Last week, I asked three rhetorical questions that I hope will help me guide this blog. I'm sure I'll continue to evolve or have fun sidebars, but those guiding questions will be:
1) What needs to be built up instead of tear down?
2) What are you willing to sacrifice in order to build?
3) What is the work that is going unnoticed that deserves attention?
I'm still not sure exactly how to go about answering those questions -- if they were easy answers, they wouldn't be hard questions -- but I'm considering finding hot-button but off-the-radar topics that I can try to dive into in-depth. If you have ideas or topics you'd like to see in this space, send me a Facebook message or call me or contact me. I've already featured several reader topics here already, and answering other people's questions is a lot more fun anyway.
Topics I'm considering deeper dives into: Gerrymandering/Redistricting (One of my favorites), Transportation (another personal favorite), the F-35 program (I've talked about this before) and Health Care Reform. Again: Send me your topics, tips or ideas!
Vengeance is Mine, Sayeth the N.C. GOP
To answer question 3, that goes both ways. If there's work being done maliciously, that deserves just as much attention as the good work that I'd normally want to point out. And there's a good example of malicious partisan work on the state level taking place in North Carolina.
A few things to remember real quick before I dive deeper: 1) North Carolina is a hotly contested swing state, so it's a fairly split state in terms of partisanship. 2) It's also incredibly gerrymandered. So much so that courts have struck down their districts and ordered new elections next year because the districts were so unfair. But those elected in the unfair districts still serve until then.
Anyway, after a fierce campaign, Democrat Roy Cooper won the gubernatorial (fun adjective form of governor) race over incumbent GOP Gov. Pat McCrory by about 10,000 votes. This was a surprise — a Democrat winning the governor race in a state that voted for Trump. The GOP-controlled state legislature is lashing out, calling an unplanned special session (!) to make drastic changes to the power of the governor, who suddenly isn't the same party as they are anymore. They've introduced the following bills, and they have the power/ability to pass them all before Cooper takes office:
1) County election boards currently have 3 members, with 2 in the governor's party and 1 in the minority's party. The N.C. GOP is trying to change it to 4 members, with 2 from each party.
2) The State Board of Elections, which has 9 members and 5 from the governor's party, would move to 10 members, with 5 from each party. This board appoints the county election board members.
3) Require State Senate approval of the governor's Cabinet.
4) Strip the governor of the right to pick trustees of the University of North Carolina
5) Grant Civil Service protection (can't be fired by the incoming governor) to hundreds of agency managers who were appointed by GOP Gov. McCrory.
In covering and watching politics for so long, I am often hesitant to answer the question of intentions. Is a politician doing this bad thing because they think they're doing the right thing, or are they presenting a front of sensibility while having malicious intent? It's hard to know without being inside someone's head, and even then — sometimes you can fool yourself. And to label someone as bad without knowing the answer to that intent question is to say you know more about someone's psychology than they do.
However, looking at the actions listed above, the intentions are clearly vindictive. The GOP had no problem benefiting from the governor's party-leaning boards and appointees in the past. Now they find themselves about to lose that power, and they are calling an unplanned, last-minute special session to wrest some of that power back. One lawmaker was quoted as saying Republicans in North Carolina would "work to establish that we are going to continue to be a relevant party in governing the state." That's the most blatant example of putting party above the will of the people I've seen.
Related note: Democrat Mike Morgan won election to the N.C. State Supreme Court, giving Democrats a 4-3 edge. Some thought Morgan only won because people thought he was actually a Republican. Rumors abounded after Cooper won the governorship that the GOP would add two (implied Republican) seats to the State Supreme Court, but those didn't happen. Instead, they have filed a bill to add party designations to State Supreme Court elections.
Clean Out Your Cabinet
For my first foray back into politics after a while, I wanted to look at the Cabinet that President-Elect Trump (that will not get any easier to say/write) is assembling. I wrote detailed analysis of each of these folks before I had the big revelation last week about what I wanted this site to do. So instead of running those in full, I'll just sum them up here:
Good picks
Chief of Staff -- Reince Priebus
U.N. Ambassador -- Nikki Haley
Secretary of Transportation -- Elaine Chao
Secretary of Commerce -- Wilbur Ross
Secretary of Treasury -- Steve Mnuchin
Secretary of Defense -- Gen. James "Mad Dog" Mattis
Small Business Administration... administrator (needs a new title) -- Linda McMahon
Reservations, from Least to Most
HHS Secretary -- Tom Price
Secretary of Labor -- Andy Puzder
CIA Director -- Mike Pompeo
EPA Administrator -- Scott Pruitt
HUD Secretary -- Ben Carson
Secretary of Energy -- Rick Perry
Secretary of Homeland Security -- Gen. John Kelly
Secretary of State -- Rex Tillerson (I think he's unlikely to get approved, actually)
Highly Troubling
Attorney General -- Jeff Sessions
Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor -- Steve Bannon
National Security Advisor -- Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Mike Flynn
Secretary of Education -- Betsy DeVos
One final note: Of the 26 Cabinet-level or White House staff positions, there are only 4 women so far. The highest ranking is Secretary of Education. There are only 3 persons of color: 1 African-American (Carson), one Asian-American (Chao), and one Indian-American (Haley). This is a white male Cabinet. While I'm not advocating affirmative action, to imagine the selection of an almost entirely white male Cabinet is... a product of a bygone era.
Unnamed Emotions
Facebook has added new response buttons beyond the "like." They're useful, so I don't have to "like" someone's relative dying or "like" frustrating news. But I need one called "defeated sigh." It's an emotion we have all the time, but none of the buttons fit it... sad might be the closest. The Royals trade away a key player or the Chiefs/Sooners/Thunder blow a big game? Defeated sigh. Most political news stories (especially those to come over the next four years)? Defeated sigh. Forecast for the weekend is in the single digits with snow when my kids desperately need some outdoors time? Defeated sigh. Looking for that one ingredient you need for the dinner you're already cooking when you remember you don't have it? Defeated sigh. Stomach rumbles unpolitely Monday morning after everyone in your family has been sick with the stomach bug over the weekend? Defeated sigh. It's the feeling of "Oh, right... I should have seen this coming, though I hoped it wouldn't."
Summary Judgments
I was fooled by this story, too. I thought it had some embellishment (My first red flag: the kid somehow had a full conversation before immediately dying?), but didn't consider whether the story was true in general. I should have never put my faith in a man who looks like — but isn't — Santa Claus! • • • ISIS is not what it was. President Obama deserves a lot of credit for this, because the centralized ISIS (Iraq and Syria) is starting to fall apart. The only problem is that it's moving into a splintered international organization, like Al Qaeda used to be. That means new challenges for the incoming administration. • • • I love the idea behind the Australian word of the year, "Democracy Sausage." • • • The Cleveland Browns are their own punchline, but this takes the cake. An opposing player called a Browns wide receiver "garbage" after their game this week. Browns wide receiver Terrelle Pryor's response? "He was right. It was an accurate statement." • • • Asparagus pee is a hotly debated topic in my own household. I think of it as a problem. Alyson doesn't know what I'm talking about. Finally, a story comes out... and it turns out there's a reason for both of our views. • • • We're starting potty training with Evie (Roland is not ready.). She's sitting, but not really doing anything so far. The other day at dinner, I heard a noise from her, and I asked her if she tooted or went poo-poo. "I tooted. I tooted all night!"
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