INSIDE THIS ISSUE: DEPARTMENTS Pols and North Carolina 2 C A R O L I N A Education 7 public work- Local Government 10 From Page 1 14 ers take it Higher Education 17 on the chin Books & the Arts 20 Opinion 24 in poll/2 A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF NEWS, ANALYSIS AND OPINION Parting Shot 28 JOURNALFROM THE JOHN LOCKE FOUNDATION October 2011 Vol. 20 No. 10 STATEWIDE EDITION Check us out online at carolinajournal.com and johnlocke.org Obama Plan: Teacher Jobs One Year Only After a year, there ESC Reports Show is no federal funding No Net Public Job for the added jobs Losses to Date By Don Carrington Executive Editor By Don Carrington Executive Editor RALEIGH RALEIGH resident Barack Obama stood ov. Bev Perdue continues before thousands of screaming to blame North Carolina’s supporters at North Carolina high unem- State University Sept. 14, urging Con- P Gployment rate on a gress to pass the American Jobs Act, loss of government his $450 billion plan to create jobs and jobs resulting from stimulate the economy. budget cuts by the “Pass this jobs bill, and there R e p u b l i c a n - l e d will be funding to save the jobs of up President Obama discusses his jobs plan at a rally at N.C. State’s Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh on Sept. 14. (CJ photo by Don Carrington) General Assembly. to 13,000 North Carolina teachers, Perdue may be cops, and firefighters,” he said. But he help states and localities avoid and re- with providing each job in North Caro- right, but the of- didn’t say that his bill would fund the verse layoffs now, and will provide lina. Since the average annual cost of ficial information Gov. Beverly jobs only for one year. Nor did he say $900,300,000 in funds to North Caroli- teacher pay and benefits in the state is provided by the Perdue how the jobs would be paid for after na to support 13,400 educator and first $56,000, funding in Obama’s jobs bill state’s Employ- that — or whether state and local gov- responder jobs.” would cover a little more than one year ment Security Commission doesn’t ernments would have to lay off other As in the president’s comments, of compensation. back up her claims. public employees to maintain the jobs the White House press release does Sections 204-209 of the bill in- Perdue hinted at large gov- of those hired under the bill. not specify how long the jobs would clude provisions requiring states to ernment job losses this spring. A White House press release de- be funded. Dividing $900,300,000 by “meet the requirements” of the law scribing the benefits to North Carolina 13,400 yields $67,186.57 to cover salary, was more specific. “These funds would benefits, and any other costs associated Continued as “Obama,” Page 14 Continued as “ESC,” Page 14 Perdue Prepared To Flip on Dam Takeover Bid? PAID the governor supports bringing these RALEIGH, NC U.S. POSTAGE Clean Tech jobs to North Carolina. PERMIT NO. 1766 NONPROFIT ORG. Governor backs Alcoa-Yadkin However, Clean Tech has stated that it needs to overcome certain obstacles tenant at site of old before investing in Stanly County. Gov. Perdue is working diligently to try to Alcoa smelting plant overcome any barriers that might pre- DAM TAKEOVER vent the company from investing and By Don Carrington growing jobs in North Carolina.” Executive Editor Until recently, Perdue was one of RALEIGH being developed by Alcoa at the site the obstacles to a Clean Tech deal. She ov. Bev Perdue may be poised of a former aluminum smelting plant. wanted North Carolina to take over the Alcoa facilities, claiming the state to end the state’s effort to take Clean Tech’s plans are contingent on would be in a better position to control over Alcoa’s hydroelectric fa- Alcoa retaining control of its hydro- the water, sell power from the dams, Gcilities in Stanly County so that a man- electric facilities. and deal with environmental issues re- ufacturing company can bring 250 new Perdue spokesman Mark John- lated to the aluminum smelting opera- jobs to the town of Badin. son told Carolina Journal Sept. 20 that tions that took place there for nearly a Clean Tech Silicon & Bar LLC the governor supported the Clean Tech wants to invest $300 million and cre- project. When asked if Perdue’s sup- The John Locke Foundation 200 W. Morgan St., #200 Raleigh, NC 27601 ate 250 jobs at the Badin Business Park port was conditional, he said, “No, Continued as “Perdue,” Page 15 PAGE 2 OCTOBER 2011 | CAROLINA JOURNAL North CaroliNa C A R O L I N A Poll: Voters Take Dim View of Pols, Public Workers By DaviD n. Bass budget crisis, 48 percent say elected of- JOURNAL Associate Editor ficials, while 28 percent say excessive Rick Henderson RALEIGH state government spending. Managing Editor oters take a dim view of bank- • A plurality (47 percent) say the rolling public employees’ sala- best way to ensure enough funding for Don Carrington ries and pensions on the backs Executive Editor public employee benefits is to cut gov- Vof taxpayers and believe that workers’ ernment spending. David N. Bass, Sara Burrows pay should be clipped to reflect state • Fifty-six percent favor reducing Mitch Kokai, Michael Lowrey government budget crunches. or eliminating certain state services to Associate Editors The findings are in a new nation- control budget deficits. Thirty-five per- al poll from the free-market Manhattan cent are opposed. system. Jana Benscoter, Kristy Bailey Institute for Policy Research. • Asked if they favor phasing out “Voters clearly identify reck- Kristen Blair, Roy Cordato A plurality of voters also say that tenure for teachers “because it protects Becki Gray, Sam A. Hieb less spending and promises made by salary and benefits for government bad teachers from being fired while Lindalyn Kakadelis, George Leef state politicians as a major culprit in workers are too high for their duties, making it harder to bring in new and Karen McMahan, Donna Martinez the state’s budgetary woes, and vot- while half of voters oppose collective better teachers,” 56 percent agree. Karen Palasek, Marc Rotterman ers don’t think they should be penal- bargaining for union members. • Sixty-nine percent favor mov- Michael Sanera, Tara Servatius ized with higher taxes to finance these George Stephens, Jeff Taylor The results were drawn from two ing new public employees from a promises,” said Brian Balfour, a fiscal Michael Walden, Dan Way polls of voters — one nationwide, and defined-benefit retirement plan to a Karen Welsh, Hal Young the second from 10 states, including policy analyst with the conservative Civitas Institute. defined-contribution plan, compared John Calvin Young North Carolina, and come while states to 17 percent who oppose that idea. Contributors are embroiled in a political tug of war The poll took place two months between public-sector groups and law- after the General Assembly passed a Key results in North Carolina makers forced to trim spending to bal- $19.7 billion budget that reduced state Adam Barrett ance government checkbooks. spending. The Republican-controlled • Fifty-three percent oppose rais- Nicole Fisher legislature gave the State Health Plan ing taxes to keep public employee ben- Zryi Mai A chief takeaway from the poll: voters’ distaste for politicians. Forty- a facelift that requires workers to pitch efits at current levels, compared to 41 Daniel Simpson in for their health insurance. Efforts to percent who are willing to pay more Alissa Whately eight percent of respondents said that Interns elected officials are to blame for the reform the state’s pension plan are in taxes. budget crisis, compared to 6 percent the works as well. • A greater majority of North Carolinians (66 percent) rejects the idea who say state governments didn’t tax Key results nationally Published by enough. of service cuts so that public employ- The John Locke Foundation “The level of ire at elected offi- • Forty-one percent say that sala- ees can maintain current benefit levels, 200 W. Morgan St., # 200 cials is remarkably high,” said Doug- ries and benefits for most public em- compared to 26 percent who are will- Raleigh, N.C. 27601 las E. Schoen, the lead pollster on the ployees are too high for the work they ing to take cuts. (919) 828-3876 • Fax: 821-5117 • Forty-eight percent say that www.JohnLocke.org survey. do. Another major finding: Voters • Voters aren’t willing to have cutting government spending is the Jon Ham aren’t willing to have their taxes raised their taxes raised to accommodate cur- best way to pay for public employee Vice President & Publisher or social services cut in order to keep rent salaries and benefits for public benefits, compared to 23 percent who compensation for public workers at workers (65 percent to 29 percent), but say current employees should contrib- John Hood current levels. On that issue, respon- they’re also not willing to have state ute more toward their pensions and Chairman & President dents oppose increased taxes by an al- social service programs cut to fund the health insurance. most two-thirds margin. compensation (52 percent to 37 per- • Fifty-five percent say they Bruce Babcock, Herb Berkowitz Although a slim majority of vot- cent). would oppose raising taxes to reduce Charlie Carter, Jim Fulghum CJ Chuck Fuller, Bill Graham ers had a negative view of union ne- • On who is to blame for the state budget deficits.