Carolina Journal Exclusives

Greensboro Council

Worried About Strings

Attached to ‘Free’ DOE Money

Grant assumes residents would assume debt to install energy-saving improvements

By Sam A. Hieb

October 25, 2010

GREENSBORO — It is hard for local governments to turn down so-called “free money,” no matter how many strings are attached.

The City of Greensboro has had quite a bit of free federal stimulus money dangled before it, and both city staff and the City Council generally are reluctant to turn it down. But the City Council actually may reject a $5 million pot of money offered by U. S. Department of Energy, even though it has given city staff every opportunity to justify accepting the dough.

Twice the council has and discussed the DOE grant, which — in theory, at least — is designed to help homeowners save on energy costs. Twice the council has tabled the issue.

But the catch is, if Greensboro participates in the program, homeowners would have to take out loans to make energy-saving improvements to their homes, with the expectation that the energy they’d save would more than pay for the cost of servicing the loans. It’s not clear this would be the case, which is one reason the council has delayed its decision. (more…)

Carolina Journal Exclusives

N.C. Candidates for U.S. House,

Senate Address Health Care Repeal

Nearly half of candidates favor repeal; few openly support new law

By Amanda Vuke

October 14, 2010

RALEIGH — In March, soon after Congress passed and President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, opponents began suggesting that a future Congress could repeal the legislation before 2014, when it fully takes effect.

Health care reform has drawn notable fire from Tea Party activists. The North Carolina chapter of the grass-roots group Americans for Prosperity, targeted the law in both of its recent North Carolina tours.

In light of such vocal opposition, the issue of repeal has been elevated in the upcoming midterm election. Carolina Journal asked candidates running for the U.S. House and Senate (and Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan, who is not running in this cycle) whether they would vote to repeal the recent legislation in the 112th Congress and how they would justify their decision. (more…)

N.C. Supreme Court race could tip balance of power

By David N. Bass

October 07, 2010

CJ Photo by Amanda Vuke
At a Sept. 21 candidate forum (from left), Judge Rick Elmore, Steven Walker, Judge Sanford Steelman, and Judge Barbara Jackson listen to the moderator, retired Supreme Court Justice Willis Whichard.

RALEIGH — They’re the most unnoticed races of the midterm elections, but their results could have more impact on North Carolina’s political landscape than which party controls the General Assembly.

Already, judicial races are shaping up to be the untold story of 2010. One race in particular is the elephant in the room — a swing seat on the seven-member N.C. Supreme Court that could decide the fate of next year’s legislative redistricting plan.

Even so, many voters don’t recognize the candidates’ names or know where their judicial philosophies fall. Because the races are nonpartisan, citizens can’t vote a straight-party ticket. Sometimes, voters give up by the time they reach the judicial candidates on the ballot.

“It’s an extraordinarily small percentage of voters who will admit to knowing anything about the candidates that they’re voting for, which makes it a poorly conformed crapshoot,” said Gene Nichol, a law professor and director of the University of North Carolina’s Center on Poverty, Work & Opportunity.

Nichol said it’s part and parcel of an election-based system for judges. “A system in which people are chosen on such extraordinarily modest information doesn’t have a good chance of being a good one,” he said. (more…)