More governing, less politics

by | Apr 10, 2017 | Editor's Blog, Politics | 10 comments

Everybody should read Rob Christensen’s column from Sunday. He notes that North Carolina has long been known as a good government state, in part, because state leaders tried to take politics out of local government as much as possible. Most cities and towns have a council-manager form of government which means they are run by professionals, not politicians. The vast majority of municipal elections are nonpartisan and they are all held in odd numbered years which keeps them out of the partisan fray of state and national elections.

As a result, our towns and cities are highly successful and relatively scandal free. As Christensen notes, “North Carolina probably has as many municipal governments with AAA bond ratings as any state in the country.” In response, Republicans in the General Assembly have introduced legislation to make all municipal races partisan and move them to even years to run with state and national tickets.

The move is wrong in so many ways. It’s more Big Government conservatism. The GOP has decided it knows what’s best for towns and cities even when it clearly doesn’t. It’s adding partisanship into elections at a time when we need less, not more. And it’s interfering with a system that has served our state and its people well.

Clearly, Republicans in North Carolina have never learned the old rule, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The move fits into a pattern we’ve seen since the GOP took control. In an effort to exert more influence and control over the workings of government, they’ve “reformed” systems that worked just fine. In the process, they’ve damaged our state’s reputation.

They’ve revamped the state board of elections and ethics commission and made judicial races partisan despite no obvious need to do either. They’ve redrawn municipal and school board districts despite protests from local residents and leaders. When North Carolina dramatically increased voter participation, they instituted voter suppression laws. In their effort to override Charlotte’s authority to govern itself, they passed HB2, leading to economic damage and national embarrassment. And the list goes on.

Republicans need to pay more attention to governing and less attention to politics. The damage they’ve done to our reputation will take years to repair. The success of our municipal governments has been a strength of our state. Instead of empowering them, the GOP is constantly trying to restrict them, inserting partisan politics where there was none.

10 Comments

  1. The Ghost of Elections Past

    Ebrun, I’m surprised at you! You claim to be a ‘conservative,’ yet you uncritically accept the actions which our present General Assembly has taken to undercut local governance. By doing this, you come across as more of a political ideologue than a ‘conservative.’

  2. Ebrun

    Oh, the pain and suffering of NC liberals must be nearly insufferable. The loss of the state’s “reputation” as a progressive bastion in the conservative South has left-wing pundits, academics, media outlets and advocacy groups here and across the Nation distraught and depressed.

    But in spite of what is seen by the left as a reactionary political trend, NC continues to thrive and prosper by just about any standard, conventional indicator. The state’s economy in terms of jobs and personal income growth and total output have outpaced the national averages for the past several years. In-migration of new residents continues to far outpace those leaving the state for greener pastures. Business and personal income taxes have been reduced and the state has enjoyed a substantial revenue surplus for the past several years..New business locations continue at a steady pace and the state is among the top four or five in almost every survey of business climate. And NC politicians continue to hold influential positions in the National government.

    It must be hard for the left to fathom how a state that has adopted conservative public policies can continue to thrive and prosper. So they cling to the cannard that our reputation has been damaged . This no doubt is true among progressive elites, but has little influence on middle and working class Americans who seem insusceptible to the false enticement of leftist ideology.

    • Eilene

      Ebrun, I’m not a “only the liberals know how to do things correctly” kind of liberal, but I’d like for you to cite sources, because some of your stats run counter to everything else I’ve read, and not just on left-leaning websites. I think your “facts” aren’t really correct. I do think you are right about immigration versus emigration, but job and economic growth has been lagging behind national averages according to most of what I have read.

      Not to mention the fact that enrollment in colleges of education for future teachers is down around 40%, and teacher turnover is at an all-time high here. We’re about to have a major teacher shortage if the legislature doesn’t start offering competitive pay and stop writing education policy that flies in the face of every bit of educational research ever done.

      I have very little complaint about lower taxes, except for the fact that it is lopsided in in the favor of the more wealthy.

      As for our legislators holding powerful positions in the federal government, that is because they are lackeys for the current administration, despite the fact that may of the policies they are trying to implement are not what is best for their constituents.

      I’d like to see some of your sources. Until then, we’ll have to agree to disagree on the current state of our state.

      • Eilene Corcoran

        *many of the policies … I was typing too fast.

      • Ebrun

        Here’s an article that summarizes the NC’s economic performance since 2013. If you want to check out the actual data, you can get much of it from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Census Bureau.

        http://www.nationalreview.com/article/443016/conservatives-tax-cut-success-north-carolina

        But common sense should tell any objective observer that the state is doing better than other states. Otherwise, why would
        more people continue to come here than leave if the economy was floundering and public education was in such dire straits?

        The teacher turnover rate is not nearly as bad as you claim . From time to time the state Department of Public Instruction surveys teacher turnover. The last report I saw from last year showed that many more certified teachers from other states are being hired to teach in NC than teachers leaving NC to teach in other states.

        While you’re right about a drop in enrollment in college education schools, this is happening in most other states. It is a national phenomenon. The problem seems to be related to the failure of Education Colleges to reform their curricula. And with the surge of home schooling, charter and private school enrollment and community colleges, a traditional education degree is not as important as it once was.

        Finally, it is absurd to claim our congressional leaders got their positions because they are lackeys of the Trump Administration. The executive branch has no role picking Congressional leaders. They are chosen by their peers in Congress as the legislative branch is independent of the executive branch. (PolySci 101)

  3. Norma Munn

    I have reservations about the City Manager form of government for larger cities. It leaves unclear the real responsibility for leadership in a crisis, although blame will be publicly assigned to an elected mayor, even if little authority goes with the job. For example, the original budget presented by a City Manager is a blue print that ultimately controls both the future direction of the use of city resources and what is discussed as the budget moves forward. Yes, the budget is changed to some extent by those discussions but the framework and direction, i.e., the vision is not that an elected official.

    For voters, the responsibility is not simply less partisan. It ultimately leaves voters with much less clarity about who is responsible for the vision and direction of their city. It is nearly impossible to look at a group of City Council members and pick out an individual whose work addresses the larger picture. They correctly focus mostly on specific issues affecting their district.

    It also leads to another kind of confusion as recently happened in Charlotte where the City Communications Director, apparently at the direction of the City Manager and/or some members of the City Council, issues a different statement from that issued by the Mayor earlier regarding the repeal of HB2. Who speaks for the city? Sounds trivial, but voters expect and need leadership from those elected – especially in times of crisis.

    I recognize the ugly nature of excessive partisan politics and NC has seen a great deal of it over the past few years. But party affiliation need not lead to such vindictive conduct. In fact, I doubt that those who indulge in such extreme partisanship would have been less extreme in any line of work. It is character, not party affiliation, that is being demonstrated.

    My tentative sense is that nonpartisan local elections probably work very well in smaller communities, where so many people actually know one another. In larger cities, I am withholding judgement.

    • Angela

      Any time any government body seeks to restrict or remove the rights of otherwise law-abiding citizens…and seeks to ascribe crimminal intent onto law-abiding people just beause those law-abiding people are a small and misunderstood minority that hapen to make some people uncomfortable…all people of good character should be appalled.

      HB-2 was a disgrace, it continues to be a disgrace…the non-repeal notwithstannding, because it does the following things:

      1. Repeals HB-2 (in law but not in practice)
      2. Remands to the state gvermnet, in perpituity, any right to legislate about bathrooms.
      3. Denies the right of local government units to protect its vulnerabe minoority citizens until at least December, 2020

      There is nothing in HB-142 that says they will not come back later and re-instate HB-2…in fact, five days after the non-repeal, some legislators have tried to do exactly that, filing HB-562, which would cause transgender people who fear for their safety in being forced into a restroom nnt safe for them…to end up in jail for 120 days…for the crime of simply relieving their bladder in an environment safe for them. Someone please explain how thhe state is served by this? Or by placing its vuknerable transgender citizenry in direct harm’s way?

      There is nothing in HB-142 that says that the General Assembky could not come back at a later date, and, in separate action, pass legislation increasing that December, 2020 deadline into perpituity. In fact, watch for them to do exacty that…it would be NC GOP chicanery at its finest. They do not deal in good faith and never have.

      And Governor Cooper sold us, the transgender citizens of North Carolina out…for a set of basketball tickets. I am wondering what the reaction would have been…had the NCAA said, “Ok, North Carolina, you repealed HB-2…good job. We are coming back. Our first schefuled event in NC will be after December 1, 2020.” I am wondering how people would have felt about that. Now, imagine how WE in the transgeder community feel about what was done to us. It is not much of a leap if you have any compassion.

      And NOW…we have NC GOP legislators proposing legislation that would withdraw UNC and NC State from the ACC…if the ACC ever again boycotted North Carolina. The ACC already said they were coming back…in spite of the fact that HB-2 remains in practice, if not in law…for now.

      The question this begs is: What onerous, horrible, mean-spirited and spiteful legislation aimed at the law-abiding transgender citizens of North Carolina…does the NC GOP have in mind…that might actually cause the ACC to boycott again? Why is that the question not being asked?

      And for those of you who are afraid of…r are uncomfortable with…transgender women like me…let me tell you tthat if I notice ANYTHING in the ladies restroom that I am legally entitled to use…what I notice is the cute shoes/boots the lady sharing the restroom with me is wearing…and all I want to know is where she got them. Please just let us transgender people live our lives in eace. We are not bothering anyone, and we are NOT criminals, we are NOT pedophiles, predators or pervs, and we do NOT do…in adies bathrooms…what these men who make laws imagine TEY might do if given the opportuity – for the simple reason that we are NOT MEN. We are not wired like men, we do not think like men and we do not feel like men.. We are WOMEN. Ad all we want is to be treated equally, fairly, and decently…as any other woman is treated.

      Is that really asking for so much?

  4. David B Scott

    Our NC myopic Republican legislators fail to understand that, when the political pendulum swings back to sanity, that they will be ‘partisaned’ out of power. Bullies one and all!

    • Angela

      Could not happen soon enough to suit me.

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