INSIDE THIS ISSUE: DEPARTMENTS Senator: North Carolina 2 Education 8 Fiscal trans- CAROLINA Local Government 10 From Page 1 13 parency Higher Education 17 website not Books & the Arts 20 Opinion 24 a problem/2 JOURNAL Parting Shot 28 A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF NEWS, ANALYSIS, AND OPINION FROM THE JOHN LOCKE FOUNDATION August 2015 Vol. 24 No. 8 STATEWIDE EDITION Check us out online at carolinajournal.com and johnlocke.org I-77 Lawsuit: Toll Deal Unconstitutional lodged complaints in July with Attor- ney General Roy Cooper and NCDOT Cornelius woman Inspector General Mary Morton, claim- ing that the parent companies and af- says the contractor filiates of I-77 Mobility Part- failed to disclose ners failed to disclose fully all past legal prob- legal problems lems as part of By Don Carrington the bid process. Executive Editor An NCDOT RALEIGH spokesman ac- ven though Gov. Pat McCrory k n o w l e d g e d has said the tolling project along that the agency is looking into the Interstate 77 corridor north Diane Gilroy Eof Charlotte will go forward, it faces her concerns. a challenge to its constitutionality, as Opponents well as allegations the contractor did of the project want the state to build not meet full-disclosure requirements. additional lanes without charging The lawsuit, filed in January by tolls and pay for them using existing the nonprofit organization Widen I77, This photo of I-77 at exit 31, taken at 3:48 p.m. on June 10, shows traffic, including funding mechanisms or with highway claims the deal violates the state con- many trucks, headed toward Charlotte slowing to a crawl. No trucks would be able to bonds McCrory has proposed. stitution. Among other allegations, the use the proposed toll lanes to be built in the median. (CJ photo by Don Carrington) Robert Poole, director of trans- lawsuit charges that the General As- for state and federal tax liability if the Mobility Partners will set toll portation policy at the Reason Foun- sembly delegated too much authority state terminates the contract also is un- rates, collect the tolls, and — for the dation and a longtime advocate of to the N.C. Department of Transporta- constitutional. most part — keep all the proceeds. This privately financed toll roads, toldCaro - tion, which will allow the contractor to NCDOT closed the deal with I-77 would be the second toll-road project lina Journal he continues to support the set toll rates without legislative over- Mobility Partners on May 20 to build built in North Carolina and the first us- project as a way to relieve congestion sight. what is officially called the I-77 Hot ing a public-private partnership. along that segment of I-77. He also ac- In addition, the lawsuit claims a Lanes Project. The 26-mile-long proj- In addition to the lawsuit, Di- knowledged that the proposal had sig- provision in the contract for NCDOT ect, running from Charlotte to Moores- ane Gilroy, a Cornelius resident and a to compensate I-77 Mobility Partners ville, is expected to cost $648 million. Spanish professor at UNC-Charlotte, Continued as “I-77,” Page 14 Stanly College Eatery Raises Ethics Concerns PAID mercial operations that compete di- RALEIGH, NC U.S. POSTAGE rectly with private businesses. PERMIT NO. 1766 NONPROFIT ORG. Proposal calls for The purchase and lease of the res- taurant would erase Stanly Heritage community college Properties’ debt on the property, which has had trouble keeping tenants. Stan- to operate for-profit ly Heritage Properties is a subsidiary of Uwharrie Bank. Stanly Community College Board of Trustees chairman downtown restaurant According to an inquiry filed Nadine Bowers and members Thom- as Hearne, Joe Brooks, James Nance, By Dan Way with the North Carolina Ethics Com- Associate Editor mission, Stanly Community College and Todd Swaringen are directors of ALBEMARLE wants the city of Albemarle to pur- Uwharrie Bank, its parent corpora- plan by Stanly County govern- chase the former Big Al’s restaurant tion Uwharrie Capital Corporation, or ment and private institutions to from Stanly Heritage Properties and both. place a profit-seeking commu- lease it to the private Stanly Commu- “My local community college nityA college culinary arts program in a nity College Foundation. The inquiry was trying to find a way around the vacant downtown Albemarle building suggests that the deal runs afoul of the Umstead [Act] that would basically al- faces scrutiny, as critics say the propos- state Umstead Act, which prohibits The John Locke Foundation 200 W. Morgan St., #200 Raleigh, NC 27601 al may violate state law. state agencies from establishing com- Continued as “Stanly,” Page 15 PAGE 2 AUGUST 2015 | CAROLINA JOURNAL North Carolina C a r o l i n a Brock: Fiscal Data Site Should Be No Problem By Dan Way work with Brock “to make sure that what he’s suggesting is Journal Associate Editor doable, and something that we can actually do at a reason- RALEIGH able cost on that time frame outline.” Rick Henderson oncerns about the costs of a fiscal transparency mea- Roberts said he doesn’t have a cost estimate. “That’s Managing Editor sure in the Senate budget, raised by local govern- one of the key aspects of the amendment that we need to try ments and some officials in the McCrory administra- to understand.” Don Carrington tion,C are misplaced, says Sen. Andrew Brock, R-Davie, who Data collection would be an issue for the local school Executive Editor introduced the plan as an amendment to the Senate budget. districts, cities, and counties, he said. Brock’s amendment requires the state budget office “Unfortunately, even within state government we and the controller to work with the state chief information have a lot of different systems that don’t talk to each other Mitch Kokai, Michael Lowrey officer to make funding of a state budget transparency web- as well as they should, and it’s a struggle to present data in Barry Smith, Kari Travis site a priority. The amendment passed the Senate by a vote a consistent and comprehensive way,” Roberts said. Dan Way Associate Editors of 47-2 and at press time was Gov. Pat McCrory pro- before the conference committee posed consolidating all IT func- Chad Adams, Kristy Bailey of House and Senate members tions in a new Department of In- David N. Bass, Lloyd Billingsley negotiating a two-year General formation Technology “in part Kristen Blair, Roy Cordato Fund budget. to address these concerns,” Rob- Becki Gray, Sam A. Hieb The goal, beginning with erts said. The budget did not Lindalyn Kakadelis, Troy Kickler the 2015-16 budget year, is for include funding for a database George Leef, Karen McMahan every state agency to provide its that could share data among all Donna Martinez Karen Palasek budget data, and for counties, agencies and governing units, Marc Rotterman, Jesse Saffron cities, and local education agen- he added. Terry Stoops, Andy Taylor cies to post local budget and While spending money on Michael Walden, Hal Young spending data on their websites information technology is “not a John Calvin Young Contributors while providing that informa- necessarily politically appealing tion to the Local Government thing,” Roberts said, “we find Commission. everywhere we look the legacy Joseph Chesser, Zak Hasanin “We’ve been talking about of decades of underinvestment Catherine Koniecsny, Charles Logan letting the people see the gov- in infrastructure, including our Austin Pruitt, Matt Shaeffer ernment’s ledgers since Gov. IT infrastructure, and that’s Interns [Jim] Holshouser’s inaugural something we need to address speech” in 1973, Brock told Car- if we’re going to be prudent and Published by olina Journal. “It’s the people’s money we’re talking about, effective stewards.” The John Locke Foundation and it’s long past time we make this happen.” Kevin Leonard, executive director of the North Caro- 200 W. Morgan St., # 200 Brock’s plan also has the backing of House leaders. lina Association of County Commissioners, said Brock’s in- Raleigh, N.C. 27601 “I believe Sen. Brock’s amendment encompasses the kind tentions “appear to be well-meaning, but the net effect is it (919) 828-3876 • Fax: 821-5117 of transparency in government that we all embrace,” said creates more government regulation.” www.JohnLocke.org Rep. Jason Saine, R-Lincoln, speaking on behalf of House By law, counties must make their budgetary informa- Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland. tion available to the public, and that process is already in Jon Ham “There is always a need for sunshine on governmental place, he said. Vice President & Publisher spending and operations, and I believe this is a great first “With Internet access, anyone can access this informa- step,” Saine said. He added the measure both would en- tion simply by visiting the county’s website,” Leonard said. Kory Swanson hance transparency and make it easier for policymakers to North Carolina League of Municipalities spokesman President analyze the data. Scott Mooneyham said the League believes citizens should Saine wants the new portal to work alongside the ex- have easy access to information about how government is John Hood isting Government Data Analytics Center program housed spending their money. He said the City of Raleigh’s website Chairman within the state Office of Information Technology Services. “is a great example” that could serve as a model. Even so, state CIO Chris Estes says there are “some “At the same time, it is important to recognize that the Charles S. Carter, Charles F. Fuller concerns” about placing funding for the transparency web- overwhelming majority of the roughly 550 municipalities in Bill Graham, John M. Hood site above other IT projects. “We are trying to address many North Carolina have fewer than 1,000 residents, and many Assad Meymandi, Baker A. Mitchell Jr., David Stover, J.M Bryan Taylor needs with that money, including modernizing architecture have five employees or less,” Mooneyham said. It is unclear Board of Directors standards and enhancing security, as protecting the security how Brock’s provision would affect them. of citizen data is always a priority,” Estes said. He also noted “We would hope that it would not create a new burden Carolina Journal is that local governments may publish data in computer lan- and unfunded mandate on those local taxpayers,” Mooney- a monthly journal of news, guages that cannot be translated on the state’s websites. ham said. analysis, and commentary on “We strongly support using information technology Ed Dunlap, executive director of the North Carolina state and local government to increase transparency,” Estes said. “We are doing that — School Boards Association, supports public access to gov- and public policy issues in and improving citizen interaction — with the Digital Com- ernment spending. He said school districts already provide North Carolina. mons project.” financial information through a mandatory uniform budget ©2015 by The John Locke Foundation That project is intended to make state agency websites document with a standard chart of accounts. Inc. All opinions expressed in bylined articles easier to read on mobile devices, and so they are “more in- Dunlap is concerned about the mechanics of the pro- are those of the authors and do not necessarily tuitive and easy-to-use” on all platforms, Estes said. posed portal. reflect the views of the editors of CJ or the State Controller Linda Combs “believes transparency Brock said the plan should not impose any significant staff and board of the John Locke Foundation. Material published herein may be reprinted as is a key component to good government,” said spokeswom- burdens on agencies or government units, even small ones. long as appropriate credit is given. Submis- an Sherri Johnson. “Dr. Combs looks forward to working He noted that while the amendment requires entities to sions and letters are welcome and should be with the state CIO, [the budget office], and the legislature provide fiscal updates monthly, smaller municipalities that directed to the editor. on issues and projects that improve access to the state’s fi- now issue updates quarterly simply can file a notice stating To subscribe, call 919-828-3876. Readers nancial information.” “no update” in the months between their quarterly report- also can request Carolina Journal Weekly State Budget Director Lee Roberts said his office is ing periods. Report, delivered each weekend by e-mail, “very supportive of the intent” of Brock’s amendment and Brock added he finds these objections similar to those or visit CarolinaJournal.com for news, links, “fully committed to greater transparency.” he’s heard for years about making government finances and exclusive content updated each weekday. He said the budget office and controller’s office already more visible to taxpayers. Those interested in education, economics, have undertaken initiatives to post as much government in- “I don’t know how this is problematic,” he said. “It’s higher education, health care or local govern- formation on their websites as possible. They included a full as if [agencies] are afraid to tell the people how much of ment also can ask to receive weekly e-letters revamp of the state budget website. their money they are spending. I think they are trying to covering these issues. However, he cautioned, IT personnel will need to overcomplicate a simple procedure.” CJ AUGUST 2015 | CAROLINA JOURNAL PAGE 3 North Carolina Tech Companies Push for Mandates, Collect Subsidies, Too “would have a significant negative im- Howard Hayden, professor of physics found that Google was pledged $97.1 pact on the availability of renewable emeritus at the University of Connecti- million in state incentives, including Google, SAS, and energy in the state.” cut and editor of The Energy Advocate $89 million in sales tax exemptions for Department of Revenue re- newsletter. the purchase of electricity and equip- Apple among firms cords show that Goodnight collected “Sometimes they’re adequate. ment, along with $165 million in cash $2,109,025 in renewable energy tax Sometimes they do some good. Most grants from Caldwell County and the collecting millions credits over the past five years and Sall often they line their owners’ pockets town of Lenoir. The incentives are By Dan Way received $1,059,123 over the same peri- with money from other ratepayers and spread over 30 years. Associate Editor od. Revenue privacy rules make it im- taxpayers,” Hayden said of renew- “I am not as intimately familiar RALEIGH possible to able energy with the detailed numbers for Face- nternet giant Google collected $262 verify that generating book and Apple,” Morgan said. But million in incentives when it locat- the James facilities. using estimates derived from a Good ed a data center in North Carolina, H. Good- N . C . Jobs First study, he believes Apple got Iand now is urging the General Assem- night in the State Uni- an incentive arrangement valued at bly to continue offering hundreds of R e v e n u e v e r s i t y $320.7 million to locate in North Caro- millions of dollars in subsidies to re- Department p ro f e s s o r lina. newable energy investors. reports is Herb Eck- Spokesmen for Gov. Pat McCrory Meantime, as the Cary-based, the CEO of erlin said and the departments of Revenue and multibillion-dollar software company SAS or that some solar Commerce told CJ they had no records SAS Institute Inc. also asks the state to John P. Sall advocates, of state incentives for Facebook. maintain subsidies for renewables, it is the SAS such as for- While Google, Apple, and Face- appears that two of the company’s co- e x e c u t i v e mer Bank book believe “the right and ability to founders — James H. Goodnight and vice presi- of America access power from renewable resourc- John P. Sall — may have received more dent with c h a i r m a n es is not merely a goal, but an expecta- than $3 million in state tax credits over the same and CEO tion,” according to the TechNet letter, the past five years from the renewable name. However, SAS public informa- Hugh McColl, who wrote a recently they’re not all developing renewable program. tion officials did not respond to inqui- published op-ed urging lawmakers not projects in North Carolina. On May 27, Google teamed with ries from CJ asking for confirmation of to curtail the subsidies, have a vested “The only [company] that has tech giants Apple and Facebook to is- the identities of Goodnight and Sall. interest in maintaining taxpayer sup- its own solar facilities is Apple,” said sue a letter to Senate leader Phil Berger, State Rep. Chris Millis, R-Pender, port for the industry. James McLawhorn, director of the R-Rockingham, and House Speaker is displeased that companies receiving “The banks are one of the biggest North Carolina Public Utilities Com- Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, opposing taxpayer-funded support to locate in investors in solar farms, so they gain mission’s Electric Division. Apple has House Bill 332, legislation that would North Carolina are asking for more. directly from these tax credits,” Eck- two 20-megawatt solar farms and a have, among other things, capped “It should be a testament to law- erlin said. “They gain, but everybody 10-megawatt fuel cell farm. mandates on utilities to purchase pow- makers that once you grant one busi- else in the state who’s not in the solar “According to our records, er from renewable sources. All three ness interest access to the taxpayers’ business has to ante up.” Google and Facebook have not de- Internet companies have large data pocketbook that they show the way for Investors in renewable energy veloped their own solar resources,” centers in the state that consume large others, and that it is a truth that gov- receive a 35 percent tax credit. Caro- McLawhorn said. amounts of electricity. ernment gets more of what it subsidiz- lina Journal has reported that Bank of The reason renewables cannot re- place fossil fuel plants, Eckerlin says, is And on July 16, SAS sent a letter es,” Millis said. America received $7,969,794 in solar because the wind doesn’t blow all the to Moore Berger, saying any change “No conventional power station tax credits over the past five years. In time and the sun doesn’t always shine. in the state law forcing utilities to anywhere in the world has been closed all, North Carolina has issued $224.5 Backup sources, generally provided purchase an increasing percentage of down because of solar or wind. They million in renewable tax credits since by electric generating plants powered their energy from renewable sources are supplemental programs,” said 2010, mostly to large banks and insur- by fossil fuels or nuclear energy, are ance companies. needed to provide power during those Google, Apple, and Facebook op- down times. pose H.B. 332 because it would freeze “Whenever there’s green power the amount of renewable energy utili- available, the utility has to take it” Keep Up With ties are required to purchase at 6 per- under federal law, said Eckerlin, who cent, instead of allowing it to jump designed and built the NCSU Solar to 12.5 percent by 2021. The bill also House on the N.C. State campus and State Government would reduce the size of renewable is a former treasurer of the North Caro- projects eligible for state-mandated lina Sustainable Energy Association. contracts with electric utilities. “Even if [utilities] don’t need it, they Be sure to visit CarolinaJournal. TechNet, a self-described “policy have to accept it. So that’s a rather bi- and political network of CEOs and se- zarre situation, and it puts the utility com often for the latest on what’s go- nior executives that promotes the in- under a lot of stress.” novation economy,” sent the letter to Utility companies rather than so- ing on in state government. CJ writ- Berger and Moore for the three Inter- lar developers have to build the elec- net companies. It says H.B. 332 would tric generating systems, infrastructure, ers are posting several news stories hamper investment strategies and de- and controls that are capable of accept- rail the companies’ requirement for “a ing solar electricity when it is avail- daily. And for real-time coverage of reliable, sustainable electricity supply able. These added costs are shifted to … from renewable energy.” ratepayers, Eckerlin said. breaking events, be sure to follow us Caroline Joiner, executive direc- Duke Energy spokesman Randy on Twitter (addresses below). tor of TechNet and listed on the letter Wheeless said he did not have informa- as the contact person, did not respond tion about whether Apple, for exam- to a request for an interview. ple, profits from selling its solar farm CAROLINA JOURNAL: http://www.twitter.com/CarolinaJournal Research by Jonathan Morgan, power to Duke at a higher price than JOHN LOCKE FOUNDATION: http://www.twitter.com/JohnLockeNC an associate professor in the School it buys power back off the grid, but of Government at UNC-Chapel Hill, agreed that is a possible scenario. CJ PAGE 4 AUGUST 2015 | CAROLINA JOURNAL North Carolina State Briefs Guidelines Lacking for Shutting Down Solar Farms n mid-July, Gov. Pat McCrory signed House Bill 766, a law al- By Dan Way Lord Christopher Monckton, chief policy adviser to Associate Editor lowing more people suffering the Science and Public Policy Institute and a former policy Ifrom “intractable epilepsy” to use RALEIGH adviser to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, dis- a hemp extract to treat the disease. orth Carolina has no environmental rules for shut- agrees. ting down solar projects safely, state officials say, The law would let certain “Decommissioning is a big problem with all of these. and may lack sufficient facilities to dispose of the neurologists treat intractable epi- It’s actually worse than for nuclear power stations, terawatt glass,N steel, industrial lubricants, and toxic elements after for terawatt-hour,” Monckton said. lepsy using solar panels in the state’s expanding solar industry reach “The big problem they’ve got, of course, is that these the extract the end of their useful lives. panels degrade much faster than they knew, and after about known as State Rep. Jimmy Dixon, R-Duplin, is alarmed at the 10 years you’ve already lost half the power, and after 15 CBD oil lack of control over decommissioning solar arrays and so- years you might as well throw them away because they’re w i t h o u t lar farms. He also is concerned that solar developers might not useful for anything,” Monckton said. participat- be duping unwitting landowners who lease their property Disposing of solar panels poses its own problems, ing in a pi- for solar projects, saying some require property owners to Monckton said. Some are made of a substance that con- lot study. cover the costs of disposal and land reclamation after the tains, among other things, gallium arsenide, “which is a H.B. 766 panels become ineffective. fairly strong poison,” he said. “So if you leave them in the eliminates Dixon has visited solar developments in his district, environment, they degrade and get references to medical studies met with property owners leas- into the water table. So you actually needed for legal use of the extract. ing their land for the projects, and have to be quite careful how you Rep. Pat McElraft, R-Cart- viewed some of their contracts. dispose of them. You basically have eret, sponsor of the bill, said that He said in some lease agree- to store them.” patients using the extract would ments with schools, the company Like Dixon and McLawhorn, receive a letter from their autho- installs panels on the roof of a Monckton said property owners rized doctor allowing legal use of building, “and the arrangement is should make certain leases specify the product. that the company … gets the tax that the solar developer retains own- “The patients will keep the credits,” and eventually owner- ership and responsibility for decom- ship of the solar panels transfers letter as their proof that they can missioning. Otherwise, Monckton to the county, Dixon said. Owners use CBD oil,” McElraft said. said, “It’s a scam.” must assume any decommission- McElraft also said that the le- Shutting down solar farms ing costs. gally permitted amount of extract “warrants further study,” said “There’s been some of that,” containing hallucinogenic sub- Stephanie Hawco, a spokeswoman agreed James McLawhorn, direc- stances in North Carolina would for the state Department of Environ- tor of the North Carolina Utilities be less that than allowed in many ment and Natural Resources. Commission’s Electric Division. other states. Some leases with private land- “Because there are no state “You [could] drink the whole owners “may be structured that laws or regulations that address de- bottle and still not get high,” McEl- way” as well. “I wouldn’t doubt it. But I know they’re not commissioning, there is no requirement for developers to raft said. all structured that way.” submit a closure plan,” Hawco said. “DENR is discussing In 2014, the General Assem- However, McLawhorn acknowledges, only the land- the closure issue and will enforce any directives we receive bly established the N.C. Epilepsy owner and developer know the details of the leases. Solar from the state level.” The General Assembly has given none, Alternative Treatment Act. The act developers are not required to share lease details with the she said. defines intractable epilepsy as a Utilities Commission when applying for a certificate to Currently there is “some small-scale recycling of solar seizure disorder that does not re- build. panels, generally through electronics recyclers who handle spond to three or more treatment “I think the upfront enticement of such a large amount similar components,” Hawco said. It is unclear how cleanup options overseen by a neurologist. of [lease] money … the $850 an acre per year, with the com- on a much larger scale would be handled as greater amounts Without the medical exemp- pany paying the property taxes, the company paying the of solar equipment wear out. tion, the possession of cannabis is penalty for coming out of present-use value on farmland, is The volume of solar waste is small relative to other a misdemeanor under state law. awfully enticing to these folks out here who are in need of electronic waste streams, said Dustin Mulvaney, assistant A number of North Carolina resi- some income today,” Dixon said. professor of environmental studies at San Jose State Univer- dents have traveled to states that “The enormous amount of upfront money that they’re sity. He has researched cradle-to-grave deficiencies in Cali- allow the medicinal use of canna- getting is distorting their judgment relative to 15, 20 years fornia’s solar industry, the nation’s largest. bis to get treatment for their chil- later” when the solar panels stop working efficiently and “More and more solar is going to create more and dren. must be discarded, Dixon said. more waste, and that’s definitely an issue” for North Caroli- While the law removes re- “I haven’t seen anybody that can tell me who is ulti- na, Mulvaney said. Neither the federal government nor any quirements that patients and doc- mately responsible for cleaning up and disposing. That is state government has solar decommissioning regulations to tors participate in pilot programs problematic,” Dixon said. handle the scrap. and trials, the bill encourages the “The danger that I foresee [is] that if a lot of these bad There is “a landfill crisis issue” of declining space na- state’s medical research hospitals deals are made, and then we ask the government to bail out tionwide at municipally operated and privately owned fa- to continue their clinical trials. the people who made these bad deals, I have a problem with cilities, Mulvaney said. That is why local governments are Preliminary research re- that,” Dixon said. He also worries if a solar company goes pushing for a solar recycling infrastructure to prevent that leased in April by the American out of business, a landowner could get stuck with cleanup material from crowding their landfills. Academy of Neurology showed costs and may not be able to pay them. Some solar panels contain metals such as tellurium one version of CBD oil, marketed “You’re right to raise the question about thinking and silver. Conventional solar panels use crystalline silicon, under the name Epidiolex, re- about the [land] restoration of the sites, and the disposal and many contain lead. A landfill would have to be lined to duced the frequency and severity of materials, and to the extent there are toxic materials, the accept those, Mulvaney said. handling of those, because some of the solar arrays have of seizures in more than half the Some photovoltaic solar panels contain valuable ma- toxic materials in them,” said Mark Mills, a senior fellow children and young adults tested. terials such as cadmium telluride that can be reclaimed, but at the Manhattan Institute and faculty fellow at Northwest- “if you want to get the valuable materials out, you’re going The House approved the ern University’s McCormick School of Engineering and Ap- to be exposed to the toxic ones,” Mulvaney said. measure by a 112-2 vote after a plied Science. Lawmakers, policymakers, and the solar indus- 47-0 vote by the Senate. CJ At this point, Mills said, there is time to find disposal try could take a cue from the European Union, Mul- solutions before new-generation, longer-life solar panels be- vaney said. EU-wide directives regulate end-of-life — BARRY SMITH gin wearing out, and closure of solar farms becomes neces- management of all electronic materials, a classification sary. that includes solar panels. CJ AUGUST 2015 | CAROLINA JOURNAL PAGE 5 North Carolina State Counselor Licensing Board Hires Lobbyist to Oppose Changes The board is fighting the bill and Richards then began the long cific counselor education programs to has hired a lobbyist to help fight the process of applying for her counsel- ensure graduates are trained and pre- Bill would expand change, a move Barefoot doesn’t like. ing license. She sat for the national pared properly. Richards and her husband counseling exam, which she said she Barefoot suggested that oppo- range of degrees moved to North Carolina about nine “passed with flying colors.” nents of the change want to limit com- years ago. Several years later, at age Richards subsequently received petition. “I would assume that they that could qualify 59, she decided to a letter from the don’t want the competition of having By Barry Smith change careers. board saying she more professional counselors in the Associate Editor “I followed could not get state,” Barefoot said. RALEIGH a lifelong dream a North Caro- Barefoot said where counselors state senator has taken up of going to school lina professional receive their degrees is just one part of the cause of a North Carolina to be a counselor,” counselors license the licensing process. woman who left the state to Richards said. “It because her mas- “Their claims of consistency are a earnA a master’s degree in counseling was a big step at ter’s degree did sham,” Barefoot said. “All we’re talk- at a Seattle college, then returned only this point in life not come from a ing about is where they get their mas- to learn that she couldn’t practice her to do something regionally accred- ter’s degree from.” People seeking a profession because the state licensing like that.” ited institution. license have to do a lot more than that, board said the school she attended did She and The Seattle including showing experience and not have the proper accreditation. her husband at- school has re- passing a national board exam, he said. Sue Richards approached Lt. Gov. tended the former ceived accredita- “You could have the best coun- Dan Forest’s office with her story. The Mars Hill Gradu- tion from several seling program in the nation, and if Board of Licensed Professional Coun- ate School, now called the Seattle national organizations, including the [your school is] not regionally accred- selors had told her that she couldn’t be School of Theology and Psychology. Transnational Association of Christian ited, you could not practice in North licensed in the state because the college “It was an expensive thing to pick Colleges and Schools and the Associa- Carolina,” Barefoot said. she attended — which is nationally ac- up and go across country like that,” tion of Theological Schools. But it does Barefoot also questioned the de- credited — lacks regional accreditation Richards said. not have a regional accreditation. cision by the board to hire a lobbyist to as required by state law. She and her husband returned to Katherine Glenn, who chairs fight against the legislation. Sen. Chad Barefoot, R-Wake, filed North Carolina in 2012. She did a year- the North Carolina Board of Licensed “I was not aware that a board a bill to require licensing of counseling long internship at the Salvation Army Professional Counselors, said national that is created to carry out the will of programs from graduates of schools Homeless Shelter for Women and Chil- accreditation groups certify colleges the General Assembly should be hiring with either regional or national accred- dren, and in June 2013 graduated from rather than particular programs. lobbyists to fight the General Assem- itation. the Seattle school. “When you have regional ac- bly,” Barefoot said. creditation, it is a little more stringent,” Glenn said that the board con- Glenn said. “Regional accreditation is tracted with lobbyist Fred Bone for ad- a more careful accreditation that the vice. She said it is common practice for school must go through. They’re not legislators to notify state agencies or apples to apples.” boards if they plan to introduce a bill Glenn said the board opposes the changing the rules they enforce, and www.JohnLocke.org legislation. If the General Assembly Barefoot had not done that. YOUR HOME ON THE WEB FOR insists on changing the law, the board “Sen. Barefoot did not call us and would prefer expanding the rules to say that he was introducing a bill,” NORTH CAROLINA PUBLIC POLICY allow degrees from programs accred- Glenn said. “We have hired a legisla- ited by industry-specific organizations tive liaison to educate us.” Creating your own personal Key Account at such as the Council for Accreditation The bill passed the Senate in of Counseling and Related Education- April. At press time, it was in the www.JohnLocke.org is a great starting place for tracking al Programs. CACREP looks at spe- House Rules Committee. CJ the critical public policy issues facing North Carolina. Each day, your Key Account searches a comprehensive database of JLF reports, briefing papers, news articles, press releases, and events notices to display timely information about the issues of your choice. It’s an excellent tool for those drafting legislation, researching policy issues, preparing news stories, planning political or lobbying campaigns, or seeking information with which to be an informed voter and citizen. Visit www.JohnLocke.org and create your personalized Key Account today! PAGE 6 AUGUST 2015 | CAROLINA JOURNAL North Carolina Mercatus Scholar: N.C. Fiscal Standing Has Room to Improve

By Dan Way that really did learn the hard way over Associate Editor many decades of making poor choices RALEIGH based on rosy assumptions.” ven though North Carolina An accurate valuation of the pen- ranks behind its four neighbor- sions and determining proper contri- ing states in overall financial butions “is a conversation they need to condition,E the state’s fiscal health is have” in North Carolina, she said. New mostly sound, said the author of a na- government accounting standards that tional study. are coming online soon should reveal Eileen Norcross, senior research more, but not all, of the full liability of fellow at the Mercatus Center at pension plans in future years. George Mason University, authored According to the study, a state’s the center’s annual Ranking the States cash solvency reflects the cash it can by Fiscal Condition, pulling 2013 data, easily access to pay its bills over the the most recent available, from the 50 next 30 to 60 days. North Carolina states’ Comprehensive Annual Finan- ranked 42nd there, its worst showing cial Reports. Those are the states’ offi- of the five categories. cial, audited financial statements. “By the strictest measure of cash “North Carolina is doing pretty they have less cash than short-term li- well. But I think like all states, I would abilities, so that’s where they get a little focus on pensions,” Norcross said. She bit dinged in the rankings,” Norcross said the state’s pension system has said. North Carolina was one of only an unfunded liability that’s $61 bil- 14 states in that situation. lon larger than the liability the state “In terms of the long-run sol- reports. (Unfunded liability is an esti- vency, the picture changes a little bit,” mate of the amount of money needed she said. Long-run solvency measures to pay all future benefits above the each state’s ability to cover yearly fund’s current cash value.) costs, including pension benefits and The research looked at each infrastructure, with incoming revenue, state’s short- and long-term debt, other according to the study. North Caroli- major fiscal considerations, unfunded na’s long-term liabilities are 22 percent pensions, and health care benefits to Source: Mercatus Ranking the States by Fiscal Condition, page 13 of total assets, ranking it 24th. come up with the rankings. Fourteen North Carolina was 18th among components were spread across five However, she believes the pen- Legislative Exchange Council] ranked the states for budget solvency, a mea- categories — cash solvency, budget sion numbers are wrong. North Carolina fourth for its 2015 eco- sure of whether a state can meet its solvency, long-run solvency, service- “I recomputed them based on nomic outlook.” spending obligations during the cur- level solvency, and trust fund solvency the idea that these should be valued North Carolina appears to be in rent fiscal year. — to compute an overall ranking. like bonds, and when you value them no trouble in the short run. Service-level solvency is similar North Carolina finished 27th like bonds, North Carolina has an un- “But as New Jersey, and Illinois, to a measure of the tax base — com- overall. Tennessee ranked eighth, funded liability of $65 billion, and the and some states have learned, if you puting the level of taxes, expenses, South Carolina 17th, Virginia 21st, and system is only 55 percent funded, not continue to operate off of a wrong set and revenues relative to state person- Georgia 26th. as well funded as the state is report- of numbers, your choices are going to al income. That can be used to deter- Norcross said the overall state ing,” Norcross said. “That’s the area matter over time,” Norcross said. “I mine if a state has room to increase rankings are not as important as the in- where probably some attention should think that’s the lesson of what we’re spending or raise taxes if conditions dividual categories. be paid.” looking at in countries and places like warrant. North Carolina was 24th in “The states around North Caro- She said the other post-employ- Puerto Rico and Detroit, and places that category. CJ lina have got their own fiscal story go- ment benefit liability “is large at $23 ing on. I wouldn’t necessarily compare billion, and it’s only funded at 3 per- them and say South Carolina is better. cent, which means it’s practically on a Locke, Jefferson and the Justices: You have to go behind the scenes, look pay-as-you-go basis.” Foundations and Failures of the U.S. Government at those individual ratios and what the “North Carolina’s AAA bond rat- CAFR is saying,” she said. ing from all three ratings agencies, and She also noted that the study is a our status as one of the best-funded By George M. Stephens snapshot of fiscal activity. For example, pensions in the country indicate North any concerns over North Carolina’s Carolina’s solid financial underpin- Preface by Newt Gingrich cash solvency are likely to be a one- nings,” Schorr Johnson, spokesman for year event, and once rectified its stand- state Treasurer Janet Cowell, said in re- ing will improve when 2014 numbers sponse to the study. “This book is about American come out. “The Department of State Trea- politics and law; it is also about North Carolina ranked ninth surer stands ready to work with the the roots of the Contract with among all states for trust fund solven- governor and the General Assembly to America. A logical place to find cy, its best showing in any category. Ac- ensure the long-term fiscal stability of the intent of the Founders is in cording to the state’s figures for 2013, the State Health Plan,” he said. Locke, [and] Stephens makes North Carolina’s pension system had a “I’m not familiar with this a contribution to highlighting $3.8 billion unfunded liability, and was group’s study nor the metrics they this.” 96 percent funded. used for their interpretation,” said Josh Newt Gingrich Ellis, spokesman for Gov. Pat McCrory. “You’re doing pretty well relative Former Speaker “North Carolina has scored very to the other states, and that has to do U.S. House well in other well-established rank- with the amount of the unfunded li- of Representatives abilities in the pension system relative ings. The Cato Institute ranked Gov. to state personal income, [other post- McCrory first on its 2014 Fiscal Policy employment benefits], and other debt Report Card on America’s Governors,” as well,” Norcross said. Ellis said. “In addition, [the American Algora Publishing, New York (www.algora.com) AUGUST 2015 | CAROLINA JOURNAL PAGE 7 North Carolina General Assembly Taking Fresh Look at State Asset Sales 17 of the 49 properties; 12 of the 17 are • North Carolina lacks a system- The report notes that a “regular within a few blocks of the Legislative atic process to identify surplus real systematic review of state property Lawmakers looking Building in downtown Raleigh. Other property. could yield additional opportunities to properties are in Rose Hill, Wilming- • The Department of Adminis- dispose of or consolidate assets to re- at land and buildings ton, Statesville, Greensboro, and Gar- tration does not control and manage duce cost.” ner. the state’s portfolio of real property ef- Several of the houses identified state doesn’t need It would take fectively. near the downtown legislative com- about $18 million • Discrep- plex are historic properties and would By Barry Smith to bring the prop- ancies in the require renovations before they could Associate Editor erties up to usable property data- be sold or repurposed. But most aren’t. RALEIGH condition, accord- base and insuffi- Much of the subcommittee’s General Assembly subcom- ing to the divi- cient access con- work on state property has yet to oc- mittee is looking at state prop- sion’s report. trols jeopardize cur. Gunn said he expects his sub- erty with an eye toward selling The division the completeness, committee to get geared up after the landA and buildings the state owns but estimates that the accuracy, and General Assembly adjourns its regular doesn’t need, and seeing if the state state could garner security of the 2015 session. might save money by moving from one-time revenue state’s inventory The report also recommends that leased spaces to unused or underused of $14.3 million of real property. the General Assembly direct the De- property it owns. by disposing of The report partment of Administration, which The subcommittee, a branch of the properties. In addition, local gov- estimated that all of the property the oversees the State Property Office, to the General Assembly’s Program Eval- ernments would collect an estimated state owns statewide could be valued allocate underused state-owned space uation Oversight Committee, already $138,236 in annual at more than $27.5 to meet needs of expiring leases. It also has begun looking at 49 state-owned tax proceeds once billion. properties, 17 of which have been the properties are Many of the suggests that state agencies look for found to be of no value to the state. sold. 17 properties items contained current property that is not being used “This is going to take a little time,” Among find- in the report were or is underused before seeking or re- said Sen. Rick Gunn, R-Alamance, who ings in the report have been readily identifiable newing leases. will chair the new subcommittee. “I to the Program pieces of property This isn’t the first time lawmak- don’t mind the time aspect as long as Evaluation Divi- found to be in the downtown ers have attempted to identify and sell we’re moving this thing forward.” sion are: Raleigh area. off unused state property. The General Sens. Ben Clark, D-Hoke, and • Along of no value “We are con- Assembly had such an effort as recent- Shirley Randleman, R-Wilkes, will join with the one-time to the state fident this is a ly as 2003. After some initial fanfare, it Gunn on the committee, along with money gener- portion of the ice- didn’t gain a lot of traction. Reps. Becky Carney, D-Mecklenburg, ated, disposing berg, we just don’t “There were probably four differ- Ted Davis, R-New Hanover, and Rena of unneeded real know how big that ent studies of different magnitudes” of Turner, R-Iredell. property and optimizing use of state- iceberg is,” said Sean Hamel, senior potential asset sales, Gunn said, add- The Program Evaluation Divi- owned property is expected to save program evaluator with the Program ing that he is determined not to let the sion recommended that the state sell state taxpayers $2.6 million. Evaluation Division. current effort go to waste. CJ Committee: State Needs to Boost Retiree Health Funding By Barry Smith benefits in the near future, if no action workers are employed by the state clerk of court and teacher. Associate Editor is taken, payments eventually could be before qualifying for retiree benefits After the meeting, Rep. Nelson RALEIGH jeopardized, McGorty said. could reduce the number eligible to Dollar, R-Wake, senior chairman of he state of North Carolina has McGorty said several options receive them, McGorty said. For exam- the House Appropriations Committee, unfunded liabilities for its retiree would put the state on better footing. ple, a state retiree now needs 20 years said the retiree health plan liability is a health benefit fund totaling $25.5 However, she said, all would require of service to receive retiree health ben- long-term issue. billion,T a legislative oversight commit- higher payments efits. Some states “It is an issue that we need to take tee learned on July 27. by the state, more require 25 to 30 a look at,” Dollar said. “We need to be “We found the unfunded actuari- contributions by years of employ- attentive to it and working toward al liability for the retiree health benefit retirees, or re- North Carolina ment before quali- long-term solutions. There’s no way is large, but the state could save up to duced benefits. fying, McGorty you’re going to resolve all of it in any $64 million annually by shifting costs Some alternatives ranks 41st said. sort of short time period. It’s a liabil- to Medicare Advantage plans,” said also could pose le- M c G o r t y ity that’s projected out over 30 years. Kiernan McGorty, principal program gal challenges, she among the states said the poten- We need to work on solutions that are evaluator for the General Assembly’s said. in unfunded tial for litigation long-term solutions.” Program Evaluation Division. Those op- exists if the state Flint Benson with the State Em- McGorty gave the report to the tions include mov- liabilities changes benefits ployees Association of North Carolina Joint Legislative Program Evaluation ing some retirees for current state said lawmakers should be mindful that Oversight Committee, which evaluates to Medicare Ad- employees. such benefits help in employee recruit- whether public services are delivered vantage plans; in- Rep. Pat ment. effectively and in accordance with the creasing the state contribution to the Hurley, R-Randolph, recommended “If you want to attract and re- law. fund; moving to defined contribution that the state proceed cautiously. tain new employees, you need to take North Carolina ranks 41st in the plans such as Health Reimbursement “Whatever we do, we need to go a hard look at that before you make a nation in unfunded liabilities per state Arrangements or Health Savings Ac- slowly and be sure that we’re not go- decision,” Benson said. resident, McGorty said. Eight states are counts; reducing the number of in- ing to have unintended consequences The committee took no action worse off than North Carolina. Nebras- dividuals eligible for benefits; or re- down the road, because I know many on the recommendations. Committee ka didn’t provide data. quiring active employees to pay for of us were told when we were hired members said they wanted to review While the state should have no retirees’ benefits. that we would have health [benefits] the report more before making a deci- problem paying retiree health care Increasing the amount of time forever,” said Hurley, a retired deputy sion. CJ Hed here

PAGE 8 AUGUST 2015 | CAROLINA JOURNAL Education

COMMENTARY Audit: Robeson Misspent Why Opting Out Suddenly Is In $3.16M in Medicaid Funds By Dan Way on how to use the direct reimburse- Associate Editor ments. he new school year is fast procedure. Instead, families “re- RALEIGH Wood said DHHS did what it was approaching, but policymak- fuse” tests, sometimes with unclear ublic Schools of Robeson County supposed to do in engineering the in- ers remain rattled by testing consequences for students. Accord- misspent $3.16 million of Med- teragency agreement. boycottsT that swept the nation this ing to Tammy Howard, director icaid-related money intended to “The [fault] is on DPI for not tell- spring. From New York to Cali- of accountability services for the provideP education and medical servic- ing the school systems, and then not fornia, hundreds of thousands of N.C. Department of Public Instruc- es for disabled children from 2011-13, tracking them,” Wood said. parents pulled their children out tion, DPI isn’t tracking refusals in and that could signal an $18 million As a result, according to the au- of end-of-year tests. Just say no, a a database and is “not aware of a annual problem statewide, according dit, “there is a statewide risk that [lo- mantra from another era, has been significant increase.” to a state audit. cal school districts] are using about $18 rebranded ― now as the rallying Could refusals build? Yes. cry of the testing opt-out move- Grundy says she hears from lots Moreover, according to the audit million per year in Medicaid adminis- ment. of dispirited parents of special- findings released July 27 by State Au- trative reimbursements for purposes Implications for test-based needs children, “for whom the tests ditor Beth Wood, the school district other than the benefit of students with accountability are obvious: Exams are just torture.” This spring in a failed to claim more than $364,000 in disabilities.” are useless if kids don’t News and Observer op-ed, available Medicaid funding that would “The $3,700 that the state gives take them. Repercussions Mary Nelson, mother have helped students with special the school systems is not enough” for for parent-school part- of a special-needs child, needs. all of the unique educational needs of nerships are murkier, but called on state lawmakers The problem was children with disabilities, worrying. Many parents to pass an opt-out provi- linked to misinformation Wood said. feel disenfranchised. sion enabling her son and from the state Department Robeson schools have Ignored. others like him to forgo of Public Instruction and about 4,000 students with For them, top-down end-of-grade exams they inadequate training of disabilities eligible for the reform, testing excess, cannot pass. school district employees state Exceptional Children Yet the wheels of and interminable test handling the funds. Program and receives on change grind slowly. prep have coalesced The audit notes that average $12.5 million a year Nationally, Congress is the federal Individuals from the state to provide into an intolerable mix. KRISTEN debating long-overdue Online, parents are blog- with Disabilities Education services to them. BLAIR revisions to No Child Left Improvement Act requires The Robeson district ging, sharing, and peti- Behind. Changes would tioning. Offline, they’re state education agencies to received $3.16 million in provide states with provide “education and related medi- Medicaid administrative reimburse- taking action. Their mes- greater testing flexibility. sage to those in charge is simple, cal services to students who have dis- ments during the three-year period In North Carolina, a State abilities that adversely affect their audited, but spent only $26,780 of that succinct: Standardized testing is Board of Education task force ability to obtain a free and appropriate amount on special-needs services. out of control. Stop it, or we will. on assessment just concluded its public education.” The district was selected for an New York is at the core of the review. Recommendations encom- The state’s Exceptional Children audit because it has the highest popu- opt-out movement. This spring pass a three-year plan, leveraging Program allocates $3,743 to school dis- lation of students receiving free and almost 200,000 students skipped assessments to inform instruction tricts for each eligible student. reduced-price lunches of any district Common Core exams. In New more effectively. “We have to test Jersey, news reports indicate 15 smarter,” says task force chairman The money pays for transporta- in the state, and therefore likely gets percent of high school juniors boy- Buddy Collins. tion; speech-language pathology and the most Medicaid reimbursement for cotted Common Core tests. In other The task force is recommend- audiology; interpreting; psychological, special-needs children, Wood said. states, opt-outs surged. ing a pilot study for this school physical, and occupational therapy; “Some counties don’t even get Certainly, Common Core year, looking at the “feasibility” of and social work, school nurse, and any [Medicaid reimbursement] at all, wars have fanned flames of test interim assessments for third- to counseling services, according to the some get a lot less, and some get in be- opposition. In some states using eighth-graders. Replacing end- audit. tween,” Wood said. Common Core exams developed of-grade exams with a test that If a special-needs child is on Med- The audit also concluded that “as by federally funded consortia, compares North Carolina students icaid, a school district can receive from a result of several organizational weak- parental resistance is particularly to their peers nationally also may Medicaid direct reimbursements for nesses” the Robeson district “did not high. But ire over testing predates be an option. For high school, the medical services provided to an indi- claim Medicaid reimbursement” for Common Core. Opposition has task force recommends “a national vidual, and administrative reimburse- more than $364,000 on $4.8 million of grown steadily since No Child Left assessment suite” in core content ments for programming and support eligible expenses. areas. Behind’s onerous testing require- staff. The audit recommended that DPI Testing smarter makes sense. ments took effect over a decade Under an interagency agree- and DHHS work together “to clarify So does testing leaner. Some assess- ment between the state Department of the intent and use of Medicaid admin- ago. The federal law also mandates ment is necessary ― for account- 95 percent student participation in Health and Human Services and DPI, istrative reimbursements in the inter- ability and objective feedback. But school districts were required to return agency agreement and communicate annual exams, so schools feel the what we have now is much too heat as opt-outs rise. all Medicaid reimbursements for ad- those requirements to the School Dis- much. ministrative costs back into the special- trict.” In North Carolina, the opt- That, and more, is what needs program, Wood said. It recommended that DPI moni- out movement is still “small and parents nationwide are protesting. “DPI didn’t tell them that they scattered,” says Pamela Grundy Isn’t it time to listen? Common tor the spending of Medicaid admin- of Mecklenburg ACTS, a group Core standards require students should put it back in the special-needs istrative reimbursements to ensure opposed to high-stakes testing. to “engage effectively in a range children’s program,” but instead said compliance with the state interagency Grundy, whose eighth-grade son of collaborative discussions” with there were no restrictions on use of the agreement. hasn’t taken end-of-grade tests for “diverse partners.” Now would be money, Wood said. DPI agreed with the audit find- two years, explains why parents the perfect time for policymakers to “The school systems got reim- ings and recommendations. are turning to activism: “Everyone show kids what that looks like. CJ bursed, and just dumped it in their In its response, Robeson school of- talks about involving parents, but general pot, and spent it on whatever ficials said the board is “still in limbo” no one really does it.” they wanted to — school textbooks, or as to how to spend the money while it Unlike some states, North Kristen Blair is a Chapel Hill- janitor services, or the cafeteria,” Wood awaits notification from DPI. Carolina has no official opt-out based education writer. said. At press time, DHHS had not re- There were no guidelines issued sponded to requests for comment. CJ AUGUST 2015 | CAROLINA JOURNAL PAGE 9 Education N.C. Supreme Court Upholds Opportunity Scholarship Program By Barry Smith “This decision will continue any standards for determining wheth- that funds appropriated for private Associate Editor the damage being done to our public er students receive a sound basic — or school vouchers did not serve a public RALEIGH schools and students by allowing pri- indeed, any — education, I conclude purpose. he N.C. Supreme Court on July vate vouchers to drain money from that the program violates the North “The promotion of education 23 gave a boost to school choice our already underfunded schools,” El- Carolina Constitution in two respects,” generally, and educational opportu- efforts by declaring that the lis said. “We believe the constitution Hudson wrote. nity in particular, is of paramount pub- Tstate’s fledgling Opportunity Scholar- is clear; public funds for education Hudson said the main consti- lic importance to our state,” Martin ship Program met constitutional mus- should be used exclusively for public tutional flaw was that there was no wrote. He noted that the constitution ter. The General Assembly approved schools. NCAE will continue to fight framework requiring any of the partic- specifically envisions that children in the Opportunity Scholarship Program for giving our students the resources ipating private schools to contribute to the state may be educated by a means in 2013. The program provides up to to be success- public purposes. outside the public school system. He $4,200 in scholarships to children from ful like modern “ D e f e n - added that those who think that the lower-income families to attend a pri- textbooks and dants assert voucher program is a bad policy deci- vate school. technology, more that ‘layers’ of sion should take that up with the legis- The high court’s four Republi- one-on-one in- accountability lature, not the courts. cans voted to reverse an August 2014 teraction with standards are Rep. Paul “Skip” Stam, R-Wake, ruling by Superior Court Judge Robert teachers, and a built into the who helped sponsor the voucher leg- Hobgood declaring the vouchers un- quality educator O p p o r t u n i t y islation, was pleased that the court up- constitutional. The three Democratic in every class.” Scholarship Pro- held the program. justices moved to uphold Hobgood’s Chief Jus- gram,” Hudson “Two-hundred and twenty-four decision. tice Mark Martin wrote. “I find schools worked with parents to allow Supporters of the scholarship wrote the major- none of these students to attend the school of their program hailed the ruling as a victory ity opinion. arguments con- choice while awaiting today’s court for school choice and for students who “Our con- vincing.” decision,” Stam said. “More families are not being served by the state’s pub- s t i t u t i o n a l l y H u d s o n will now have realistic access to educa- lic schools. Opponents called the rul- assigned role is limited to a determi- noted that the defendants, primarily tional options for their children.” ing a blow to public education. nation of whether the legislation is the state, lawmakers, and parents, as- Flaherty noted the popularity “Five out of six low-income stu- plainly and clearly prohibited by the serted that they would not send their with the program. “With this decision, dents in North Carolina don’t pass constitution,” Martin wrote. “Because children to private schools that did not there’s definitely room for the program either or both of their end-of-grade no prohibition in the constitution or provide for a solid education. to grow,” Flaherty said. “There’s lots of reading and math tests,” said Renee in our precedent forecloses the Gen- “This may be true, but market- Flaherty, an attorney for the Arlington, eral Assembly’s enactment of the chal- place standards are not a measure of demand.” Va.-based Institute for Justice, which lenged legislation here, the trial court’s constitutionality,” Hudson wrote. She Darrell Allison, president of Par- represented parents of students receiv- order declaring the legislation uncon- also lamented that the program did not ents for Educational Freedom in North ing vouchers. stitutional is reversed.” provide any standards for teachers or Carolina, which pushed for the vouch- “Today, the court recognized Martin was joined in the majority education quality. er program, offered his appreciation to that a school system that was getting by Justices Bob Edmunds, Paul New- Beasley, in her dissent, alluded to the Supreme Court justices for uphold- those results wasn’t serving the needs by, and Barbara Jackson. the Pearsall Plan, a 1950s effort to use ing the program. of North Carolina families,” Flaherty Justice Robin Hudson wrote a vouchers to avert desegregation man- “We applaud them for recogniz- said. “The court emphasized that noth- dissenting opinion. She was joined dated by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ing that education is ultimately a per- ing in the North Carolina Constitution by Justices Cheri Beasley and Sam Brown v. Board of Education decision. sonal right belonging to our citizens, prohibits school choice.” “Jimmy” Ervin IV. In addition, Beasley “Without systemic and cultural not a governmental agency or system,” Rodney Ellis, president of the wrote a separate dissent. adjustments to address social inequali- Allison said. “We join the thousands of N.C. Association of Educators, one of “Because the Opportunity Schol- ties, the further cruel illusion of the families across the state who are cel- the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said the arship Program provides for the Opportunity Scholarship Program is ebrating today because the court has decision was not a good one for public spending of taxpayer money on pri- that it stands to exacerbate, rather than given them the legal right to exercise schools. vate schools without incorporating alleviate, educational, class, and racial educational choice through the Oppor- divides,” Beasley wrote. “In time, pub- tunity Scholarship Program.” lic schools may be left only with the Republican Gov. Pat McCrory students that private schools refuse to also applauded the court’s ruling. admit based on perceived lack of ap- “Today’s decision by the Su- titude, behavioral concerns, economic preme Court is a victory for every par- status, religious affiliation, sexual ent whose child is being underserved orientation, or physical or other chal- in North Carolina,” McCrory said. lenges, or public schools may become “This is a victory for choice, and it’s grossly disproportionately populated a victory for North Carolina students by minority children.” and their families.” Martin’s opinion responded to as- Both House Speaker Tim Moore, sertions made by opponents of the Op- R-Cleveland, and Senate leader Phil portunity Scholarship Program, saying that a clause often cited by voucher op- Berger, R-Rockingham, separately ponents regarding a certain fund being praised the decision. used “exclusively” for public schools Stam noted that about 1,200 stu- didn’t preclude other state revenues dents attended 224 schools on the from being used for vouchers. voucher program during the 2014-15 “Thus, within constitutional lim- school year. More than 1,100 of those its, the General Assembly determines students reapplied for vouchers for the how much of the revenue of the state 2015-16 school year, along with 4,800 will be appropriated for the purpose new applicants. Scholarships totaling of ‘establishing and maintaining a uni- $6 million were awarded to students form system of free public schools,’” during the last school year, he said. Martin wrote, adding that the constitu- Both chambers of the General As- tion doesn’t prohibit lawmakers from sembly have allocated $17.6 million for appropriating “general revenue to the scholarship program for 2015-16, support other educational initiatives.” enough to help 4,400 students attend Martin dismissed the argument private schools. CJ PAGE 10 AUGUST 2015 | CAROLINA JOURNAL Local Government Sen. Brown, Gov. McCrory Scuffle Over Local Sales Tax Changes

By Barry Smith county needs money to build a school Associate Editor bus garage. RALEIGH “We have in Hyde County a bus tate Senate Majority Leader Har- garage that was built in 1939,” Lati- ry Brown and Gov. Pat McCrory more said. “We cannot get our buses waged a war of words July 21 into the bus garage for their inspec- Sover the Onslow County Republican’s tions. We can get the hood part in, but proposal to rework the way local sales the other part of the bus is outside.” He taxes are allocated. said some residents drive two hours or more to find major retail outlets. “We believe our current sales tax Jim Baker, a Madison County system needs reform,” said Brown at a commissioner and retired Superior press conference. “Today, retail is cen- Court judge, said the lack of revenue tered in a few prosperous urban areas. from local sales taxes hurts county eco- People from everywhere else travel nomic development efforts. there to buy everything from appli- “We do not have industry mov- ances to clothes to food, and they leave ing in,” Baker said. “We can’t support their tax dollars behind. As a result, the industry. We can’t afford to do any in- current system is inequitable.” centives to bring industry in.” A version of Brown’s sales tax The head of the N.C. Associa- plan was included in the budget passed tion of County Commissioners said his by the Senate in June. It would shift the group prefers a solution that would distribution of sales tax revenues from Sen. Harry Brown, R-Onslow, at lectern, was joined by state lawmakers and local not pit some counties against others. government officials at a July 21 press conference in the Legislative Building. (CJ “The association has been work- the current formula favoring the loca- photo by Barry Smith) tion where sales are made to one em- ing with Sen. Brown and other legis- phasizing county population. At press Calling the governor “tone-deaf,” our schools.” He said the change would lative leaders throughout the session time, House and Senate members were Brown continued, “Pat has spent 85 help pay for building new schools. to find a plan that will benefit all 100 negotiating a final budget package. percent of our incentive money in Brenda Kays, president of Stanly counties,” said Kevin Leonard, execu- tive director of the association. “We McCrory, also a Republican, the three richest urban counties and Community College in Albemarle, said appreciate Sen. Brown’s willingness vowed to veto Brown’s plan if it reach- passed a transportation plan that di- unequal tax distribution hurts her stu- verts road money away from rural ar- dents. to bring this issue to the forefront and es his desk. include us in the conversations. The “This bill will result in a tax in- eas to urban areas, so it is hard to take “Currently, where you live as a his idea to help rural North Carolina community college student dictates proposal creates winners and losers, crease for millions of hard-working, and as an association that represents by doing more of the same seriously. the quality of your educational experi- middle-class families and small busi- all 100 counties, it is our duty to strive ness owners throughout North Caro- I have repeatedly asked the governor ence,” Kays said. “The students who to identify solutions that benefit all our lina,” McCrory said later that day. “Re- for a real plan to help the more than attend Stanly Community College pay members.” distribution and hidden tax increases 80 counties across the state that benefit the same tuition rate as those students Paul Meyer, executive director are liberal tax-and-spend principles of from the Sales Tax Fairness Act, and I who attend the larger community col- of the N.C. League of Municipalities, the past that simply don’t work. More am still waiting on his response.” leges in the state. However, while they praised Brown for his “passion about importantly, this C u r r e n t l y, pay the same tuition rates, they are helping rural North Carolina. He is bill will cripple three-fourths of placed at a distinct disadvantage be- right. Rural North Carolina towns and the economic and the local sales tax cause they do not have the same access cities need help finding ways to rein- trade centers of Method of collections are to services, technology, or cutting-edge vigorate their economies after several our state that pow- distributed based educational programming.” decades of job losses associated with er our economy.” distributing on their collec- Hyde County Schools Superin- the decline of the textile and furniture M c C r o r y sales tax among tion site, with the tendent Randolph Latimore said the industries.” CJ then went on to remaining one- push for economic counties fourth distributed development al- based on popula- ternatives, namely at issue tion. his “NC Com- Brown’s bill petes” economic would phase in development programs and his pro- a change. By the posed transportation and infrastruc- 2019-20 fiscal year, 80 percent of local ture bonds. sales tax collections would be distrib- “This legislation will decimate uted based on population, and 20 per- our travel and tourism sector, par- cent would be distributed at the point ticularly in our mountain and beach of collection. communities, shop owners and their Brown acknowledged that while employees who depend on tourism most rural counties would gain under for their livelihood,” McCrory said of his plan, some of the more urbanized Brown’s sales tax redistribution pro- counties with retail centers would lose. posal. “Instead of pursuing left-wing He said 83 of the 100 counties would ideas that continually fail, it’s time for benefit under the plan. the General Assembly to get to work In the packed press conference on job creation for all North Carolina.” room at the Legislative Building, Brown wasn’t done. In a state- Brown said people came from 40 North ment issued that evening, he said, “I Carolina counties to support his plan. can’t figure out if Pat thinks he is the One of them was Robeson Coun- governor of Charlotte or the mayor of ty Manager Ricky Harris. North Carolina. Today, over 100 local “Robeson County hasn’t built a officials from across the state came out school since 1983,” Harris said. “We in support of sales tax fairness.” have 114 mobile units that we use in AUGUST 2015 | CAROLINA JOURNAL PAGE 11 Local Government JLF: County Incentives Total $284M Over Five Years

By CJ Staff proved agreements of $25.3 million. RALEIGH At $26.89 per person, Mecklenburg .C. counties entered into incen- ranked No. 31 in per-capita incentives tives contracts totaling nearly approved. Wake County’s $18.5 mil- $284 million from 2009 to 2014, lion in approved incentives ranked No. Naccording to a first-of-its-kind John 5. Its per-capita total of $19.98 ranked Locke Foundation policy report com- No. 35. piling statewide local incentives data. At the other end of the popula- The report shows actual incentives tion scale, Hertford County ranked payments totaled $144 million over the No. 44 with nearly $750,000 in incen- same five-year period. tives approved. At $30.62 per person, Report authors urge the N.C. Hertford ranked No. 26 on a per-capita General Assembly to consider chang- basis. ing state law to make local incentives Along with the county-by-county information more transparent. data, Curry and Konieczny spell out “Data for this report were much counties’ legal authority to offer incen- more difficult to collect and interpret tives. The authors also identify differ- than was anticipated,” said report co- ent types of incentives used across the author Sarah Curry, JLF director of fis- state. cal policy studies. “Each county has “Sixty-four counties used perfor- a different way of keeping records of mance-based incentives, meaning that their incentive activities, which makes the private entity must meet bench- it extremely difficult to make compari- mark requirements within a certain sons and capture the same data for ev- timeframe to get the incentive,” Curry ery county.” said. “The two most common perfor- The report calls on legislators mance measures used are the number to mandate that counties meet a stan- of jobs created and the monetary in- dardized reporting requirement for all lenges, Curry and her co-author, JLF some counties were making incentive vestment in real property or existing economic development activities. research intern Catherine Konieczny, payments for agreements they entered infrastructure.” “Legislators also should allocate assembled information from all 100 before 2009, while others granted in- Nonperformance incentives in- funding for a Web portal that gives tax- county governments. Eighty-one coun- centives during the study period that clude “unconditional” awards that payers access to aggregate and coun- ties reported participating in county- did not lead to payments by 2014.” cannot be classified as infrastructure, ty-specific economic development level economic development activities. There was no obvious trend dis- Curry said. A third category, infrastruc- expenditures and machine-readable The governments entered into tinguishing reliance on incentives in ture grants, helped private companies documents,” Curry said. “Elected of- 776 agreements promising nearly $284 larger versus smaller counties, Curry meet state building code requirements ficials should then use this information million to private-sector companies said. “The popular perception of eco- or connect to public utilities. These in- to evaluate whether the costs of incen- over the five-year study period. Coun- nomic development is that wealthier cluded fire hydrants, roadway inter- tives outweigh the benefits.” ties actually paid out $144 million in urban and suburban counties are able sections, and water and sewer lines. A provision of the state Senate’s incentives from 2009 to 2014. to leverage greater resources for these Seventeen counties reported using 2015-17 budget plan calls for state offi- “In some cases, the difference be- activities,” Curry said. “Yet, on a per- tax-based reimbursements, a category cials to “coordinate with” local govern- tween incentives promised and incen- capita basis, there is no evidence of a that includes any incentive that adjusts ments to ensure posting of budget and tives paid is that not all recipients met divide between large and small, or be- property tax valuation. spending data on local government the terms of their agreements,” Curry tween urban and rural counties.” “Of the 81 counties that reported websites and to provide the data to the said. “In other cases, the timing of the Iredell, Davie, Halifax, Lenoir, economic development expenditures, state Local Government Commission. incentive agreement did not match the and Buncombe counties reported the six had no performance requirements, Despite current reporting chal- five-year study period. In other words, highest-per capita totals approved for five did not report any reason for the incentive agreements. Each budgeted incentive, and another six awarded more than $100 per resident. Only Wil- cash grants only for infrastructure in- son County ended up paying out in- vestment,” Curry said. “The remaining centives of more than $100 per person counties tied their incentive to various from 2009 to 2014. That was due to an performance measures.” Visit our Triangle regional page agreement finalized before 2009. Despite the fact that most coun- “Several of the highest-paying http://triangle.johnlocke.org ties used performance requirements, counties had their numbers skewed by many reported no results, Curry said. one or two exceptionally large incen- “Thirty-three counties did not disclose tives agreements,” Curry said. “Those The John Locke Foundation performance results or outcomes, even included Wilson County’s $5.7 million has five regional Web sites span- though these counties disclosed pay- in payments related to Bridgestone- ning the state from the mountains ment,” she said. “This suggests that Firestone, Catawba County’s $8 mil- there are gaps in the data and report- to the sea. lion for Apple, Iredell County’s $3 mil- lion for Lowe’s Home Improvement, ing deficiencies.” The Triangle regional page in- and Randolph County’s $2.3 million A standardized reporting re- for Malt-O-Meal.” quirement would help address those cludes news, policy reports and gaps, Curry said. “There is no single research of interest to people Larger deals helped lead to some “notable outliers” among the counties, data source now that tracks expendi- in the Research Triangle area. Curry said. “For instance, Iredell Coun- ture of tax revenue on economic devel- ty approved, but did not pay, $222.65 opment at the local level,” she said. “A It also features the blog Right in incentives per capita over the five standardized reporting requirement Angles, featuring commentary years, more than any other county in would give local and state officials a on issues confronting Triangle the state and 78 percent more than the helpful tool to evaluate incentives. We suspect that, in most cases, there are residents. next-highest county in its region,” she said. “Iredell ended up paying $47.41 much better uses of tax revenue and per person.” much more efficient ways to spur eco- North Carolina’s largest county, nomic growth, such as lower tax rates The John Locke Foundation | 200 W. Morgan St., Raleigh, NC 27601 | 919-828-3876 Mecklenburg, ranked No. 4 in ap- and reduced regulation.” CJ PAGE 12 AUGUST 2015 | CAROLINA JOURNAL Local Government Wilmington Debates Value of At-Large Council Districts By Michael Lowrey vision when it comes to looking at a again.” Asheville economy lags Associate Editor complete city agenda,” she said. “Each Puckett’s motivation is also part- Asheville would seem to have RALEIGH person that’s elected needs to be ac- ly political. The county has become in- mong North Carolina’s 10 larg- countable to everybody. It’s just clean- creasingly Democratic in recent years, everything going for it. It’s a tour- est cities, only Wilmington er that way.” with Democrats ist destination that’s also frequently elects all members of its city C o u n c i l - safely holding all mentioned as an attractive relocation councilA at large. While no attempt has man Earl Sheri- three of the seats destination for young, upwardly mo- been made to change that arrangement dan would pre- Cherokee elected at-large bile adults. Even so, Asheville-area in- in recent years, political leaders differ fer to see a mix and three of the comes remain below both the state and as to whether the current arrangement of at-large and six seats elected national average. The Asheville Citi- is desirable, reports the Wilmington district repre- to from districts. zen-Times explains that the issue is the Star-News. sentatives on the Going to local economy has relative few compa- A mayor and six council mem- council. longer terms nies producing high-value products. bers constitute the Wilmington City “I think it Currituck would, in Puck- Gross domestic product is the Council. The city is divided into 26 pre- leads to good ett’s view, also value of all final goods and services cincts, with Mayor Bill Saffo and three representation slow down the produced in an area over a period council members living close enough for every part of the city,” Sheridan pace of further Democratic gains on of time. GDP per worker nationally to each other that they all reside in the said. the board. is $86,189. In Buncombe, Haywood, same precinct. “There’s something to be said Meck commissioner terms Henderson, and Madison counties, the Councilwoman Laura Padgett, politically to delaying the inevitable four counties comprising the Asheville one of the four city elected officials Of the state’s 100 counties, only [with] longer terms,” he said. metro area, the figure is much lower, at who live close to each other, doesn’t Mecklenburg elects its commission- Democrat Pat Cotham favors $59,822. see this as a problem. ers to two-year terms. County voters sticking with two-year terms. “If you’re producing lower than “The Wilmington City Council will get a chance this fall to determine “I think people have a right to average, then you can’t expect to be has pretty well represented the dif- whether commissioners’ terms should evaluate us,” she said. “I think it’s paid higher than average,” said James ferent parts of the city — the diverse helpful we know where we stand with be extended to four years, writes The Smith, chief economist for Asheville- makeup of the citizens in both gender them.” Charlotte Observer. based Parsec Financial Inc., a wealth and race,” Padgett said. Commissioner Jim Puckett, a Re- She noted that a move to longer As the city continues to grow, terms would be beneficial to those management advising company. publican, had previously favored two- Businesses in Asheville and its she can envision a point when it might year terms but recently changed his serving at large, as they are more likely make sense to have some council mem- to face opposition both in the primary surrounding area aren’t paying above mind. average. In 2013, the metro area’s me- bers represent districts. “I would say [two-year terms] and general elections. dian household income was $43,916, Former High Point Mayor Becky would be worth having if the seats Extending commissioners’ terms nearly $2,000 below the state figure of Smothers, meanwhile, argues that at- were changing hands. But when I look to four years has been on the ballot large districts are preferable. across the dais, I see that the same peo- before; county voters soundly rejected $45,906. Median household income for “I think it makes for less tunnel ple are elected over and over and over the concept in 1985 and 1992. the United States as a whole is $52,250.CJ Appeals Court: Counties Must Take Care With ‘Spot Zoning’ By Michael Lowrey fies a relatively small tract owned by a 2002 case, Good Neighbors of South Da- Court has used the phrase a single ‘tract Associate Editor a single person and surrounded by vidson v. Town of Denton, and the N.C. owned by a single person’ as part of a RALEIGH a much larger area uniformly zoned, Court of Appeals in a 2009 case, Musi definition of spot zoning … a phrase ezoning hearings can be very so as to impose upon the small tract v. Town of Shallotte, held that “a single which has been repeated in subsequent contentious. The exact legal greater restrictions than those imposed person” means just that; rezoning is cases, and, therefore, I understand how standards at play matter greatly, upon the larger area, or so as to relieve not spot zoning if the property has two the majority reached its conclusion in the Rboth to local boards and to courts when the small tract owners. present case,” Dillon wrote. local rulings are appealed. In a July de- from restrictions The court “I do not believe, however, that cision, the state’s second-highest court to which the rest also found Hin- the Supreme Court intended by the use again grappled with the meaning of of the area is sub- The North Carolina Courts nant’s ruling inad- of this phrase to fashion a definitive one concept: “spot zoning.” jected.” equate in several rule whereby the question of whether Matt Behe and his father Philip Spot zoning respects. the rezoning of a single tract of land owned 102 acres of land in Reidsville. is not illegal per “In its sum- constitutes ’spot zoning’ turns on Matt Behe also owns Rocky River Gun se, but the local- mary judgment whether that tract is owned by a sin- Dogs LLC, which trains bird dogs, and ity engaged in order, the trial gle person rather than by two people. wished to subdivide a two-acre section the practice must court did not set Such a rule would allow a landowner of the property as a bird-dog training make a “clear forth its stan- to avoid the spot zoning analysis sim- facility. In July and August 2013, the showing of a rea- dard of review; ply by conveying a partial interest in Rockingham County Planning Board sonable basis for it weighed the his land to a ‘straw’ entity.” and county commission approved the the zoning.” Or- evidence; and it Even so, Dillon would have up- rezoning. dinarily, a rezoning is presumed valid, substituted its judgment for that of the held the rezoning. Several neighbors challenged the and those challenging it must demon- board of commissioners,” and this is “I believe that the county met its rezoning in court, and in November strate that the locality involved erred not a spot zoning case, wrote Elmore. burden of clearly showing a reasonable 2014 Superior Court Judge Patrice Hin- in its decision. “As such, we believe the trial basis for its decision by demonstrating nant ruled in their favor. The county Despite agreeing at trial with the court lacked a fundamental under- that the rezoning was compatible with then brought the issue before the ap- plaintiffs that this was a spot rezoning, standing of the nature of a summary the existing zoning, that the benefits peals court. the county changed track on appeal, judgment proceeding, and we are con- outweighed any detriments for the On appeal, a critical issue was contending that this was not spot zon- fident that the summary judgment or- neighbors and the community, and whether Rockingham County had en- ing, as two people owned the property. der should not be upheld.” that the new zoning was consistent gaged in “spot zoning,” defined by the “Defendant’s argument has mer- The appeals court ordered a new with the county’s long-range plans.” N.C. Supreme Court as: it,” wrote Judge Rick Elmore for the hearing on the rezoning. Judge Chris The case is Good Neighbors Of Or- “A zoning ordinance, or amend- appeals court. Dillon dissented. egon Hill Protecting Property Rights v. ment, which singles out and reclassi- Both the N.C. Supreme Court in “I recognize that our Supreme County of Rockingham (15-121). CJ AUGUST 2015 | CAROLINA JOURNAL PAGE 13 Local Government Local Map Act Law Lets Wilmington Dodge Legal Liability

By Barry Smith somewhat rapidly,” Lee said. “So what The appeals court case dealt with Krawiec’s bill does not. Also, Brown’s Associate Editor they did was see this authority to get Map Act filings in Forsyth County but bill has other changes related to filing RALEIGH the map recorded so they could estab- could lead to similar judgments in the maps with the proper officials. he Wilmington Urban Area Met- lish the corridor a little earlier, which Wilmington area lawsuit as well as The third measure, House Bill ropolitan Planning Organization was of benefit to obviously not just the other areas of the state. The transporta- 127, from Speaker Pro Tem Paul “Skip” may have dodged a costly court WMPO but also to NCDOT. They were tion department has appealed that case Stam, R-Wake, would have allowed a Tfight after Gov. Pat McCrory signed acting essentially as an agent of DOT to the N.C. Supreme Court. property owner to add interest to the Senate Bill 654, a measure relieving the because the M e a n - compensation received by property MPO of legal liability regarding the or- WMPO doesn’t while, two bills owners whose land was condemned ganization’s Hampstead Bypass. have the emi- aimed at elimi- by NCDOT. The interest would be The Senate passed S.B. 654 on nent domain nating the Map charged from the date a condemnation July 14 by a 50-0 margin. It requires the authority.” Act remain tied proceeding starts until the time the state Department of Transportation to Lee noted up in a Sen- settlement is paid. Rabon’s committee defend, indemnify, and hold harmless that NCDOT ate committee, killed that bill. Wilmington’s urban area MPO and its is already in- and a bill let- Krawiec said she’s trying to get members for any claims resulting from volved in litiga- ting property Rabon to substitute her bill for Brown’s a corridor map filed under the state’s tion involving owners of con- House bill. Map Act. the Map Act. demned land Rabon did not respond to a re- Following the enactment of a The MPO collect interest quest for a comment on the bills in his 2006 law, the Wilmington MPO filed a might have from NCDOT committee. map under the Map Act. faced a separate during the pe- North Carolina is one of only The Map Act, enacted in 1987, al- court battle be- riod condem- 13 states with Map Act statutes. Oth- lows the Department of Transportation cause construc- nation proceed- er states with comparable laws give and other governing bodies to adopt tion along the ings are under property owners more options. Some and file transportation corridor maps, corridor might way was killed allow landowners to demand immedi- allowing governing bodies to prevent not take place in early July ate acquisition of their property or re- building permits from being issued on any time soon. by the Senate lease from an official map. Others limit property listed in those corridors. According to Transportation the length of time an official corridor By preventing further develop- the Wilmington Business Journal, the Committee. map can block building on or subdivi- ment, the Map Act holds down the Hampstead Bypass was not given a The two bills stuck in committee sion of the land. The limits range from property value that the state DOT high priority in the McCrory adminis- are House Bill 183, sponsored by Rep. 80 to 356 days. would have to pay at the expense of tration’s Transportation Improvement Rayne Brown, R-Davidson — which In North Carolina, the limit is the property owner. Plan, nor was funding for its construc- passed the House by a vote of 118-0 — three years. The Map Act has been controver- tion included in the transportation and Senate Bill 373, sponsored by Sen. In March 2014, a John Locke sial and the subject of litigation across bond package the administration is Joyce Krawiec, R-Forsyth. Foundation report concluded that the the state. asking the General Assembly to put on Krawiec said she has been bend- Map Act virtually freezes property Sen. Michael Lee, R-New Ha- the ballot. ing the ear of the committee chairman, development within proposed road nover, who sponsored the bill, told In February, a three-judge panel Sen. Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick, to get corridors by blocking building permit the House Transportation Committee of the N.C. Court of Appeals ruled the bills considered but has not been and subdivision applications for three in late June that the Wilmington MPO that filings under the state’s Map Act successful. years. The report concludes that the was trying to select the best corridor amounted to the taking of property, Brown’s and Krawiec’s bills are Map Act either should be repealed or for the bypass. initiating requirements that the state not identical. Brown’s bill addresses the time period for delaying building “While they were in that pro- pay just compensation to the landown- laws that reduce tax rates for people permits should be shortened from be- cess, they saw the corridor developing ers. with property in the corridor, and tween 80 and 120 days. 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 and Director of Regulatory Director of Fiscal Policy Health Policy Analyst Legal Policy Analyst Jon search and Resident Education Studies Terry Studies Jon Sanders’ Studies Sarah Curry’s Katherine Restrepo’s Guze’s weekly newsletter, Scholar Roy Cordato’s Stoops’ weekly newslet- weekly newsletter, Rights weekly newsletter, Fiscal weekly newsletter, Health Legal Update, focuses weekly newsletter, Eco- ter, Education Update, & Regulation Update, Update, discusses issues Care Update, focuses on on legal, constitutional, nomics & Environment focuses on the latest local, discusses current issues concerning North Carolina state and national issues and public safety policy Update, focuses on state, national, and inter- concerning regulations, government’s revenues, concerning health and hu- issues affecting North environmental issues, national trends in pre-K-12 rights, and freedom in budgets, taxes, and fiscal man services, health care Carolinians. and highlights relevant education politics, policy, North Carolina. projections. policy, and reform toward analysis done by the John and practice. a consumer-driven health Locke Foundation and care market. other think tanks, as well as items in the news. PAGE 14 AUGUST 2015 | CAROLINA JOURNAL From Page 1 I-77 Lawsuit Claims Deal With Toll Contractor Unconstitutional Continued from Page 1 nificant opposition. “This is perhaps the most in-depth opposition to a toll project I have seen in the country,” he said. Lawsuit Charlotte attorney Matthew Ar- nold filed the lawsuit for Widen I77 on Jan. 20 in Mecklenburg County Supe- rior Court. The goal of the lawsuit is to stop the project. At press time, accord- ing to the organization’s founder, Kurt Naas, the case had not been scheduled for trial. The lawsuit alleges the General Assembly unconstitutionally delegat- ed NCDOT legislative powers to set toll rates without adequate standards or safeguards; to allow Mobility Part- ners, a private entity, to receive an un- limited rate of return on investment for a project intended for public benefit; and to compensate Mobility Partners for its tax liability. Current I-77 entrances and exits, like exit 28 in Cornelius, would not match up with the entrances and exits of the proposed toll The lawsuit claims that only the lanes, which opponents say will hurt local businesses located at the current I-77 exits. (CJ photo by Don Carrington) General Assembly can set toll rates and ton, dated July 12, Gilroy stated there situations raised by Gilroy were noted, severity and falseness of these allega- taxes, thus making the delegation of were a number of “convictions, law- including the “Palau de la Musica” sit- tions, we feel compelled to consider all authority unconstitutional. suits, investigations, etc., against Fer- uation described above. appropriate legal action in respect of The lawsuit also claims the con- rovial Agroman and the parent Fer- NCDOT released the documents this matter.” tract is illegal because under state law rovial S.A.,” and that these incidents only after it notified Mobility Partners When notified of Ferrovial’s re- NCDOT is not allowed to convert an were never disclosed to the public and of CJ’s records request. Mobility Part- sponse, Gilroy told CJ, “I stand by existing nontoll lane to a toll lane if elected officials before the contract ners spokeswoman Jean Leier also what I wrote and I need to add more.” such designation would reduce the with Mobility Partners was signed. sent CJ the following “corporate state- NCDOT spokesman Steve Abbott number of existing nontoll general- Her first example was a bribery ment:” told CJ, “in accordance with standard purpose lanes. The lawsuit states that case centered around the “Palau de la “The allegations of systematic policy, the Office of Inspector General the construction of the high-occupan- Musica,” a concert hall in Barcelona, corruption made in the letter from is reviewing [Gilroy’s] claims. cy-tolling project would convert a Spain. The independent Spanish news Ms. Diane Gilroy dated July 12, 2015, “At this time, NCDOT believes general-purpose, “free” lane into a toll agency Europa Press alleged that Fer- are absolutely and categorically false,” that I-77 Mobility Partners and all affil- lane. rovial paid more than 6 million euros said Patrick Rhode, United States Vice iated companies accurately completed The lawsuit also claims the con- to the music hall that were described President of Corporate Affairs for Fer- all forms and fully disclosed all items tract is illegal because it does not re- publicly as donations but actually rovial. “Furthermore, we have fully in the I-77 Express Lanes contract pro- quire proper disclosure of proposed were kickbacks to a political party and complied with all of the various dis- cess. The one item disclosed on the C toll rates to state authorities. State law senior music hall officials. The music closure requirements throughout the Certification form does not prohibit says prior to the effective date of any hall officials have been indicted, but multiple-year procurement process the company from receiving the con- toll or fee for use of a turnpike facility, the fate of others is unclear. Europa for the I-77 project. As a result of the tract or completing the project.” CJ the North Carolina Turnpike Authority Press and other news sources allege shall submit a description of the pro- that the kickbacks helped Ferrovial posed fee to the Board of Transporta- land public works projects worth more tion, the Joint Legislative Transporta- than 1.2 billion euros. The case has not tion Oversight Committee, and Joint gone to trial. Legislative Commission on Govern- NCDOT’s I-77 website lists sev- mental Operations for review. The law- eral public documents connected to suit states the contract does not require the project. One is a three-page docu- Mobility Partners to submit proposed ment titled “Form C Certification,” tolls to these bodies. but the form related to this project is Gilroy complaint blank. The unanswered questions on Form C asked for disclosure by bid- Diane Gilroy is the wife of Corne- ders of indictments or convictions of lius Town Commissioner Dave Gilroy, bid contract or related crimes in the and one of many local opponents of past 10 years. The form also included the project. She claims in the two let- questions about bankruptcies or civil ters that the agreement between NC- lawsuits involving bidders. DOT and Mobility Partners should be Gilroy said that six situations invalid because the company failed to should have been disclosed on Form disclose to NCDOT all of its legal prob- C Certification and that she had been lems as required. She based her claims unable to obtain the form as completed on reports from Spanish news organi- by Mobility Partners from NCDOT. zations. On July 24, NCDOT provided CJ Gilroy told CJ the contractor nine completed versions of the three- failed to disclose six controversies in- page questionnaire from I-77 Mobility volving its parent companies, Cintra Partners or its affiliates dated Nov. 26, and Ferrovial, or their affiliates. 2013, Feb. 12, 2014, and March 13, 2014. In her letters to Cooper and Mor- In those answers, two of the six AUGUST 2015 | CAROLINA JOURNAL PAGE 15 From Page 1 Stanly County-Owned For-Profit Eatery Raises Ethics Concerns Continued from Page 1 low them to open up a restaurant and catering business to compete against privately owned restaurants and ca- tering businesses” in downtown Al- bemarle, said state Rep. Justin Burr, R-Stanly. Burr, whose mother is a trustee of the college, said he was aware of the Ethics Commission inquiry. The Umstead Act declares it un- lawful for state entities “to engage di- rectly or indirectly in the sale of goods, wares, or merchandise in competition with citizens of the state, or to engage in the operation of restaurants, caf- eterias, or other eating places in any building owned by or leased in the name of the state.” Stanly Community College “even came up with a business plan, listed out local caterers that they would be competing with, and they had a strat- egy of basically taking business away from the private sector,” Burr said. “I just have a fundamental problem with government using … our tax dollars … to compete with privately owned busi- nesses.” Stanly County wants to operate Big Al’s as a for-profit restaurant, but opponents say this would violate the state’s Umstead Act, Burr offered an amendment to which makes it unlawful for state entities to engage “directly or indirectly” in commerce in competition with citizens of North the state budget bill preventing Stanly Carolina. (CJ photo by Don Carrington) Community College from opening the program off campus. The amendment the concept of a culinary arts associate munity college at a reduced rate,” with he said. A lending institution would passed the House by a vote of 80-34. degree program at their Dec. 11, 2014, the commissioners asked to allocate “throw it in the garbage,” business The Senate budget did not include meeting. Phillips said she was “very $300,000 to $500,000 for renovations, professionals told him after they re- Burr’s amendment. Its fate will be de- frustrated” when she learned of the the minutes state. viewed the document. cided in budget negotiations, still un- proposal to put the program in the Big “There’s been some talk by Kays said the business plan was der way at press time. Al’s building. them that they would help with the a preliminary draft involving one of “I don’t know how it got gone. “I’m on the Facilities Committee, program” if it located in the Big Al’s “several scenarios.” She said Stanly I’ve learned in the process of govern- so I should not have learned about that building, Stanly Community College Heritage Properties approached the ment that things move in strange and by listening to the local news radio sta- Trustee Joe Brooks said of Albemarle. city, county, and Stanly Community mysterious ways,” said state Sen. Tom tion. But that’s where I learned of it,” Brooks also is the registered College Foundation. Phillips said. “That’s a real big prob- agent for Stanly Heritage Properties. McInnis, R-Richmond. “I did express The college and private founda- lem.” He is a director of both Uwharrie Bank my lack of enthusiasm for that issue” tion “are two separate entities,” Kays Phillips said when she began ask- and Uwharrie Capital Corp. to some House members. said. ing questions about the proposal, “each Asked if the bank would benefit “We don’t need to be microman- Kays said community college at- and every finance or facility committee by selling the vacant building to the aging the Stanly County Community torney Connie Josey consulted with meeting that we had scheduled after city, getting out from under outstand- College Foundation or the college,” Al- Norma Houston and Frayda Bluestein, that was canceled. ... They definitely ing loan payments, and obtaining faculty members at the UNC School bemarle, or the Stanly County Board of wanted to keep me out of knowing charitable tax deductions for donating of Government, and Shante Martin, Commissioners from Raleigh, McInnis what was going on.” the equity in the building, Brooks re- general counsel of the North Carolina said. If the deal goes through and vot- Another person familiar with the sponded: “I assume so. I really don’t Community College System, and con- ers don’t like it, they can remove their proposed purchase and lease who did know how that works.” cluded the off-campus restaurant and elected officials, he said. not wish to be identified corroborated But Brooks denies his community North Carolina State Board of Phillips’ statements. college and bank ties are a conflict of catering facility would not violate the Community Colleges spokeswoman City Manager Michael Ferris interest. Umstead Act. Megen Hoenk said the board approved downplayed Albemarle’s involve- “It would be if there was any In a memorandum, Josey said the Stanly Community College culi- ment. kind of a vote coming up, but there the act would exempt the city and the nary arts program at its March meet- “There has never been a formal hasn’t been,” he said. foundation. Further, she said, the Um- ing. It is one of 25 similar programs proposal or even a presentation on The county commissioners never stead Act would exempt the culinary now approved. Hoenk said the state the matter made to the City Council,” voted on the proposal. arts program as a “live project” be- board does not track whether those Ferris said. “There have been ideas, County Commissioner Gene cause it would produce goods or ser- programs are on campus or off cam- discussion, and comments from other McIntyre questioned the wisdom of vices for sale that are “the normal and pus, nor does it evaluate them for com- entities about what the city might or offering a two-year degree program necessary product of learning activities pliance with the Umstead Act. could do, but none of this has come that projects potential earnings of little of students.” “The problem at the community from the city.” more than $9 per hour. And he opposes Josey also met with North Caro- college, and the reason that being on However, minutes from a Feb. 2 using government money to compete lina Ethics Commission staff attorney that board was so frustrating for me, special meeting of the Stanly County against the private sector. Kathy Edwards, Kays said. is that nothing was ever done in open Board of Commissioners, at which “Some of these restaurants strug- Josey issued a memorandum say- meetings. There were clearly meet- community college President Brenda gle as it is, and some of these folks have ing college trustees serving as Uwhar- ings where not everyone was invited,” Kays presented a business plan for the worked hard for years and years and rie Bank directors must “abstain from said former community college board culinary arts program, cast a different years to build their businesses, and ‘official action’ related to the catering member Karen Mock Phillips, who did light. this would take some of that away,” and banquet facility which would re- not seek reappointment after her term “The City of Albemarle plans McIntyre said. sult in a ‘reasonably foreseeable finan- expired June 30. to purchase the building at a cost of “There’s just lots of things in the cial benefit’ or would impair the Trust- The trustees voted to approve $225,000 and offer utilities to the com- business plan that just didn’t add up,” ees’ ‘independence of judgment.’” CJ PAGE 16 AUGUST 2015 | CAROLINA JOURNAL Interview Root: Court’s Libertarian Versus Conservative Split Longstanding RALEIGH — Reporting about U.S. Supreme Court debates often re- “It’s a debate that [has] really been volves around disagreements between liberal and conservative voting blocs. around since the founding of the coun- But Damon Root, senior editor at Rea- son magazine and Reason.com, says try, but it’s a debate that in my book I most debates actually involve compet- ing concepts of judicial activism and trace particularly from the end of the judicial restraint. Root has written a Civil War through the present day, book on the topic titled Overruled: The Long War for Control of the U.S. Supreme and what we see is that sometimes Court. He discussed his work with Mitch Kokai for Carolina Journal Ra- it’s left versus right. ... [I]n the last 30 dio. (Head to http://www.carolina- journal.com/cjradio/ to find a station years or so, we have seen conserva- near you or to learn about the weekly CJ Radio podcast.) tives really take up the cause of judi- cial restraint.” Kokai: This really is something that is not necessarily along the lines of Damon Root Left versus Right, or conservative ver- Senior Editor sus liberal. Tell us about this divide be- tween those who want to see an activist Reason and Reason.com or engaged court and those who think the court should be very restrained. alliance between libertarians and con- Root: A real surprising way it [Anthony] Kennedy, and [John] Rob- Root: It’s a debate that [has] re- servatives that’s ongoing right now. played out was in the debate over the erts all took this more traditional con- ally been around since the founding But there is this fundamental disagree- Second Amendment and gun rights. servative route. And Justice Clarence of the country, but it’s a debate that in ment, and when I say conservatives, In 2010, the Supreme Court heard this Thomas, he agreed with them in the my book I trace particularly from the I’m really referring to the Robert Bork case called McDonald v. City of Chicago. outcome, that the Second Amendment end of the Civil War through the pres- school of legal conservatism that puts The question was: Does the Second wins, but he reasoned to a different ent day, and what we see is that some- great emphasis on judicial deference. Amendment prevent Chicago from conclusion. In his book, The Tempting of America, banning handguns? Two years before, times it’s left versus right, and left is He said that the libertarians have Robert Bork wrote, “In wide areas of in a case called Heller, the Supreme on the side of judicial deference. That the better argument, and it should be life, majorities are entitled to rule if Court had overturned Washington, was the case during the Progressive the privileges or immunities clause. So they wish, simply because they are D.C.,’s handgun ban, and said the Sec- era, and during the New Deal, when we saw Thomas really side with the lib- majorities.” ond Amendment protects an individu- liberal judges and justices, they really ertarians [and] the other conservatives And he called that the first prin- al right to keep and bear arms. wanted the courts to defer to the eco- take more of the Borkian approach in ciple of our system, and the libertarian So McDonald is the follow-up nomic policy judgments of lawmakers. that case. response is, well, the first principle is case. The Second Amendment applies But then, in the mid-20th century, individual rights, and majority rule against the federal government — Kokai: liberals became much more interested Since you’ve mentioned comes second. Those visions don’t Washington, D.C., is a federal enclave. in the court striking down the deci- the justices, those who follow the Su- clash in every case, but in some very Does it also apply against the states? sions of policymakers in the realms of preme Court often talk about a liberal fundamental ways, they really are at So that brings in the 14th Amendment, bloc and a conservative bloc, and then civil rights and civil liberties. So we odds. So we see this alliance holding which is the constitutional provision saw liberals very much behind an ag- Anthony Kennedy can kind of go ei- together sometimes but then really whereby the Bill of Rights [is] applied ther way. When it comes to this par- gressive Supreme Court in a case like butting heads other times. to the states. Brown v. Board of Education. ticular split, are there particular jus- And what we saw in that case tices, whether it’s Clarence Thomas or And then in the last 30 years or Kokai: Reason magazine, for was that libertarian lawyers were the so, we have seen conservatives really another, who would be more likely to those who are unfamiliar, is a liber- ones pushing for the gun rights cam- take this libertarian argument? Or is it take up the cause of judicial restraint, tarian magazine, so I would suspect paign. A lawyer named Alan Gura, and that’s in large part a response to hard to tell, or are they all more now that you and folks who work with you a libertarian lawyer in Washington, traditional conservatives? the abortion ruling and Supreme Court would like to see the courts be active D.C., argued that the original mean- decisions recognizing our right to pri- when it comes to protecting these indi- ing of the privileges or immunities vacy. Root: It depends on the issue, but vidual rights, rather than just defer to clause of the 14th Amendment protects in a few areas Thomas is very strongly So then what I look at in the book the lawmaking braches. a broad range of rights — economic in what we could call the libertarian is within the right, libertarians and rights, but also clearly protects the Sec- camp. He would consider himself a conservatives, they are dividing over Root: The libertarian legal view ond Amendment. conservative, not a libertarian, but he this question, where with conserva- is basically that the Constitution is a And then on the Supreme Court definitely is on the same page with the tives, following the lead of people like liberty document. It protects a broad level, Justice [Antonin] Scalia in partic- Robert Bork favoring a much more range of individual rights, both writ- ular was very resistant, let’s say. [He] libertarian legal movement on issues deferential court, and libertarians re- ten down in the Constitution, but then was, in fact, kind of hostile to Alan such as the original meaning and the ally wanting the courts to aggressively also unenumerated rights, and that Gura during the oral argument. Scalia proper interpretation of the commerce police the government, police the other also the Constitution places strict lim- said, “Why are you trying to overturn clause, … Congress’ power to regu- branches, and strike down what they its on government power. And libertar- all these precedents? Why are you tak- late interstate commerce, the takings see as government overreach. ians very much want to see the courts ing us into these uncharted waters?” clause, eminent domain and property act as a check on the other branches of And so here he was presented rights cases, such as the Kelo case in Kokai: It sounds as if this is an government and really have a funda- with this opportunity to repudiate 2005. area in which traditional conservatives mental problem with Bork’s framing something that he had in fact repudi- Thomas filed a dissent in that and those who are libertarians really of majority rule first above individual ated, and to follow the original mean- case that libertarians just love. And do have a very different view about rights. ing of the 14th Amendment in a clear then also this question of the 14th what the courts ought to do. How have fashion, but it was a fashion that also Amendment and its original mean- they ended up this way when they Kokai: So how has this split be- led into some libertarian areas of the ing, and the privileges or immunities used to have been ideological allies on tween conservatives — or the Bork courts protecting unwritten economic clause. And those are three key areas so many other fronts? conservatives, as you have described rights. And he and the other conserva- that the libertarian legal movement has them — and libertarians played out on tives really kind of balked at that. devoted a lot of time and resources to Root: Well, there’s very much an some of the big issues of the day? And so Scalia, [Samuel] Alito, litigating. CJ AUGUST 2015 | CAROLINA JOURNAL PAGE 17 Higher Education

Freshman Reading Selections COMMENTARY College Can Be Echo Current Social Themes A Bad Investment By Harry Painter Ngozi Adichie’s book about a Nigeri- Contributor an woman who struggles with racism ust over a year ago, New York Lots of those disappointed RALEIGH and immigration issues while coming Times economics writer David college grads (at least 10 percent reshman summer reading pro- to the United States. Appalachian State Leonhardt looked at some data of whom earn less than the aver- grams offer the outside observer University chose A Long Way Gone, Jon the “college wage premium” age high school graduate) were clues about what universities Ishmael Beah’s memoir about his time and stated, “The decision not to at- lured into narrowly focused degree Fconsider important about the college as a child soldier in the Sierra Leone tend college for fear that it’s a bad programs aimed at occupational experience. These reading programs civil war. The University of Mount Ol- deal is among the most economi- niches such as casino management often are the first interactions students ive chose A Home on the Field by Paul cally irrational decisions anybody and court reporting. have with their new school and their Cuadros, a book about a North Caro- could make in 2014.” Cappelli correctly observes first actual assignments. lina Latino soccer team. But is that true? that many colleges and universi- Students read less than they used Incidents from the United States’ I have often taken issue with ties, chiefly interested in keeping to. A 2014 Com- racial past are also that conclusion and am glad to enrollments up, “persuade appli- mon Sense Media popular. Meredith see a new book taking issue with cants and their parents that they study found that College selected it — Peter Cappelli’s Will College can provide a job at graduation.” the number of A Mighty Long Pay Off? That’s why the liberal 17-year-olds who Way, a book by A professor at the arts have faded away and “never” or “hardly one of the famed Wharton School, Cap- largely have been re- ever” read for plea- Little Rock Nine, pelli carefully looks at the placed with occupational sure had tripled the first black stu- coursework. since 1984 — from dents to attend a relative costs and benefits of college and objects to The jobs pitch 9 percent to 27 per- segregated Arkan- works with the large cent. sas high school. “unqualified statements about the big payoff to percentage of students While uni- N.C. Central who aren’t really inclined versities may use University chose a college degree.” For toward academic studies summer reading Scott Ellsworth’s many Americans, it’s a and just want to get into programs to help students make the The Secret Game, about a 1944 basket- bad decision. GEORGE a career, but this is a risky leap to the higher standard of scholar- ball game between a black team and a He draws an LEEF idea. ship that might be demanded of them white team when segregation prevent- analogy to medicine: Some fields that are in college, they also can serve other ed the teams from competing publicly. Even though a certain booming when a student purposes. In the 2013-14 edition of Many of the chosen books share drug will help a major- enrolls can cool off by the time he the National Association of Scholars’ the theme of minorities overcoming ity of patients, we know it can be or she graduates. That leaves the “Beach Books” report, NAS found social hardship. very detrimental to others. If you student with a very limited set of colleges that said they assigned sum- A recent article by Gary Saul Mor- wouldn’t take a drug just because skills that will make it hard to find mer reading to build community, be- son at Commentary magazine (echo- it helps most people, neither employment except in one of those gin conversations, encourage critical ing a controversial classic by novelist should you go to college because it “high school” jobs that’s open to thinking, or inspire social activism. Francine Prose in Harper’s) wonders if helps most people. Among summer reading picks in students have grown to detest reading everyone. Moreover, the data that excite The book also provides some North Carolina, themes surrounding because of the way it is taught. Rather cheerleaders for universal col- activism and sociopolitical issues are than infusing them with love and re- insight into the crucial question: lege attendance aren’t especially pervasive. spect for a classic work, for example, What are employers looking for? relevant because they are back- Last year, the University of North Morson says professors teach them Much better than the sort ward looking. Cappelli writes, Carolina at Chapel Hill chose The to judge the morality of the author or of narrow college degree that Round House, a novel featuring racial what the work tells us about society at “The higher income of people with amounts to hardly more than on- and sexual themes — trendy topics on the time it was written. college degrees, which is the main the-job training, Cappelli argues, campuses today. Those themes contin- While Morson’s criticism pri- evidence for a payoff, is based on is a good liberal arts education ued this year. Recently, national media marily applies to curriculum classes, data from individuals who on av- plus experience showing that the drew attention to Duke University’s would Morson have a similar com- erage have graduated from college individual has a good attitude and 2015 summer reading choice: Incom- plaint about freshman summer reading decades ago.” some work skills. ing freshmen are reading and discuss- programs? Is reading simply a vehicle Instead of jumping to con- The book’s subtitle is A Guide ing Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, a book to discuss some pressing social issue, clusions based on such statistics, to the Most Important Financial depicting graphic episodes of lesbian a goal some colleges claim to have for Cappelli suggests looking at recent Decision You’ll Ever Make, and its sex. UNC-Chapel Hill’s assigned read- their programs? results. He finds that many young big points are: Don’t assume that ing is Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy, If North Carolina’s colleges are Americans have gone to college college is a good investment; if you about racial disparities in the criminal indicative of a nationwide trend, fresh- with little or nothing to show for it. do think college is worthwhile, justice system. man summer reading programs heav- They don’t have much to don’t focus narrowly on a single in- Books highlighting identity ily promote similar issues. In recent show for it intellectually because dustry; and look for ways to show struggles of various kinds also were years, North Carolina summer reading many students devote little time to employers that you can do some- popular on campuses this year. For programs have given lopsided weight studying. While some work very thing besides accumulating course example, four North Carolina univer- to books with themes of race and sex. hard to master demanding course credits. sities assigned Enrique’s Journey by So- Even if students do not detest material, lots of students get by If people listen to Cappelli’s nia Nazario. The book is an emotional reading, one could argue that the with little effort. advice, the higher ed bubble will nonfiction account documenting the books they are asked to read would And they don’t have much deflate faster. CJ journey of a teenager from Hondu- trouble Morson and his admirers. CJ to show for college occupationally. ras who traveled alone to the United Many end up competing for jobs George Leef is director of re- States to search for his mother. “that may require less than a high search at the John W. Pope Center for Other choices involve similar Harry Painter is a writer for the Higher Education Policy. stories and themes. Davidson College John W. Pope Center for Higher Education school degree.” assigned Americanah, Chimamanda Policy. PAGE 18 AUGUST 2015 | CAROLINA JOURNAL Higher Education Commentary A Key Missing Ingredient: High School Counseling he UNC Board of Governors may want to reconsider By Harry Painter selors at high schools in the three coun- using Isaacson, Miller as Contributor ties surrounding the college. But while Tthe search firm in its hunt for a RALEIGH most counselors might be inclined to new system president. It appears isten to mainstream education encourage students to attend four-year that the governors are blowing a advocates, and you’ll come away colleges, CCWorks places special em- chance to bring a badly needed thinking that not enough people phasis on career and technical educa- reform-minded president to the Lare going to college. But if you listen tion. CCWorks is being considered as system. to higher education reformers, par- a model for the rest of the state; a bill The Pope Center for Higher ticularly political conservatives, you’ll in the state Senate would expand the Education hear that too many are going to college. Policy was con- Career Coaches program statewide Meanwhile, business owners and Some feel a lack of counseling for high under an initiative called NCWorks. cerned earlier managers say they can’t find workers school students negatively impacts col- this year that lege performance and outcomes. The legislature is expected to set aside with the skills they need, particularly $1.5 million for the cost of paying the the board had in the skilled manual and technical tion. coaches. picked Isaac- fields. Despite all that education, in 2012 Other states have implemented son, Miller to Statistics show high college drop- more than half of counselors reported similar programs, including Alabama, conduct the out rates, massive underemployment that they felt only moderately trained, Arkansas, and Virginia, which has search for a of college graduates, and huge student and more than 25 percent reported that new president. Isaacson, Miller is debt burdens from those who attend had a Career Coach program since their training did not prepare them at a firm that specializes in finding college, whether or not they get de- 2005. Virginia’s program began with all. “diversity” candidates: grees. Many students change majors 11 coaches in 13 high schools and has According to O’Shaughnessy, The second distinguish- several times and take six or more now expanded to 130 coaches in 180 graduate counseling programs rarely ing feature of our firm is our years to graduate. high schools. Virginia’s program is offer a class in planning for college. longstanding commitment to Why so much confusion and in- funded by a combination of the state Should counselors have more bringing women and people coherence? One likely place to look is community college system and local expertise in labor markets and more of color to senior management the advice students receive — or fail to schools. knowledge of the full range of options positions. For over 30 years receive — from high school guidance In the 2009-10 academic year, 71 we have established networks for graduates after high school? Might counselors. percent of students who previously that support us in our efforts to many young people be better off ex- A 2014 report from the U.S. had no postsecondary plans did so af- build and present diverse pools ploring apprenticeships and other on- Education Department’s Office of ter meeting with a coach. Virginia also of candidates. Over the life the-job training, immediate employ- Civil Rights found that nationally, reported that 28 percent of students of the firm, 43 percent of our ment, technical training, certificate and one of five high schools has no guid- who had planned to go to community placements have been women licensing programs, the military, or ance counselor. The American School and 23 percent have been people other options? college decided instead to plan for a Counselor Association finds that many of color. One way several states have four-year degree. Additionally, both schools with counselors don’t have We would have preferred addressed guidance shortcomings students and principals expressed ini- enough. The advocacy group recom- a firm that specialized in finding is embracing the concept of “Career tial satisfaction with the coaches and mends a counselor-to-student ratio of candidates less concerned with Coaches” — advisers employed by the became more satisfied as time pro- 1:250, while the national number is al- demographic characteristics like community college system to counsel gressed. most double that, at 1:478. Only three race and gender instead of more high school students. The coaches are The Career Coaches model is small states and the U.S. Virgin Islands important qualities — like a long employed by community colleges, but growing in popularity and could come close to the recommended figure. record of sound policymaking they work at a high school. signal a potential solution to a guid- A single counselor can provide decisions. Central Carolina Community ance gap. CJ But that was before we effective individual guidance to only College in Sanford has employed ca- found something else about Isaa- so many students. Rather than achiev- reer coaches for a year, implemented as Harry Painter is a writer for the cson: It was the search firm that ing the ideal of a mentor who gets to part of its Central Carolina Works pro- John W. Pope Center for Higher Education brought the now-controversial know students and guides them into gram. The program embeds nine coun- Policy. UNC-Chapel Hill law professor good decisions about their present and Gene Nichol to the College of Wil- future, overburdened counselors may liam and Mary. In fact, he was the be able to offer little more than one- only candidate not then already size-fits-all advice or simply process employed by W&M that Isaacson paperwork for college applications. deemed worthy of the job. We Furthermore, many counselors all know how that turned out — may not have the proper knowledge to Nichol performed so abysmally do the job well. High school counselors as president he was outsted after have a lot of training: More than 80 per- only three years on the job. cent have master’s degrees, and most So now we’re more than just must pass a test and get licensed. But concerned. And we have to won- according to higher education analyst der: If the (reasonable) aim of the and author Lynn O’Shaughnessy, they governors was to stop outgoing might be earning a credential while president Tom Ross from continu- getting the wrong kind of training. ing due to his liberal tendencies, According to the American then why would you hire a firm School Counselor Association, coun- that specializes in placing liberal selors generally are required to take candidates? Why invite a public re- advanced degree courses in theory, hu- lations nightmare by getting rid of man and growth development, social somebody for ideological reasons and cultural foundations, testing/ap- and then hiring a replacement who praisal, research and program evalu- shares the same vision? CJ ation, professional orientation, career development, and individual and ­— Jay Schalin, director of group counseling. They also usually policy analysis at the John W. Pope participate in a supervised internship Center for Higher Education Policy. and other supervised practical instruc- AUGUST 2015 | CAROLINA JOURNAL PAGE 19 Higher Education Opinion Universities Are Not Sure-Thing Stimulators of Dull Economy o hear some policymakers talk, sin-Milwaukee’s Columbia aimed at panies including Patheon and Metrics, one would think colleges and Center for Econom- exploiting patents, which have had recent hiring surges. universities exist mainly to ic Development, Issues creating new busi- But some of those job increases have Tenhance economic growth rather than noted that “even nesses, and luring occurred not because of natural mar- to educate. Politicians and higher edu- world-class re- in tech firms. After ket forces, but because of multimil- cation officials increasingly champion search universities Higher Education a decade, though, lion-dollar incentive packages offered partnerships between universities and are neither neces- private-sector by the state government. If Greenville private firms; the hope is that they sary nor sufficient participation has had a truly desirable business climate, will spur com- in promoting local not materialized, such artificial stimulation would be mercial innova- economic develop- and many observ- unnecessary. tion and economic ment. University ers see the project Still, many state officials are expansion. research parks are particularly over- as a waste. banking on their own version of arti- Unfortu- sold as engines of local economic The lackluster performance of ficial economic stimulation — ECU’s nately, too many growth.” Innovista demonstrates a point made millennial campus — to turn Green- policymakers only Levine highlighted Baltimore, a by the Pope Center’s Jay Schalin in ville’s problems around. But how see the few glit- city with an economy fast approach- his 2010 report State Investment in much money ECU’s research cam- tering successes ing dysfunctional “Detroit status,” Universities: Rethinking the Impact on pus will require — and where it will and not the more despite being home to Johns Hopkins Economic Growth: “High-tech clusters come from — remains to be seen. The numerous failures. JESSE University, which the author calls the are difficult if not impossible to create university has only begun the process The reasons for the SAFFRON “unambiguous powerhouse of U.S. by government policies alone, tending of negotiating with private firms and rare success story academic research and development to occur somewhat naturally because outside entities — a process that will are many and funding in science and engineering.” of favorable conditions in a particular take place over many years, even complex. There is Indeed, between 1985 and 2006, Balti- area.” decades. Today, the plan is for four no “one size fits all” template when it more registered more than $23 billion The Greenville area, which will sites of university-owned land encom- comes to stimulating an economically in research expenditures, $20 billion of be home to ECU’s research park (for- passing 328 acres to be revitalized and lackluster region. Yet promoters of which came from Johns Hopkins. mally titled the East Carolina Research made attractive for development. these public-private partnerships are During those years, Baltimore and Innovation Campus), does not The approval of ECU’s millen- adamant that success is all but guar- surpassed all other metropolitan areas appear to possess such “favorable nial campus reveals major flaws in anteed. in terms of academic research and conditions.” In fact, many residents the approval process, as well as the In April, when the UNC sys- development, beating out Boston, are packing up and leaving. UNC tem’s Board of Governors approved New York, Los Angeles, and Raleigh. Board of Governors member Henry university-as-economic savior model East Carolina University’s request to Nevertheless, the region as a whole Hinton raised that issue when he itself. The school is trying to be some- build a “millennial campus” (a public- did not benefit from its proximity to advocated for the millennial campus thing it is not and cannot be, lured private research commercialization Johns Hopkins and failed to produce in April, saying, “In the last census, all by a façade of fancy buildings that park modeled after N.C. State Univer- the spin-off firms that many had the contiguous counties to Pitt County stimulate nothing. The reality is that sity’s Centennial Campus), one ECU hoped for. lost population.” Compounding such research commercialization hubs are official proclaimed, “We know this is a Another case study, particularly emigration is the fact that only 30 appropriate for only a few universities proven model.” relevant to ECU’s millennial campus, percent of ECU’s graduating class of located in vibrant economic environ- Data and case studies belie such is the University of South Carolina’s 2014 stayed in Greenville or nearby ments. ECU may not be in one of confidence in university research hubs Innovista, a research park designed to counties. them. CJ as economic drivers. In his 2009 report mimic N.C. State’s Centennial Cam- Furthermore, even positive de- The False Promise of the Entrepreneurial pus. Roughly $100 million has been velopments in the region are not quite Jesse Saffron is a senior writer for University, Marc Levine, founding funneled from the Palmetto State’s what they seem. For instance, Green- the John W. Pope Center for Higher Edu- director of the University of Wiscon- coffers to a planned research cluster in ville is home to pharmaceutical com- cation Policy. PAGE 20 AUGUST 2015 | CAROLINA JOURNAL Books & the Arts

From the Liberty Library Book review

• In Wealth, Poverty, and Politics, Thomas Sowell, one of Bowling Alone Author Putnam Tosses a Gutter Ball the foremost conservative public intellectuals in this country, ar- • Robert Putnam, Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis, Putnam attributes this growing chasm to several fac- gues that political and ideological Simon and Schuster, 2015, 400 pages, $28. tors, but the two most significant are the decline of blue- struggles have led to dangerous collar labor (beginning aggressively in the 1970s) and the confusion about income inequal- By David N. Bass sharp rise in divorce and out-of-wedlock births around the ity in America. Contributor same time. Pundits and politically mo- RALEIGH One aspect that weighs down Our Kids is Putnam’s tivated economists trumpet am- ormer U.S. Sen. John Edwards used the imagery of overreliance on complicated storytelling, a trait that Bowling biguous statistics and sensational “two Americas” to launch and sustain his campaign Alone managed to avoid. This might appeal to some readers theories while ignoring the true for president in 2004. Since then, the concept — the — the visceral contrast between kids growing up in low- determinant of income inequality: Fexistence of two distinct Americas, the haves and the have- income, frenetic households and high-income, stable house- the production of wealth. We can- nots — has gained more and more steam. That’s why it holds is powerful — but I didn’t pick up the book hoping not understand inequality prop- wasn’t surprising to see renowned political scientist and to read anecdotal stories. I wanted facts, analysis, and argu- erly if we focus exclusively on the Harvard professor Robert Putnam chime in on the topic. ments. I got some, but sandwiched between too many nar- distribution of wealth and ignore Putnam is recognized widely for his seminal 2000 ratives. wealth production factors such work Bowling Alone, which explored the growing demise of Perhaps the biggest fault in Our Kids, however, is that as geography, demography, and civic life in America, and attributed it to causes such as two- the book was already largely written two years ago by so- culture. Sowell contends that lib- income families, long commutes, ciologist Charles Murray of the erals have a particular interest in suburban sprawl, and the rise of American Enterprise Institute. misreading the data and chastises television. His 2012 book Coming Apart them for using income inequality Our Kids: The American chronicled the growing income, as an argument for the welfare Dream in Crisis taps into the na- education, and home-life gap in state. tional discourse on economic America. And, not to put too fine Refuting Thomas Piketty, inequality. Putnam explores the a point on it, Murray tells this Paul Krugman, and others on the economic and cultural forces that story better. left, Sowell draws on accurate tend to keep low-income, low- Although Murray was empirical data to show that the education individuals in poverty evenhanded, he tackled the is- inequality is not nearly as extreme — forces that have grown and be- sue from the Right; Putnam does or sensational as we have been led come more entrenched over the so from a slightly left-of-center to believe. last few decades. He also cata- perspective, but he doesn’t offer Transcending partisanship logues the new upper class that much that’s new, certainly not through a careful examination of has emerged and lists its defining enough to skip Coming Apart in data, Wealth, Poverty, and Politics characteristics. favor of Our Kids. reveals the truth about the most To his credit, Putnam fo- In the end, while Putnam explosive political issue of our cuses more on a lack of economic does a fair job diagnosing the time. More at www.basicbooks. mobility rather than equality. A problem, his solutions are lack- com. key difference exists between the luster. He can’t bring himself to two. Economic equality, as es- advocate for the values-oriented solutions that would work: more • An aging judge about poused by the Left, suggests that stable families, less promiscuous to step down. Aggressive pros- outcomes should be the same for sex, more emphasis on thrift and ecutors friendly with the judge. A all, regardless of effort. Mobility, disgraced president. A nation that hard work, etc. These are the val- on the other hand, looks at tear- ues that neo-traditional, higher- already had made up its mind. ing down barriers — low-per- The Watergate trials were a income families follow. Today’s forming public schools and lack poor are less likely to abide by legal mess — and now, with the of incentives for two-parent mar- discovery of new documents that these values, and Putnam says riage, for example — that tend to that the poor never will, nor, reveal shocking misconduct by result in those who come from he suggests, should we encour- prosecutors and judges alike, for- low-income backgrounds being age them. This amounts to hand mer Nixon administration staffer unable to escape. wringing alongside an unwill- Geoff Shepard has a convincing Interestingly, Putnam argues that class divides, more ingness, for the sake of political correctness, to acknowledge case that the wrongdoing of these than racial divides, pose the greatest mobility challenges for the real solutions. history-making trials was The Real young people today. He notes that neighborhoods, schools, The one golden takeaway from Our Kids is the encour- Watergate Scandal, more important and social circles were less segregated in the 1950s com- agement to view children as the future resource that they than the break-in and subsequent pared to today. A rich boy and poor boy might live a few are. Not just our own children — those in our family or im- cover-up. Learn more at www. blocks from each other, whereas today the rich and poor mediate social circle — but all children. This underscores regnery.com. tend to be clustered in their own zones. the need to encourage healthy family formation, stable Putnam defines this new upper class as “neo-tradi- home environments, and broader school choice that enables • ISIS is on a campaign to tionalists,” a close parallel to the traditional-values-oriented young people to excel. destroy the Western world of “in- “This is not the first time in our national history that fidels.” families of the 1950s, with a few notable exceptions: Both spouses work outside the home, childbearing is delayed widening socioeconomic gaps have threatened our econo- Who is ISIS? What do its my, our democracy, and our values,” Putnam writes. “The until careers are underway, and domestic duties are more leaders believe? And why exactly specific responses we have pursued to successfully- over evenly split. do they hate us? come these challenges and restore opportunity have varied These upper-class marriages “have become nearly as New York Times bestselling in detail, but underlying them all was a commitment to in- author Robert Spencer, author of durable as the 1950s model.” These are individuals with sta- vest in other people’s children. And underlying that com- The Complete Infidel’s Guide to the ble marriages, families, and careers who live in solid com- mitment was a deeper sense that those kids, too, were our Koran, takes on the Islamic State munities, enjoy access to high-caliber schools, and still tend kids.” in The Complete Infidel’s Guide to toward religious involvement. In sum, I’ve enjoyed Putnam’s works immensely, par- ISIS. The lower class, on the other hand, Putnam labels ticularly Bowling Alone, but I would recommend Murray’s For more information, visit “fragile families,” defined by out-of-wedlock childbirth, Coming Apart over this current offering. Still, read this book, www.regnery.com. CJ less durable sexual relationships, poor school quality, and but begin with Murray for better analysis and a more con- community discord. sidered toolbox of solutions. CJ AUGUST 2015 | CAROLINA JOURNAL PAGE 21 Books & the Arts Tryon Had Major Impact on North Carolina’s Colonial History s I was driving the other day first task was dealing with the messy variety of citizenry and denomina- officials, abounded. Regulators even- on Tryon Road in Cary, I aftermath of the Stamp Act. Tryon tional persuasions than he previously tually issued lists of grievances. wondered whether the street shrewdly discontinued the colonial realized, and he noticed differences In 1768 and 1769, the Regulators wasA named after North Carolina assembly and prevented the session between the “backcountry” and the met militia on several occasions. No Royal Governor William Tryon. It was from reconvening until the act had eastern part of the state. He soon major battle materialized, but opin- an educated guess, for Wake County, been repealed. would be reminded of the divide. ions were becoming entrenched. Also, according to The In the Cape Fear area, Tryon envisioned the Regulators performed targeted North Carolina Gaz- the Sons of Liberty became a permanent capital for protests, such as dragging an alleg- etteer, is named for prevalent, well-organized, the colony. He chose New edly corrupt lawyer through the Margaret Wake, and sometimes raucous. Bern. With appropriated streets and forcing a judge to leave his the wife of Wil- Even so, Tryon had un- funds, he had built what town. Tensions continued to escalate, liam Tryon. derestimated the Sons of became known as Tryon and some leading Regulators were A few days Liberty’s resolve. Approxi- Palace. It was used as the arrested. Though he had been ap- earlier I had been mately 1,000 descended on royal governor’s residence, pointed royal governor of New York, watching a televi- Wilmington to protest, and a hall for the assembly and Tryon was committed to quelling the sion show about the area’s Sons of Liberty council, and a repository Regulator movement. Authorized by the Revolutionary later compelled Tryon to of records. the assembly to use force, Tryon and War, in which Pa- TROY ask for the resignation of Even though there the militia met the Regulators on May triots were fight- KICKLER the comptroller of Bruns- were advantages to a 16, 1771. In two hours, the two sides ing the British in wick. permanent capital, many settled their differences at the Battle of New York. In the episode, Tryon was Earlier, Tryon had offered, in the Piedmont were irate. Construc- Alamance. Tryon prevailed. mentioned as a general. The combi- for instance, to pay taxes on tavern tion necessitated increased taxation, On June 30, he left Wilmington nation of experiences prompted my licenses and some legal documents, and the eventual costs exceeded initial for New York. When war broke out, revisiting some books and notes. but those offers were rejected. Leading estimates. The group of Piedmont Tryon, a longtime soldier, positioned Tryon was born in 1729, the year merchants declined his invitations to farmers known as the Regulators himself to obtain (and eventually North Carolina became a royal colony dinner. After the act’s repeal, business claimed the permanent capital was achieve) the rank of major general under direct authority of the crown. returned to normal. too far away (a similar complaint in the British Army. After America (That year seven of the Lord Propri- To learn more about the colony, later motivated legislators to relocate defeated Britain in the war, Tryon died etors sold their land to King George II. Tryon first traveled in the eastern part the capital to Raleigh), and many in 1788 in London. CJ Lord Granville was the only holdout.) of the state. He later toured the Pied- considered Tryon Palace to be osten- Succeeding Royal Governor mont and soon learned he had an in- tatious. This debate emerged while Dr. Troy Kickler is director of the Arthur Dobbs in 1765, the 36-year- complete understanding of the colony. allegations, including embezzlement North Carolina History Project (northcar- old Tryon was baptized by fire: His He encountered a far more diverse of public money by local government olinahistory.org). BOOKS BY JOHN LOCKE FOUNDATION AUTHORS

If you don’t know about Edenton, North Carolina, your knowledge of U.S. history is incomplete and your knowledge of North Carolina insufficient. Organized women’s political activity in America was born in Eden- ton. The concept of judicial review—that courts can declare legislative acts unconstitutional—was champi- oned here. Ideas for a national navy and defense were implemented here. Many passages of the N.C. Con- stitution (1776) and the U.S. Constitution originated here. Leading proponents of the U.S. Constitution (a.k.a. Federalists) lived in this small place, and so did nationally known jurists and politicians. Dr. Troy Kickler, founding director of the North Carolina History Project, brings Edenton, its people, and its actions into proper and full focus in his book, The King’s Trouble Makers. Go to northcarolinahistory.org for more information. PAGE 22 AUGUST 2015 | CAROLINA JOURNAL Books & the Arts Book review David Boaz Explains How Big Government Undermines Society • David Boaz, The Libertarian Mind, problem caused by big government is developed as methods for rulers to ex- government. Prior to the New Deal, Simon & Schuster, 2015, 417 pages, exposed, and the need for America to tract wealth from the people without Americans had set up an astonishing $27.95. embrace voluntary solutions is made the constant need to employ force. number and array of organizations to crystal clear. Taxes, say advocates of big gov- help people in need and provide mem- By George Leef Boaz, executive vice president at ernment, are the price of civilization, bers with services they wanted, includ- Contributor the Cato Institute, has written a com- but that’s simply false. Taxes are not ing medical care and insurance. RALEIGH prehensive, readable, and highly per- necessary for civilization, but are nec- The key thing about them was ince the beginning of the so-called suasive book rooted in the principles essary for ruling elites (whether mon- that they operated on consent and con- Progressive Era, advocates of big of libertarian thinking: peaceful coop- archs or elected officials) to maintain tract and therefore could — and had to government have been on the eration, private property, capitalism, power and live well. The book is full — refuse benefits to individuals who Soffensive. They promised Americans and individual rights. On page after of historical references, and Boaz notes were shirking or trying to defraud the more prosperity, better education, in- page, he shows why the statism of the that the finance minister for King Louis system. These organizations helped creased security, a cleaner environ- progressives failed to deliver on its XIV laid out the essentials for maxi- people build character. Boaz points ment, a society that’s more fair, and so promises and why the nation should mizing the haul of taxes with the least out that members in good standing of on — provided they would allow gov- return to its limited gov- resistance and invites many lodges could use that very fact to ernment much more power. ernment roots. you to compare it with establish good credit if they moved to A great many fell for it. After all, He builds his case the way we are taxed another city. wasn’t it extremely important to move by starting with the ba- today. Once the welfare state was estab- toward an improved country at what sic need for and benefits Libertarian think- lished, however, people began looking seemed to be little or no cost? of freedom. “Freedom ing clashes with other for ways to get unearned, undeserved The progressives, however, tre- leads to social harmo- philosophies over the benefits; the incentives were complete- mendously exaggerated the benefits ny,” Boaz notes. “We question of rights. Al- ly turned around so that the unscru- of big government — an “activist” have less conflict when most everyone claims to pulous were the winners. And once government rather than the defensive we have fewer specific favor rights, but social- people started expecting government one envisioned by the Founders. All commands and prohi- ists, communitarians, to solve every social need, the volun- of those visionary laws and programs bitions about how we and others make a ter- tary associations began to wither. that were supposed to give us a better should live — in terms rible mistake by calling At the same time big government society have backfired. Education, for of class or caste, reli- many desires and in- enabled the poor to use government to example, is notably less effective today gion, dress, lifestyle, or terests “rights.” That’s get what they wanted, it also enabled than before government central plan- schools.” why we hear about ners took it over. We wouldn’t have welfare rights, housing many nonpoor people and groups to At the same time, the costs of the nasty disputes over rights, and so on. Boaz do the same. Washington, D.C., and big government have proven not to school curriculum or who may marry responds that true rights involve the our state capitals are overrun with lob- be small. We now see that they are gi- whom if government would leave use of our liberty and property, but byists who want subsidies, regulations, gantic, both in monetary terms and in such matters to individual choice and that all the other so-called rights can and other goodies that come at other terms of lost freedom. private contract. Boaz argues that the be given effect only through coercion. people’s expense. The big reason we As a result, an intellectual coun- proper role of government is to protect Trying to do that starts the unraveling have suffered an economic slowdown terattack has been building. Many our rights and property, but never to of society. in recent decades is the growth of what books have been written on individual dictate other rules. One of the strongest, most mem- Boaz calls “the parasite economy.” aspects of the case for restoring lib- As for government itself, he of- orable parts of the book is Boaz’s con- Only readers who insist on keep- erty and limited government, but in fers readers an eye-opening (and, some trast between the way people once ing their socialistic blinders on won’t The Libertarian Mind, David Boaz gives would say, dangerous) view of its ori- formed voluntary societies and asso- get the big point of The Libertarian Mind readers a wide-ranging manifesto that gins and nature. Governments didn’t ciations to deal with social problems — the government must be and can covers the waterfront. Every major arise out of social contracts, but instead and the way we now look mostly to be cut back to proper size. CJ Help us keep our presses rolling Share your CJ Publishing a newspaper is an ex- pensive proposition. Just ask the many daily newspapers that are having trouble making ends meet these days. Finished reading all It takes a large team of editors, re- porters, photographers and copy editors the great articles in this to bring you the aggressive investigative reporting you have become accustomed month’s Carolina Jour- to seeing in Carolina Journal each month. nal? Don’t just throw it Putting their work on newsprint and then delivering it to more than 100,000 in the recycling bin, pass readers each month puts a sizeable dent in the John Locke Foundation’s budget. it along to a friend or That’s why we’re asking you to help defray those costs with a donation. Just neighbor, and ask them send a check to: Carolina Journal Fund, John Locke Foundation, 200 W. Morgan to do the same. St., Suite 200, Raleigh, NC 27601. We thank you for your support. Thanks. John Locke Foundation | 200 W. Morgan St., Raleigh, NC 27601 | 919-828-3876 AUGUST 2015 | CAROLINA JOURNAL PAGE 23 Books & the Arts Book Review Entertaining ‘Spinglish’ Dictionary Betrays Definite Spin of its Own • Henry Beard and Christopher Cerf, sound more appealing. for “Death panels” amounts to a short, its own citizens from fleeing. On the Spinglish: The Definitive Dictionary of “Critically acclaimed” usually negative op-ed piece on Sarah Palin, other hand, they view “entitlement re- Deliberately Deceptive Language, Blue means a book with disappointing sales, and “job-killing regulations,” like most form” as nothing more than “gutting” Rider Press, 2015, 341 pages, $27.50. and “Hemingwayesque” denotes short of the book, is not kind to Republicans Social Security, Medicare, and Medic- sentences. As journalists know, “noted in general. aid. A “freedom fighter” is not merely By Lloyd Billingsley authority” is anyone willing to re- Prominent national Democrats a terrorist who happens to be on your Contributor turn a reporter’s phone calls, and un- and their support groups do not get side, and in “pacification” the authors RALEIGH founded statements of- equal treatment in Sp- scrape the barrel on Vietnam. ike Eric Idle of Monty Python ten come prefaced with inglish, but the authors Spinglish lacks an entry for “so- fame, most readers dislike those the term “arguably.” In do not entirely neglect cialized medicine,” a favorite of con- who vent their loquacity with the hands of psychologi- them. As they note, Bill servatives, which really means “gov- Lextraneous bombastic circumlocution. cal specialists, shyness Clinton can work won- ernment monopoly health care.” The So as national elections draw near, any becomes “Social Anxiety ders with the word “is.” book avoids the “mainstream media,” book purporting to expose “deliber- Disorder.” “Pre-owned” In that spirit, Beard and another conservative favorite, which ately deceptive language” is certainly means used, “urban art” Cerf might have taken really means “old-line establishment welcome. is graffiti, and of course on Hillary Clinton’s media,” fond of formulations such as Right out of the gate, Spinglish a “water landing,” as Jay “What does it matter?” a “incorrect promise.” To entertain and instruct at the has prompted glowing comparisons Leno used to point out, dismissal of terrorism on same time is a daunting task, and the to George Orwell, and the back cover is a plane crash at sea. her watch as secretary of authors pull it off only in part. The has the Animal Farm author, who died Much of this material is state. biggest fans of Spinglish will be critics in 1950, saying, “I only wish I had lived great fun, and the book President Obama who agree with the authors’ politics. long enough to read this incomparable comes with illustrations, duly shows up in “JV This reviewer, however, is also going book.” such as Janet Leigh in the Team,” which he used to compare Beard and Cerf’s book to National Lampoon veterans Henry famous shower scene, to disparage the ability George Orwell. It’s not nearly as good, Beard and Christopher Cerf have un- with a note advising that an emotion- of Islamic State fighters, and “Man- and readers should be aware of a back covered “Spinocchios” at work every- ally disturbed person once meant a caused disasters,” the president’s story. where, and readers will find much of “psycho.” rather curious term for terrorism. His Christopher Cerf’s father was their work familiar. “Adorable,” for The Spinocchios are most active most deceptive formulation, “Afford- Bennett Cerf, founder of Random example, is a real-estate term for an in politics, and many readers will find able Care Act,” does not get an entry. House. During World War II, Bennett extremely small house. “Academically that Spinglish revolves to the port side. The authors could have described it Cerf proposed a publishing ban on all fragile” is a reference to a student with In fact, the authors telegraph it with accurately as a “taking” and highly books critical of the Soviet Union. One poor grades and skimpy class atten- a flare gun. The first entry, “Abortion unaffordable to boot. Fortunately, of those was George Orwell’s Animal dance. “Aversion therapy,” is actually Machine,” goes after Rush Limbaugh, they cover “incorrect promise,” from Farm, a work of genius rejected by 14 shock treatment, even torture, some- and Republican strategist Frank Luntz The New York Times, which means “a publishers, including T.S. Eliot on be- thing Jack Nicholson would recognize. is a frequent target. “Birth pangs of lie.” Contrary to the president’s claim, half of Faber and Faber, because it was In similar style, many readers al- a New Middle East,” is a short essay Americans could not keep the health too unkind to Joseph Stalin. Think ready will be aware that to “downsize” on Condoleezza Rice, and George W. plans they liked. about that as you read Animal Farm, is to “lay off a significant percentage of Bush gets similar huffy treatment in The authors also explain that 1984, Homage to Catalonia, and particu- one’s employees,” that “freelancer” entries for “Coalition of the Willing,” “affirmative action” means preferen- larly Orwell’s essay “Politics and the can mean unemployed, and that “neg- “Enemy Combatants,” “Surge,” and tial treatment, racial quotas, and re- English Language.” Then maybe have ative net worth” means bankruptcy. “Homicide bomber.” That one doubles verse discrimination. And “invest,” a go at Spinglish. CJ “Offered a package” means “fired,” for Fox News, whose “fair and bal- as used by politicians, does indeed as many workers know full well. But anced” also gets a going over, as does mean “spend,” as the authors explain. Lloyd Billingsley is author of Hol- some may have fallen for “marbled,” the National Rifle Association in “Jack- East Berlin’s “Anti-fascist bulwark,” lywood Party and Bill of Writes, a forth- an adjective used to make fatty beef booted government thugs.” The entry also known as the Berlin Wall, kept coming collection of his journalism.

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 PresidentChairman of ofthe the By George C. Leef JohnJohn Locke Locke Foundation Foundation ViceDirector President of Research for Research at the at John the W. JohnPope William Center Pope for HigherCenter for Education Higher “[Selling the Dream] provides a EducationPolicy 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 AUGUST 2015 | CAROLINA JOURNAL Opinion

COMMENTARY Mandating Our Way To Higher Health Costs he U.S. Supreme Court might agent handling employer health have saved Obamacare from plans, stressed in an interview his having to operate as written, sympathy for people with health Tbut the landmark decision in King needs seeking help. But he esti- v. Burwell has not deterred those on mated that approving five pieces the right from focusing on making of pending legislation he considers health insurance (and, more impor- mandates would increase insurance tantly, health care) more affordable premiums by about 16 percent,” the for more Americans. AP reported. Doing away with many of “’It’ll be a rate increase on ev- Obamacare’s expensive regulations erybody insured whether they use that imposed on patients, providers, benefit or not,’” Pendleton said, adding and insurers ultimately falls on that even with the GOP protests about Congress. State lawmak- President Barack Obama’s ers can do only so much health care law, “’my fellow EDITORIAL to slow the rise in health Republicans are not serious insurance costs. One thing about reducing health care they can do, however, is costs for corporations and Release the Records, re-examine the number nonprofits.’” of state health coverage Proponents make the mandates licensed insur- case that certain mandates Gov. McCrory ance carriers must offer. like those requiring au- Such laws require insurers tism services curb overall n July, a host of media organiza- claiming that these officials and their to offer or expand upon KATHERINE health care expenditures tions and a couple of left-leaning subordinates have — among other specific services that ben- RESTREPO in the long run. The Coun- advocacy groups filed a lawsuit things — failed to provide copies of efit particular populations cil of Affordable Health againstI Gov. Pat McCrory and a public records in a timely manner, and providers. Insurance also cautions: number of his Cabinet officials, saying charged excessive fees for copies of North Carolina cur- Some mandates have the administration effectively had those records, failed to acknowledge rently imposes more than 55 cover- a more pronounced effect on premiums stonewalled a series of requests under requests for records, and denied or age mandates — ranking in the top than do others. For example, a mental North Carolina’s Public Records Law. concealed the existence of public re- 15 states nationwide. The Council health parity mandate, which requires In response, the governor issued a cords. If proven in court, any of these for Affordable Health Insurance insurers to cover mental health care press release citing “exploitation” would constitute violations of the estimates that each additional at the same levels as physical health of public records requests by these Public Records Law. mandate increases premiums by an care, has a greater impact on the cost of organizations and saying his adminis- The complaint cites 11 potential average of less than 1 percent, so premiums than a collection of mandates tration “is a champion of transparency violations. Of particular interest to CJ and fair and legitimate news gather- the impact of any individual one for inexpensive procedures utilized by readers, in January 2014 the Southern ing.” seems small. relatively few people. Environmental Law Center requested Governor, that’s not the way our public records from the Department of Consequently, additional Curiously, businesses that self- system works. No public official has coverage requirements are passed insure (approximately 60 percent Transportation related to the pro- the power to determine what consti- posed tolling project along Interstate here and there, and collectively they of North Carolina’s private firms) tutes “legitimate news gathering.” 77 north of Charlotte. After repeated contribute to rising premiums. The and the state government are let off That’s why the Founders and their follow-up requests, NCDOT surren- fact that there are now over 2,200 the hook by the blessing of the 1974 successors insisted on the free-speech dered the records in May 2015 — after mandates nationwide — up from Employee Retirement Income Secu- guarantees expressed in U.S. and N.C. the administration had signed a con- almost zero in 1970 — demonstrates rity Act, so they don’t have to meet constitutions and the open meet- tract with a private party to build the that often it’s politically feasible for all of the 55 state mandates. But this ings and public records laws, among project. (See Don Carrington’s cover special-interest groups to get their exemption for the self-insured puts other measures of accountability. The stories about the I-77 controversy in government doesn’t get to decide how way. an extra burden on everyone else — the July and August editions of CJ.) the public’s business is reported, nor Throughout North Carolina’s mostly policyholders in the indi- The other violations as described whether it will comply with requests present legislative session, a num- vidual market and small businesses in the complaint are egregious as well. for public information. ber of bills have been filed calling that pick up 100 percent of their The level of conflict between the ex- The administration could have ecutive branch and public watchdogs for insurers to expand coverage to workers’ insurance premiums. A prevented this lawsuit merely by include benefits such as oral cancer recent study by the Mercatus Center cooperating with inquiries from the is unnecessary and avoidable — and drugs, autism therapy, and reduced at George Mason University finds media and other members of the pub- the tendency to bicker about the vol- co-pays for chiropractic care. The that while more coverage mandates lic more openly. Too often, in Carolina ume of public records requests only Associated Press reports that the may not reduce employment, they Journal’s 25 years of covering state fuels suspicions that the government introduced bills could lead to an do cause an employment shift from and local government, the failure by is hiding something. additional 16 percent rate increase if small to large businesses. public officials to answer basic ques- If we were betting types, we’d passed. Perhaps the legislature should tions can cause a simple query for place a substantial wager that as this lawsuit moves forward, not only will Keep in mind this doesn’t fac- extend those exemptions to all, lev- information to escalate into a major the administration lose (and probably tor in a potential 25 percent average eling the playing field for individu- document request — and, sometimes, costly lawsuits. have to pay the media groups’ legal premium increase Blue Cross and als and small businesses. CJ The current dispute names as costs), it also will be ordered to com- Blue Shield seeks for 2016 individu- defendants the governor and his ply with future requests faster and al policy plans. Katherine Restrepo is health and secretaries of commerce, environment, more completely. “Rep. Gary Pendleton, R- human services policy analyst for the health and human services, public The governor may not like this Wake, an independent insurance John Locke Foundation. safety, administration, transporta- outcome, but it’s the cost of doing tion, cultural resources, and revenue, business if you’re a public official. CJ AUGUST 2015 | CAROLINA JOURNAL PAGE 25 Opinion

EDITORIALS COMMENTARY Tax Reform Teams The Right Call Three concepts debated s the House and Senate negoti- marginal rate and defining the tax On Vouchers ate the details of a new state base properly to avoid the double tax- here was absolutely nothing feitures, and the sale of public lands budget, one of their biggest ation of investment income. Thus they surprising about the North that are required to be devoted to disagreementsA will be about taxes. either favor universal tax-free savings Carolina Supreme Court’s 4-3 public schools “together with so Just to be clear: Conservatives who accounts (imagine unlimited IRAs) or decisionT to uphold the constitution- much of the revenue of the state as generally favor lower taxes and less eliminating taxes on dividends and ality of the state’s new Opportunity may be set aside for that purpose” spending growth than their Democrat- capital gains earned on investments Scholarship Program. The outcome (meaning public schools). In other ic predecessors lead both chambers. made with after-tax dollars. was welcome. The lack of surprise words, the General Assembly can Both sides embraced the 2013 tax re- Finally, the Balanced Taxers form bill, signed by Gov. Pat McCrory, was disappointing. supplement the earmarked revenue prefer to maintain a broad portfolio of The four justices signing onto sources with other tax dollars to converting North Carolina’s multirate state revenue sources, even if it means income tax into a flat tax, eliminated the majority decision by Chief fund public schools. But it doesn’t distorting and slowing the economy Justice Mark Martin are Repub- forbid lawmakers from funding or capping various tax deductions, through double taxation, because they and reducing marginal rates. licans. The three justices dissent- other educational programs. believe the fiscal and political conse- ing are Democrats. Opponents of Another line of attack was to But now the General Assembly is quences of the Fair Tax or Flat Tax are deciding what to do next. Its debates school choice are citing this fact as say that because private schools too costly. proof that the result was improper. aren’t regulated the same way are poorly understood in part because While the three groups have dif- of the erroneous assumption that all I couldn’t disagree more. district-run public schools ferent end states in mind, they often conservatives envision the same tax- Given the last several de- are, programs assisting agree on particular policies. The 2013 reform goal. cades of jurisprudence, in private-school students tax reform, for example, broadened Roughly speaking, you can which the high court has do not advance a “pub- the sales tax base to include some divide Republican lawmakers and rarely limited the power lic purpose.” Again, the other conservatives into three groups. services sold by establishments that of the General Assembly majority didn’t bite. Ac- The Fair Taxers seek to abolish North already collect sales tax on goods. to make policy in North cording to precedent, the Carolina’s personal income tax and That’s not much of an extra regula- Carolina, doing so with public purpose doctrine substitute a broad-based sales tax on tory burden. But as Fair Taxers seek regard to this modest is about the intentions most or all goods and services sold at to compel more people or businesses school-choice program of policymakers. School retail. They point to empirical evi- to become sales-tax collectors, they’ll would have stuck out like choice clearly is intended dence suggesting that income taxes lose the support of many Flat Tax and a sore thumb. JOHN to expand educational op- are more harmful to job creation and Balanced Tax advocates. Is it constitutional HOOD portunities for children. income growth than sales taxes are. Regardless of your personal for the General Assembly You may think The Flat Taxers would like to views about tax reform, it’s essential to give special tax breaks to politi- school choice will fail, and you are continue North Carolina’s progress to- to understand the perspectives of cally favored big businesses while free to oppose such programs, vote ward a properly structured Flat Tax — these three groups if you would fol- denying them to everyone else? Is against lawmakers who support which is about both adopting a single low tax debates in Raleigh. CJ it constitutional to appropriate tax them, and perhaps even run for the dollars to church-owned day care legislature yourself to try to over- centers, colleges, and charities? Is it turn them. You are not free, how- permissible for state lawmakers to ever, to obtain a judicial post and deny consumers the right to decide then strike such programs down N.C. Sets Higher Bar how they purchase automobiles, because you believe them unwise. professional services, and medical There is a separation of powers here Test results now rate in top five nationally care? — and if judges are in fact going “Yes” is the answer to all these to start striking down state laws as ccording to a recent report mon Core has proved problematic in questions, based both on decisions violating the public purpose doc- from the National Assessment key respects, the idea of making North handed down by courts or practices trine, they really should start with of Educational Progress, five Carolina’s testing program more rig- commonly engaged in by lawmak- obvious abuses such as corporate ers without judicial intervention. welfare. statesA — Texas, Massachusetts, Wis- orous was a good one. And according The plaintiffs in the opportunity Both the House and Senate consin, New York, and North Carolina to NAEP, it’s starting to work. scholarship lawsuit had to engage budgets expand funding for oppor- — have the highest expectations for Its study compared student in bizarre legal contortions to try to tunity scholarships. In the 2015-16 student proficiency in the country. performance on 2013 NAEP and state distinguish their case. Martin and school year, some 4,300 students In the early 1990s, states began exams across the country. Among the majority bloc refused to play will benefit directly from the pro- participating in NAEP’s rigorous fourth-graders, only New York and Constitutional Twister with them. gram, with thousands more benefit- assessments for fourth- and eighth- Wisconsin had proficiency standards For example, the plaintiffs ing indirectly (because there is good graders. About the same time, North for reading and math just as high as argued it was illegal to spend tax empirical evidence that competition Carolina introduced its own annual NAEP’s. In the next tier, NAEP found dollars on programs assisting pri- prompts district-run public schools testing program, known as end-of- Massachusetts, Texas, and North grade and end-of-course exams. vate-school parents because Article to get better). I’d favor expanding Carolina demanded true proficiency Unfortunately, North Carolina’s IX, Section 6 of the North Carolina funding and eligibility for addition- in math but a lower standard, “basic” tests were both flawed and too easy Constitution required that tax dol- al students. skills, in reading. Among eighth- to pass. As late as 2011, for example, lars “shall be faithfully appropriat- As for choice opponents, I ex- graders, only New York demanded 72 percent of our fourth-graders were ed and used exclusively for estab- pect the Chicken Littles to continue scored by the state as proficient or bet- true proficiency for both reading and lishing and maintaining a uniform to see phantasms falling from the ter in reading. In the same year, only math, with Texas and North Carolina system of free public schools.” This sky. I’d love to be surprised, how- 34 percent of our fourth-graders were demanding true proficiency in math was a case of attempting to take a ever. CJ scored as proficient or better by NAEP. and basic skills in reading. clause completely out of context. In 2013, North Carolina launched In the past, North Carolina’s The quoted section comes at a new testing program tied to the standards and accountability system the end of a much-longer enumera- John Hood is chairman of the implementation of the national Com- set the bar way too low. That’s no lon- tion of revenues such as fines, for- John Locke Foundation. mon Core standards. Although Com- ger true. And that’s real progress. CJ PAGE 26 AUGUST 2015 | CAROLINA JOURNAL Opinion MEDIA MANGLE The Media And Planned Parenthood t is beyond argument that the left long ago decided that abortion on demand was a key part of the liberal catechism. It’s become the metricI by which they measure all politicians. It has been that way for a while. In 1992, Gov. Robert Casey of Pennsylvania was denied a speaking role in the Demo- cratic National Convention for fear he would discuss his pro-life views. It was not always that way, however. Famous Democratic liberals such as Hubert Humphrey and Sargent Shriver were openly pro-life. Second only to today’s Democrats in fealty to abor- tion on demand is the media. JON Polls show that the media are HAM pro-abortion to a far greater percentage than the popula- tion as a whole. To the media, Outside Forces Affect N.C. Economy the issue is as settled in their minds as man-made global warming. ome troubling news about North Carolina’s lar against foreign currencies has big impacts on So imagine the turmoil the left and the economy recently made headlines. Numbers exports, imports, and manufacturing. A “weaker” media are in due to the recent release of several for an economic concept called “gross domes- dollar against foreign currencies makes U.S. exports undercover videos by the Center for Medical ticS product” — or GDP — were released for 2014. cheaper in foreign countries and foreign imports Progress that show Planned Parenthood officials While North Carolina’s GDP increased in 2014, it more expensive in the United States, resulting in discussing how best to maximize profit from the rose much less than the nation’s. Does this mean it’s more U.S. exports, fewer foreign imports, and more corpses of babies taken in abortions. time to worry about the state’s economic rebound? U.S. manufacturing. The opposite happens with a The media has vastly downplayed the Before addressing this important question, “stronger” dollar — fewer U.S. exports, more for- videos or ignored them altogether. In 60 hours let me explain the meaning of GDP. Economists eign imports, and less U.S. manufacturing. of news broadcasts (morning and evening news like GDP because it comprehensively measures the Merging these three points gives a plausible shows) in the 10 days after the first Planned size of an economy in a single explanation for North Carolina’s GDP performance Parenthood video was released, ABC devoted 46 number. It allows the produc- in 2013 and 2014. The U.S. dollar’s international seconds to the story, NBC a little over three min- tion of farmers, factory workers, value weakened through much of 2013. North Caro- utes, and CBS a little over seven minutes. office workers, salespersons, lina manufacturing production surged 6 percent, In daily newspapers, in most cases it was and all other workers and firms four times more than the production from national relegated to a back page, unless, as in The Wash- to be combined. It also takes out factories. The growth in North Carolina manufac- ington Post, the story attacked the makers of the general price inflation, so the turing was a big factor behind the state’s superior video, which garnered front-page placement. number won’t rise just because GDP performance that year. It always has baffled me why there is a average prices are higher. But the opposite happened in 2014. Due to political dimension to the abortion issue at all. As GDP also is the main several factors — among them concerns about reces- I’ve already said, liberal pro-life Democrats once metric used to denote and mea- MICHAEL sions in Europe and Japan and slower growth in were common on the political landscape. I was a sure recessions. For an official WALDEN China — the U.S. economy was considered to be the liberal Democrat in January 1973, when I wrote recession to occur, the rule of strongest in the world. As a result, the international the headline for the Roe v. Wade dicision in my thumb is a decline in GDP for value of the dollar increased and manufacturing college daily newspaper, and yet I was then and two consecutive three-month periods. For a depres- production in North Carolina stalled — with pro- duction at the same level in 2014 as in 2013. still am anti-abortion. sion to be designated, the decline in GDP must be If output from the state’s factories had in- Even if a reporter or editor is pro-abortion, 10 percent or more or the decline must last for two or more years. creased at the same rate in 2014 as in 2013, total you would think that the notion of a fetal chop While North Carolina’s 2014 GDP growth GDP growth in North Carolina in 2014 would have shop for profit would give them pause. Not so, rate came up short compared to the nation’s, the almost doubled and would have exceeded the na- apparently. I’ve searched in vain for any journal- opposite was the case for 2013. In that year North tional pace. istic introspection or concern about the practice. Carolina’s GDP grew 40 percent faster than na- There are two lessons here. The first is that the What I find are editorials like The New York Times’ tional GDP. What happened between the two years? state’s economy still can be moved by manufactur- “The Campaign of Deception Against Planned Essentially, the change was due to the impact of a ing; indeed, manufacturing’s role in North Carolina Parenthood” and a story in The Chicago Tribune stronger dollar on manufacturing. is greater than in 46 other states. One out of five dol- about the great demand for “fetal tissue,” as if Let me break down this answer into its parts. lars in the state directly comes from manufacturing. that excuses the carnage. First, relative to other states, North Carolina is a The second lesson is that forces well beyond The media clearly are trying hard to keep manufacturing state. While manufacturing certainly North Carolina’s control can have an impact — ei- this from becoming a huge national story, but isn’t as dominant as it was decades ago, over 20 ther positive or negative — on the state economy. In word is that there are many more videos coming, percent of North Carolina’s GDP still comes from 2013 the dollar’s lower international value helped each one more incriminating and damaging than manufacturing. This is far higher than the 12 per- North Carolina; in 2014 the dollar’s higher value the previous ones. If that’s true, how long can the cent share attributed to manufacturing nationally. had a slowing effect on the state economy. mainstream media ignore or downplay this story Second, international trade is important in How we move — economically speaking — is without looking completely irresponsible? CJ manufacturing. Almost half of U.S. manufactured not totally in our hands. CJ products are exported. At the same time, the U.S. Jon Ham is a vice president at the John Locke imports even more manufactured goods than it Michael Walden is Reynolds Distinguished Profes- Foundation and publisher of Carolina Journal. exports. sor at North Carolina State University. He does not Third, the international value of the dol- speak for the university. AUGUST 2015 | CAROLINA JOURNAL PAGE 27 Opinion Wake School Battles Tough to Pigeonhole

t may be a shameless plug, but I approach. ing from a comprehensive survey of took their entire term for the Repub- think many readers might be in- The book shows, however, that Wake County residents, focus groups, lican majority elected in 2009 to come terested in my new book, The End the election was shaped by a broad and interviews with policymak- up with an assignment policy that ofI Consensus. In a truly collaborative dissatisfaction with the county’s pub- ers and activists on both sides, we moved the county somewhat toward effort, I, a political scientist from the lic schools stemming from issues in found that large numbers of people a neighborhood model. The current right of center, teamed up with Toby addition to diversity. supported both diversity and neigh- Democratic majority continues to em- Parcel, a sociologist colleague at N.C. The frequent annual reassign- borhood schools. Our analysis also phasize proximity in its policies and State with more leftward views, to ments experienced by families inhabit- demonstrates that whites in suburban has begun to shrink the year-round write about Wake ing neighborhoods in the fast-growing western Wake and north Raleigh, so program. The current board may well County public areas of western Wake and north vilified by liberals, were no more sup- have learned some lessons from what schools and their Raleigh during the 1990s and 2000s portive of neighborhood schools than drove the “revolution” of 2009. politics over the generated tremendous resentment those who lived inside the Beltline. Our book gives conservatives past decade. We and lingered even when the triggering In fact, the whites who sup- additional encouragement, despite particularly were issue had faded. The implementation ported diversity most fervently were almost total Democratic control after intrigued by the of what was effectively a mandatory those who currently had no children the 2013 election. School system poli- overthrow of the year-round schooling policy in places in public schools. tics need competitive elections and liberal status quo like Apex and Cary was similarly un- There were clear racial differ- vigorous public debate before decision makers can be held accountable and in 2009. popular. The school board’s decisions ences in attitudes. African-Americans policies made effective and legitimate. Many of you were seen as arbitrary and cold-heart- were more supportive of diversity. Schools in many urban areas are at the will remember that ANDY ed. Because of the deep recession, However, less-affluent blacks were mercy of Democratic machine politics particular board TAYLOR parents were increasingly fretful about decidedly more ambivalent about the election pivoting utterly incapable of solving their prob- their children’s futures. policy. Some thought they were being lems. Those on the right have shown on the issue of the Interestingly, the Wake school used as pawns in a political game and county’s general assignment policy. they can check liberal impulses in board election in 2009 was unlike wondered why their children had to Wake County, even if they are unable Ever since Raleigh and the surround- those in most other parts of the be bused great distances. Despite the ing Wake systems were unified in to take the helm. country that were driven by ideology. rather sanctimonious tone among Second, most residents do not 1976, children had been assigned to Generally when liberals and conser- some lifelong liberal residents of the want their public schools to be part schools to diversify student bodies. vatives fought intense campaigns to county, the push for neighborhood of some kind of broader social policy. Initially, the metric used was influence local education policy, the schools did not emanate from the They believe education is critically racial, but in 2000 it was changed to issues were taxes and funding levels, legions of newcomers to the area from important, but, like any other function prevent any one school from having vouchers, charter and home schools, places like New York and Ohio. Time of government, their primary expec- more than 40 percent of its pupils in the content of curricula, and the use of living in Wake did not explain views tation is competence. They just want the free or reduced-price lunch pro- certain instructional materials. Wake about the issue. their children to learn. CJ grams and 25 percent who read below County residents split along other It is also important to note that grade level. Opponents of the board’s lines as battles over these matters took neither the Republican takeover in Democratic majority called to aban- place at the state level. 2009 nor the Democratic reclamation Andy Taylor is a professor of politi- don this diversity policy and reassign Several of our other findings in 2011 changed policy as much as the cal science at the School of Public and In- children to schools based upon geo- are notable and contrary to popular vitriolic rhetoric and divergent views ternational Affairs at N.C. State Univer- graphic proximity, or a neighborhood understanding of the episode. Draw- of the two sides would suggest. It sity. He does not speak for the university. Transparency Should Be a State Priority here are some really good things Medicaid reform; rolling back special lish and coordinate the transparency “We strongly support using informa- on the table as budget conferees treatment for special interests; and websites. The House has set aside $6 tion technology to increase transpar- discuss, debate, compromise, making smart energy plans. But one million in recurring and nonrecurring ency,” andT finalize the North Carolina’s provision stands out as not only good funds over the next two years, while Budgets are a list of priorities. government spending plan for the but transformational. the Senate has allocated $16 mil- Are teachers a higher priority than next two years. Allocating more than Found in Section 7.17 of House lion. At some point between the two film companies? What ranks higher — $22 billion each year in General Fund Bill 97, aka the budget, you will find proposals, appropriate funding can be safe roads or solar companies? Is per- revenue is a big deal. Adding money the Governmental Budgetary Trans- found. formance pay for teachers and other from the federal parency/Expenditures Online provi- The sites will be fully functional public employees a better investment government and sion. This sets up a website on which by April 1, 2016. Monthly updates are with greater benefits than across-the- other sources, state all state agencies, counties, cities, required, but smaller government en- board pay hikes? The General Assem- spending each and local education authorities will tities that don’t compile their budgets bly and the governor will be finalizing year becomes a $50 post their budgets and spending in a monthly can file a notice stating “no North Carolina’s priorities over the next few weeks through the state bud- billion big deal. user-friendly, easy-to-search manner. update at this time” for the months get. What could be a higher priority Some things Data will be provided in formats that between their quarterly filings. than full disclosure of where that $50 under consid- easily can be downloaded and ana- Sen. Andrew Brock, R-Davie, billion is spent? eration are very lyzed by citizens and decisionmakers. introduced the transparency provi- What was a pipe dream for Gov. positive — re- It will include budgeted amounts and sion as an amendment to the Sen- Jim Holshouser in his 1973 inaugural stricting spending actual spending by each state agency ate budget. The provision passed BECKI address — when he talked of opening growth to 2.5 per- or local entity, as well as information the Senate 47-2, while Speaker Tim government ledgers to everyone — is cent; raising start- GRAY on receipts and expenditures from Moore, Majority Leader Mike Hager, an idea whose time has come. The ing teacher pay to and to all sources, including vendor and Reps. Jason Saine, Rick Glazier, complexity and expense of govern- $35,000 and add- payments, updated monthly. Yes, real and Chuck McGrady are just a few ment makes it necessary, the technol- ing nearly 6,800 new teachers over the open government and transparency of the House members who have ogy makes it possible, and now the next two years to reduce the student- would be just a click or two away. voiced support. State Controller Linda commitment of today’s leaders to to-teacher ratio; ending the transfer of The provision instructs the state Combs “believes transparency is a key open and transparent state govern- highway funds to the General Fund controller, the Office of State Budget component to good government.” Lee ment can make it a reality. CJ for nonhighway uses; doubling the and Management, and the state chief Roberts, the state budget director, is amount of money set aside in re- information officer to prioritize infor- “fully committed to greater transpar- Becki Gray is vice president for out- serve accounts; getting serious about mation technology funding to estab- ency.” State CIO Chris Estes has said, reach at the John Locke Foundation. PAGE 28 AUGUST 2015 | CAROLINA JOURNAL Parting Shot Recyclers Envision Toxic Solar Panels as Coffee Tables (a CJ parody) so the tables can blend in with almost any décor. Most solar panels are 65 Industry officials see inches by 40 inches, or 18 square feet, and weigh about 36 pounds. ‘solar farm-to-table’ “In addition to coffee tables, we think there will be a demand for dining tables and end tables. You just have to as the next big fad alter the length of the leg assembly, but By Byrd Zappa of course all the tops will still look like Energy Correspondent a used solar panel, because that is what RALEIGH they are,” Neidemeyer-Thomas said. oping to fight off an impend- North Carolina has approximate- ing disposal crisis, North Car- ly 10 million people living in about 4 olina solar industry leaders million households. “If we can get half areH developing ideas on how to reuse of those households to buy at least one the glass, steel, industrial lubricants, new solar panel table, we will have and toxic elements in solar panels after come a long way in dealing with the they reach the end of their useful lives. tremendous disposal problem looming One idea generating buzz would be to on the horizon,” she said. add legs, turning the spent panels into This Amish-designed solar dining table is expected to be one of the biggest sellers According to Neidemeyer-Thom- when production of the “solar farm-to-table” program begins. (CJ spoof photo) as, SPIT’s take is that the new coffee ta- coffee tables. bles could revitalize the furniture man- “As you know, the farm-to-table of their power, and after 15 years they saying some require property owners ufacturing industry in North Carolina. food movement is huge right now,” generate very little energy. Neither the to cover the costs of disposal and land “Since no state or federal agency said spokeswoman Darlene Neide- federal government nor any state gov- reclamation after the panels become has come up with guidelines to decom- meyer-Thomas of Solar Panel Inno- ernment has solar decommissioning ineffective. mission the solar farms, we can be the vative Transitions. “With SPIT, we’re regulations to handle the scrap. “We have come up with a num- resting place for the nation’s excess creating the solar farm-to-table move- North Carolina is a leader in the ber of possibilities, but the most prom- panels,” she said. “Imagine all the ment.” solar industry, and also is a leader in ising idea so far is to create furniture, workers in Lexington, High Point, and Neidemeyer-Thomas said the furniture, which, Neidemeyer-Thomas and we think coffee tables will be real Lenoir who will once again become the new organization already has spent says, makes the combination “can’t winners,” Neidemeyer-Thomas said. backbone of the furniture industry.” millions researching disposal alter- miss.” “North Carolina already has a great The future of the solar industry is natives, and the best idea they could The state ranks third in the na- legacy in furniture production and the not clear. The industry depends heav- come up with, without putting toxic tion for the amount of solar power solar panel coffee tables should be a ily on state and federal tax credits that materials in landfills, was to create a added to the electrical grid. But state natural.” may expire in the near future. But, as demand for solar-panel furniture. lawmakers have recently expressed Neidemeyer-Thomas said SPIT previously reported by Carolina Jour- Solar panels degrade much faster concern that solar developers might is working with prominent Amish fur- nal’s Parting Shot, the job of “solar in- than most people realize, she said. Af- be duping unwitting landowners who niture designers from Pennsylvania to dustry lobbyist” is the fastest growing ter 10 years they typically have lost half lease their property for solar projects, come up with a variety of leg designs occupation in the state. CJ E.A. MORRIS FELLOWSHIP FOR EMERGING LEADERS The E.A. Morris Fellowship is seeking principled, energetic applicants for the 2016 Fellowship class. Applications available online or at the John Locke Foundation. Application deadline is December 8, 2015. Please visit the E.A. Morris Fellowship Web site (www.EAMorrisFellows.org) for more information, including eligibility, program overview and application materials. Eligibility • Must be between the ages of 25 and 40, must be a resident of North Carolina and a U.S. citizen • Must be willing to complete a special project requiring leadership and innovative thinking on a local level • Must be willing to attend all program events associated with the fel- lowship • Must not be the spouse of a current or past Fellow. Important Dates to Remember Applications Open September 15, 2015 Applications Due December 8, 2015

www.EAMorrisFellows.org Contact: [email protected] | [email protected] 200 W. Morgan St., Ste 200 Raleigh, NC 27601 | 919-828-3876 | 1-866-553-4636