Ambition, cronyism and hypocrisy

by | Jul 18, 2013 | Editor's Blog, NC Politics, NCGOP, NCGov, US Senate | 1 comment

Right after Pat McCrory got elected, he like to say that government was going to treat citizens like customers. Now, we see what kind of business he’s running, or at least helping run. It’s one that treats it’s employees like crap and only serves “customers” who can afford the entrance fee.

The voters of North Carolina threw out the Democrats in a fit of frustration over a stagnant economy and frustration over a bureaucracy they perceived as riddled with cronyism. They were looking for a fix-it crew. Instead, they a wrecking a crew.

Little did they know, they elected a combination of personal ambition, ideological zeal and intellectual laziness. Thom Tillis quite obviously spent the session trying to strike a balance between moderating his caucus enough to keep him viable in a general election and paying off the crazies he will need to get through a Republican primary. Berger, on the other hand, drinks too much Tea, believing the key to everything is cutting taxes and government programs. And McCrory? He’s just a nice guy who will say anything to anybody and doesn’t seem to have the gray matter to understand what’s going on in government around him.

Instead of cleaning up cronyism, they’ve embraced it. McCrory appointed a bunch of plugged in donors with obligations elsewhere to run his cabinet. Secretary of Public Safety Kieran Shanahan is still plugging his law firm, where his law partners have benefited from their association with the Governor–one’s on the banking the commission and another’s husband got a sweet promotion in the highway patrol. And his Secretary of Commerce, Sharon Decker, gets paid to sit on the boards of Coca-cola, Family Dollar and SCANA, the parent of PSNC. No chance any of those groups might have business with the state of North Carolina.

And now it appears Thom Tillis is selling memberships to the University of North Carolina Board of Governors. We know, we know. It’s total, utter coincidence that these appointees gave tens of thousands of dollars to the Super-Pac dedicated to electing Tillis to the U.S. Senate. But like I said, it appears Tillis is selling those memberships.

North Carolina voters elected Republicans to clean up government, in large part, because that’s what the GOP said they would do. They campaigned criticizing North Carolina Democrats for corruption and cronyism. Now, they’re engaged in the same practices, making them not only guilty of the same charges but also of hypocrisy.

1 Comment

  1. sandymaxey

    Have you seen the list of people on the economic development board? Fascinating.

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