Thom Tillis

Gee, it must be hard to be Thom Tillis. For a guy with such lofty political aspirations, he sure does have a way of shooting himself in the foot. How long it will take for Brawley to try to walk back these comments.

Rep. Robert Brawley of Mooresville's decided to step down as a Finance Committee chairman in a letter that listed four reasons, including the speaker's apparent business relationship with Time Warner. "You slamming my office door shut, standing in front of me and state that you have a business relationship with Time Warner and wanting to know what the bill was about," Brawley wrote, not mentioning the specific legislation. "You and I both kno [sic] the bill stifles the competition with MI Connections in Mooresville."

Note to Toxic Tom: There may be another business in North Carolina that is more despised than Time Warner, but then again, there may not. Nice company you keep, dude.

I had to laugh when I read this Under the Dome:

House Speaker Thom Tillis issued a warning last weekend to his fellow Repubicans [sic] about overreaching with their supermajority power.

Too bad the joke's on us.

Polishing a turd:

Broad public support for this concept led Republicans in the General Assembly to embark on a months-long process this year to develop voter photo identification legislation. The process included public hearings, hours of expert testimony, dozens of amendments and multiple iterations of the bill.

I got your "expert testimony" right here, pal.

I've been away for a month, watching the sad collapse of North Carolina from the other side of the world. Upon my return this morning, I discovered that Gene Nichols has done the hard work of chronicling the ongoing GOP assault with a column in the News and Observer: On being governed by brigands.

I have only one problem with Gene's column: it shows too much restraint. To label Tillis & Co., as "brigands" is too kind by a wide margin. Because what is happening in our state is nothing less than good, old-fashioned gang rape.

Draconian measures for imaginary threats:

"We call this restoring confidence in government," Tillis said. "There are a lot of people who are just concerned with the potential risk of fraud." He added a voter ID law "would make nearly three-quarters of the population more comfortable and more confident when they go to the polls."

I dispute those numbers but, even if they are true, where do you think that public perception came from? Several years of propaganda-laced electioneering by fear-mongering Republicans, who don't have the capacity to fix real problems so they
manufacture strawmen to bring down. And like most propagandists of totalitarian regimes, Tillis tries to convince those he's hurting that he's actually helping them:

Saturday morning (Feb. 9th) the Harold Ellen Harnett County Democratic Men's Club hosted their annual Groundhog breakfast. David Price who now represents a portion of Harnett County was the keynote speaker and Bob Etheridge was master of ceremonies. Each spoke about the future of the Democratic Party and the dangers of the GOP in Raleigh and Washington.

Progressive Pulse has the story.

Party leaders denied that the measure was politically motivated, but in a private caucus meeting that was inadvertently broadcast to the press room, House Speaker Thom Tillis said, ““The reason we’re doing it is because the NCAE has gone into all five districts with mailers hammering these Democrats. It’s just a little taste of what’s to come.”

The new Pope administration, enabled by Tillis and Berger, is well on track to set a new record for corruption and incompetence.

But first, a dose of reality:

Interestingly, a number of the team members (including Stith) happen to be connected to another teammate, Art Pope, the businessman and former legislator who’s funded several conservative organizations and been a mentor of sorts for elected officials from the Wake County school board to the General Assembly to now a governor.

If they were realists, the editorial board would have ended it there. Art Pope has positioned his pieces all across the state government gameboard, and there will be no movement from one square to another without his approval. Which makes this observation:

These two assholes have built their careers badmouthing the business climate in North Carolina, wringing their hands during countless photo-ops about the oppressive burdens facing our states entrepreneurs and major employers. Things are terrible, they say. We need to change directions.

Bullshit. Bullshit. Bullshit.

North Carolina's combination of work-force availability and skill sets of interest to employers, proactive business-development agencies, logistics assets and higher education infrastructure helped it reclaim Site Selection's Top Business Climate spot from rival Texas — which wrestled the title from the Tar Heel State in 2011.