Tag: North Carolina
Democratic N.C. State Senator Calls out Republican Majority for Seeking Retribution Rather Than Governing
Floor Speech on the 2014 Budget from Jeff Jackson on Vimeo.
This floor speech from N.C. state Sen. Jeff Jackson, a Democrat from Gastonia, a Charlotte suburb, is making the rounds. Here’s more information on Jackson, who is a veteran and was serving as an assistant district attorney when he was elected by the local party to succeed Sen. Dan Clodfelter, another Democrat who is now Charlotte’s mayor.
The South Is America’s Poverty Belt
Poverty has been on the rise in the South, which, not coincidentally is a bastion of Republican Party control, according to a Census Bureau report [PDF] released this summer, according to Huffington Post:
Obama Inadvertently Helps N.C. GOP Candidate
The president has done a good job of helping refocus this race for us. Thank you, Mr. President.
— GOP strategist Paul Shumaker, quoted by the Washington Post, on how President Obama’s handling of the Ebola crisis has helped North Carolina Senate candidate Thom Tillis (R).
N.C. Congressional Candidate Suggests War with Mexico to Cure Illegal Immigration
I will tell you if you have foreigners who are sneaking in with drug cartels to me that is a national threat. And if we got to go laser or blitz somebody with a couple of fighter jets for a little while to make our point, I don’t have a problem with that either. So yeah, whatever we need to do.
— North Carolina congressional candidate Mark Walker (R), suggesting war with Mexico might be a way to stop immigrants coming across the border, TPM reports.
Former ‘Idol’ Star Aiken Challenges the Press
Let’s see if you can write this whole story without mentioning how fat I’ve gotten.
— Former “American Idol” star and North Carolina congressional candidate Clay Aiken (D), quoted by the Washington Post.
Lawmaker Equates Right to Fire Gays to Right to Smoke
You need to respect the autonomy of somebody running their business. It’s like smoking bans. Do you ban smoking or do people have the right to private property? I think people have the right to private property. In public spaces, absolutely, we can have smoking bans. But we don’t want to micromanage people’s lives and businesses. If you have a business, do you want the government to come in and tell you you need to hire somebody? Why should government be there to impose on the freedoms we enjoy?
— Rep. Robert Pittenger (R-NC), comparing the right to fire gay workers with the right to smoke cigarettes on private property, ThinkProgress reports.
N.C. Dem Attorney General Roy Cooper: State Will No Longer Defend Same-Sex Marriage Ban
Roy Cooper, the attorney general of North Carolina Attorney — and one of the few Democratic statewide officials to survive the 2010 tea party electoral sweep that put Republicans in control of North Carolina for the first time since the 1870s — announced this week that his department will no longer defend the state’s ban on marriage equality. The decision comes after judges in the federal appeals court whose jurisdiction includes North Carolina struck down a similar ban in Virginia:
Should U.S. Senators Who Voted against Additional Funding for VA Hospitals in February 2014 Also Resign?
With the drumbeat growing to hold VA Secretary Gen. Eric Shinseki accountable for the wait lists at hospitals in Arizona and elsewhere by forcing him to resign, perhaps the U.S. senators who voted in February to filibuster a bill that would have increased the VA’s budget by $24 billion should resign as well.
You’ll find a complete list of senators who voted to filibuster the VA hospital funding after the jump.
