Jonathan Jordan Testing Attack Lines Against Ray Russell

Ray Russell

We're hearing from several people in the 93rd House District that they've gotten push-poll calls that were obviously testing lines of attack against weatherman Ray Russell, who is challenging incumbent Republican Jonathan Jordan for the seat.

You know how those "polls" go, right? "Would you be more/or less inclined to vote for Ray Russell if you knew he eats raw chicken and kicks puppies?"

Jordan, who gets most of his campaign money from special interest PACs (in the Second Quarter, Jordan reported raising only $4,850 from individual contributors and $11,300 from PACs), has depended on third-party dark-money groups to do his dirty work, like Real Jobs NC which pumped in the bucks in 2010 for Jordan by smearing Democratic incumbent Cullie Tarleton.

Compare Ray Russell's campaign. Russell has almost 600 individual contributors, the majority of which are from the 93rd House District.

If you'd like to help the Russell campaign against the Jonathan Jordan smears to come, click this link.

We Love You, Howard Dean, And Always Will

Howard Dean taught us modern campaigning. He pioneered social media outreach and fundraising. As chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009, he preached and enacted the "50-state strategy," an effort to put staff and resources into every state to bolster the grassroots. Which worked. Which lives on today in North Carolina as "a candidate in every single House and Senate district" -- all 120 House seats and 50 Senate seats, contested -- no matter how improbable the prospects, and the literally hundreds of new candidates in every state that are running strong right now, with clear positive platforms, and who owe absolutely nothing to the political establishment.

When he led the Democrats, he encouraged county parties to return to retail politics, one-on-one voter outreach, and he taught everyone the importance of social media for fundraising and for message propagation -- where boomlets happen like lightning. Howard Dean was leading the DNC when Watauga Democrats flipped the county commission from red to blue in 2006, and Cullie Tarleton and Steve Goss won House and Senate seats. We learned so much.

Dean's tenure at the DNC coincided with Jerry Meek's chairmanship of the NC Democratic Party, a renaissance of grassroots activism and retail politics. Jerry Meek came to Watauga and participated in the biggest ever "kickoff canvass" in 2006. Unfortunately, Jerry Meek passed the torch after two terms, and we didn't hardly see his like again, until recently.

Howard Dean made the right kind of enemy. Rahm Emanuel hated his guts. Emanuel favored a different political model that ignored some states -- actually, many -- and poured all the money into boosting the presidential candidate rather than building local parties. Emanuel got rid of Dean as soon as Obama became president. Senator Chuck Schumer participated in that purge. He didn't like Howard Dean either. As far as I'm concerned, Rahm Emanuel was everything that was wrong with Barack Obama's first term, and Chuck Schumer is everything that's wrong with sucking up to money-pimping Democratic donors today, particularly the ones with Wall Street addresses.

Howard stirred excitement among punked-out Democrats and bored independent voters during his presidential run in 2004. It was such excitement. If you were a part of it, you remember it. I see the same vibration around many new Democratic candidates this year. They're rewriting the Party and rewiring the Party brain, just like Howard Dean did.

Jonathan Jordan Plays the Race Card

Weren't we all waiting for this? Instead of Cullie Tarleton pictured in a sombrero, the racist image Jordan used in 2010, he's now out with a mail piece showing his challenger Sue Counts side by side with an angry black man.

Classy, Mr. Jordan.

We didn't expect any less.

Thom Tillis to Gen'l Assembly: "Shut the Eff Up," He Explained

Thom Tillis, just back from his annual jaunt to the Koch-snorting ALEC seance in Oklahoma City, has now gotten the religion of "Let's play nice" and is telling his GOP troops to shut the eff up and stop spooking the horses.

"I was the GOP minority whip in 2009," he began in a Facebook post. "My job was to get conservative Democrats to help us defeat liberal legislation. The Democratic leaders, heavily influenced by their most liberal members and far-left groups, could not resist the pressure to move too far to [sic] fast. They did not compromise and they went too far.

"They got out of step with the citizens of NC and they lost their majority as a result. It was their lack of discipline that laid the groundwork for Republicans to have House/Senate super majorities, a GOP governor, and [lieutenant] governor," he concluded. "Our lack of discipline will lay the groundwork for their ascendency and if they succeed we will only have ourselves to blame."

Tillis's grasp of history is lacking. The Democratically controlled General Assembly was nothing if not "business-friendly," and as he offers zero examples of "liberal" and "far-left" legislation that "laid the groundwork" for the Republican take-over, we believe he's just blowing smoke.

It was some high-profile Democratic sleaze, a comatose NC Democratic Party, and one of the nastiest Pope-directed campaigns in 2010, smearing about a dozen good Democratic office-holders like Cullie Tarleton and Steve Goss, that got Mr. Tillis his drug of choice ... POWER.

The fact that he's now afraid of losing it is practically like a whiff of springtime blossoms. And we count on the crazies in his caucus and in the NC Senate to refuse to play nice. After all, that's not what got them elected.

How the Outside Money Rolled in NC

From the bottom of this chart, going up:
The NC House 93 race was the Tarleton/Jordan contest.

The NC Senate 9 race was the Deb Butler/Thom Goolsby race down in Wilmington.

The NC Senate 18 race was the Doug Berger/Chad Barefoot race.

The NC House 2 race was for Jim Crawford's old seat, which was open once Crawford lost his primary.

The NC Senate 50 race was the John Snow/Jim Davis race south of Asheville; Snow was trying to take his old seat back from Davis.

The NC House 41 race was the Jim Messina/Tom Murry race down in Raleigh.

The NC House 98 race was the ... well, it really wasn't a race at all, because Republican Speaker Thom Tillis was unopposed. He's exactly the kind of character the Deep Pockets like to shovel money at. Because they're grateful for the special favors.

How Did Watauga County Vote?

NC delegation at the Nat'l Dems Convention in Charlotte

Inquiring minds at the Raleigh News and Observer wanted to know "How Will Watauga County Vote?" (see "Burning Question # 6"), so here 'tis ... after this word from Your Enabler:

Raleigh News and Observer reported first thing this a.m. that voters were turning out state-wide "in droves." Seemed to be happening in Watauga too. Then it started to snow. Hmmm.

Wilmington Star News reported heavy early turnout in New Hanover County: "We're going to break some records here."

Watauga: Final Numbers

U.S. President
Romney 14,124
Obama 13,371
Johnson 673
Write-in 202

U.S. House Dist 5
Motsinger 13,743
Foxx 13,647

N.C. Senate
Soucek 13,583
Carter 13,138

N.C. House
Tarleton 14,036
Jordan 12,894

Watauga County Commission
District 1
Yates 13,859
Roseman 12,693

District 2
Welch 14,126
Gable 12,285

District 3
Kennedy 13,698
Adams 13,022

Watauga County Board of Education
Kinsey 10,882
Reese 10,800
Henries 10,629
Fenwick 10,527
Greene 7,742
Oliver 6,978


Some Local Early Voting Numbers from Watauga (includes mail-in absentee ballots and one-stop early voting):

Obama 8,643
Romney 7,472

US Congress 5th Dist.
Motsinger 8,750
Foxx 7,241

NC Senate Race
Carter 8,439
Soucek 7,207

NC House Race
Tarleton 8,879
Jordan 6,843

Watauga Co. Commish Race
Roseman 8,152
Yates 7,381

Watauga Co. Commish Race
Welch 8,869
Gable 6,632

Watauga Co. Commish Race
Kennedy 8,693
Adams 6,995

Watauga County School Board
Fenwick 6,409
Greene 4,199
Henries 5,905
Kinsey 6,785
Reese 6,701
Oliver 3,899

Debate Night: The Undercard

By Atticus Finch Jr.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012, will probably be remembered as the presidential town hall slugfest in which Mitt Romney revealed his little black binder of women AND challenged President Obama on the Libyan consulate tragedy only to be spanked by moderator Candy Crowley. All I could think of was the Saturday Night Live regular “Emily Litella” saying “Never mind!”

The presidential race was actually the last debate of the night. Earlier in Raleigh the candidates for NC governor also squared off.

And here in Watauga County, this little bird found a discreet spot to watch a local debate hosted by the ASU Student Government Association in collaboration with ASU College Democrats and Young Republicans. Watauga County had its own slugfest Tuesday night at 7pm at the Broyhill Center.

First up was Elisabeth Motsinger, running for U.S. Congress in NC's 5th district. Mrs. Motsinger shadow-boxed her empty podium opponent, answering politely all questions while her opponent was uncharacteristically silent. Motsinger said economic recovery must trump debt reduction and that "focusing on small business is the key, not big business pretending to be small business."

Candidates for NC House district 93 then squared off. Incumbent Jonathan Jordan took a page from Bill O'Reilly's "rumble" with Jon Stewart by bringing visual aid placards with fancy bar charts. If the audience was feeling any Oooooohs and Aaaaaahs over Jordan’s graphic skills, it politely suppressed them. Former House representative Cullie Tarleton struck a blow when he summarized Jordan's budgetary approach "in five words: cuts, cuts and more cuts." Jordan raised the Boone water intake issue, of course, but he resisted reading from Tarleton's 2009 House Bill 1101 this time and instead blamed the Town of Boone. Tarleton quickly pointed out that "the Republican leadership stopped Jordan's attempt to undermine the project."

NC Senate candidates Roy Carter and Dan Soucek provided the greatest contrast. Mr. Soucek was poised and smarmy in his delivery. He explained that he introduced Senate Bill 949 to eliminate Boone's ETJ in order to create a dialogue about this issue. (Oh. That was your intention! Next time, consider a phone call.) Mr. Carter animatedly argued for education saying we're losing our best and brightest by cutting the Teacher Fellows program. Interesting turns of phrases also heard: "voodoo budgeting” (Carter’s accusation), "someway somehow is not a plan" (Soucek’s rejoinder).

Last up were the six candidates running for three Watauga County commissioner seats. Six questions spread across the three races made for a (very) brief opportunity for these candidates.

Last week at the Farm Bureau forum, Tommy Adams claimed "personal property rights" is what his campaign is all about, but tonight I don't think I heard that term even once. Ah yes, the audience of ASU students doesn't own property. So instead he continued to push the business park idea for the old WHS site as the economic solution for the county. (Even as multiple offers have now been tendered, and one accepted.)

This little bird apologizes for becoming mesmerized by Adams' comment on voter fraud and a State Bureau of Investigation case file in Boone in 2005. It was in 2005 that the Templetons tried to take over the Boone Town Council. It’s my understanding that it was Tommy Adams himself who was the object of that investigation. He was accused of trying to help the Templetons by inducing ASU students who were not residents of the town to claim they were and vote for the Templeton slate. Which made it more than slightly amazing that Mr. Adams would raise the issue as an accusation against Democrats.

Republican incumbent commissioner Vince Gable, running against John Welch, again reminded us of what a great job he has done ensuring our county debt is well managed and not a problem. Since fear of debt is a Republican staple, no one gasped. In the last race, Perry Yates said, "I agree with Virginia [Roseman]" and Virginia Roseman said, "I agree with Mr. Yates."

Remainder of debate summed up this way: no gaffes, no home runs. Actually after watching Romney later in the evening, I have to say that no gaffe is a home run.

At the Farm Bureau Candidate Forum

By Atticus Finch Jr.

The Farm Bureau held a candidate forum on Thursday. Candidates for the Watauga County Commission and candidates for NC House and Senate participated.

The crowd was, as they say, in Perry Yates’ wheelhouse. He and his family have been farming land in Shawneehaw since before the Indians were here! He’s running for County Commission as the Republican substitute candidate for Tim Wilson, who got into trouble and had to step down back last March.

Despite a crowd apparently stacked agin ’em, most of the other candidates held steady. County Commission candidate Virginia Roseman noted the “if-you’re-not-native-you’re-not-squat” vibe in the room and passionately said that she wasn't born here but this is now her home and she's working for it.

Commission candidate Tommy Adams was a bit weak. He kept saying things like "I agree with most of what's been said" and reminding us over and over that he's a low-taxes-and-personal-property-rights advocate.

Lots of questions about regulations, supporting farming, building inspectors and health inspectors run amok, etc.

Some tussling among the NC House and Senate candidates. Incumbent Senator Dan Soucek said, "Look at our records. Two of us up here have not raised taxes, and one of us has." Candidate for the NC House Cullie Tarleton answered, "I'm proud of my record, Dan." House incumbent Jonathan Jordan read a sentence from Tarleton's water bill and declared, "That gives your water rights to the state," thereby laying the bomb that starts the stampede. (Jordan did the exact same thing – holding up Tarleton’s water bill and reading a sentence out of context and saying “that gives your water rights to the state” – at last Tuesday’s Chamber of Commerce candidate forum. Johnny Appleseed never planted more little seeds!)

Everyone had stories connecting them to farmers. Check!

In the parking lot afterwards, some unknown voice jeering, "Did you hear little Danny Soucek say he planted three tomato plants as a boy!"

Why Jordan Is Demanding a Debate with Tarleton

There's really only one possible explanation when an incumbent office-holder demands a debate with his challenger, as NC House member Jonathan Jordan recently did: he's losing, and he knows it.

While it's very common for a newcomer to challenge an office-holder -- Ron Zerban demands a debate with Paul Ryan, and Joe Rooney demands a debate with Allyson Schwartz, for just two of dozens of examples -- it's not common at all -- not at all -- for an incumbent to demand a debate. It's a glaring sign of weakness.

Challengers are usually not well known. A debate with the incumbent can get them better known in a hurry. In fact, just demanding the debate raises a challenger's profile, and the demand is often released to the press for that reason alone. Conversely, incumbents generally resist debates because they don't want their opponents to be better known. Simple math.

But for a well financed incumbent like Jonathan Jordan to be agitating in the public press for a debate sends a dog whistle: somebody needs to notice me and right now!

And speaking of how Jonathan Jordan has treated public education during his two years in Raleigh, which I believe we were, there's this.

The Outlook for Higher Education in NC

A group of 30 Big Heads with the portentous title "UNC Advisory Committee on Strategic Directions" is meeting for the first time today, and a student group has formed to protest the makeup of the committee, which is apparently charged with setting goals and directions for the 16-member University of North Carolina system.

The protesting student group, calling itself N.C. Student Power Union, is upset about the old, rich, white man  lack of diversity on the committee. There's only one student representative. There's only one faculty member representative. There's only one staff employee representative.

The N.C. Student Power Union didn't tell the half of what's wrong with that committee, seeing as how it also includes the power base of the NC Republican Party, particularly the ultra-right, Tea Party wing, the very people primarily responsible for the major, crippling budget cuts to the university system in the last two state budgets (both vetoed by Gov. Perdue, whose vetoes were overridden) and for the general weakening of all public education in the state.

Thom Tillis, Republican Speaker of the NC House, is on the committee.

Phil Berger, Republican NC Senate President Pro Tem, is on the committee.

Lew Ebert, President of the NC Chamber of Commerce, who is very actively supporting Tea Party darling Paul Newby for the NC Supreme Court, is on the committee.

Robert Ingram, former president & chief operating officer of GlaxoSmithKline, who according to OpenSecrets has given some $96,000 to Republican causes, is on the committee.

Fred Eshelman, a  Big Pharma mogul who principally funded RightChange in 2010 and who was therefore directly responsible for much of the sleaze that was directed at Cullie Tarleton and Steve Goss, is on the committee.

Art Pope, the prelate of predatory conservatism, the Death Star of the NC political universe, the Big Boss who bosses around Tillis and Berger (see above) and got his own puppets on the Tillis and Berger payroll, is on the committee.

The very people who have been most consistently and tenaciously critical of a Liberal Arts education in North Carolina are going to be setting priorities for our best institutions of higher education. Students ought to be organizing to call attention to the radical tilt of this crucial advisory committee.

And incidentally, ASU Chancellor Ken Peacock is also on the committee.

It's Coming ... From the Black (Pope) Lagoon

Mark Binker is reporting that Real Jobs NC (remember them?) is about to unleash their Art Pope-financed smeers of Democratic candidates again this election cycle.

And why not? The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that billionaires have the inalienable right to buy any legislature that they can personally afford. And the Real Jobs NC slimeballs of 2010 worked so well to turn the NC General Assembly over to Dan Soucek, Jonathan Jordan, and other Tea Party types.

Remember what they did to Cullie Tarleton and Steve Goss in 2010, the mailers the put Mexican sombreros on those gentlemen's heads and warned about rapists moving in next door to your granny.

Once the Dust Settled...

Here are the filings for office in local and district races, as they stood at the close of the filing period at noon today:

U.S.House, Dist. 5
Elisabeth Motsinger, Forsyth Co. School Board member, D
Bruce G. Peller, Forsyth Co. dentist, D

Virginia A. Foxx, incumbent R

[There will be a Democratic primary May 8th]

State Senate, Dist. 45
Roy J. Carter (Ashe County), D

Dan Soucek, incumbent R
George S. Robinson (Caldwell County), R

[Soucek has a primary May 8th]

State House, Dist. 93
Cullie Tarleton, D

Jonathan Jordan, incumbent R

Watauga County Commission, Dist. 1
Virginia Roseman, D

Tim Wilson, R

Watauga County Commission, Dist. 2
John Welch, school board member, D

Vince Gable, incumbent R

Watauga County Commission, Dist. 3
Billy Kennedy, D

Tommy Adams, Tea Party R

Watauga County Board of Education
Jay Fenwick, D
Barbara Kinsey, D
Brenda Reese, D
Deborah Greene, Tea Party U
Ron Henries, R
Fred Oliver, R
Brandon Petrea, R

[There will be a primary for Sch. Bd. May 8th]

The Action So Far

First day of filing brings this crop:

Register of Deeds
JoAnn Townsend (R), incumbent

Watauga County Commission
District 1
Virginia Roseman (D)

District 2
Vince Gable (R), incumbent
John Welch (D)

District 3
Billy Kennedy (D)

Watauga County School Board
Deborah Greene (Unaffiliated/Tea Party)
Jay Fenwick (D)
Barbara Kinsey (D)

NC House, Dist. 93
Cullie Tarleton (D)

Cullie Tarleton Comes Out Swinging

Former NC House member Cullie Tarleton will file tomorrow to challenge Jonathan Jordan for his old seat, and he's set to begin airing this radio spot as early as tomorrow afternoon. Listen.

He's zeroing in on the reality of our post-Citizens United world, where puppet-masters like Art Pope pump money by the bucketsful into attack strategies to benefit their water-carriers.

We applaud the message and hope that other Dems candidates for the NC General Assembly take careful note.

Oops. Apparently the original link rotted quicker'n peaches in the sun. Try this. It's working for me.

The Brains Behind Thom Tillis's Rise To Power

The Battleground Group, which designed and handled the mailing of many of the attack pieces on Democratic members of the North Carolina General Assembly in 2010, is a Sarasota, Florida, hack-shop that proudly displays a nuclear explosion as its logo and "vision thing."

So proud are these guys of the scurrilousness of their 2010 campaign in NC, they proudly display the "NC Case Study" on their homepage.

It didn't take too much browsing in these toxic weeds to find the mailer that they didn't use in 2010, one targeting Cullie Tarleton for allegedly applauding rape. (WARNING: Clicking that link will show you just how vile these people are.) If they had used that mailer against Cullie, they would have used it against every other targeted Democrat in 2010. Notice that the return address on the mailer is the state Republican Party Executive Committee, the same return address that was on all of the Battleground Group-produced mailers (of which there were dozens mailed against each Democrat in 2010).

It's interesting to speculate on why they didn't actually use the mailer, since the ones they did use were every bit as below-the-belt. Did someone in the NC Republican Party actually take a look at this and blanch: "Oh my God. We can't have our name on that!" But their name IS on that, and worse. And it's clear from the Battleground Group's NC Case Study that they were behind the push-polling and the other mailers that flooded our mailboxes (including one that warned us that murderers and rapists looking very Hispanic were moving next door to us, thanks to Steve Goss and Cullie Tarleton).

This is the nastiness that the Battleground Group is proud to offer to all deep pockets coming their way. This is the nastiness that the NC Republican Party was willing to put their name on. This is the nastiness that elevated Tantrum Thom to the Speakership of the NC House. This is the nastiness that we will see no end to, as 2012 grinds into gear. This is the nasty essence of the abuse of power that has now taken over our state and will hold whatever midnight seances it needs to punish their enemies and advance their extremist goals.

Hattip: JP

Rematch in NC House Dist. 93

Former NC House member Cullie Tarleton announced this morning that he would be taking on incumbent Republican Jonathan Jordan in a rematch this November. Even Jordan's supporters are hard pressed to think of anything he's done for his district. He's mainly marched off the right side of the earth, in blind obedience to former employer Art Pope and the self-destructive Raleigh/Charlotte leadership of his party.

Prevarication, noun

"Americans for Prosperity is a nonpartisan, issue-based policy organization and does not support or oppose candidates for public office."

--Dallas Woodhouse, NC State Dir., Americans for Prosperity

Hattip: Greg Flynn

For an outfit that had a fat finger in the effort to defeat both Sen. Steve Goss and Rep. Cullie Tarleton last year, that's a hell of a whopper.

Greg Flynn lays out the documentable $$. Both Jonathan Jordan and Dan Soucek are on that list ... twice.

GOP Repeal of Racial Justice Act Stalls

You will, of course, remember that the General Assembly, under Democratic control in 2009, passed the Racial Justice Act which allows an inmate facing the death penalty to file an appeal asking a judge to consider whether racial prejudice played a role in his or her sentence. If such evidence is compelling, the law gives state judges the discretion to commute sentences from death to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The last part of that is important because it's the part that was totally ignored by Jonathan Jordan and Dan Soucek when they ran against Cullie Tarleton and Steve Goss last year, smearing them both as the miscreants who wanted black rapists to move in next door to you. You remember those mailers, of course!

One of the solemn promises made by this new Republican majority in the General Assembly was the immediate repeal of the Racial Justice Act, since this bunch likes killing everything but fetuses, and the state's executioner wants work.

Yesterday the NC House passed the repeal 63-53 (not veto-proof, by any means), and every informed Clown College observer expected the Senate to quickly follow suit. But not so fast.

According to Under the Dome, "In a big surprise, Senate leaders said they will not take up the bill before adjournment."

"When we come back in May, I guess we will pick it up then," said Sen. Tom Apodaca, a Republican from Hendersonville. "We had our schedule for tonight, and that was not on it. I want to go to the mountains."

Hmmm. Apparently, those black rapists moving into all our neighborhoods weren't all that, after all.

The Big Gamble at the Raleigh Clown College

It's simple logic at work with the new Republican majority in the NC General Assembly: We can be as extreme as we please, because the flow of corporate cash will save our asses next year in the general election.

We can (and will) cripple public education, cripple environmental protections, cripple people's access to the ballot, and move our religio-corporatist agenda in hobbling women's rights to reproductive freedom and in singling out gays in the state's constitution for unequal treatment under the law ... because Art Pope & Friends put us here to do their bidding and they will return us again to our positions of power through the unleashing of their limitless cash on the muddle-headed masses who will believe any crazy thing if it's in writing. For example (from 2010), Cullie Tarleton and Steve Goss want to put a black rapist right next door to every last one of you God-fearing idiots.

Let's see what else is up in Raleigh with a General Assembly that Dan Soucek was bragging about on WATA this week -- bragging that stuff had passed far faster than at any time in history and certainly faster than his particular reading comprehension could keep up with, to know what was actually buried in all those new laws:

1. "House panel guts air pollution rules .... At the urging of some of the state's largest polluters, a committee in the Republican-controlled state House voted Tuesday to eliminate the state program that monitors and enforces clean air regulations." (N&O, 15 June 2011) That alone ought to be worth many thousands of $$ in Dan Soucek's and Jonathan Jordan's reelection coffers!

2. "Bill passage puts offshore drilling, 'fracking' one step closer .... Senate Bill 709, the Energy Jobs Act, does not explicitly allow either offshore drilling or hydraulic fracturing ('fracking'), but it represents the state’s first steps toward both." (WRAL, 14 June 2011) You think they're NOT taking us there? They're taking us there.

3. "NC lawmakers ease environmental laws for business .... Environmental advocates in North Carolina suffered setbacks Tuesday as Republican leaders rolled out a flurry of legislation sought by the state's business interests. Legislation unveiled in the House would reduce state regulation of toxic industrial chemicals like ammonia and sulfuric acid released into the air. A second bill in the Senate combines nearly two dozen changes to environmental laws, including a delayed cleanup of one of the main water supplies for Piedmont cities and broader access to taxpayer funds for underground fuel tank owners forced to clean up leaks." (Wilmington Star-News, 14 June 2011)

4. "North Carolina GOP ... Axes Planned Parenthood Funding .... Republican state representatives in North Carolina voted to override Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue's veto of the state budget Wednesday morning, ensuring that a provision to strip all federal and state money from Planned Parenthood will take effect on July 1 .... Planned Parenthood of North Carolina (PPNC), which has nine clinics across the state, provides affordable birth control, preventative health care and family planning services to over 25,000 men and women. Without the $434,000 a year it usually receives in state and federal funds, Planned Parenthood says it will now have to axe its teen pregnancy prevention and adolescent parenting programs and force its low-income patients to pay out of pocket." (Huffington Post, 15 June 2011)

This (and a whole host of other bad bilge that I won't pause to document) is only the warm-up to the main event ... redistricting of every U.S. Congressional seat and of every NC House and Senate seat so that the Republican majority can retain its power for generations. Laura Leslie has tweeted that county maps will be out this Friday, full maps July 1st, and the special session to pass the whole plan is scheduled to begin July 17.

We ain't seen nothing yet!

The King Snake

Finally! The North Carolina Independent and the Institute of Southern Studies have produced an exhaustive series of investigative pieces on kingpin Art Pope and his coils wrapped around the General Assembly in Raleigh.

I've managed to read only the one titled "The Art Pope empire: Media outlets, think tanks and election machines" by Chris Kromm. This is the piece that lays out the massive and relentless attack machine that smeared Sen. Steve Goss and Rep. Cullie Tarleton, though neither of them are mentioned in the article. But the exact same mail pieces that were used against Goss and Tarleton were used in dozens of other General Assembly races. This is the man pulling Dan Soucek's strings and Jonathan Jordan's guy-wires.

NOTE: Part of Art Pope's vision of the future includes voter suppression through his pet "voter photo ID" law.

Other articles in the suite of investigative pieces focus on other areas of the Art Pope empire:

Pope-funded groups and the dismantling of public education (more Charter schools and school vouchers, anyone?)

Pope Foundation failed to file tax returns on time (because the super-rich have different rules)

Pope-backed groups figure largely on N&O's op-ed page (The Echo Chamber)

Pope-backed climate cranks target North Carolina renewable energy law (among the things Art Pope and his minions HATE are solar energy and wind power)