Heath Shuler

Rep. Heath Shuler, together with his colleagues in the Blue Dog Coalition, today introduced legislation aimed at strengthening and increasing the transparency of the budget process. The Blue Dog Coalition, a group of 43 fiscally conservative Democrats, collectively crafted the resolution in an effort to begin the process of restoring fiscal accountability in the federal government.

"For the last six years President Bush and the Republicans in Congress recklessly increased spending, while driving our nation deeper into debt than ever before," said Rep. Shuler. "I am committed, along with my Blue Dog colleagues, to restoring fiscal restraint to the federal government. It is time we end this foolish borrow and spend policy once and for all."

Shuler opposes Bush plan to sell forest land

Amen.

As the Citizen-Times reports...

"(Congressman Shuler) is absolutely opposed to the sale of national forest lands in the 11th District and across North Carolina,” Shuler spokesman Andrew Whalen said. ...when things get tight around the house, you don’t sell off the front yard."

This week's column is on the weird two-headed system that governs the state education policy. Cross-posted from Ex.

One suspects that as of this writing, State Superintendent of Education June Atkinson and her public affairs staff are huddled somewhere writing a response to a recent Winston-Salem Journal editorial that says her duties are so light, she "goes to work every day, maintaining her trademark cheerful and positive attitude about life, while the deputy state superintendent of public instruction runs the department."

This, as the Journal points out, is due to a sharp reduction in the super's duties mandated in the mid-'90s by the then-GOP-led House after a row with then-state super Bob Etheridge.

Now, Atkinson, who had to fight a long court battle over a recount of the 2004 election to win her seat, is even pulling down $25K a year less than said deputy, J.B. Buxton, a former education advisor to Gov. Mike Easley, who was hired last week by the State Board of Education. And Buxton, defeated by Atkinson in the '04 primary, reports to the board, not Atkinson.

Heath Shuler's being sworn in today, and it looks like he's already got his hands full. Taylor's folks wiped out the information on the office's computers.

"They've been just as difficult as they can be," Shuler's chief of staff, Hayden Rogers, told the Citizen-Times.

Rogers said it's not just a question of his Democratic boss being inconvenienced by the outgoing eight-term Republican's staff. He said constituents who had asked their congressman for help will now have to start all over.

"We have no case files. We don't even have knowledge that casework was being done for individuals," he said. "To clean off the operating systems,

I sat at west Asheville's Tastee Diner, a downhome bastion of old school Republicans, to peruse the Asheville Citizen-Times post election analysis. I'll excerpt a few pieces here, italicizing those bits I found insightful or salient and boldfacing those bits that ought to have been mentioned before voters went to the polls.

From the editors:

"Democrat Heath Shuler’s solid win over Republican Charles Taylor reflected a national revolt against a Congress mired in scandals and ineffective - at exercising oversight of the war in Iraq and at establishing tax, trade and health care policies that support a healthy middle class."
[...]
"Though a political novice, he has the natural gifts to be an effective voice in Congress. In a time when voters hunger for authenticity and integrity, he will be well served by remaining true to the mountain values he has espoused during his campaign."