2A
THE NEWS-JOURNAL
Raeford, N.C.
September 12, 2012
Viewpoints
State legislature is again for sale
By Chris Fitzsimon
Capitol Press Association
Not too many years ago,
Republicans in North Caro
lina railed against what they
described as the “pay to play”
culture in Raleigh where special
interests who gave political
leaders big bundles of campaign
contributions were rewarded
with privileged access and
preferential treatment.
That was when the Republi
cans were in the minority in the
General Assembly and having
trouble raising as much money
as their Democratic opponents.
A new report from Democ
racy North Carolina finds that
not only have the fundraising
tables turned but also that Re
publicans seem to be embracing
the pay to play culture even
more than the Democrats they
constantly criticized.
The report finds that Repub
lican legislative leaders are not
only raising more money from
special interest political action
committees than their prede
cessors, they are also raising
a higher percentage of their
campaign cash from the PACs
than Democrats did.
In fact, they are raising more
of their money from special
interests than disgraced former
Democratic House Speaker Jim
Black did in his heyday on Jones
Street—and that’s not an easy
bar to clear.
The General Assembly
passed new ethics and fund
raising rules as a result of the
scandals that ultimately sent
Black to federal prison.
One of the new laws was
a ban on lobbyists making
contributions to legislators’
campaigns. It’s hard to believe
that was ever legal in the first
place, that the same people who
were asking legislators for votes
could also put checks in their
hands—but it was until just a
few years ago.
The Democracy NC report
finds that the law hasn’t stopped
the indirect exchange of money
for votes, it just required a
rewording of the appeals. The
report cites a recent solicitation
from the political staff of House
Speaker Thom Tillis sent to lob
byists telling them to get their
PACs to send a check before an
upcoming deadline or at least
explain when the money will
be sent.
Bob Hall with Democracy
NC calls the appeal a “shake-
down, plain and ugly,” and notes
that the fundraising figures
show it appears to be working.
If that’s not enough evidence
that we have the best government
special interests can buy, con
sider another report issued this
week, this one from the Center
for Public Integrity. It finds that
out-of-state corporate money is
playing a major role in the gov
ernor’s race in North Carolina.
The report details how
corporations from across the
country give hundreds of thou
sands of dollars to groups like
the Republican Governors As
sociation and the Democratic
Governors Association who
then run attack ads against
candidates in North Carolina.
That leads to the troubling
scenario where groups like
the Metropolitan Milwaukee
Association of Commerce is
basically funding attack ads
against Democratic gubernato
rial candidate Walter Dalton. A
spokesperson for the insurance
company AFLAC, a big donor
to the Republican Governors
Association, was unaware that
the group’s donation was also
being used to attack Dalton on
television.
Maybe even more disturbing
still are the large anonymous
contributions given to another
category of political groups
who are not required to disclose
who is paying for the ads they
run against candidates in North
Carolina and elsewhere.
That makes a mockery of
the Right’s long opposition to
meaningful campaign finance
reforms like public financing
that would provide funding for
candidates without the special
interest strings attached.
Their argument used to be
that all we needed for a vibrant
democracy was full and im
mediate disclosure of who was
funding campaigns.
Now they seem perfectly
comfortable not only that our
elections and our government
are for sale to the highest bid
ders but that we often can’t
even find out who the bidders
are—at least until after the elec
tion when the legislative bodies
meet and starting providing a
return on the special interests’
investments.
Record special interest
money in pay to play Raleigh,
unlimited contributions from
Milwaukee helping determine
who will be governor in North
Carolina, and anonymous cor
porate money deciding who
will represent us in Raleigh and
Washington.
There’s a lot of ways to de
scribe that system but democ
racy is not one of them.
We Get Letters
‘Lunch room police’ violated constitution
To the Editor:
I recently read an article
about a preschool child in
Raeford who had her “home-
packed lunch” stolen by “lunch
room police” and replaced with
three pieces of meat from the
school lunchroom menu. She
must have been stuffed!
If this story is true, I am
compelled to ask, where in
the pages of the Constitution
for the United States, the Su
preme Law of the Land, does it
‘specifically’ grant the Federal
government the authority to
harass preschool children in this
fashion? Does it not suggest to a
child’s not fully developed mind
that the school knows more than
mommy or daddy? Where in the
pages of the Constitution does
it grant the school the authority
to demand what a home-packed
lunch contains?
I know not what her parents
did, but I know what I would
have done. First, the person
or persons of government-
assumed authority would have
been charged with theft of a
child’s meal! That would have
been followed with a charge of
violating the 4th and the 10th
Amendments to the Constitu
tion.
If that were my child, she
would not have set foot in that
school again until the power
hungry, dim-twitted “police
of the lunchroom” had been
discharged from the school
system entirely.
As soon as your school sys
tem discovers that the laws of
the Federal government do not
override the laws of a Sovereign
State government, this kind of
‘horse defecates’ will cease.
George E. Sexton
USAF Retired
Shepherd, Montana
Editor’s note: This story
is six months old and even
Rush Limbaugh has let it go,
but apparently word has now
reached Montana. There was
much weeping and gnashing
of teeth when a preschool stu
dent’s lunch from home lacked
an ingredient (milk) that nu
tritionists feel is necessary for
a balanced meal. A teacher
Should State pay incentives to a retailer?
By Scott Mooneyham
Capitol Press Association
When it comes to taxpayer-
provided incentives for busi
ness, those provided to retailers
make the least sense.
The reason: Retailers need
consumers/taxpayers more than
consumers/taxpayers need them.
Retailers have little leeway
when building or renting stores.
They go where the demograph
ics and transportation infra
structure suggests they will see
the most traffic.
People may do a bit of oohing
and ahhing when the hot, new
restaurant franchise or big box
retailer comes to town. That’s
still no reason to throw tax
dollars at a company to bring
relatively low-paying service
jobs to a community when it
is needed by the retailer to
expand its customer base and
revenue flow.
Distribution centers built by
retailers are a different animal,
posing trickier questions for the
government officials given the
task of handing out cash and
other inducements to lure jobs
to the state and its regions.
This entire business of busi
ness incentives is distasteful.
But let’s set aside the broader
question of whether state and
local governments should even
be handing out tax dollars to
convince businesses to build
here or there.
They have. They do. For the
foreseeable future, they will.
So, if they do and will, are
retail distribution centers the
kind of thing that state com
merce officials should try to lure
with incentive dollars?
They recently did.
Gas station and convenience
store operator Sheetz Inc. will
receive up to $2.7 million from
the state over the next 12 years
if it meets employment and
other targets.
The company plans to build
a distribution center in Burling
ton. It is expected to employ 254
people by the end of 2018, and
the company will invest $32.8
million in building the facility.
Based in Altoona, Pa., the
company has been expanding
into North Carolina for a few
years now, with high-ceiling,
nicely-laid out stores that offer
fresh-made sandwiches.
The distribution center will
serve North Carolina, Virginia
and West Virginia.
So, perhaps the company
THE TURKEy FESTIVAL BOARD REVERSES
THIS yEAR’S PARADE ROUTE...
Today’s campaigns have roots in 1896
who noticed it, and trying to
conform to their policy, ap
parently inadvertently went
too far and, instead of giving
the child milk, sent her through
the line for a complete meal
(of chicken nuggets). After
state representatives and at
least two congressmen got
involved, and Rush Limbaugh
called the school people “food
Nazis,’’ the badgered teacher
was pressured to resign. The
policy, school officials say, is
intended to supplement kids’
lunches if teachers notice they
lack prescribed ingredients.
The nutritional guidelines for
N.C. Preschool classrooms
are part of state policy, which
applies only to children attend
ing the state’s taxpayer-funded
subsidized pre-kindergarten
program for identified at-risk
four-year-olds. It does not ap
ply to students attending K-12
public school. In response to the
situation, N.C. legislators in
troduced a state law so parents
can opt out of the supplemental
food program. It hasn ’t passed
yet, however.
Are you already tired of the
presidential campaigns and the
barrage of television ads, glad
the conventions are over, and
dreading the upcoming debates?
Blame it on William Jennings
Bryan.
It used to be different. That
was before radio, television, and
airplanes. It was not so long ago
that presidential candidates did
very little personal campaigning.
Sometimes the candidate stayed
at home on his front porch and let
his supporters across the country
organize for the election.
All that changed in 1896
when William Jennings Bryan
secured the nomination of the
Democratic Party and mounted a
hard-charging national campaign.
Until that year, a presidential can
didate had rarely, if ever, appeared
in North Carolina. But, as Bob
Anthony told me the other day,
Bryan whistle stopped through
North Carolina for three days in
September 1896 making more
than 20 stops in “Asheville, Black
Mountain, Old Fort, Marion,
Morganton, Hickory, Statesville,
Mooresville, Charlotte, Salisbury,
Greensboro, Burlington, Durham,
Raleigh, Selma, Goldsboro, Wil
son, Rocky Mount, Whitakers,
Battleboro, Enfield, Halifax, and
Weldon. Longer stops and off the
train rallies were at Asheville,
Hickory, Charlotte, Salisbury,
Greensboro, Raleigh, Golds
boro, Wilson, and Rocky Mount.
Briefer stops, with Bryan often
One on One
D. G. Martin
speaking from the rear of the train,
were at the other places. He ar
rived in Asheville from Knoxville
on Sept. 16, and his last stop was
at Weldon on his way to Virginia
during late afternoon of Sept. 18.
In three days in the state, he spoke
to crowds that collectively were
estimated to have numbered more
than 100,000 people.
If you are tired of full-time
campaigns, blame it on Bryan.
Anthony, curator of the North
Carolina Collection at UNC-Cha-
pel Hill, has been preparing a talk
for a program on important North
Carolina political campaigns at
the Wilson Library on the UNC
campus this Friday and Saturday,
Sept. 14 and 15.
The program will examine
campaigns of North Carolinians
like William Graham, Zeb Vance,
Kerr Scott, Luther Hodges,
Jim Holshouser, and Reginald
Hawkins, and the Raleigh may
or’s campaign of Isabella Cannon.
How does William Jennings
Bryan fit into this pattern?
Anthony says that the three
day-multiple stop tour in our state
could have hopped further up
Interstate 85 and built in South
Hill, Va., or directly above
Burlington in Danville, Va.,
along U.S. 29. State officials
had to be concerned that was a
possibility.
Still, the decision probably
isn’t sitting too well in some
corners today.
Three large convenience
store chains are headquartered
in North Carolina -- Pantry/
Kangaroo, WilcoHess and VPS
Convenience Stores. All three
compete with Sheetz for busi
ness, and the news that the state
has furthered that competition
probably isn’t very welcome.
The jobs that will be coming
to Burlington also aren’t going
to be at the higher end of the pay
scale, like those where the state
doles out money for manufac
turing or pharmaceutical jobs.
Based on the projected payroll,
those 254 jobs would average
$29,133 in annual salary.
Nonetheless, it’s hard to
say no when 254 jobs can be
plopped on this stretch of high
way or one across the state line.
It becomes even more dif
ficult in these tough economic
times, when your unemploy
ment rate exceeds 9 percent.
was reason enough. Presidential
and gubernatorial campaigns have
never been the same in North
Carolina or the rest of the country.
But there is more. Anthony’s
talk is titled “Next to Nebraska:
North Carolina and William Jen
nings Bryan’s 1896 Presidential
Campaign.”
Anthony says that Bryan cred
ited support from North Carolina
as being, next to his home state
of Nebraska, the most important
for him in securing his party’s
nomination.
Even though Bryan, at age
36, barely met the minimum age
requirement to be president, he
had several things going for him
in our state, according to Anthony.
• He was a compelling public
speaker who had previously
proved his talents with a rousing
speech at the women’s college
in Greensboro, where he gained
many admirers.
• He had made a good friend of
Josephus Daniels, the young but
influential editor of the Raleigh
News & Observer.
• He was a pro-farmer advo
cate who had admirers not only
among Democrats but also among
supporters of the Populist Party,
which had come to power in the
North Carolina legislature in a
cooperative or fusion effort with
the Republican Party. Many North
Carolinians, whatever their po
litical party, agreed with Bryan’s
efforts to increase the supply of
money by coining more silver
and weakening the gold standard.
After his famous “Cross of
Gold” convention speech opened
the door, Bryan’s North Carolina
supporters were poised to help
him win the nomination.
Bryan lost the election. But
his vigorous effort won in North
Carolina and led to earthshak
ing changes in the state’s po
litical power structure. Bryan’s
candidacy drew support from
Populists, thereby weakening
their fragile partnership with
Republicans. That change led
to the 1898 and 1900 White
Supremacy campaigns that de
stroyed the Populists, marginal
ized the Republicans, and froze
African-Americans from the
North Carolina political process
for most of the 20th Century.
Blame it on Bryan.
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