In 1996 NC passed HB 955, also known as the Charter School Act. In January 2011 the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools ranked NC 32nd out of 41 states with charter school laws with poor marks in accountability, equity of funding, and the low cap of 100 schools for the state.

The NAPCS is billed as a non-profit headed by former Bush administration official Nina Rees, the reality is that it is a powerful, well connected lobbying group with deep pockets and wealthy benefactors, which isn't unusual. What is unusual is the amount of success it's had influencing the decisions of NC GOP legislators and the banquet of taxpayer dollars they've established for hedge fund managers, Wall St. banks, big banks, and wealthy investors to gorge upon.

Conservatives, especially the true believers that now populate the NC General Assembly, are fond of quoting Adam Smith, the 18th century Scottish moral philosopher and political economist. They love the quotes, but the content escapes them.

Smith wrote in "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations",
"People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices." Smith went on to observe, "But though the law cannot hinder people of the same trade from sometimes assembling together, it ought to do nothing to facilitate such assemblies, much less render them necessary."

Every time one of our Republican legislators goes to an ALEC seminar or meets behind closed doors with ALEC representatives to write laws, they are conspiring against the public ... and corporations are always the direct beneficiaries.

I don't know what the hell is in the water down in Cabarrus County, but apparently it makes folks vote for people who are corrupt(Fletcher Hartsell), or just bat shit crazy, GOP Rep. and misogynistic minister Larry Pittman.

This week Larry introduced legislation aimed at the nullification crowd, those who believe they can ignore federal laws completely if the law doesn't fit their agenda. HB 246, the "Gun Rights Amendment", will allow people with a valid conceal carry permit to tote their piece wherever they feel threatened. http://www.wral.com/pittman-fires-off-gun-bill-/12200586/?d_comment_orde...

My NC GOP sociopath of the week is none other than Cabarrus County's own Fletcher Hartsell. Mr. K-12 Inc. himself.

If acting as a paid lobbyist for K-12 Inc. while actively serving in the NC Senate wasn't enough of a conflict of interest, apparently Fletcher and his equally slimy brother Thomas enjoy tag teaming and fleecing the elderly in their spare time.

A recent News and Observer article outlined a bit of a sticky wicket Fletcher has found himself in. It's one thing to use $100,000 in campaign contributions to pay off your personal credit cards, but it's absolutely reprehensible to use the multi-million dollar estate of elderly Alzheimer victims as your personal feeding trough.
www.newsobserver.com/2013/01/19/2618898/sen-fletcher-hartsell-raleigh.html

This is why Hartsell gets my nod for NC GOP sociopath of the week.