The NC General Assembly Has Gone Home, Thank the Good Lord!

They adjourned sine die last night. Here's what they didn't do:

1. They didn't redistrict city commish races in Asheville, as Sen. Apodaca wanted -- presumably his parting stab-in-the-back for "sin city" as he retires from the General Assembly. Apodaca was the only Buncombe legislator favoring this supposedly "local bill," which under the rules (?) rendered it unpassable, though there were some willing to bend those rules. Redistricting for Asheville failed, and it failed because some of Apodaca's fellow Republicans found it an unethical power grab. Imagine that.

2. They didn't repeal HB2, that odious piece of crap that has made North Carolina about as attractive to economic development as a toxic waste dump. They repealed one small provision, the right to sue for wrongful termination in state court. Otherwise, the rest of that pile of right-wing dung is still in place and under the wrinkling nose of the rest of the nation.

3. They didn't pass the trio of constitutional amendments, including their version of TABOR (Taxpayer's Bill of Rights), which has caused such problems in Colorado.

4. They didn't pass "regulatory reform" bills that would have curtailed wind farms and the construction of solar farms.

5. They didn't pass "background checks" for public school employees which would have criminalized and stigmatized teachers who participate in acts of civil disobedience.

6. They didn't manage to redraw Wake County commish and school board districts following the decision by the Fourth Circuit, which means that the old districts remain in place, sans Republican power-grabbing.

Hattip: Mark Binker. His excellent reporting enumerates other controversial bills that died the good death last night.

Sticking His Pixy Nose Into Other People's Business Since 2011

Tom Apodaca, the powerful Republican senator in Raleigh representing Buncombe, Henderson, and Transylvania counties, has proposed a bill in the General Assembly to roll back Democratic electoral control of Asheville city government. Apodaca proposed a redistricting scheme to throw five of seven currently elected Democrats into races against each other. (Taking bets currently at 50-to-1 on whether the G.A. passes it.)

Apodaca's "cover" -- his explanation -- for such radical partisan gerrymandering ... business interests on the south side of Asheville don't have enough representation on city council, and they're complaining. (It's not like Apodaca would ever turn a deaf ear to the pleas of constituents!)

Asheville Citizen-Times: "The move has the backing of a majority of one, Apodaca. None of Asheville’s elected officials or the four other lawmakers who represent parts of the city, all Democrats, were on board with the proposal."

On representation on the city council for South Asheville: "...there’s no argument that South Asheville should be represented. But there’s nothing on the books that says a South Asheville resident can’t be elected to office. All it takes is a good candidate with a good platform running a good race."

As we all know from five years of Republican over-lordship, good platforms don't exist for them. Only regressive, repressive, backward, and radical platforms exist in the contemporary Republican Party of North Carolina.

A Big Open Seat

Hendersonville Republican Tom Apodaca, the Tony Soprano of the Republican Senate caucus, has announced that he won't be seeking reelection.

The Republican exodus from the General Assembly is turning into a ... spectacle.

Dan Soucek Among Those Caught Skimming Money From Campaign Funds

The Raleigh News&Observer has blown the whistle on seven members of the NC General Assembly for paying themselves out of campaign funds without itemizing how those payments constitute reimbursements for legitimate campaign expenses and are not merely being used for personal expenses, which is against the law.

Senator Dan Soucek of Watauga County is on the list along with Sen. Tom Apodaca of Hendersonville; Rep. Kelly Hastings of Cleveland County; Rep. Hugh Blackwell of Morganton; Rep. Rob Bryan of Charlotte; Rep. Julia Howard of Mocksville; and Sen. Warren Daniel of Morganton. All are Republicans.

The News&Observer investigation found that "most legislators meticulously detail expenses they pay with campaign donations. Meal charges list the date, amount and the name of the restaurant. Travel expenses usually list where the legislator went and why."

Those details are missing from the Soucek reports and from the other six. Instead, the seven legislators paid themselves thousands of dollars for “expenses related to holding public office,” a deliberately vague description which frustrates the intent of campaign finance law and masks what the money is really going for.

Soucek says "nearly all for mileage and cellphone bills."

"Mileage"? Gosh, don't we remember how the Republicans went after the late Steve Goss for mileage reimbursements during his tenure in the state Senate.

"Cellphone bills"? Calls to whom, Senator?

The Arrogance of Their Power

L to R: Speaker of the NC House Tim Moore, Sen. Tom Apodaca,
Sen. Bob Rucho, Sen. Phil Berger

Thomas Mills on the arrogance of these boys: 

"They want taxpayers to pick up the tab for going to a conference of their choosing, even though ALEC is little more than a political organization that pushes right-wing policy ideas. They should pay a political price for such abuse, but with heavily gerrymandered districts, they don’t think they’ll be held accountable.

"Legislative Republicans have gotten very comfortable with power. Their veto proof majorities allow them to pass legislation at will and their gerrymandered district protect them from being held accountable for bad behavior–like wasting taxpayer money. With few restraints, they’ve quickly become arrogant. Corruption is surely not far behind."

Reality Check

In case you thought Governor Squishy amounted to more than an insignificant hill of beans, Sen. Tom Apodaca, one of the big Republican dogs in the NC Senate, gave an interview in the Asheville Citizen-Times, and in speaking about current budget negotiations, he said this:

Q: Will the governor play a role in these negotiations?
A: “No. The governor doesn’t play much of a role in anything.”

Zero respect within his own party, sub-zero impact on anything the General Assembly does, and there's simply nothing like being handed your genitals in the morning papers. Priceless!

Hattip: NC Policy Watch

Revenge Politics Targets UNC Law School

Gene Nichol

Remember Gene Nichol? He's the University of North Carolina law professor who led the UNC Center on Poverty, Work, and Opportunity, at least until the center was eliminated by Republican tools as political payback. Nichol had been an outspoken critic of the governor and of the NC General Assembly. He has published op-eds in the Raleigh News & Observer which pointed out that laws passed by the General Assembly and signed by Gov. McCrory are hurting the citizens of this state.

Republicans killed Mr. Nichol's center, but Nichol remained on the law faculty. So what did the Republican bullies in the NC Senate do yesterday? Chief bully Tom Apodaca from Hendersonville, in the sixth hour of debate over a new Republican budget for the state, suddenly introduced an amendment to jerk $3 million away from the UNC School of Law and give it to the Mountain Area Health Education Center.

Sen. Jeff Jackson, D-Mecklenburg, called Apodaca's amendment "piñata politics." Sen. Terry Van Duyn, D-Buncombe, said that Apodaca's revenge politics "breaks my heart because it seems totally undeliberative and quite, in fact, punitive and just not worthy of this body, and it pains me to say that. This is not the way we should be making laws."

"This feels like the Gene Nichol transfer amendment," said Sen. Mike Woodard, D-Durham.

Tom Apodaca

For his part, Apodaca didn't even bother to deny the charges of political revenge. As Chair of the Senate Committee on Rules, he was unembarrassed. He is the very essence of the governing spirit which has seized control of this state.

Generalissimo Apocada Disposes

Hendersonville Republican Tom Apodaca (that's him to the left) is Chair of the NC Senate Committee on Rules. He's kind of a big deal among the new Republican majority in the Gone-to-Hell NC General Assembly.

Tom Apodaca used to be for independent redistricting commissions when he was in the Republican minority. Apodaca co-sponsored a redistricting reform plan three different times, including in the 2009-10 legislative session, shortly before he became such a born-again big effing deal.

A group of bipartisan General Assembly members -- including (gasp!) the excessively "moral" Paul "Skip" Stam of Wake County -- are planning to file two different bills to move redistricting out of the purely political arena where it is currently wedged like a ham bone in a dog's throat and into the purview of an independent, non-partisan redistricting commission.

But Apodaca likes the way things are now, since he's a big deal. He's such a big deal that he couldn't resist strutting like Mussolini to a WRAL reporter. He said about the proposed legislation, "God bless 'em. I can't wait to get it over here [to the NC Senate] It's dead. It's not going anywhere."

When you've got a big-assed Republican declaring what's dead and what's not, you can kiss your dreams of fairness goodbye.