ShareNorth Carolina editorial roundup
The Associated PressRecent editorials from North Carolina newspapers:
Dec. 16
The News & Observer of Raleigh on the state campaign fundraising:
North Carolina Democrats, in their long decades of political power, basically wrote the state's laws on campaign fundraising. So why can't they abide by them?
Maybe they do _ most of the time. But in recent gubernatorial campaigns Democratic candidates, fundraisers and contributors have crossed far too many lines. Exhibit A is former Gov. Mike Easley's felony conviction on a campaign finance law violation related to a 2006 helicopter flight. That wasn't the only troubled trip by air: the Elections Board fined Easley's 2004 campaign $100,000, and current Gov. Beverly Perdue's 2008 campaign $30,000, for various flight-related or reporting transgressions. Now a Perdue backer, Trawick "Buzzy" Stubbs of New Bern, faces criminal charges in connection with roughly $28,000 in campaign flights.
Other Perdue supporters or aides have also been charged in recent campaign-finance cases brought by Wake District Attorney Colon Willoughby (himself a Democrat). One case has been resolved: Peter Reichard of Greensboro, Perdue's former chief fundraiser, pleaded guilty to felony obstruction of justice, was fined $25,000, put on probation and benched as a fundraiser.
The charge against Reichard stemmed from his role in a scheme to pay a Perdue campaign staff member, Juleigh Sitton of Morganton, $32,000 without reporting it as a campaign expense. Why not report it? Apparently because the money came from a Perdue donor, Morganton businessman Charles Michael Fulenwider, who had already reached his legal limit of giving. According to Willoughby, the three set up phony consulting contracts to cover their activities. It was a "joint enterprise," he said.
All this caused Wake Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens to rail _ rightly _ at campaigners who violate the laws so that "money talks" and "honesty and truth and fairness" are vanquished.
Perdue, Willoughby has said, is not a target of his investigations. Her campaign has returned the tainted money. But the scent lingers of a campaign that at times flew over the line.
Online:
http://www.newsobserver.com
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Dec. 16
Star-News of Wilmington on state immigration legislation:
North Carolinians who want our state to be more business friendly should realize that laws that cast suspicion on anyone who "looks" like an immigrant may scare off good companies.
Alabama officials discovered that the hard way after police stopped two foreign employees of Honda and Mercedes-Benz and demanded to see their papers, news that outraged executives of the two companies and prompted some business groups to warn that the state's reputation as a great place to do business may suffer as a result of the strict illegal immigration law. Now the governor says he's willing to consider some changes.
The backlash was inevitable. Several states, including South Carolina, have adopted laws designed to frighten off illegal immigrants. While illegal immigration is a problem that the federal government has inadequately addressed, many of the state laws passed are mean-spirited and designed to score political points, not solve a problem. The message such laws send is not the one intended, that "we enforce the laws." Regardless of what sponsors claim as the intent, the message received by Honda, Mercedes and businesses eyeing Alabama as a possible location is, "We don't take kindly to foreigners around here." That doesn't exactly create a hospitable business climate. ...
The law must be enforced, but a comprehensive federal immigration policy should be realistic, and not entirely punitive.
It must recognize that millions of undocumented workers are already here, and most of them are contributing to the economy. While some immigration-policy organizations cite studies that illegal immigrants cost North Carolina $2 billion a year, other groups cite different studies that estimate they contribute more than $9 billion annually to the economy. ...
Although the Supreme Court is set to review a legal challenge to Arizona's immigration laws and similar lawsuits have caused judges to block enforcement of some provisions, the North Carolina House seems ready to plow ahead anyway. Rep. Frank Iler of Brunswick County is co-chairman of the House Select Committee on the State's Role in Immigration Policy, which is meeting to discuss how North Carolina can be more unfriendly to illegal immigrants. Fortunately the Senate, at least for now, seems less eager to enact laws that could paint North Carolina as hostile not only to illegal immigrants, but that look with suspicion upon anyone who is different.
Online:
http://www.starnewsonline.com
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Dec. 20
Winston-Salem Journal on lower natural gas rates:
Piedmont Natural Gas's request to lower its rates in the Carolinas for the 2011-12 winter heating season is the best holiday gift we've heard about. Surely the North Carolina Utilities Commission and the South Carolina Public Service Commission will grant the request.
"This puts money back into the pockets of consumers and back into the economy," said Thomas Skains, the company's chairman, president and chief executive.
Indeed.
Given the tight economic times and all the jobless people hurting out there, the reduction is sorely needed. For the typical residential customer, the Journal's Richard Craver reported, the reduction would amount to $4 to $10 a month over the course of the winter heating season, which runs from November through March. For people struggling just to get by _ and pay their utility bills _ that's helpful, and it's certainly better than an increase. If approved, the lower rates would go into effect Jan. 1.
Natural-gas utilities have to pass along to customers any savings on wholesale costs. Several weeks ago, Piedmont estimated that its residential customers could see reductions in their 2011-12 winter bills of up to 10 percent compared with last year's. The company said the forecast reflects the continuing national decline in the wholesale cost of natural gas. It also reflects a warmer-than-normal start to the winter heating season, as well as increased onshore production from shale gas.
If approved, the news will mark the eighth time since December 2008 that Piedmont has reduced its customer billing rates in the Carolinas as a result of falling natural gas costs. In the past three years, the wholesale cost of natural gas, which accounts for 60 percent to 70 percent of a residential customer's typical winter bill, has fallen by more than 55 percent.
This is good news. Merry Christmas back at ya, Piedmont Natural Gas.
Online:
http://www2.journalnow.com