NORTH CAROLINA OPEN THREAD Sunday, August 20, 2022
378TH WEEKLY EDITION
This is a weekly feature of North Carolina Blue. We hope this weekly platform gives readers interested in North Carolina politics a place to share their knowledge, insight and inspiration as we work on taking back our state from some of the most extreme Republicans in the nation. Please join us every week. You can also join the discussion in four other weekly State Open Threads. If you are interested in starting your own state blog, weekly to occasionally, we will list your work below.
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POSTED COVID data 8/20/2022 1:00pm EDT
Click here for Covid-19 data from Worldometer Real Time World Statistics.
USA NC Total Cases New Cases Total Deaths New Deaths Total Recovered Active Cases
3,074,964 25,760 3,006,390 42,814
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Editorial: Health and life taking backseat to politics in N.C. abortion policy
WRAL, Capitol Broadcasting Company, 8/19/2022
What did North Carolinians learn late on Wednesday when federal judge William Osteen Jr. allowed enforcement of the state’s ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy?
They learned that health and life are not the most important matters to House Speaker Tim Moore and state Senate Leader Phil Berger. To Republicans Berger and Moore it is all about politics, the fall elections and their machinations to gain a veto-proof majority in the General Assembly.
In reacting to Osteen’s unsurprising ruling, Moore mainly attacked Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat, who appropriately recused himself from personal involvement in the matter after stating he opposed the previously unconstitutional state law. Berger, similarly took up a partisan cudgel. “Democrats’ position on abortion can only be characterized as extreme,” he said.
Democratic Gov. Cooper offered a more on-point and less belligerent reaction: "The significant problem with this ruling is that it will criminalize important health care that’s needed in certain extraordinary circumstances,” Cooper said. Abortion past 20 weeks in pregnancy is exceptionally rare and happens because of a devastating health emergency or diagnosis. Denying women necessary medical care in extreme and threatening situations, even if rare, is fundamentally wrong, and we cannot let politicians mislead people about the real-world implications of this harmful law."
Oh yeah, Back the Blue. Uh huh.
New rules on NC election "observers" in the making
Blue NC, scharrison, 8/19/2022
When "acting like an adult" is just too hard for some people:
The North Carolina State Board of Elections on Tuesday unanimously approved temporary rule changes for election observers, many of whom are appointed by political parties to monitor the voting process from inside polling sites.
The move comes in response to county elections directors who complained about observers distracting voters during the May primaries. They have shared with the board tales of verbal abuse from observers and instances of observers demanding access to voting machines, filming poll workers, blocking voters from tabulators and following precinct officials in their cars.
Whatever happened to "do unto others as you would have them do unto you"? Because I guarantee you if this happened to a Republican voter, they would freak out:
“There were several that weren't aware of where they could and could not be in the polling place,” Andrew Richards, Davidson County’s director, recently told the state elections board. “While most were perfectly fine, several demanded to be behind the machines to watch people vote. When told they could not be behind the voting equipment several became argumentative.”
Richards added: “Clearer rules rather than just legal language is needed.”
State officials move to curb another dangerous virus that threatens North Carolina
NC Policy Watch, Rob Schofield, 8/16/2022
As the global pandemic has reminded us with tragic ferocity in recent years, viruses can, despite our best efforts, be enormously destructive and hard to contain – especially as our world has grown ever-more-crowded and interconnected.
And sadly, that goes not just for physical viruses like COVID-19, but viruses of the mind as well. In the era of instant global communication, it’s easier than ever for ideas – even delusional lies and fantasies – to spread like wildfire and do enormous damage before they are exposed and debunked.
As University of Kansas journalism instructor Eric Thomas observed in a fine recent essay for the Kansas Reflector, the term we have come to use most often to describe this phenomenon – “conspiracy theories” – is almost always a misnomer. To dignify, for instance, the monstrous lies and delusions of deeply disturbed and dishonest individuals like Alex Jones with such a term, Thomas notes, is to pervert the English language.
When journalists use the word “theory,” he points out, it implies that there is some plausibility to an idea for readers to consider and weigh. But, of course, when Jones claimed that the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre was faked, he wasn’t propounding a theory; he was telling a blatant and hugely destructive lie.
U.S Senate race update: Beasley and Budd tied in new poll
NC Policy Watch, Kirk Ross, 8/19/2022
A new Civitas poll that shows Cheri Beasley and Ted Budd tied is the latest in a string of indications that North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race has reached toss-up status.
The poll was released Thursday at a briefing by the conservative John Locke Foundation. It showed Beasley and Budd with 42.3% with 12.6% undecided. Libertarian candidate Shannon Bray was at 1.9% Green Party candidate Matthew Hoh, in his first poll after being added to the ballot, drew 0.8%. The margin of error is 3.9%.
'Very bold step:' Buncombe County commissioner calls for NC teachers to walk out
WLOS, Andrew James, 8/18/2022
A Buncombe County Commissioner is calling for a walkout of North Carolina teachers, as they continue to push for higher pay.
“I think this is a very bold step to start with,” Commissioner Amanda Edwards said.
Edwards said she has received positive and supportive responses to her suggestion of a walkout.
“The reason for that suggestion is from teachers, from others employed by our school districts across North Carolina. Their pleas for increased pay and better working conditions are not being heard in Raleigh,” she said.
Edwards said many teachers are leaving North Carolina because they can make more money in other states. She thinks a walkout would get the attention of lawmakers. She said change is needed to address teachers' concerns.
“I am a parent of a public school student, I’m the spouse of a public educator, and this request is not lost on me. I do not take it lightly, considering both of those roles that I have. Ultimately, we are hurting our students by not paying our teachers better,” Edwards said.
State subcommittee recommends reinstating higher salaries for teachers with advanced degrees
NC Policy Watch, Greg Childress, 8/18/2022
Low salaries for public school teachers continue to hurt recruitment
North Carolina should return to paying teachers who hold advanced degrees extra, in order to help school districts struggling to fill classrooms with certified teachers, a subcommittee of the state Professional Educator Preparation and Standards Commission (PEPSC) agreed Wednesday.
PEPSC’s Budget and Compensation Subcommittee voted 9-3 to ask the State Board of Education to seek reinstatement of what was known as “master’s pay.”
The Republican-led General Assembly ended this practice in 2013, citing studies that showed teachers with advanced degrees do not improve academic outcomes for students.
Teachers who received extra pay for advanced degrees before the 2014-15 school year were grandfathered into the system and continue to receive a 10% state salary supplement.
Madison Cawthorn personally lost half a million dollars on his 'dumpster fire' re-election campaign: report
Raw Story, Matthew Chapman, 8/18/2022
On Thursday, The Daily Beast reported that outgoing Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) is more than half a million dollars in the hole from his personal finances for his failed re-election campaign.
"A pair of unusual campaign finance reports this week reveal that since 2019, Cawthorn has personally invested a total of $817,000 into his campaign, while recovering only $261,000 of that amount," reported Roger Sollenberger. "That leaves him personally in the hole $556,000, more than three times the annual congressional salary of $174,000. The new campaign reports also punctuate a remarkable financial collapse that had been playing out in parallel to Cawthorn’s not-so-slow motion political implosion over the first half of the year."
The report notes that the collapse in funding came at a crucial time in the Republican primary for Cawthorn, and could have contributed to his defeat.
Saurav Ghosh, director of federal reform at watchdog group Campaign Legal Center, told the Daily Beast that the situation "could accurately be described as a ‘Dumpster fire.’"
Madison Cawthorn faces $17,000 infines over FEC reports showing $1,800 spent at tobacco shop
Raw Story, David Edwards, 8/16/2022
Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) reportedly spent more money than he had in his campaign coffers and is now facing $17,000 in fines from the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
The Asheville Citizen-Times reported that the FEC could levy a fine of $17,141 on Cawthorn because he filed his campaign finance report a month late. The paper based its conclusion on a fine calculator on the FEC website. A vote from FEC commissioners would determine the actual fine.
"Cawthorn's paperwork showed a campaign that through June 30 spent more than it brought in, despite a $207,858 donation from the personal funds of the 27-year-old first-term Henderson County congressman," the paper noted. "Among places donors' money was used was $1,812 spent at a tobacco shop."
In an Instagram video posted in July, Cawthorn displayed what he said was his favorite cigar, selling for about $150 a box.
Madison Cawthorn's overdue finances show unprecedented spending, political expert says
WLOS, Sarah Zatkulac, 8/15/2022
We now know exactly where Representative Madison Cawthorn (R-NC 11) spent campaign funds over the last few months.
His latest quarterly financial report was due in July, but was just submitted on Aug. 14, after a warning from the Federal Election Commission. The report on Cawthorn's fundraising and spending is more than 600 pages. It shows that the congressman is continuing to spend more than his campaign is bringing in, with some receipts for hundreds of dollars at places like local restaurant Papa's & Beer.
The report shows that from April 28 through June 30, Cawthorn's campaign brought in $439,636, but spent much more -- $575,730. That brings his total contributions since he's been in office to $4,236,430.21 and his total spent to $4,704,334.73.
Western Carolina University political science professor, Dr. Chris Cooper, says these are unprecedented amounts, but typical for Cawthorn.
Thanks for reading and contributing, I hope you have a safe week.