By most accounts, next year's US Senate race in North Carolina will be a squeaker. With Republican hopes of regaining a majority in Washington hinging on their ability to unseat Kay Hagan, right wing special interest groups are already in high gear.

Oopsy.

DAG McCrony got off leash for awhile and the legislators didn't like it. It seems that some of the folks on Jones Street are questioning whether the DAG has the authority to make the sweeping privatization changes that he has proposed at the Department of Commerce

Gov. Pat McCrory's administration is poised to move dozens of jobs and millions of public dollars to a recently formed private nonprofit early next year.

The DAG's proposal is based on a "brief and vaguely written provision in the state budget passed earlier this year". This isn't the first time that poorly written legislation has caused problems. It seems that some in the legislature interpret the vaguely written provision differently than the DAG:

or not, if you attended the education "public forum" in Watauga County last night. Our friends at Watauga Watch have made note of it, and Twitter indicates that Sen. Dan Soucek's propaganda party public forum on education got exciting:

Watauga GOP Chair Anne Marie Yates stops filming of Dan Soucek public forum by calling in sheriff's deputy. http://t.co/sXdwTgg08s #ncpol

— Jerry W. Williamson (@JerryWilliamso1) December 6, 2013

Shying away from treatment-based funding:

Gov. Pat McCrory’s administration is moving to change the government insurance program for 1.7 million of the state’s elderly, disabled and poor residents to a system where providers are paid set rates for each person they treat. As it is now, the government pays fees for each medical treatment or service.

Rep. Nelson Dollar, a Cary Republican and advisory committee member, said he was concerned about managed care insurance companies coming in to take over big parts of the Medicaid program. He asked whether insurance companies would be needed.

Adam Searing, director of the N.C. Health Access Coalition, has been critical of McCrory’s rap on Medicaid. Searing, whose organization advocates for low-income and working class people, was also critical of Atlas for not presenting what Searing said would have been a complete picture of managed care.

They don't want a complete picture. All they needed to see was "capped payments" and the love affair was off to a great start.