general assembly

Let me introduce myself. I’m Al Swanstrom, and I’m running for the NC House of Representatives in District 36, which my friend Greer Beaty almost won in 2006. It covers parts of Cary, Apex, and Swift Creek.

The Lottery Oversight Commission is meeting!
Will wonders never cease? Thank you First Amendment. Time/place after the break.

The Conservation Council of NC has released it's environmental scorecard for the 2007 session of the General Assembly. Of particular interest are the "Dirty Dozen" and the "Filthy Five," legislators with basement level scores and who nearly always side with polluters over people.

What's the difference in a worker who drives a truck for UPS and one who drives for the state of NC? The UPS driver can enjoy a union contract while a public employee doing the same job is denied that right.

Chock full of links

Concerned people on both sides of the aisle have been up in arms about corporate incentives ever since the Great Goodyear Giveaway by our "business-friendly" General Assembly this summer. Out-negotiated and out-maneuvered by a bunch of corporate lawyers, the legislature, with Mike Easley's eventual blessing, gave away the store in a stunning display of short-sightedness.

In the wake of the debacle, many of us worried that this would be just the beginning of a slide into never-ending corporate welfare, but little did we know that Goodyear itself would soon be extorting even more money from North Carolina taxpayers.

In September, Goodyear Tire & Rubber won as much as $40 million in state incentives to stay in Fayetteville. Now a lawmaker is proposing that North Carolina help lower the company's shipping costs, too.

In the post showing Hamp Dellinger's excellent video about what really matters in North Carolina, Robert P., put up a comment with a summary of the many areas for which rankings exist in our state.

Just in case you haven't seen it . . .

Following up on my overview blog post about results from 11 Statewide Regional Town meetings of the NC Democratic Party, here is the package of resolutions to be considered at Saturday's (Aug 25, 2007) State Executive Committee meeting in Greensboro. Please see my prior BlueNC post for more information about what is on the minds of Democrats statewide.

Here is an incomplete list of the progress we made this year:

EDUCATION

• We strengthened our efforts to attract and retain the very best educators throughout our education system by providing a 5 percent salary increase for teachers as well as community college and university faculty.
• We ensured smaller class sizes to help give younger students the individualized attention they need.
• We funded scholarships for low to moderate income students to graduate from college debt-free.
  

THREATS TO -- Senate Bill 3, Promote Renewable Energy/Baseload Generation, has been referred to the House Energy and Energy Efficiency Comm. We should support this legislation which increases the use of renewable sources of energy, which is how S 3 started out. However,because it now also encourages the use of fossil fuels...