NC's Senate President Pro Tem and his GOP Senate is coming for a lot more than our children's lunch money.
 L to R: Pat McCrory, Graeme Keith, Mac Everett and Andy Dulin, at the Good Fellows Club holiday lunch, Dec 2007. And I have never been as happy as these dudes, ever. It's called a kleptocracy, and yes, it's exactly what it sounds like. Kleptomania is a compulsion to steal. A kleptocracy is a government run for the profit self-interest of an individual or company. It's a kleptocracy when the elected officials are personally profiting rather than doing right by their constituents.
Trump should get a lot of attention for planning to run a kleptocracy. The greatest republic in the world is getting ready to be a government of self-interest and personal gain by a man who so far has completely refused to use a blind trust for his companies. But North Carolina has been leading the way with kleptocracy the past 4 years. Yes, Pat McCrory appears to have fully lost the election and should concede. Any reasonable person would have by this point. But not him. Why not? It is because he's profited hand-over-fist as our governor. Read this official complaint filed by the News & Observer on McCrory's ethics violations, which point out the main ones: McCrory gave Duke Energy the lightest of hand slaps for their coal ash spill which has seriously harmed the health of thousands of North Carolinians and our natural resources. 40% of McCrory's 401K assets were wrapped up in Duke Energy stock - which would have suffered if their stock plunged from a large penalty. Oh yeah, and he worked at Duke Energy for 16 years. McCrory served 4 years on the Board of mortgage company Tree.com, for which he received a "gift" of over $1,000,000 worth of stock, $255,680 in director's fees and at least $10,063 in dividends,…all while appointing members of the NC Banking Commission, which regulates banks and…mortgage companies. McCrory was listed on his tax forms as a consultant for his brother's sales solution company, McCrory & Company, LLC. But according to SEC filings, Pat was actually a full partner in the business. Many of the customers of McCrory & Company are also state contractors that donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Pat McCrory's gubernatorial campaign and to related PACs for his election. Graeme Keith, of Keith Corp Development, received a $3 million state prison contract, against the wishes of prison officials, after stating in McCory's presence that he had given a lot of money to candidates over the years and now it was time for him "to get something in return." He did. An FBI investigation followed of which McCrory was only recently cleared of breaking the law. And that's not even getting into his time at Moore & Van Allen, a law firm that does lobbying deeply entrenched in the GOP. And that's just McCrory! Can you imagine all the stock holdings, board entanglements, income sources, business relationships and other potential conflicts of interest that Trump has? Well, you'll have to imagine it, because he hasn't released his tax records so far, and is under no legal rule to do so as president. For the record, Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon wants to re-introduce a presidential tax return disclosure bill. We hope it gains momentum and will pertain fully to sitting presidents as well as future candidates. Pressure Virginia Foxx, Thom Tillis, and Richard Burr that this something we want. But in the meantime, we need to hold our NC leadership to higher standards as well. NC state law does not require candidates to disclose details of salary information either. Perhaps it should reconsider that, because a self-serving NC leadership can have a disastrous impact close to home. Goodbye McCrory, we will not miss you. 
[the following is an op/ed letter submitted by Wilkes County Democrats Chairman, Larry Pendry to The Wilkes Journal Patriot on 11/4/2015.]
As we enter into the 90-day Open Season period for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, I am reminded that Virginia Foxx warned us almost 6 years ago that our seniors would be subject to “death panels” under this law. How ironic that part of her prediction may come true for some of the estimated 2800 citizens living here in Wilkes County that have no health insurance. The North Carolina General Assembly failed to expand Medicaid and put not only low income seniors, but all of these lives at a greater risk of some catastrophic illness or death. Both Senator Randleman and Representative Elmore have previously voted against expanding health care for the less fortunate leaving all of us to pick up the higher costs. Predictably, HB 330 legislation to expand health insurance was pushed to committee this session and Senator Randleman voted in favor of HB 372 that privatizes Medicaid so that corporations can get their cut off the top. According to the General Assembly website, Representative Elmore had an excused absence on 9.22.15 when HB 372 was passed. Whatever happened to the “compassionate conservatives”? And if our representatives do not care about the health of low income citizens, do they not care about the health of the Wilkes Regional Medical Center? Rural hospitals in general have big financial problems, and it would be a great help to our Hospital if every last one of those folks who come into the emergency room had some kind of health insurance to pay the Hospital. ~ Larry Pendry North Wilkesboro, NC 
Senator Steve Goss meets with students before a speaking engagment at Appalachian State University in 2010.
Former 45th District NC Senator Steve Goss died October 26th, 2015 following a brief battle with cancer. He was 65.
Goss was a teacher and varsity football coach for years at Northwest Ashe High School, in addition to being an ordained Southern Baptist minister. He pastored churches in Ashe, Watauga, Duplin and Montgomery Counties in North Carolina, as well as Martinsville, VA. He traveled to Tokyo, Japan, in the 1980s for missionary work. Goss served the people of Alexander, Ashe, Watauga and Wilkes Counties for two terms, 2007-2010, as a Democratic member of the North Carolina State Senate. He was ultimately defeated by Republican Dan Soucek in 2010. Goss worked tirelessly for the people of our district. To name two accomplishments: 1) ensuring the preservation of Pond Mountain for generations to come, and 2) securing funding to build the new Education building at Appalachian State University. Of course, if you asked Steve, the thing of which he was proudest was that he personally responded to every constituent who contacted his office...he listened, and acted everywhere he could. He viewed his time in state government as his ministry - he was there to serve his people Goss is survived by his wife, Phyllis, two adult children and 5 grandchildren. Visitation will be held at Boone Family Funeral Home from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 29, and the funeral will be held at Fletcher Memorial Baptist Church in Jefferson at 11 a.m. the following day. For more information, visit http://www.boonefuneralhome.com.  John Cole - editorial cartoonist for The Times-Tribune, and is syndicated nationally by Cagle Cartoons. This year's NC General Assembly was exceedingly tough on women. Sure, the bills had pandering titles like the "Women and Children's Protection Act", but these bills created additional obstacles to the availability and quality of reproductive healthcare and the right to choose.
Click HERE to read a comprehensive list on the truth of what happened in the realm of Women's Rights in the 2015 North Carolina Legislative session. But a few of the highlights (or very low-lights as it were) are as follows:
Does that sound like laws that empower women, or does it sound like one that shames and punishes them? It greatly discounts all progress the state has made in reducing teen pregnancy by scraping the very programs that have helped. Be sure to read the full article by NC Policy Watch: http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2015/10/21/tolling-the-damage-to-reproductive-freedom-from-the-2015-general-assembly/  *clap,clap,clap* Way to go guys! This budget really works out for guys exactly like us!! *clap,clap,clap* In a new opinion piece in the Raleigh News & Observer by Gene Nichol, he points out how the North Carolina's income tax rate decline actually continues to squeeze lower income families. Small cuts to their income taxes will be quickly gobbled up by increases in taxes on repairs for automobiles and appliances. It makes no sense.
"The governor and the General Assembly just lowered, yet again, the state’s income tax rate. To help pay for it, they enacted a new sales tax on car and appliance repairs. The move continues an apparently defining project of shifting the tax burden from the wealthiest North Carolinians to the poorest." Recently, our refrigerator died. It was a slow death, first the fridge went,...then the freezer. We couldn't afford a new fridge. We simply couldn't. So we had to get it repaired. So what makes our lawmakers think that if you can't afford a new fridge, you can afford higher taxes on getting your old one repaired? It makes no sense. I'd like to see our lawmakers go 3 weeks using ice and a cooler waiting for a part and hoping that you could afford it when it arrived. It's as if our lawmakers have no contact with their actual constituents - you know, the ones that don't donate to their campaigns. Transportation is a key to life in our many rural communities without public transit systems. It means the difference between having a job and not having a job to many. Repairs to cars are not only necessary, but vital to entire households. The wealthy not only have newer cars which need fewer repairs, but they can easily get loaner cars, may have multiple cars in their household, can even RENT cars to use if theirs is in the shop. But for those that are struggling, car repairs are a huge burden in keeping their older cars running. I've known many people that end up bartering with mechanics because they already struggle to make ends meet, and their car is essential to holding a job. Raising the financial burden on those already burdened is not a solution. But that is precisely what our General Assembly chose to do. They blame the poor for being poor; for not being as smart as they are; for ultimately being failed millionaires. To empathize with the poor and needy means you have to accept that there may even be other paths to a happy life,...one that *what?* may not revolve around money or power. Our legislators need to simply stop making legislation that creates crisis after crisis in lives that they can't possibly relate to. Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article36473067.html#storylink=cpy  Lawmakers finally posted the two-month-overdue budget compromise online just before midnight last night. The 429-page bill and accompanying 207-page money report will face votes in the House and the Senate this week before heading to Gov. Pat McCrory.
What's it got inside? Let's just look at the things I picked up on:
The vote in the NC House and the Senate is predicted to take place this week. Pat McGrory will then have to sign it. Read a synopsis of highlights from WRAL at http://www.wral.com/north-carolina-budget-compromise-released/14900430/#qXGSU64Gisrqthl5.99 Read the entire 429 page bill for yourself HERE: http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2015/budget/2015/H97-PCCS30420-LRxfr-6.pdf Or if you like to look at financial budgets more than me, check out the money report HERE: http://www.ncleg.net/sessions/2015/budget/2015/Conference_Committee_Report_2015-09-14.pdf 
Important takeaways from last week's Journal Patriot article on the State Budget impasse:
Rep. Jeffrey Elmore of Wilkesboro - an educator...didn’t vote. The Senate approved the action by a vote of 33-9, with . . Sen. Shirley Randleman of Wilkesboro voting in favor of the continuing resolution to drag things out and postpone budget decisions (with school starting back next week!) through the end of the month. Dr. Marty Hemric, Wilkes school superintendent, said that under the Senate budget plan, the Wilkes school system loses about $197,000 for teacher assistants and about $160,000 for driver’s education. “That’s over “$350,000 more (moved) out of public education and the local economy in Wilkes. We have reached a stabilization in the economy in North Carolina, but for some reason, after losing over $5 million of state funding during the recent recession, our Senate wants to keep cutting our resources instead of restoring the gap,” said Hemric. Read the full story by the J.P. here: http://www.journalpatriot.com/news/still-no-deal-on-budget/article_b59a868c-42aa-11e5-8198-4f7392bf2aa4.html |