OPINION
The Chronicle I
617 N. Liberty Street
336-722-8624
www.wschronicle.com
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Ernest H. Pitt
Donna Rogers
Elaine Pitt
Publisher/Co-Founder
Managing Editor
Business Manager
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Our Mission
The Chronicle is dedicated to serving the
residents of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County
by giving voice to the voiceless, speaking truth
to power, standing for integrity and
encouraging open communication and
lively debate throughout the community.
GUEST EDITORIAL
Open and
honest
government
seems elusive
How open and honest is state government in
North Carolina? Not very, according to a new report
from the Center for Public Integrity.
The center's 2015 State Integrity Investigation
gave our state a D grade. In part, that's because
there's a pretty significant gulf between what the law
requires and what state agencies actually do. State
1 1
recoras laws
are specific
about what's
public and
what's not.
But heel
dragging in
producing
documents is
routine. And
no state offi
cial or board
has the power
to compel
compliance.
If you can't
get the docu
ments you
want, you've
got to go to
court, which
many individ
uals can't
afford. And
even when
institutions
like the news
media do file
suit, the
courts move
slowly.
Then there are the disclosures that lobbyists are
required to make about spending, donations and
other efforts to influence the passage of legislation.
The disclosure laws are pretty good, but budget cuts
in the past few years have eliminated nearly half of
the staff charged with reviewing the reports. Bills
can be passed and signed into law before the public
knows what special interests were behind them.
[Consider the 2013 measure restricting voting
rights. Many lawmakers say they even didn't have
time to study the measure before it was put to a vote.]
And consider judicial oversight, which has all but
collapsed behind a secret curtain. Until 2013, we had
a state Judicial Standards Commission that disci
plined judges for wrongdoing. Much of its proceed
ings were public. But the General Assembly handed
judicial oversight to the state Supreme Court and
made disciplinary hearings private. Case records are
confidential unless the high court takes disciplinary
action.
All of that is eye-opening and discouraging. But
what's really remarkable is that North Carolina's D
grade is pretty good, if we put it in national context.
We rank 18th out of 50 states. And if you grade on a
curve, a D becomes a B, because not one state got an
A or a B and only three got C or C-minus grades -
Alaska, California and Connecticut.
We're hoping our lawmakers will feel a new
incentive to create more open government, thanks to
the UNC Board of Governors' actions in closed
meetings that led to the selection of a new system
president and substantial raises for a dozen chancel
lors. The secrecy infuriated top legislative leaders,
who had called for an open selection process and
imposed stringent spending limits on the university
system. We hope their outrage leads to cutting the
fog of secrecy that hides too much of our govern
ment.
Remember those two words: Our government.
i The Fayetteville Observer up
"We're hoping our
lawmakers will feel a
new incentive to create
more open govern
ment, thanks to the
UNC Board of
Governors' actions in
closed meetings that
led to the selection of a
new system president
and substantial raises
for a dozen
chancellors."
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
ACGG condemns
inhumanity
to humanity
To the Editor:
The ongoing atrocities against
humanity being committed in Paris,
Nigeria and Burma cannot be justi
fied by any measure of a civilized
society. When an innocent life is
taken from society, it is the same as
taking the life of the whole society.
and when an innocent life is saved, it
is the same as saving the life of the
whole society. These recent barbaric
cowardly acts deserve to be con
demned by humanity and declared as
acts of inhumanity to civil society.
No people of faith or moral con
scious can be silent about these ongo
ing atrocities. No scripture can be
used to justify these cruel acts. No
religion supports these acts of treason
against humanity.
Our prayers and condolences are
extended to the families in Paris,
Nigeria and Burma. We sincerely
hope that a collective effort from all
people of faith will serve as an exam
ple to lift up one humanity with a
resounding voice to condemn these
acts of inhumanity in the 21st centu
ry
Fleming El-Amin
Mid-Atlantic Regional
Coordinator
American Coalition For Good
Government
ACGG is a non-partisan, 501(c)
civic education organization. The
website is www.theamericancoali
tionforgoodgo vemment .org.
French soldiers patrol the Trocadero place near the Eiffel Tower, in Paris, Saturday, Nov. 21,2015. French
President Francois Hollande will preside over a national ceremony on Nov. 27 honoring the victims of the
deadliest attacks on France in decades. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani) ?.
Editorial about
poverty panel
has errors,
mayor says
To the Editor:
Thank you for your recent com
mentary regarding our initiative to
reduce the level of poverty in our
community. I did want to address
two misstatements in your editorial.
You compare this poverty initia
tive to our Ten Year Plan to End
Chronic Homelessness and state that
it did not involve a large panel to
work on it and that it was done in
about a year. The Ten Year Plan was
in fact created by a task force of
about 25 individuals and it has taken
eight years to achieve the success it
has enjoyed.
T1 1
1 lie
success
of that
process
is exact
ly the
reason I
sought
1 to create
I another
I compre
hensive
(effort to
address
poverty.
It is our
hope
that the
n?.. *
ruvcuy
Thought Force will create the same
type of plan that was prepared for the
homeless initiative that is doable and
impactful.
The Thought Force is important
because the initiatives undertaken by
the Federal Government for the past
50 years have not worked. We need
new ideas and I am confident that a
workable plan will be put in place.
Thank you for letting me clarify
our plan and to assure you that we are
very serious in our efforts.
Mayor Allen Joines
City of Winston-Salem
Editor's note: The Chronicle's
reference was about the mayor's
announcement about veteran home
lessness, that "Less than one year
after making Winston-Salem a mem
ber of the Veterans Housing Network
challenge of ending veterans' home
lessness in the area, the city and
county has reached their goal." There
was no mention of a Ten Year Plan or
task force.
Joints
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