Those Awful "Urbanites"

Hattip: James, at BlueNC.

Forbes has released its 2012 Top 25 Cities for Business and Careers, and four of the 25 are Democratic bastions in North Carolina, where -- you know -- crushing regulation, taxation, and the complete theft of personal liberty has rendered everything a vast wasteland that no true American patriot would want to occupy.

Our favorite of the four has to be Asheville.

Gov Perdue To Veto Republican Budget

That's good news.

It'll now come down to the veto-override vote in the NC House. One of the Five Goobers who voted last year to override Perdue's veto of the last Republican budget told the News&Observer, “They don’t have the votes to override, and they know it,” without enunciating, by the way, exactly how he might vote.

WRAL is running a "veto override watch," paying particular attention to the Five Goobers and other Dems who voted for this budget before it went to Perdue.

Did Jordan Double-Cross Soucek?

Early on in his crusade to do the Templetons' bidding, Sen. Dan Soucek assured the NC Senate committee considering his "local bill" to eliminate the Town of Boone's extraterritorial jurisdiction that he had the backing of the rest of the local delegation. That is to say, he said he had the support of Rep. Jonathan Jordan, since it's customary for "local bills" to have the full support of all members of the House & Senate representing that area.

If Soucek did actually have Jordan's support, or was merely speaking out of his alimentary canal (as is his wont), he most assuredly did not have Jordan's support when Senate Bill 949 actually reached the NC House for action. Jordan pointedly did not show up to support the bill in the House Rules Committee. And he is now evidently in favor of side-lining Soucek's initiative into a "study" bill, which is just another name for "face-saving." Study bills are where problematic legislative ideas go to die.


Why Jordan, the Art Pope fellow-traveler, would be in favor of cutting off Boone's water supply and not in favor of crippling her ability to maintain zoning regulations in the ETJ is a mystery past the talents of mere mortals to decipher.

When a Picture Is Worth 1,000 Words

Today, at the Capitol

Sen. Soucek Finally Tells a Truth

From Anna Oakes' most recent update on Dan Soucek's Screw Over Boone Act of 2012, in the Watauga Democrat:

Soucek said, “There has been a developer who has been very, very loud.”

In the senator's individual case, that would have to qualify as the understatement of the month.

In Jeff Templeton's case, that would have to qualify as being forced involuntarily out of the shadows.

We also find unusually instructive the smug self-interest and screw-everybody-else casualness of Rep. Paul Stam of Apex, who said "he would not support eliminating the ETJ in his county of Wake nor statewide, but that he could support a bill doing such in the mountains...."

That Rules Committee meeting on Monday brings new meaning to the term "circle jerk."

And where, by the way, was Rep. Jonathan Jordan? Hiding behind the door?

The Latest on Soucek's ETJ Bill

Rep. Ruth Samuelson

In a puzzling move, Senate Bill 949 was moved off the House calendar yesterday and sent back to the Rules Committee. The scuttlebutt in Raleigh is that key Republican opposition to Soucek's stupidity was the motivating force for sidelining it. Odds are now that it will be converted into a "study commission" and buried.

The key Republican opposition has reportedly come from Rep. Ruth Samuelson of Mecklenburg County, a former county commissioner and currently Majority Whip of the House.

Meanwhile, local Watauga County media has been lining up against Soucek's Special Favors for Developers Act of 2012:

David Rogers, The Blowing Rock News:

A more constructive approach might have been for Mr. Soucek to hold one or more highly public "town hall" type of meetings for people to air their opinions and grievances in how the Town of Boone is applying its zoning and planning regulations to ETJ residents and property owners, and the value of an ETJ to begin with.

The Watauga Democrat:

The wise direction would have been to resolve the issue with Boone lawmakers, but in presenting Senate Bill 949 to eliminate Boone's ETJ powers, Sen. Dan Soucek misguidedly chose a route that will surely be mired in constitutional challenges....

Jonathan Jordan Gets Trimmed

NC House Rep. Jonathan Jordan's recent and sudden conversion to environmentalism was a laughable fiction. His newfound solicitousness for the New River against the simply awful Town of Boone's planned water intake was a transparent smokescreen.

Whatever Mr. Jordan's true purposes, protecting the environment and the river was not one of them. A certifiable John Locke free market conservative, Mr. Jordan has a record, and it does not comport with ecological concern.

Mr. Jordan is one-half of the "Bobbsey Twins of Make Boone Suffer," along with Sen. Dan Soucek. Their combined assaults on Boone's municipal future seems quite coordinated, and if not in perfect synch, at least share the appearance of like-mindedness.

The fact that Mr. Soucek's big-developer puppet-masters WANT that New River water for their steep-slope plans perhaps collided eventually and definitively with Mr. Jordan's "kill bill." It was, after all, the Republican leadership of the NC House that has shelved Jordan's bill, not the "lib-ruls."

The most recent constituency to rouse itself against Jordan is the Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce, that notorious gang of bleeding-heart progressives, whose opposition to Jordan now has the representative defensively stuttering that "Boone needs water. Everyone knows that." It now appears that Mr. Jordan's only concern was the exact location of that water intake, not the need for the water intake.

Conservatives On the U.S. Supreme Court Must Be Crazy

The Supreme Court this a.m. has overturned Montana's century-old law limiting corporate contributions in political campaigns. Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing on behalf of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, reached the bizarre conclusion that "independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption," and therefore "[n]o sufficient governmental interest justifies limits on the political speech of nonprofit or for-profit corporations."

How's that for a firm grip on reality?

The Movement Against Soucek in Boone's ETJ

The following arrived in our in-boxes late last night:

Dear friends & family,
As you may or may not have heard, the bill to eliminate the Boone ETJ* is expected to be VOTED ON THIS MONDAY, JUNE 24. And all predictions thus far are that it will pass. The bill has been introduced and structured in a way that there is no recourse if it passes: no appeals, no governor vetoes allowed.
What does this mean to you? If you live in, or bordering, the ETJ, you will no longer have the zoning protections that are given because you are part of the ETJ.
What does this mean in real terms? Your property value and quality of life will be affected. Here are a few ways the elimination of the ETJ will affect residents:
- No more protection from homes being turned into student rentals. If your neighbor can't sell their house so decides to rent it to a fraternity, there will not be a thing you can do about  it. (I’m not maligning students -- I was one, after all -- but the lifestyle of 19-21 year olds typically is a bit more rambunctious than that of us old farts who are working 8-5+, raising families, or enjoying retirement).
- No more protection from development that doesn't fit the neighborhood. If you live in a residential neighborhood in the ETJ, future development has to be residential, or a hearing must be held for exceptions. Without the ETJ, anyone can building anything in your neighborhood: an asphalt plant, an apartment building, a gas station, a convenience store. The only reason the proposed asphalt plant has not been built on Bamboo Road is because the location is in the ETJ. (For a few select “high-impact” polluting industries, Watauga County passed an ordinance that would require them to plant trees so you can't see it from the road, but that's about it in terms of restrictions.)
- No protection from signs and billboards. If your neighbor wants to put up a 35-foot lighted billboard, there’s not a thing you’ll be able to do about it.
*ETJ = Extraterritorial Jurisdiction = an approximately 1-mile area surrounding the Boone city limits. In the ETJ, we have zoning regulations and enforcement without having to pay taxes for it. (We do not get water, sewer, or garbage pickup, or Boone police protection -- you have to be part of the Town of Boone to receive those, and of course you would have to pay Boone taxes). In NC, all towns with populations of more than 2,500 have had the authority to create ETJs since 1959. About 3/5ths of all towns & cities in NC have used that authority to create ETJs. If you aren't sure whether you are in the ETJ, check out http://www.hcpress.com/img/Boone-ETJ-map...jpg . Neighborhoods on the eastern side of Boone which are currently in the ETJ include Deck Hill, Ravens Ridge, and much of Bamboo & Deerfield.
SO, WHAT CAN YOU DO?Monday is our only opportunity to kill this bill, or at least delay it until the public gets a chance to be heard. Here is what you can do:

Starting tonight and all day tomorrow (Monday June 24), call every NC House Representative that you can, especially those who are on the “Committee on Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House.” Also call Soucek. See below for contact info and hints.

Fax a letter to as many Representatives as you can, especially those on the “Committee on Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House.” See below for contact info and hints.

If you have time, also email the Representatives and the bill’s sponsors (Senators Soucek, East, & Hise) . Or if you cannot bring yourself to call and don’t have time/ability to fax a letter, an email is better than nothing. See below for contact info and hints.

If you can, go to the committee meeting in Raleigh. The Committee on Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House meets at 5:00 p.m. Sign up to speak if they will allow it (they don’t have to), or if you’re too shy, at least show support for others who will be speaking against the bill. How to visit: http://ncleg.net/ncgainfo/visitinglegcomplex.html

Spread the word to your neighbors!

HOW TO CONTACT REPRESENTATIVES:
For emails/phones of all House Representatives: http://ncleg.net/gascripts/members/memberList.pl?sChamber=House (Click on Representative’s name for their contact info).
For emails/phones of the members of the Committee on Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House: http://ncleg.net/gascripts/Committees/Committees.asp?sAction=ViewCommittee&sActionDetails=House%20Standing_2