 14 percent drop in per-student able sources, and they are signifi- have the authority to enact their ments, and more. spending in 2010-11. cantly more expensive than coal, own rules. There are currently more Fortunately, House Majority • Community colleges, by con- nuclear power, or natural gas. The than 23,000 such rules in place with Leader Paul “Skip” Stam, R-Wake, has trast, were hammered by the down- regulation mandates higher electric- 4,000 environmental rules alone. cut through some of the clutter. He turn. Community college spending ity prices that drive up the cost of Until 2011, there was no review of asked the General Assembly’s Fiscal peaked in 2007-08 at $844 million Research Division to isolate direct (2003 dollars). After two lean years, everything and increase the cost of these rules — once they were in legislative (taxpayer) spending on spending rebounded in 2010-11, leav- electricity for all of us. place, they generally stayed in ef- in-state, higher-ed students from the ing it $8 million below the peak. But • Environmental regulations fect. 2003-04 fiscal year through 2010-11. enrollment had surged by 23 percent are particularly onerous to property The 2012 regulation reform He also requested a calculation for over that time. Per-student spending owners and developers. Regula- bill would increase transparency, spending on full-time equivalent resi- was 36 percent lower than it had been tions covering stormwater runoff, streamline permitting, and increase dent students at UNC campuses and before the recession began. surface water, land use, clean water, the length of some permits. community colleges, and to adjust the Clearly, the taxpayers of North wetlands, clean air, and sedimenta- Regulatory reform is moving figures for inflation. Carolina could get a lot more bang tion add up to extra expense, time, in the right direction. I agree with The calculations did not include for the buck if state officials could and aggravation. For many entre- Berger: Let’s keep going until we get tuition or capital spending and also encourage more first- and second- preneurs (aka job creators), the rules government off our backs and let it excluded specific types of nonstudent year students — especially those who are too burdensome, inconsistent, return to protecting our rights. CJ spending that are “administratively need remedial help — to get associate and expensive to make it worth housed” at UNC. Nor do they count degrees at community colleges. investing in North Carolina. spending on out-of-state students, And elected officials should • Drought regulations man- whose higher tuitions are expected to push for even greater transparency in date how much water we can use Becki Gray is vice president for cover the full marginal cost of their higher-ed spending, so that officials at education. these institutions can be held account- and when. Building more reservoirs outreach at the John Locke Foundation. In other words, these figures ap- able for how they manage a valuable proximate how much state taxpayers resource for all North Carolinians. CJ JUNE 2012 | CAROLINA JOURNAL PAGE 25 Opinion

EDITORIALS COMMENTARY Carolina Conceit If North Carolina Mississippi’s test score gains outstrip N.C.’s orth Carolina’s political marches back in the ’50s and ’60s and Were a Country culture is dysfunctional. ’70s. Folks are saying, ‘What in the f North Carolina were a separate percent on investment in corporate No, we’re not just talking world is going on in North Carolina?’ country, we would not fare well businesses is fourth-highest of the Nabout sex scandals. These are merely We look like Mississippi.” in key international comparisons 34 countries. a symptom of a more fundamental Perdue’s comments subjected Iof economic competitiveness. By no means is tax policy the problem: arrogance. North Carolina to embarrassing Like it or not, economic deci- only factor that affects competitive- North Carolina politicians rejoinders. The lieutenant governor sions don’t respect national borders. ness and growth. Investors, manag- exhibit a pretense of humility. They of Mississippi was among those who North Carolina competes not just ers, and entrepreneurs look at a host pretend to honor deeds over words, to pointed out that when it comes to the with South Carolina but also with of other factors such as legal and “be rather than to seem” as the state policy issue most people are wor- South Korea and dozens of other regulatory environment, infrastruc- motto puts it. They call their state “a ried about — jobs and the economy countries for investment, employ- ture, and the education level of the vale of humility between two moun- — North Carolina would be lucky to tains of conceit,” meaning Virginia look like Mississippi, where the unem- ment, and entrepreneurs. work force. and South Carolina, even though it ployment rate is lower than ours and When it comes to In the first two cate- takes a fair amount of arrogance to say the recovery from the Great Recession the quality and cost of gories, I don’t have direct things like that. has been stronger. labor and capital, North international comparisons But for many, the pretense of Over the past two years, Missis- Carolina doesn’t have a for North Carolina, but humility soon evaporates. They pick sippi’s unemployment rate has been very good pitch right now. national data suggest that and choose among the national ratings about a third lower than ours. Our marginal tax rates on we probably rank in the that put North Carolina in the best What about Perdue’s reference investment, for example, middle of OECD coun- possible light. And they denigrate the to education? Mississippi has made are far out of line with tries — above the likes of economic vitality, educational level, or larger test-score gains than North those of our competitors. Slovenia, Hungary, and cultural values of other states in order As I describe in my forth- Turkey in infrastructure, to flatter ours. Carolina has in both reading and coming book Our Best Foot for example, but below Consider what happened in math since the late 1990s. In reading, JOHN Forward: An Investment the likes of Germany, May when WITN-TV asked Gov. Bev average eighth-grade scores for black HOOD Plan for North Carolina’s Perdue to comment on the passage of students in Mississippi rose three France, and Canada. the marriage amendment. She made points from 1998 to 2011, while North Economic Recovery: I do have direct national headlines with her response: Carolina experienced a two-point • If you combine national and comparisons of North Carolina’s “People around the country are drop. local rates across the 34 countries educational performance, however. watching us and they’re really con- Perdue hasn’t yet learned the that make up the Organization In math scores, we rank 22nd of fused, to have been such a progres- lesson that you are more likely to for Economic Cooperation and the 34 countries. In reading scores, sive, forward-thinking, economically succeed in your ultimate goal if you Development, North Carolina’s we rank 20th. On the other hand, driven state that invested in education avoid gratuitous insults of others. Real 40 percent marginal tax rate on in educational attainment North and that stood up for the civil rights humility, not pretense, will serve you corporate income is at the very Carolina ranks very high — sixth of people, including the civil rights best. CJ top. By comparison, the combined in the share of working-age adults corporate tax rate is 30 percent in with high-school degrees and third Germany, 28 percent in Canada, 26 in university degrees. percent in Britain, and 24 percent in So, which education measure Placing Blame South Korea. tells us more about work force qual- • When it comes to the com- ity and economic competitiveness: David Parker not to blame for Dems’ plight bined tax burden on dividends and achievement or attainment? Econo- capital gains, North Carolina’s 23 mists Eric Hanushek at Stanford f North Carolina Democrats have majority of the nation’s governors, percent rate ranks 10th. Most coun- and Robert Barro at Harvard have a horrible election cycle this year, and nearly 700 new legislative seats tries make greater use of differential produced several important stud- you can be sure that many candi- across the country — including large rates or base exclusions to shield ies along these lines in recent years. Idates and activists will try to blame majorities in the North Carolina Gen- more investment income from dou- In one study, Hanushek and three the recent sexual-harassment mess at eral Assembly. ble taxation. Some have even taken colleagues found that while average party headquarters. Perdue didn’t help matters. their capital gains tax rates to zero, years of schooling demonstrated They will make party chair- After signing a recovery-dampening including Switzerland, South Korea, a modestly positive relationship man David Parker the scapegoat for tax increase in 2009, Perdue insisted Belgium, and the Netherlands. with economic growth, average test Democratic disappointment. But that the legislature extend it in 2011. • Both tax policies come scores demonstrated a far stronger Parker won’t be on the ballot. The real The new Republican majority said no, into play when considering the tax effect. Indeed, once the researchers instigators of their political woes have while most Democrats were forced to burden on income from corporate put test scores into the model, the been or will be on the ballot: Barack endorse a tax hike that didn’t happen. Obama and Bev Perdue. And after initially pursuing a stock. About half of capital gains effects of years of schooling disap- President Obama decided to middle ground after the 2010 Repub- derive from the sales of corporate peared. An earlier study by Har- federalize the regulation and finance lican sweep, Perdue lurched leftward equities. Before investors receive vard’s Barro yielded a similar result. of American health care. The president during the latter weeks of the 2011 and pay personal tax on dividends If state politicians truly want also chose to pursue massive deficits, session, vetoing popular measures to or capital gains, those earnings North Carolina’s economy to be along with massive bailouts of big cut red tape, promote energy explora- are subject to the corporate tax. “world-class,” they should pursue businesses and profligate state gov- tion, and require photo IDs to vote. In a recent study, the accounting fundamental reforms of our tax ernments. The governor then made a late deci- firm Ernst & Young computed an code and our education system, for Within months of the president’s sion to retire. “integrated” tax rate on corporate starters. No more distractions. No inauguration, voters were revolting David Parker didn’t get North investment, including both personal more pretense. No more delay. CJ against his program. By the end of Carolina Democrats into their present and corporate taxes. Adapting their 2010, they had delivered Republicans political predicament. The president analysis for North Carolina, I found John Hood is president of the John seven new seats in the U.S. Senate, a and the governor did that, entirely that our top integrated tax rate of 53 Locke Foundation. new majority in the U.S. House, a new without his assistance. CJ PAGE 26 JUNE 2012 | CAROLINA JOURNAL Opinion EDITORIAL BRIEFS Government Retiree Costs

hicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel recently warned that unless Illinois quickly deals with mounting pension and retiree Chealthcare costs, the state’s future is bleak. Without major changes, retiree costs threaten to require tax increases so high that “You won’t recruit a business, you won’t recruit a family to live here,” he warned. Illinois isn’t alone, notes Steven Malanga of the Manhattan Institute in the Wall Street Journal. Other states and localities face similar unfunded retiree costs. And business and resi- dents are starting to take notice. “Government retiree costs are likely to play an increasing role in the competition among states for business and people, because these liabilities are not evenly distributed,” says Malanga. “Some states have enormous retiree obligations that they will somehow have to pay; others have enacted significant reforms, or never made lofty promises to their workers in the first place. ” Gov’t: Growing AND Shrinking In Illinois, the cost of unfunded retiree healthcare benefits comes to $3,399 per person. recent headline in a major national news- However, for the first time in 17 years, this In neighboring Indiana, it’s just $81 per resi- paper read, “Government Getting Smaller wasn’t the case in 2011, the most recent fiscal year. dent. The situation is so bad that Caterpillar, in the U.S.” But with recent record levels of After taking out inflation, government produc- which is based in Peoria, refused to locate a spendingA — especially at the federal level — and tion fell more than 2 percent across the board, at all new plant in the state, citing questions about sky-high government debt, how could anyone make levels. Meanwhile, over the last decade, government the state’s “business climate and overall fiscal the case that government has been shrinking? transfer spending has increased almost twice as health.” Well, believe it or not, an argument can be fast (after inflation) than spending for government In California, unfunded state and local made that the government sector recently has been production. pension costs top $500 billion, and several Cali- contracting. So what does all this mean? I think there are fornia cities face the possibility of bankruptcy. A long time ago, economists found it useful to three important implications. think of what government does First, the reduction in government production in two broad categories. The first spending gives support to those concerned about Medical trial costs category is government produc- government belt-tightening (“austerity” measures) The cost of developing new drugs con- tion. Government production contributing to the apparent slowing of economic tinues to increase. The main culprit, says Avik means the government sector growth. Some economists argue government S. A. Roy of the Manhattan Institute for Policy actually is generating a product production cutbacks in Great Britain already have Research, is the skyrocketing cost of Phase III or service that citizens use. For led to their double-dip recession. These economists clinical trials. example, the military, police, worry the same could happen in the U.S. Of course, In 1975, the cost of developing a new and court system provide pro- not all economists agree with this assessment. tection; roads allow the move- drug through approval by the Food and Drug An assessment that has almost universal ment of products and people; Administration was about $100 million. By agreement among economists is that total govern- and the educational system MICHAEL 1987, the amount had increased to an inflation- ment spending is being driven by government makes learning and skill acquisi- WALDEN adjusted $300 million. In 2005, the cost was $1.3 transfers. For example, a decade ago government tion possible. billion. production spending was almost 50 percent larger The second category is government transfers. Clinical trials of possible new drugs than government transfer spending. Today their Here government acts as a middle man for shuf- are conducted in three phases. Phases I and II spending levels are virtually equal, and projections fling money from one person to another. Who gets focus on where a drug might work and where show future government transfer spending far out- to spend the money changes, but the government it is safe. These involve no more than a few stripping government production spending. has no hand in making anything. Social Security, hundred patients each. Phase III clinical trials Last, I think the dichotomy between spending Medicare, Medicaid, and the various social-support involve thousands of people and tests drugs on government production and spending on gov- programs fit this category. against placebos and against other currently So with government production, a tangible ernment transfers has a big impact on how people available treatments. The large size is necessary “product” results — an aircraft carrier or tank, a view government. Government production spend- to detect potentially serious side effects that trained soldier, a road or bridge, or a high school ing is seen by almost everyone, because we all drive may affect only a small percentage of people graduate. Government also “owns” the final prod- the roads, most families use the public schools, and taking a drug. uct (tank, road) or facility (K-12 school) producing we see (especially here in North Carolina) or hear Phase III trials account for 40 percent the outcome. But with government transfers the about our military. Yet transfer spending mainly of the drug industry’s research and develop- government determines only who pays and who benefits those receiving the transfers directly. ment cost but often represent 90 percent of the spends. Individuals still make the specific spend- So as government grows, and more of this development costs of drugs that receive FDA ing decisions and own the purchased products or growth goes to “transfers” and less goes to “pro- approval. service. duction,” this trend may contribute to more people “That expense distorts the drug-develop- With this distinction in hand, we can under- concluding they are paying more for government ment system so that it does not efficiently and stand the headline better. When the writer stated, but receiving less. rationally allocate time and money to find new “Government Getting Smaller in the U.S.,” he was Is government getting smaller? The answer medications,” says Roy. referring to the first category of government — gov- depends on how you define “government”! CJ His solution is to move away from the ernment production. And he was correct. Usually binary, yes-or-no nature of drug development government spending on production rises over to a flexible, conditional-approval approach. CJ time, as when the road system expands and school Michael Walden is a William Neal Reynolds Dis- capacity grows to accommodate a larger population. tinguished Professor at North Carolina State University. JUNE 2012 | CAROLINA JOURNAL PAGE 27 Opinion Tillis’ Prediction May Prove Correct n May 8 a sizeable majority before approving a different version lina Supreme Court has ruled a out opposes or supports it. If the 1.3 of voting North Carolinians two years later. The issue is not dead, second-parent adoption by a same-sex million North Carolinians who voted wrote a prohibition on same- however. Same-sex marriage and civil couple to be illegal, there is no real for Amendment One did so for these Osex marriages and other “domestic unions are legal in six states, and most prohibition on same-sex couples rais- reasons, it will be very difficult for legal unions” into the state’s constitu- indicators of public opinion suggest ing children in this state. If we were advocates of same-sex marriage to tion. It was a clear victory for social support is growing. North Carolina really worried about the impact of gay change things. conservatives. Resounding support House Speaker Thom Tillis’ predic- marriage on others, it surely would But I suspect that many voters for the amendment in rural areas tion that the state’s prohibition will be make more sense to ban adoptions on both sides of the issue are tremen- and small towns repealed within 20 years may well be by same-sex couples. Indeed, since dously conflicted and can therefore swamped the correct. we do know that children brought up be won over. Those of us to the right “no” vote of many Supporters of the idea that mar- in a stable family situation with two of center, for example, are pulled in urban parts of the riage should be between one man and parents present are generally healthier different directions by our conser- state. one woman should therefore ready and happier than those who are not, vative and libertarian sensibilities. The strat- themselves for further challenges. it seems strange to allow same-sex Interestingly, according to a number egy of opponents As far as I can tell, the argument couples to adopt but not marry. of polls, the percentage of respondents did not help their against same-sex marriage and related The third argument is much who “strongly favor” or “strongly cause. Many arrangements like civil unions rests stronger — although far from infal- oppose” gay marriage is actually pushed specious primarily on four points. The first is lible. Many opponents of same-sex smaller than those who “strongly points about ANDY that marriage is an institution unique- marriage argue that it tears at the favor” or “strongly oppose” the repeal withdrawn ben- TAYLOR ly geared to bearing and rearing of social fabric of the country. This is a of ObamaCare and about the same as efits and domestic children. Yet society allows sterile quintessentially conservative posi- those who feel like this about in- violence that made heterosexuals to marry, children to be tion. Societies tend to prosper only if creased drilling for oil in U.S. waters. certain assumptions about the courses born outside of wedlock, and men and their participants share a set of basic Last month’s vote did not settle of action legislators would take once women with children to divorce. Fer- beliefs. Still, existing values and social the argument in North Carolina. With the amendment was approved. I tile married couples are free to choose cohesion have faced and overcome far all the emotion, the debate of whether thought arguments about rights and not to have children. greater challenges across American the state should allow people of the the redundancy of making the illegal The second is that although history than same-sex marriage — the same sex to enter into arrangements unconstitutional would have been gay marriages involve two adult and Revolution, the Civil War, and gender like marriage will continue. The issue more effective. Still, in the end, the willing participants, the arrangement and racial equality being obviously is not simple. In fact, it is surprisingly margin of defeat was so great that the is detrimental to innocent third par- dramatic examples. We are a remark- complex. Therefore, appeals to the campaign hardly mattered. ties, here the children brought up by ably adaptive people. head, and not the heart, ultimately Twenty-eight states now have parents of the same sex. Ultimately Finally, for many same-sex mar- will win the day. CJ had a chance to vote on constitutional this is an empirical question to which riage is a moral or religious argument. amendments defining marriage as we don’t have an answer — largely These are not necessarily the same Andy Taylor is a professor of being between one man and one because there just aren’t enough data thing, but they both suggest that no political science at the School of Public woman, and all 28 approved them — at the moment. amount of persuasion or logic will and International Affairs at N.C. State Arizona actually rejected one in 2006 But, although the North Caro- change the person’s mind. He just flat University. It’s Still the Economy, Stupid

he media and political insiders Rev. Jeremiah Wright “is [a] phenome- about issues and about a vision for uncertain tax policies — as well as the were all abuzz recently about nally powerful argument that’s never America.” looming implementation of Obama’s the leaking of a provocative, been properly exploited.” Gov. Romney and his team got health care plan — have stymied small T54-page proposal designed to damage The proposed $10 million ad it right. businesses, which are the driving the re-election chances of President campaign was de- In short — force of job creation in this country. Obama. signed to rehash this campaign is • And have I mentioned sky- First reported by The New York a four-year-old about the future of rocketing gasoline prices and the de- Times, the memo immediately hit Po- controversy over Romney and the economy. cline in home values across America? litico and other blogs, as well as cable inflammatory re- Several cases Millions of Americans of all eth- news and talk marks by Wright, his team got it in point: nicities and political persuasions are radio. Obama’s former • By any suffering under this president and his The memo pastor. right to nix objective stan- lack of understanding of how capital- was concocted by In fact, Davis dard, Obama’s ism works. Government-centered Fred Davis, the first proposed this campaigning economic policies economies do not work, as Greece and GOP advertising line of attack in on the Rev. Wright have not worked. the rest of the European Union are man known in 2008, when he was Although he has finding out. political circles for advising Sen. John served less than a Conservative, free-market his occasionally McCain. McCain full term, Obama Republicans are on the right side of off-the-wall media rejected it at the time. now has the dubious distinction of history. campaigns. Under MARC In my view, the proposed cam- being the first president to see the Let’s not be deterred by our op- the umbrella of the paign was repugnant and insulting to nation’s debt increase by more than $5 ponents or our friends. Republican-friend- ROTTERMAN the American electorate and has no trillion. As James Carville said in 1992, ly Super PAC place in the ongoing debate about the • Other key economic indica- “It’s the economy, stupid.” CJ “Ending Spending future direction of the country. tors that point to trouble for the Action Fund,” Davis and his team of Within hours of the Times article president’s re-election are anemic job operatives sketched out a storyboard being circulated, Gov. Mitt Romney creation and an unemployment rate Marc Rotterman worked on the na- using the slogan “Character Matters.” distanced himself from the proposed that has been above 8 percent for more tional campaign of Reagan for President The thrust of Davis’ proposed ad racially charged line of attack. “I want than 39 months. No incumbent presi- in 1980, served on the presidential transi- strategy memo was the following: to make it very clear: I repudiate that dent since Franklin Delano Roosevelt tion team in 1980, worked in the Reagan It referred to President Obama as effort,” Romney said at a news confer- has been re-elected when the nation’s administration from 1981-84, is a senior “the metrosexual, black Abe Lincoln” ence. “I think it’s the wrong course. unemployment was higher than 7.2 fellow at the John Locke Foundation, and and said that his longtime association … I hope that our campaigns can percent. a former board member of the American with controversial Chicago pastor the respectively be about the future and • Excessive regulation and Conservative Union. PAGE 28 JUNE 2012 | CAROLINA JOURNAL Parting Shot Dalton Staying Far Away From Airplanes in Campaign (a CJ Parody)

By Rick N. Bacher get anyone to lend you planes, which has histori- Aviation Correspondent cally been the cause of many problems for my fellow RALEIGH Democrats.” emocrat Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, hoping Dalton’s plane phobia will not end if he is to avoid the air travel problems that have elected, the lieutenant governor says. “When I be- caused so much trouble for Democratic gov- come governor I will use the state jet and helicopter Dernors Bev Perdue and Mike Easley, says he has no for official business, but that’s about it, unless I buy plans to go anywhere near an airplane during his a second home in New Bern or Southport,” he said. campaign for governor. “Of course, then I would be entitled to fly at taxpayer “We will use and pay for buses, trains, cars, and expense provided I claim to be working, just like Ea- vans, even ATVs and bicycles, but we are going to sley did.” stay away from flying machines,” he told Carolina The travails of Perdue and Easley have caused Journal. “I just see no upside to flying in this state.” concern in the aviation industry in North Carolina. The lieutenant governor said he has some staff- Flight miles are down drastically, affecting pilots, ers who have urged him to continue the questionable fuel suppliers, mechanics, and general aviation pret- airplane-usage policies of Easley and Perdue because ty much stateside. he could probably get away with them. “My staff says that since nobody in North Car- “Several representatives of the private flight in- olina knows what I look like, I could easily cadge dustry have already suggested to me that some relief flights from rich contributors without anyone know- must be provided for this ailing industry,” Dalton ing,” he said. “But that would be wrong, I told them.” said. “These are hard times for everyone, especially In 2009 the State Board of Elections issued a owners of private jets who must pay expenses even $100,000 fine to Easley’s campaign committee for his when their planes sit on the tarmac.” unreported use of private aircraft. Then an investiga- Dalton said he will work with Democratic U.S. tion by a state prosecutor resulted in Easley pleading Sen. Kay Hagan to obtain stimulus funds or some guilty to a felony related to an unreported flight. As other business-stimulus grants from the federal gov- a result of the felony, the North Carolina State Bar ernment. suspended Easley’s law license for two years. “We can’t let such a formerly vibrant industry In 2010 the elections board issued a $30,000 Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, who has eschewed air travel for go into the dumper just because the media has made fine to Perdue’s campaign committee for unreported his gubernatorial campaign, heads out to a campaign it difficult, if not impossible, for politicians to misuse flights. Two campaign supporters have been indicted event recently. (CJ spoof photo) airplanes,“ Dalton said. for felonies related to unreported flights, and one of ground. He was the victor in the May Democratic In the meantime, Dalton says he has staffers them is scheduled for trial on June 11. Party primary election for governor without having researching a good locatioin where unused private Dalton’s campaign finance reports already ever left terra firma. jets can be mothballed, at least until everyone quits show he can win an election by staying on the “If you don’t fly,” he said, “you don’t have to paying attention to how they’re used. CJ An Investment Plan For N.C.’s Economic Recovery The ongoing debate in Washington and the upcoming national campaigns for president and Congress will offer plenty of opportuni- ties for pro-growth politicians to craft, explain, and sell reforms of the federal budget, federal taxation, federal regulation, and federal agen- cies and programs. In the new book Our Best Foot Forward: An Investment Plan for North Carolina’s Recovery, John Locke Foundation President John Hood tells North Carolina’s policymakers and citizens that economic policy is not the exclusive domain of presidents, federal lawmakers, or the Federal Reserve. States and John Hood localities can play critical roles in economic policy — for good or for ill. We invite you to read and share this plan for our state’s recovery with your family, friends, and co-workers. Go to http://johnlocke.org for more information.

The John Locke Foundation, 200 W. Morgan St. Suite 200, Raleigh, NC, 27601 919-828-3876 • JohnLocke.org • CarolinaJournal.com • [email protected]