The Deliberate Obtuseness of Thom Tillis

Thom Tillis, the new Republican Speaker of the NC House, has been going around the state, holding town hall meetings, and when he hears from laid-off public school employees, he uniformly expresses shock and even bewilderment. "How could that be?" he sez. "The Republicans in the General Assembly did not cut any teaching jobs."

There are lies of commission and lies of omission. The latter is a deliberate withholding of the truth and no less destructive of the public trust.

When a now unemployed teacher's assistant in Wilmington confronted Tillis, he lied even more deliberately. He huffed, "We'll get to the bottom of that," implying that the woman was the victim of her local school system instead of the victim of a doctrinaire conservatism that is hurting this state's prospects for a generation yet to come.

Tillis simply ignores and will not admit that a $400 million+ cut to schools "discretionary" spending did in fact impact teaching jobs. Yesterday in Boone, former House Speaker Joe Hackney, conducting with other Democrats in the NC House their own town hall tour of the state, said that we may never know the true total number of job losses in education from the new Republican budget but that the number is certainly in the 10,000 range already, counting both public school jobs and university system jobs. Add to those losses are layoffs in the court system, juvenile justice, cultural resources, etc.

To help off-set projected losses in Watauga, the Republican majority on the county commish coughed up an additional $700,000, very much against its will and begrudgingly, so that Watauga is not in the fix of many other counties, as far as public education goes.

Those who cannot see through Tillis's crocodile tears for out-of-work teachers likely don't want to know the truth, but a growing majority will not forever forgive him for his deliberate attempt to shift the blame and pass the buck.

Raleigh Republicans Targeting Women

The Republicans in the new majority in the NC General Assembly are planning the elimination of strong women in the NC House. That is to say, Democratic strong women.

Laura Leslie has some preliminary analysis at WRAL, and there's a clear pattern. Among the women marked for extinction are Forsyth's Linda Garrou, Wake's Deborah Ross, Guilford's Pricey Harrison, Buncombe's Patsy Keever.

Minority Leader Joe Hackney has been drawn out of his District 54 and into the 56th with Democrat Verla Insko, another strong female legislator.

Meanwhile, Art Pope's yes-man Jonathan Jordan's 93rd House Dist. is left unchanged ... Watauga and Ashe.

Republican Frugality

Thanks to UnderTheDome, we have $$ amounts as of June 7, 2011, for Republican House Speaker Thom Tillis's taxpayer-paid retainers:

Abigail Blackwell, Administrative Assistant, $30,000
Charles Duckett, Director of Admin. Boards and Commissions, $79,170
Daniel Goforth, Policy Adviser, $62,880
Christopher Hayes, Policy Adviser, $82,000
Amy Hobbs, Policy Adviser, $82,000
Susan Horne, Assistant for Constituent Services, $51,480
Jason Kay, General Counsel, $140,000
Wanda Kay, House Caucus Assistant, $40,000
Michael Luethy, $70,000
Dodie Renfer, Director of Member Relations, $70,000
Jordan Shaw, Director of Communications, $65,000
Katherine Sullivan, Administrative Assistant, $36,000
Charles Thomas, Chief of Staff, $150,000
Rhonda Todd, Executive Assistant, $71,071.12
Renee Weaver, House Staff Clerk, $35,525

Tillis total, $1,065,126.12

For comparison sake, former Democratic House Speaker Joe Hackney had a total compensation figure (as of July 2010) of $969,874.36.

Of special interest is the salary Tillis's chief of staff is making, $150,000, which is more than the governor makes ($139,950).

You Go, Joe

Former Speaker of the NC House (and new Minority Leader) Joe Hackney, calling out new Republican Majority Leader Paul "Skip" Stam on his redistricting hypocrisy:

My friend, House Majority Leader Paul Stam, twisted himself into all sorts of knots in his recent letter to the editor, trying to wriggle out of his decades-long previous position that North Carolina should have a Citizen Redistricting Commission.

Not enough time, he says. Needs a constitutional amendment, he says. Neither of these claims is true.

There is plenty of time for a commission to be appointed, to meet and to make recommendations. The General Assembly could then ratify or reject the plans. No constitutional amendment is required for that.

A Cry for Love?

Why is NC House member Larry Brown (R-Kernersville) sitting in a bowl of Froot Loops?

Because Equality North Carolina has organized a campaign to harass Mr. Brown for his e-mailed comments regarding Speaker of the House Joe Hackney's acceptance of a leadership award from the group. Said the highly Christian Mr. Brown:

"I hope all the queers are thrilled to see him. I am sure there will be a couple legislative fruitloops there in the audience."

For each donation made to Equality North Carolina in Mr. Brown's name before Oct. 11th, a box of Froot Loops will be delivered to the assemblyman's office. He'll be eating a lot of cereal, we expect.

Most commentators have focused on Mr. Brown's obvious hatred of gays. But we're more amazed at his implication about his fellow members of the General Assembly. The last Republican office holders who so obsessed on this topic mainly all turned out to be harboring their own guilty little secrets.

Anti-Gay Bills in the NC General Assembly

Bills were filed (yet again) in the NC House and Senate (both) for an amendment to our state constitution to deny marriage to same-sex couples, which is already illegal under state law anyway. This particular piece of nonsense comes back every session, introduced by Republican tools who have nothing better to do than carry water for the Christian Right and try to stir up the latent hatreds of the under-educated. Because, Lord knows, the holy matrimonies of man-woman couples will be disastrously devalued if gay people are allowed the same right.

Not to worry. Mark Binker, who wrote the article linked above, notes on his blog that Marc Basnight has assigned the bill in the NC Senate to the Ways & Means Committee, which hasn't met since 2001 and which seems highly unlikely to leap into action for this particular piece of soiled linen.

Speaker of the House Joe Hackney has a similar attitude about this kind of right-wing extremism.

This anti-gay bill is going nowhere.

Speaker Joe Hackney in Boone

Speaker of the N.C. House Joe Hackney was in Boone this a.m., hosted by Watauga County's own state legislator Cullie Tarleton, to hear from community members and give them insight into this current session of the state legislature.

Hackney is an impressive leader, and he handles these sorts of "listening" tours with great diplomatic skill (Virginia Foxx might take a lesson). That many movers and shakers (well, more movers than shakers) all in a room together saying "gimme, gimme, gimme" must make him feel at times like a sahib beset on every side by the beggars of Calcutta.

He seems to have mastered the ability to say "no, not likely, and don't hold your breath" to people who might seem to demand a little more instant gratification. He didn't promise anybody anything, forbearance in a politician that is positively heroic. But he also showed a willingness to listen and learn, adding local facts and needs to an already impressive fund of knowledge about how this state operates and where it's (ideally) headed in the 21st Century.

Good man. Good show.