4C • SUNDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2010
SALISBURY POST
CONTINUED
Priorities for N.C. Legislature
GOODBYE
ALEIGH — North Carolina conservatives have been out of power in Raleigh for a long, long time. Indeed, the modern conservative movement — that post-war mixture of libertarian economics, cultural renewal, and prudential reformism — has never been in power in Raleigh. Naturally, then, North Carolina conservatives have no shortage of ideas for legislation. For years, they have called for fundaJOHN mental changes in HOOD law enforcement, education, health care, transportation, and other areas. As realists, they know they won’t see all their ideas transformed into policy. But realism doesn’t call for inaction or premature capitulation. It merely calls for setting priorities. Running on conservative themes, Republicans won majorities in both chambers of the North Carolina General Assembly. In the weeks following their victory, as GOP leaders began the transition to power in Raleigh, they stressed that the two most important items on their agenda will be improving the state’s economy and balancing the state’s budget without tax hikes. Those are the right priorities. But both will require months of work during the 2011 legislative session and beyond to accomplish. In the meantime, there are several initiatives that can be introduced quickly without distracting needed attention and energy from the economic and fiscal challenge. Indeed, some of these ideas would aid the legisla-
nance workers who could have remained indoors emerged from their aircraft hangars and stood at attention. The color guard with the national and division colors marched into place. Two spotless hummvees, easily the two cleanest ones on this dusty base, came up from the southern end of the ramp. Configured like a pickup truck, each held eight pallbearers and what is referred to as a “transfer case.” That is the terminology for the large shipping containers used to transport the soldiers. As a small ensemble from the division band played softly in the background, the gathered witnesses stood at attention and saluted while the soldiers removed their precious cargo from the vehicles and ceremoniously car-
ture in their quest to reduce the cost of state government in order to bring the state budget into balance. The research staff of the John Locke Foundation compiled a list of 11 such ideas that could be enacted in The First 100 Days, which happens to be the title of the resulting policy document. Here is a thumbnail sketch of each one: • Open up the budget process with 72-5-10. That is, revise legislative rules to post state budget bills online 72 hours before the first vote, provide a fiveyear forecast of each provision’s fiscal impact, and require the state to accumulate rainy-day reserves totaling at least 10 percent of the state’s General Fund. • Put the state’s checkbook online so policymakers, journalists, watchdogs, and average citizens can keep a close eye on expenditures. • Repeal taxpayer financing of political campaigns. Taxpayers hate it, it violates basic constitutional principles, and there are better uses for the money. • Prohibit forced annexation. Municipalities should be allowed to expand only if subject to approval by affected citizens. • Remove the cap on charter schools and change their oversight to prevent the existing public-school cartel from obstructing competition. • Expand the pool of qualified public-school teachers by removing unnecessary barriers to state certification. • Pass a constitutional amendment for voter approval that would end the abuse of eminent domain by government agencies. • Repeal the North Carolina lottery. If North Carolinians want to gamble,
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that’s their business. But the state should not monopolize the market, derive extraordinary revenue from it, and encourage North Carolinians to gamble on the promise that it will improve education. • Repeal corporate welfare programs. We should reduce the cost of doing business in North Carolina for all firms, large and small, rather than carving out special tax credits, cash payments, and other goodies for the politically connected. • Repeal the state’s renewal-portfolio standard. In 2007, the General Assembly passed a bill requiring the use of expensive energy sources such as wind and solar power, thus jacking up the price of electricity for all North Carolina households and businesses. The state’s economy suffered a self-inflicted wound despite the lack of any significant environmental benefits from the legislation. • Repeal ObamaCare. Obviously, the North Carolina legislature can’t do this itself, but it can assist nationwide repeal efforts in numerous ways, such as holding hearings to illustrate the federal bill’s massive costs and counterproductive regulations and urging state officials to join multi-state lawsuits challenging its constitutionality. I’m all for being realistic. But I also recall Otto von Bismarck’s observation that “when you say that you agree to a thing on principle, you mean that you have not the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice.” Perhaps the wily Bismarck was speaking only for himself. Let’s hope so. John Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation and publisher of CarolinaJournal.com.
Instant runoff no instant winner someone for such an important office. The additional second- and third-choice votes also indicate public support, they say. As things stand now, however, a candidate with just 15 percent of the vote has won. Only by giving second- and thirdchoice votes as much weight as first-choice votes can McCullough claim more public support than Thigpen. It’s simply not a democratic principle that a second or third preference counts as much as a first. Fortunately, McCullough and Thigpen both are well-
Greensboro News-Record
FROM 1C England attended the spring political conference of the Liberal Democrats. The event was widely covered in the British media, but the U.S. Embassy’s summary, a combination of speech excerpts and hallway chatter, was labeled classified. Among the revelations: Liberal Democratic leader Nick Clegg and Conservative David Cameron “don’t get along.” Besides being politically obvious, this tidbit was available at any newsstand in England. The British press has reported that Clegg dubbed Cameron “the con man of British politics.” Cameron dismissed Clegg as a “joke” and privately called him “Calamity Clegg.” Information sometimes is classified to protect a source, even when that source has said all the same things publicly. In September 2009, British Treasury chief Alistair Darling warned the U.S. Embassy in London of political backlash if banks handed out huge bonuses. On the economy, Darling “remained cautious, but expected a return to growth by the end of the year,” a diplomatic message said. Weeks earlier, Darling told the Guardian newspaper the same thing. He was cautiously optimistic about the economy, he said, and expected growth “round the turn of the year.” And as one of the government’s leading critics of bank bonuses, Darling’s opposition to them was hardly a state secret.
Agence France-Presse story that ran just days earlier under the headline “Russian historians fear crackdown on sensitive research.” Even the term “Stalin’s ghost” was used in news stories leading up to the diplomatic cable, which was marked classified until 2019. In a few instances, diplomats classified information lifted directly from the news. After the failed assassination of Saudi Arabia’s assistant interior minister, the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh sent a message to Washington that included these classified sentences: ASSOCIATED PRESS “According to today’s ediSupporters of WikiLeaks tion of ‘Okaz,’ the suspect founder Julian Assange managed to make his way gather Tuesday outside the from Yemen into Saudi AraCity of Westminster Magisbia some weeks ago, and fitrates Court in London where nally rented a furnished apartment in Jeddah,” the Assange's extradition case cable said. “We anticipate was being heard. that such reports will inBy comparison, this evitably spur some introwould be like the British spection into how well the Embassy in Washington security services are pasending a classified note to trolling the Asir region.” London this week saying ReA summary of a political publican Rep. John Boehner speech in the U.K.? Classiwanted tax cuts or Obama fied. The consensus from wanted to repeal the “don’t leading sociologists that ask, don’t tell” policy on Russia missed an opportunigays in the military. ty to invest in the middle Sometimes, U.S. diploclass? Classified. A diplomats conducted no intermatic report saying Brazil is views and the classified a strong democracy and a messages appeared to be U.S. ally on foreign policy? simply rehashed media reClassified. ports. In October 2009, the Sometimes, a document is U.S. Embassy in Moscow classified even if it has no sent Washington a message classified information in it. titled “Is Stalin’s Ghost a In January, the State DeThreat to Academic Freepartment asked the U.S. Emdom?” It described governbassy in Ankara, Turkey, for ment efforts to recast Soviet information on a reported dictator Josef Stalin’s place plot to assassinate Deputy in history. Prime Minister Bulent ArThe details in the cable inc. had been widely covered in Every paragraph was the media, including an marked unclassified.
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THE NEWSDAY CROSSWORD Edited by Stanley Newman (www.StanXwords.com)
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goodbyes to say. This will be my last blog post, as I will be departing Afghanistan in the next week or so. To those of you who have read my posts, I thank you for taking the time to see what I had to say. I’m more than ready to return home, but I will think about the soldiers I have been working with over here, and I wish them safe passage when it is their turn to leave. I will also be saying goodbye to the Army this spring. With just over three decades of service, I guess it’s time for me to go home to stay. I tell myself that I’d be willing to head out again, possibly as a retiree voluntarily returned to active duty. But they are recalling fewer and fewer, and the truth is that at some point I’ll have to admit to myself that the Army doesn’t need my services anymore. There will always be a new soldier stepping into the boots of those of us who retire. Goodbye.
CREATORS SYNDICATE © 2010 STANLEY NEWMAN
North Carolina’s first try at statewide Instant Runoff Voting didn’t work out very well, except for Doug McCullough. The second-place finisher in last month’s special election for a Court of Appeals seat apparently ended up winning. Although McCullough trailed Judge Cressie Thigpen by 100,000 votes Nov. 2, he gained enough second- and third-ballot votes to overtake Thigpen’s lead, pending a recount. The outcome should convince legislators that this experiment failed and should be abandoned. The goal, ironically, was to produce a more credible result in this sort of situation. The special election was called because a vacancy occurred on the Court of Appeals in August, far too late to schedule a primary. The last time a similar situation came up was in 2004 when a seat opened on the Supreme Court. Eight candidates filed to run, and Paul Newby won with only 23 percent of the vote. The legislature drafted a new law seeking to produce a larger mandate. This time, the special election drew 13 candidates. Voters were asked to indicate a first, second and third choice — an exercise that surely taxed their familiarity with the relatively littleknown contenders. Only the first-choice votes were tallied Nov. 2: Thigpen received 20 percent, McCullough 15 percent. They advanced to a second round. Election officials added the second- and third-choice votes county by county. A mere five weeks after the election, a tentative result was reached. Proponents of this experimental system say that 20 percent should not elect
qualified for the position. The best way to handle such vacancies would be for the governor to appoint a replacement who would serve until the next regular election two years later. Short of that option, a special election ought to be decided more directly: Voters should cast a single vote for the candidate of their choice, and the candidate with the most votes wins. Having a candidate win with only 20 percent of the vote is a more acceptable outcome than having him lose to a candidate with 15 percent.
FROM 1C
ried them into the waiting plane. The color guard led the way. They were accompanied by their leadership, from the commanding general on down. I was on the sidelines, but I could see that the chaplain was conducting a service for them inside the cargo space of the aircraft that served as an impromptu cathedral. I lingered for a while after everyone was dismissed but the service continued inside, saying goodbye to the two soldiers. Finally, it was time for me to head to work and rejoin the living. I don’t know who these soldiers were. Beyond the task force they were assigned to, I don’t know where they were from, or how they died. I guess I could research the reports, but those pieces of detail were not what mattered. What matters is that they were returning to a country that is still free, thanks in part to them. I have a couple more
ACROSS 1 Official proclamation 6 Crunchy salad ingredient 11 Hotel employee 15 Diminish 19 Thus far 20 Cutting edge 21 “Don’t look __ like that!” 22 Ben Gurion Airport is its hub 23 Poker pack 25 Hustler with a cue 27 Clip wool from 28 Play for time 30 “No bid” 31 Roughs it 35 22 Across destination 37 Author-paid publishers 43 Slightest 46 Shepard who walked on the moon 47 Beachcomber’s finds 48 Few and far between 49 Teachers’ org. 51 Coffee concoction 53 Jazz instrument 56 Impudence 57 Online shopping mecca 58 Sail support 59 Standing up for 62 Scale note 63 School-support orgs. 65 HS class 66 Barbecue briquettes 67 On a spree 72 Elevate 74 Batman and Robin, e.g. 75 Masquerade (as) 76 Color TV pioneer
79 Success-vs.-failure phrase 82 Biblical brother 84 Uses a spoon 86 Outer limit 87 Femur and tibia 89 Pull with effort 90 Toon collectible 91 Match in a ring 93 Soak up 96 Prime-time hour 97 Iron men 99 Supermarket scanner 102 Trisected 104 Mixed-nuts tidbit 105 Japanese graphic novel 107 Mirage, maybe 110 Locations 114 2001 Microsoft debut 116 Make clearer 121 Get in on the deal 122 Tosca feature 123 River embankment 124 Heavenly fare 125 Natural successor 126 December song 127 Edit 128 Up to one’s ears DOWN 1 LAX datum 2 Performs 3 Mark on a ruler 4 Coal product 5 With one intermission 6 UK counterpart of PBS 7 Menu phrase 8 Tourist’s rental 9 Ten to one, e.g. 10 Egg holder 11 Syrup sources
12 Coral creation 13 Cyberspeak “I think” 14 Hand over 15 Toe the line 16 Quaint complaint 17 Sea dogs 18 Caribou cousin 24 Skirmishes 26 Cathedral topper 29 Had something 32 Speedometer no. 33 Like some concrete 34 Peddles 36 Italian violin maker 37 Poetic low points 38 Santa Anna siege site 39 Of birth 40 Worldwide: Abbr. 41 Crate component 42 Outdated geopolitical letters 44 Symbol of slowness 45 Diagnostic aids 48 Cardinal’s color 50 Grate stuff 52 City on the Rio Grande 54 Does not exist 55 At hand, in verse 56 Long-necked swimmer 58 “Oh, brother!” 60 Some PX patrons 61 Follow the sun 64 Cake cross-section 65 Sense of self 67 Toll road 68 Beatnik’s “Gotcha” 69 Feeling nothing 70 Sitcom half-hour 71 Freight weight 72 Equestrian 73 __-Saxon
76 Inflexible 77 Construction site sight 78 Daisy look-alike 79 Fraction of a min. 80 Blizzard aftermath 81 Saturated 82 Mad Money network 83 “Boy Who Cried Wolf” source 85 Sushi fish 88 Sculler’s item
91 92 94 95 98 99 100 101 103 105
Beatnik’s drum Certain Canadian Boom-box button The Godfather hoodlum Luca School supply “C’mon, help me out” DDE two-time opponent Puzzle Chicago character Home for hematite
106 108 109 111 112 113 114 115 117 118 119 120
Kin of contraLand in the water Ark passenger Microwave option Peak near Messina Babies in blue Baby’s cry Sign of stage success Mother of 82 Across Hotbed Was first in line Informal refusal
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