Bad Non-Budget Provisions Slipped Into the Budget

Indebted to Billy Corriher for highlighting bad partisan provisions in the new proposed state budget (HB 259), the latest one, the new compromise that drops consideration of gambling and restores Medicaid expansion. But it is far from a "clean" bill, for it contains plenty of real doozie time-bombs that Billy Corriher noticed. And in coming days there will likely be additional hair-raising discoveries -- like this provision that Corriher highlighted on how the Judicial Standards Commission will be constituted:

Paul Newby

Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls is currently fending off this same commission, which says it's investigating her because she criticized the court for a lack of diversity. Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby would get six appointments to the commission, hisownself, if you were wondering where the partisan advantage lay. Newby, operating on the high octane of self-righteousness, can be capable of purges. 

Billy Corriher predicts about this provision, "It’ll lead to more investigations of judges the GOP doesn’t like."

Corriher also points out that Paul Newby is specifically singled out for longevity in the budget bill: "[It] raises the retirement age for appellate judges. This’ll keep Paul Newby on the bench for a few more years, so he can continue to pack the Judicial Standards Commission to target Dem judges."

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Corriher: "The budget also allows lawmakers to pick 10 Superior Court judges for 8-year terms.... They’d control these judgeships forever, not the voters." Say what? Corriher supplies the evidence:

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Corriher: "The bill eliminates the right to appeal to the NC Supreme Court if there’s a dissent at the Court of Appeals."