CAROLINA RISING ALERT: NC Attorney General Roy Cooper

For Immediate Release
Contact: Dallas Woodhouse
919-671-1050
dallaswoodhouse@carolinarising.org

June 12, 2014

Carolina Rising Releases Statewide Robo-Call Alerting The Public 
About Roy Cooper’s Power Grab

Cooper Abuses Power to Keep Power, Punish Opponents

(Raleigh)  Carolina Rising is today calling hundreds of thousands of North Carolina voters informing them of Roy Cooper’s abuse of power by using an ongoing State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) investigation to smear political opponents.

“Roy Cooper is the most political Attorney General in modern North Carolina politics,” said Carolina Rising President Dallas Woodhouse. “He is now playing politics with our SBI, to  damage his political opponents and to hold on to political power after overseeing a lousy crime  lab that put hundreds of criminal cases at risk.   “Cooper may be an ambitious politician but overseeing an incompetent crime lab puts us all at risk, and manipulating our top police agency to play politics, is just wrong and the voters need to know about it. “

After the SBI crime lab scandal and the outrageous appointing of Roy Cooper’s lobbyist, a person with no law enforcement experience to head the SBI, the General Assembly is considering moving the SBI to the Department of Public Safety, a move considered for years by Republicans and Democrats. 

Cooper apparently released information about an investigation into a political donor who may have broken campaign finance laws.   Cooper’s staff seemed  leave the impression that some of Coopers political opponents may have done something wrong, although there is no apparent factual basis for that allegation and little likelihood under existing campaign finance law.

Cooper recently had to admit that he lied in a 2000 TV ad and has continued to lie about it for the last 14 years.

Republicans and Democrats have attacked Roy Cooper for allowing pollution from coal ash to continue for years.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE RECORDING

OUR MISSION

The Mission of Carolina Rising is to champion sound public policy that secures a rising and thriving North Carolina.

An innovative citizen engagement organization, Carolina Rising supports free market, education and government reform policies that will guarantee a better North Carolina for future generations. Organized as a 501 C-4, Carolina Rising seeks to aggressively promote sound public policies and individual freedoms and seeks to educate citizens by comparing & contrasting competing visions for the Tar Heel State.

Carolina Rising Headquarters
5 West Hargett Street Suite 502
Raleigh, NC 27061
Phone: 1 844-OUR-CAROLINA RISE | Fax: 844-687-2276
Email: dallaswoodhouse@carolinarising.org
ne: 844-687-2276
Email: info@carolinarising.org

Daily Journal

Hunt Got It Wrong

By John Hood

Jan. 22nd, 2014

RALEIGH — If state leaders want to improve North Carolina’s education system in the future, they will have to begin with a better understanding of the history of school reform in our state.

Unfortunately, the current education debate has become more about political gamesmanship than sound reasoning. Exhibiting the natural human tendency to embrace information that fits one’s preconceived notions — a phenomenon known as “selection bias” — many politicians have drawn invalid conclusions about the history of North Carolina education reform.

READ THE ARTICLE. 

From Jihad Watch

North Carolina Muslim facing jury trial for attempting to join Syrian jihad group

Jan 18, 2014 11:50 am | Robert Spencer

How did Basit Sheikh come to misunderstand Islam so spectacularly as to think jihad had something to do with waging war against Infidels? What mosque did he attend? Is anyone paying to all the U.S. mosques supporting the Syrian jihad? Or would that be "Islamophobic"? "Judge sets July trial...

Federal court rules against NC law on abortion

You can't imagine how angry I am!  I sat in the gallery at NCGA and listened to the opposition whine about coat hangers and women's health and a woman's right to chose and some of it was disgusting and all of it was bunk!  I know how hard the legislators worked to pass this bill (which actually does protect women) and also, how the public supported them.  And this is one of many such examples of the will of the people being thwarted by liberal judges.  (I have some other nice words for these judges and the people that support abortion--but I will be a lady and keep those to myself!)  SPEAK UP--SPEAK OUT!  ~ Lynn

Posted: Jan 17, 2014 by WNCN Staff

GREENSBORO, N.C. --A federal judge ruled against a North Carolina law requiring doctors to read a script to patients while showing them an ultrasound, saying the provision violates a doctor's First Amendment rights.

Federal judge Catherine Eagles, in a decision published Friday, ruled against a key part of the Woman's Right to Know Act passed in 2011.

READ THE ARTICLE HERE.

McCrory: Common Core fan Jim Hunt a mentor, hero, adviser

The Daily Haymaker, by Brant Clifton • January 16, 2014

Governor Pat McCrory unveiled his education agenda yesterday, and opponents of the common core curriculum can’t be happy with what they heard:

McCrory previewed his legislative agenda in a speech at the Hunt Institute’s Holshouser Legislators Retreat on Monday night, though he did not provide specific policy plans.

McCrory repeatedly emphasized the importance of bipartisanship in approaching the issue of education, saying “this is not a Republican issue or a Democratic issue,” and praised former Democratic Gov. Jim Hunt as a valued adviser.

“Jim Hunt is a hero of mine, he’s a mentor of mine, and the state has been so fortunate to have him in leadership in so many different ways,” he said. “From the day I came in office and was sworn in and then sworn at at times, he’s been a great adviser to me.”

READ IT HERE.  

Obama Watches While Republicans Steal His Economic Story

The attempt by North Carolina's governor to take credit for his state's economy may serve as a warning to the White House of the perils of being too negative.

National Journal, by James Oliphant, January 15, 2014

President Obama heads for North Carolina on Wednesday, a state whose Republican governor seems to have swiped the president's feel-good message on the economy out from under him before he's even been able—or willing—to use it.

With Obama set to offer another sober dose of reality in a speech about how the recovery has fallen short, Gov. Pat McCrory has been declaring a "great Carolina comeback" due—naturally—to GOP policies, not anything out of the White House.

And yet, there's still no sign from the administration that the president is prepared to strike a sunnier tone on the economy. Aides say that instead, the president, in advance of his State of the Union address, will continue to hammer away on job creation, investment, and education initiatives to show that he's working to improve conditions for the middle class and other struggling sectors nationwide.

If that means Obama is curbing economic enthusiasm, so be it because the White House just does not believe it has a full story—complete with a happy ending—to tell yet.

CONTINUE READING.

NCDHHS: a big government mess decades in the making

The Daily Haymaker, by Brant Clifton • January 10, 2014

The liars in the remnants of our state’s mainstream media would have you believe state government was working like a charm prior to the January 2013 inauguration of Republican governor Pat McCrory.  *The seventh seal has been opened.  The Prince of Darkness and his four horsemen are walking the Earth, bringing about the End of Days.  Children are being starved.  Barry Saunders is being discriminated against.  Lefties are being asked to leave the legislative building at closing time.  The Horror!*

It’s clear the lefties are seeking a scalp — or a severed head to mount on a pike at the gates of their Mecca — Carrboro.  It appears they've set their sights on Dr. Aldona Wos, who was given the thankless task by Gov. Pat of managing the lefties’ sacred cow:  The NC Department of Health & Human Services.

I bet most people can’t recall the names of the NCDHHS secretaries in the Perdue, Easley, or Hunt administrations.  Democrats were in charge at that time.  They were hiring a lot of mainstream media reporters as PIOs at state agencies.  Life was good.  Backs got scratched.  Negative stuff RARELY got reported.

Now that Republicans run the show in Raleigh, we’re getting scrutiny never before seen in the history of modern journalism.

I find myself in an usual spot — defending an organ of the welfare state.  I think there is a TON wrong with our state bureaucracy.  But it didn’t start with Pat McCrory or Aldona Wos or Phil Berger or Thom Tillis. 

NC FAST is the current boondoggle being blamed on McCrory, Wos, and the GOP.  The two main contracts for this project were awarded in 2008 and 2010.  Let’s see.  WHO was governor then? 

MUST READ, CONTINUED HERE!

North Carolina Cut Jobless Benefits and the Sky Didn’t Fall

Politico, By Diana Furchtgott-Roth, January 10, 2014

As the House of Representatives ponders whether to follow the Senate’s example and extend unemployment benefits, members might want to consider the case of North Carolina, where employment has increased and unemployment has declined from 8.8 percent to 7.4 percent in the five months following dramatic cuts in the state’s unemployment benefits

The decline in the duration of unemployment benefits did not necessarily cause the employment gains, but it did not harm the state’s economy. So much for those who say the sky will fall if Congress does not extend federal emergency unemployment insurance benefits, which expired at the end of 2013.

Read more.  

Interesting article on our Congressman, Walter B. Jones

Walter Jones’s War--How the Tarheel legislator became his party’s conscience

The American Conservative, by W. JAMES ANTLE III,  January 9, 2014

In a Capitol filled with bloviating self-promoters, Walter Jones is a soft-spoken Southern gentleman. But even though he has all the quiet charm of a sleepy country town, the ten-term North Carolina Republican is quite capable of righteous indignation.

“Congress will not hold anyone to blame,” Jones, now 70, said of America’s Middle Eastern wars while speaking to Young American for Liberty in Raleigh last February. “Lyndon Johnson’s probably rotting in hell right now because of the Vietnam War, and he probably needs to move over for Dick Cheney.”

Since he was first elected as part of the “Republican Revolution” in 1994, Jones—whose father Walter Sr. was a congressman before him—has been one of the most conservative members of Congress. He is staunchly pro-life. He worries about the military circumscribing chaplains’ right to pray in Jesus’ name.

Not mincing any words, Jones calls Obamacare a “disaster,” which he has repeatedly voted to defund and repeal. He even opposed big government when it was offered up by Republican presidents, voting against the Medicare prescription-drug benefit and No Child Left Behind. He has scored a perfect 100 percent rating from the American Conservative Union four times, missing it twice more by just one vote.

But Jones might be best known for his strong turn against the foreign policy of George W. Bush. Representing a military-heavy district that includes the U.S. Marine Corps’ Camp Lejeune, Jones voted for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. When France opposed the Iraq War, he led the crusade to rename french fries “freedom fries” on congressional menus in protest.

CONTINUED.  

NC--Crossover Bills Still in Play

Civitas Institue By Angela Hight, January 9, 2014

On Wednesday, May 14, the North Carolina General Assembly will reconvene at noon for what is called the “short session.” One thing that people may not realize about the short session is there are crossover bills that will be eligible to be considered.

According to the General Assembly Website crossover bills are:

a. Senate bills and resolutions introduced in 2013 that passed third reading in the Senate and were received by the House in 2013, or

b. House bills and resolutions introduced in 2013 that passed third reading in the House by May 16, 2013 and were received in the Senate by May 20, 2013

c. However, any bill otherwise meeting these deadlines is not eligible for consideration if it:

i. Violates the rules of the receiving chamber; and

ii. Is disposed of in the other house by tabling, unfavorable committee report, indefinite postponement, or failure to pass any reading

READ MORE HERE.  

NC: What happens when jobless benefits are cut?

North Carolina may offer clues.

Last summer, North Carolina slashed the amount of cash it gave to people after they lost their jobs and the state also reduced the number of weeks they could receive benefits. Within several months, the unemployment rate fell a few ticks and by November it fell to a five-year low.

Similar though less dramatic declines occurred in Georgia and South Carolina after they made benefits less generous starting in 2012.

Vindication for critics of extended unemployment benefits? Hard to say. It’s the experience of just a few states and others have also witnessed sharp declines despite retaining more generous benefits. Indeed, the national unemployment rate has fallen by nearly 1 percentage point in the past year. Read: How end of extra benefits could send U.S. unemployment rate lower.

Still, it’s worth taking a look at North Carolina’s experience.

READ THE ARTICLE.

N.C.’s Burr proposes changes that small-business advocates don’t like

McClatchy Washington Bureau, January 4, 2014 

WASHINGTON — Sen. Richard Burr, a former businessman in North Carolina, says he wants the federal government to put the Small Business Administration inside a new agency that combines the departments of Commerce and Labor.

Burr says the move would eliminate duplicative programs that cost the government “staggering amounts of money every year.”

One critic of Burr’s pending legislation, the American Small Business League, has been asserting that the proposal would close the Small Business Association, leaving many businesses without federal help to secure loans and get federal contracts.

Read more here.  

While beer fight brewed in NCGA, $$$ from beer interests flowed to Tillis Senate campaign

by Brant Clifton, The Daily Haymaker,  January 2, 2014 

In September, craft brewers and beer distributors were knocking heads over state regulations some viewed as favoring the interests of large beer distributors over these small brewers:

North Carolina politicians in Raleigh like to say they’re pro-jobs and pro-business. 

But what happens when lawmakers are forced to pick sides between new, small businesses growing jobs and big legacy businesses trying to hold on to the market share they’ve got?

 Would it help you to know that the big legacy companies give hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions and the new small businesses are not yet organized?  

There’s just such a battle brewing in North Carolina over beer – and who gets to distribute and market it. It pits a growing number of small craft brewers against big distributors. And the big distributors who are among the largest campaign contributors have state lawmakers on their side.  [...]

Hmmm.  During this debate, Thom Tillis was serving as speaker of the House, determining what DOES and DOES NOT get a hearing in committee and on the floor.  While all of this was going on in Raleigh, cash from adult beverage distributors was piling up in the speaker’s US Senate campaign treasury.

On August 15, the Tillis Senate campaign got $2600 from the VP of Charlotte-based Adams Beverages of NC. On June 19,the campaign got $2000 from the chairman of Greensboro-based  R.H. Barringer Distributing Company. On September 9, Tillis for Senate got $1000 from a Goldsboro-based board member of R.A. Jeffreys.  

READ MORE!

While beer fight brewed in NCGA, $$$ from beer interests flowed to Tillis Senate campaign

by Brant Clifton, The Daily Haymaker, January 2, 2014 

In September, craft brewers and beer distributors were knocking heads over state regulations some viewed as favoring the interests of large beer distributors over these small brewers:

North Carolina politicians in Raleigh like to say they’re pro-jobs and pro-business.

But what happens when lawmakers are forced to pick sides between new, small businesses growing jobs and big legacy businesses trying to hold on to the market share they've got?

Would it help you to know that the big legacy companies give hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions and the new small businesses are not yet organized? 

There’s just such a battle brewing in North Carolina over beer – and who gets to distribute and market it. It pits a growing number of small craft brewers against big distributors. And the big distributors who are among the largest campaign contributors have state lawmakers on their side.  [...]

Hmmm.  During this debate, Thom Tillis was serving as speaker of the House, determining what DOES and DOES NOT get a hearing in committee and on the floor.  While all of this was going on in Raleigh, cash from adult beverage distributors was piling up in the speaker’s US Senate campaign treasury.

On August 15, the Tillis Senate campaign got $2600 from the VP of Charlotte-based Adams Beverages of NC. On June 19,the campaign got $2000 from the chairman of Greensboro-based  R.H. Barringer Distributing Company. On September 9, Tillis for Senate got $1000 from a Goldsboro-based board member of R.A. Jeffreys.  

READ MORE!

The Most Expensive Senate Race of the Cycle — So Far

Hagan's re-election battle 1 of 4 Senate contests where outside spending has eclipsed $2M...

About halfway through the midterm election cycle, North Carolina is on pace to host the most expensive Senate race of 2014.

But the Tar Heel State shouldn’t necessarily get too comfortable in the top spot.

Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan’s re-election battle there is one of at least four Senate contests where outside spending has already eclipsed the $2 million mark. The others include the re-election races of Sens. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

The potential for Republicans to win back the Senate majority, combined with the media-market makeup of the competitive landscape, has invited a superfluity of early spending. Republicans need a net gain of six seats next year, and most of the competitive races are for Democrat-held seats in less populous states

READ MORE:  http://atr.rollcall.com/the-most-expensive-senate-race-of-the-cycle-so-far/

Judicial Watch Defends North Carolina Voter ID Law, Additional Protections Against Voter Fraud

Motion for Intervention Aims to Prevent DOJ From Requiring Pre-Clearance to Enforce Election Integrity Provisions of HB 589

WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwired - Dec 12, 2013) - Judicial Watch announced today that it has filed a Motion for Intervention with its client Christina Kelley Gallegos-Merrill to defend North Carolina against an Obama Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuit. The DOJ seeks to prevent enforcement of HB 589, which requires, among other election integrity measures, that voters present a photo ID before casting a ballot. In addition to representing Judicial Watch members in North Carolina, the Intervention seeks to protect the interests of Ms. Gallegos-Merrill, who was a Republican candidate for local office in North Carolina who likely lost her race because of voting irregularities that would be addressed by HB 589.

According to Judicial Watch's motion:

In 2012, [Gallegos-Merrill] ran for County Commissioner of Buncombe County and lost a very close election. She alleges that this loss was due to same-day registration during early voting and to improperly cast ballots... Merrill has made concrete plans to run again for that office in 2014 and has taken steps to make that happen... Any ruling from this Court reversing the repeal of same-day registration during early voting or enjoining the enforcement of North Carolina's photo ID law, would "impair or impede" Merrill's interests including her immediate electoral prospects for 2014.

CONTINUED:  http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/judicial-watch-defends-north-carolina-voter-id-law-additional-protections-against-voter-1861871.htm

AL JAZEERA SLAMS NC GUN LAWS

Propaganda from Al Jazeera America

New gun laws divide North Carolina

December 9, 2013

Concealed weapons now allowed at schools, playgrounds and bars, prompting safety concerns for many

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Business is booming at Hyatt Guns.  Inside the strip-mall gun shop, wedged between a Habitat for Humanity thrift store and a Family Dollar along a West Charlotte highway dotted with check-cashing spots and aging motels, employees wait on the layer of customers in front of the glass cases. Behind the glass are yards of handguns, neatly lined up with barrels pointed out, awaiting scrutiny under the fluorescent glare. During a lull, workers dress up the black matte barrel of a military-style AR-15 tactical rifle with an oversized metallic bow nearly a foot across.

It’s not unusual to sell 100 guns in a day, said Larry Hyatt, the second-generation owner of the shop, which bills itself as the biggest gun specialty store in the U.S. Those average sale figures, however, have little to do with holiday shopping and everything to do with customers’ making use of North Carolina’s concealed-carry laws, which Hyatt said drives about 40 percent of his business.

CONTINUE READING IF YOU CAN STAND IT!  http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/12/9/new-gun-laws-dividingnorthcarolinians.html

Governor McCrory's Newsletter: December 9, 2013

Get the details on the following:

 

Following Emergency Shutdown of Bonner Bridge, Governor McCrory Provides Update, Highlights Importance of Ending Delays to New Bridge

 

Governor McCrory Announces 160 Jobs

Governor McCrory Discusses Importance/ Opportunities for Military During Trip to DC

 

Governor McCrory Joins Veterans for Screening of 'Honor Flight'

 

Governor McCrory Named Vice-Chair of National Governors Coalition, Addresses the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce on Energy

 

Governor McCrory Discusses Economy with Cabarrus County Chamber of Commerce

 

Governor McCrory Tours Wake Forest Baptist Medical Cancer Center and Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine

 

Celebrating 50 Years at Sandhill Community College

 

Letter from Billy Graham

 

Presentation of the Capitol Christmas Tree

 

Deadline for State Internships Approaching

 

Thanking Volunteers of Operation Christmas Child

 

Read the newsletter:  http://www.icontact-archive.com/9-_swTffyq8WxRDCoLj0ArHhbJ-MHiiB?w=4

Check out our new page on the Election Reform Law!

North Carolina’s 2013 Election Reform Law: An Overview

http://cctaxpayers.blogspot.com/p/north-carolinas-2013-election-reform.html

#NCSEN: Court ruling makes Rep. Brawley’s monopoly accusation against Tillis stick

State Rep. Robert Brawley (R-Iredell) made headlines back in May thanks to a confrontation with Speaker Thom Tillis.  That confrontation resulted in Brawley losing his committee chairmanship.  (It’s unclear — as of this writing — as to whether Brawley resigned willfully or was forced out of the position by Tillis.)

One of Brawley’s complaints against Tillis was that leadership pushed a bill through the House giving a monopoly to the family business of a certain Republican legislator. That legislator turned out to be Rep. Justin Burr who has family in the bail bonds business.  (According to Thom Tillis’ Senate campaign web site, Burr is part of the Tillis campaign team.)

READ MORE:  http://dailyhaymaker.com/?p=6534