Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / Dec. 15, 2016, edition 1 / Page 8
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OPINION THE CHRONICLE Ernest H. Pitt Publisher Emeritus 1974-2015 617 N. Liberty Street 336-722-8624 www.wschronicle.com Donna Rogers Managing Editor WaLI D. Pitt Digital Manager paulette L. Moore Office Manager 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 McCrory took N.C. down dubious road Gov. Pat McCrory delivered a graceful conces sion speech via video Monday [Dec. 5] that high lighted the appealing manner that won him the gov ernorship in 2012. "I personally believe that the majority of our cit izens have spoken, and we now should do everything we can 10 support me 75th governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper," McCrory says in the video. "The McCrory administration team will assist in every way to help the new administration make a smooth transition." Unfortunately, this parting image of the pleasant and rea sonable McCrory was all too rare dur ing his tenure. Instead, the former moderate mayor of Charlotte tried becoming a conservative, rigid governor, most prominently in his hasty approval and unbending defense of House Bill 2. The change didn't suit him and voters so disliked it many split their tickets to throw out a Republican governor during a Republican wave election. McCrory's turn to the right wasn't all of it. His shifting ideology was compounded by a chronic cluelessness about avoiding the appearance of con flicts of interest and in his appointments of cabinet members. He failed to fill out disclosure forms prop erly, took a big payment for corporate board work after he was governor and couldn't shake appear ances that he gave special treatment to his longtime former employer, Duke Energy. The disarray and conflict continued to the end with McCrory's awkward handling of the election results. It took him almost a month to concede. In the period between, he was silent as Republican Party staff and his campaign made dozens of empty claims of voter fraud. In his concession speech, McCrory ran through his familiar list of accomplishments. The state paid off its federal debt for unemployment insurance, 300,000 jobs were added, a state bond issue passed, tax cuts were approved and teachers got raises. Whether that constitutes a positive legacy depends on perspective. The debt payment was owed by employers, but its payoff was accelerated by sharply cutting work ers' unemployment benefits. The job growth simply kept pace with population growth. The bond issue ended up supporting spending on projects other than what McCrory initially intended. The tax cuts dispro portionately favored the wealthy and large corpora tions. Teacher pay is still ranked near the bottom nationally. McCrory was a man without a plan. He wanted to preside, but he lacked a vision of where he wanted to take the state. Without that vision, he was often pushed aside by Republican lawmakers with stronger views and a clear - if ruinous - agenda. Pat McCrory meant well, but he did not do well. May his governorship stand as a cautionary tale for any politician who would seek to take the helm with out a sense of where to go. ? i Gov. McCrory ?' ~ ? - rm) r\A The cv?whci*:?mc bbbm4ji Asl 9EB2 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Here are facts about Goodwill to make sure rumors don't stick To the Editor: It is again the holiday season, the giving season - and the season for rumors. The one about Santa Claus is true, but many others are not. For some reason, Goodwill - along with many other worthy chari ties - gets targeted with erroneous information this time of the year. So here are some facts about your Goodwill that you should know: ?We are a nonprofit organization and have been since 1926. ?No one owns Goodwill. Goodwill is made up of a network of 164 independent, local Goodwills in the United States and Canada. Each independent organization is run by a local voluntary board of directors who are your neighbors and under stand the community's needs. ?The income derived from your donations goes to pay for services here in your community; more than 33,000 people were served in north west North Carolina this last year alone. ?Our mission has always been to help people overcome barriers to employment; 1,100 people work for us and tens of thousands more get free services such as skills training, job readiness, job coaching and employment services. ?We try to find a home for every item donated. Forty million pounds of donations are received and sold each year, diverting these unwanted goods from our landfills. Ninety-nine percent of the donations received is responsibly recycled - the only exceptions are those items that pose safety hazards to our employees or our customers. ?Your local Goodwill provides free services to at-risk youth, veter ans and their families, persons with disabilities, former offenders seeking employment and countless others who need our help. ?All our employees make well above minimum wage and receive comprehensive benefits including health insurance and a pension plan (Remember pension plans? We still have one.). ?We partner with 11 community colleges to provide nearly 300 skills training classes in healthcare, skilled trades, truck driving, office technolo gy, hospitality, customer service, culinary arts, housekeeping and more. We then help those students find jobs in their chosen fields. ?For every dollar spent in your local Goodwill stores, 90 cents goes to support our mission and sustain ability. That means that only 10 cents goes to administrative costs. Please be assured that your local Goodwill organization and Santa Claus are doing well despite the rumors. Learn more or contact us at www.goodwillnwnc .org. Art Gibe I President & CEO Goodwill Industries of Northwest North Carolina Inc. Winston-Salem J Small business legislation to ensure fair access to contracts To the Editor: I am proud to announce the pas sage [on Dec. 9] of the Small and Disadvantaged Businesses Act of 2016, which will be my second bill signed into law. Small businesses are the driver of our state economy. There are over 800,000 small businesses in North Carolina that employ nearly fifty per cent of our workforce. As Ranking Member of the Small Business Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, I introduced this leg islation to ensure small businesses have fair access to federal contracts. This legislation will ease the bur dens facing small and disadvantaged businesses by helping them do busi ness more effectively and to ultimate ly hire more people. US. Rep. Alma Adams (NC-12) Washington, DJC Note: Adams released the above statement following the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by the U.S. Senate. The NDAA included the Small and Disadvantaged Businesses Act of 2016, .introduced by Adams. The NDAA will soon be signed into law by President Obama. The passage of .the Small and Disadvantaged Businesses Act of 2016 allows the Offices of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) to review agency purchas es made using government credit cards to ensure compliance with the Small Business Act. Congress needs more diversity in senior staff roles To the Editor: Recent news reports highlighting a study conducted by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies on the lack of diversity in senior U.S. Senate staff positions reflect a long standing injustice that keeps the workforce of the United States Congress lacking the diversity of our country. The near complete absence of African American senior staff in per sonal and committee offices in the Senate is not reflective of the inclu siveness ideals of our government, and of our country. The CBC has long championed African American inclusion in all industries, and launched CBC TECH 2020 last year to promote diversity in the technolo gy industry. But the fact that the United States Congress, an institution that was created to represent all peo ple, still has not taken meaningful steps to increase diversity is disap pointing and requires an immediate remedy. There are talented African Americans ready, willing, and able to take leadership roles in the United States Senate and in the House. There are plenty of offices hiring, on both ? ' U.S. Rep. Butterfield sides of the aisle, and in both cham bers, where Senators and Representatives can hire talented African-American candidates. Yet, from our records, with the start of the next Congress, the Senate is poised to have one African-American Senate chief of staff and no African American staff directors if immedi ateaction is not taken. We have made progress in the diversity of the offi cials we elect to Congress, but the lack of senior African- American staff within these offices is alarming. The CBC does not accept the excuses of tech companies for their lack of diversity, nor shall we accept excuses from others on an issue so critical. The United States Congress must lead by example. We call on our col leagues to increase the diversity on their staffs and stand ready to help them source skilled and qualified candidates for these senior roles. % US. Rep. G. K. Butterfield NC-1) Chairman Congressional Black Caucus Washington, DJC. 't US. Rep. Adams
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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Dec. 15, 2016, edition 1
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