INSIDE THIS ISSUE: DEPARTMENTS Environmen- North Carolina 2 C A R O L I N A Education 8 talist pushes Interview 10 Higher Education 11 nuclear as Local Government 16 an option to Books & the Arts 20 Opinion 24 coal/4 A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF NEWS, ANALYSIS AND OPINION Parting Shot 28 JOURNALFROM THE JOHN LOCKE FOUNDATION March 2010 Vol. 19 No. 3 STATEWIDE EDITION Check us out online at carolinajournal.com and johnlocke.org TransPark Broke With No Way to Retire Debt with members of the General Assem- bly later this year. Park owes more than “Nothing would thrill me more than to not have that debt on our $37 million to books,” she said. Since the park gen- erates nearly all its revenues with rent N.C. Escheat Fund from commercial tenants, Waddell ac- knowledged the park had no funding BY DON CARRINGTON source to repay the debt. Executive Editor Rep. Van Braxton, a Kinston RALEIGH Democrat, is a strong supporter of the he Global TransPark Author- GTP, but agreed the debt is a problem. ity, a two-decade-old industrial “I would like to see the TransPark pay park near Kinston created by that back, but clearly right now they Tthe General Assembly to handle air can’t do that,” he said. cargo, still can- State Treasurer Janet Cowell not repay more didn’t elaborate when asked about the than $20 million debt. “We are encouraged by recent it has borrowed updates from the Global TransPark from the state Authority and continue to monitor ac- treasurer — and tivities,” a spokeswoman said. has no idea how Senate Minority Leader Phil the debt will be Spirit AeroSystems, called the Global TransPark’s “anchor tenant,” is currently under Berger, R-Rockingham, cast doubt on construction. Government incentives granted to the plant add up to $200,000 per Waddell’s plan to seek help from the retired. Unpaid job. (CJ photo by Don Carrington) principal and General Assembly. “It was inappropri- Darlene Waddell accrued interest tems, a Wichita, Kan.-based company year’s short session of the legislature ate for the original borrowing to be al- GlobalTransPark lowed. State debt in general has been a executive director — owed to the that is set to start manufacturing large for help with the debt. state’s Escheats aircraft components later this year, GTP Executive Director Darlene problem,” he said. “There should be a Fund — are ap- government incentives to Spirit mean Waddell acknowledged that the debt business plan other than a bailout from proaching $38 million. taxpayers will subsidize employment to the state treasurer’s office was a se- the taxpayers.” Even though the park has landed at GTP to the tune of $200,000 per job. rious concern. She told Carolina Journal an “anchor tenant” in Spirit AeroSys- GTP officials say they may ask this her board members plan to discuss it Continued as “Global,“ Page 14 Scandals, History to Sting Dems in ’10? PAID RALEIGH, NC U.S. POSTAGE the first time since the 19th century. PERMIT NO. 1766 NONPROFIT ORG. Democrats have solid advantages in Easley scandal, both chambers — a 68-52 majority in the House and a 30-20 majority in the economy weigh Senate. But the GOP smells blood in key races that could tip the balance of on voters’ minds power. To take control, Republicans need BY DAVID N. BASS to pick up nine seats in the House and Associate Editor six in the Senate. The N.C. Free En- RALEIGH Election experts wonder if scandals in- terprise Foundation, a conservative s November’s midterm elec- volving former Gov. Mike Easley (left) and election-analysis group in Raleigh, has tions approach, most eyes are former House Speaker Jim Black (right), identified 10 Senate races and 18 House on the nation’s capital. But both Democrats, will cost the party in races as competitive, meaning the vic- 2010. (CJ file photos) ANorth Carolina could be in for some tor in 2008 won by 55 percent or less. historic races of its own, as scandals, The question of who controls the retirements, and political tides threat- Political analysts expect a bumpy General Assembly beginning next year en Democrats’ majorities in the state ride this year as Republicans hope to The John Locke Foundation 200 W. Morgan St., #200 Raleigh, NC 27601 General Assembly. take the reins of legislative power for Continued as “Scandals,“ Page 15 PAGE 2 MARCH 2010 | CAROLINA JOURNAL NORTH CAROLINA C A R O L I N A Study Urges N.C. Legislature Rein in Regulators BY SARA BURROWS tion, federal agencies will write it for them, he said. JOURNAL Associate Editor “It’s conceivable that [rules review] has been done in RALEIGH other states and it works fine, but it’s also possible that it hen the General Assembly gave the State Board of sort of ties the state in knots and that it’s impossible to get Rick Henderson Community Colleges the power to set admissions any regulation passed,” Harrington said. Managing Editor standards, lawmakers probably did not expect the Even when meeting a federal deadline is not an issue, Don Carrington boardW to allow illegal immigrants to enroll in community Smith said rules review can eat up a lot of time unnecessar- Executive Editor colleges. ily. And yet the board did, igniting protests across the “Up until a few years ago, every rule got held up for David N. Bass, Sara Burrows state. This is but one example of what John Locke Founda- legislative review,” she said. “The General Assembly real- Anthony Greco, Mitch Kokai tion regulatory policy analyst Daren Bakst considers unac- ized it was holding up rule changes that were completely Michael Lowrey countable bureaucracy. “Regulat- uncontroversial, and that in Associate Editors ing the Regulators,” a February many cases were being re- report authored by Bakst, argues quested by industry. Even rules Jana Benscoter, Kristen Blair that unchecked regulatory agen- that were being requested by Roy Cordato, Becki Gray cies in North Carolina are creating the folks being regulated were Paige Holland Hamp, David Hartgen one of the most unfriendly busi- getting caught up in the review Sam A. Hieb, Lindalyn Kakadelis ness environments in the nation. process.” George Leef, Karen McMahan Most states and even the Bakst argues that not ev- Donna Martinez, Sarah Okeson federal government are more le- ery rule would get held up, Karen Palasek, Lee Raynor nient than North Carolina when only those that didn’t meet the Marc Rotterman, Jim Stegall George Stephens, Jeff Taylor it comes to regulation, said Bakst. stated criteria. Michael Walden, Karen Welsh Excessive regulations cost North In addition to reviewing Hal Young, John Calvin Young Carolinians commercial opportu- rules before they are enacted, Contributors nities, jobs, and money. the legislature should review The report recommends a them periodically after they’ve Jacob Burgdorf series of reforms, led by calls for gone into effect, Bakst said. Adrienne Dunn the General Assembly to limit the Adrian Moore, vice presi- Kamen Nikolaev amount of power it delegates to dent of research at the Reason Editorial Interns state agencies. “Unelected and Foundation, agreed. Rules unaccountable bureaucrats” are making too many impor- should be scheduled to expire or “sunset” on a certain date, tant policy decisions, he said. Moore said, unless the legislature votes to reinstate them. Published by Legislators often hand off the responsibility of rule- In Colorado, the sunset period is one year. A year after The John Locke Foundation making to agencies so that lawmakers can duck hot-button a rule is enacted, the agency has to convince the legislature 200 W. Morgan St., # 200 issues and not have to deal with the political repercussions, it should be continued. If they can’t, the rule is scrapped. Raleigh, N.C. 27601 he said. (919) 828-3876 • Fax: 821-5117 “This forces the legislature to actually look at it and www.JohnLocke.org Agencies are expected to fill in the blanks of the Gen- examine its effectiveness. Otherwise you just get rubber- eral Assembly’s vague and often overly broad legislation stamping,” he said. Jon Ham with specific rules and regulations that help implement or Moore admitted the process would be time-consuming Vice President & Publisher interpret the law. The problem is when they interpret the and unappealing to legislators who “would rather spend law in ways the legislature never intended, Bakst said. their time making new laws than looking at old laws.” John Hood Bakst says important questions of social policy should “Politicians don’t get re-elected for making things Chairman & President be decided by the legislature, a representative body ac- more efficient,” he said. “They get re-elected for making countable to citizens. new laws.” Bruce Babcock, Herb Berkowitz To ensure agencies don’t get out of hand, the legisla- Smith said North Carolina experimented with a simi- Charlie Carter, Jim Fulghum ture should have more oversight of the regulatory process, lar idea 20 years ago, when the Rules Review Commission Chuck Fuller, Bill Graham he said. It should write narrower laws, leaving less wiggle was forced to evaluate all regulations every five years or so. Robert Luddy, Assad Meymandi room for interpretation, and it should require all rules to be Baker A. Mitchell Jr., Carl Mumpower, “From what I’ve heard it was incredibly burdensome reviewed before they become law. and didn’t generate much in the way of changes,” she said. J. Arthur Pope, Thomas A. Roberg, Robin Smith, a spokeswoman for the Department of David Stover, J.M Bryan Taylor, She said a sunset provision could lead to a “constant Environment and Natural Resources, said the state already Andy Wells churning of regulations,” creating confusion for the com- Board of Directors has a legislative review process in place.