Sen. Phil Berger
Advocates deliver “cease and desist” letter to NC legislative leaders
In the absence of a state budget, activists are demanding that the North Carolina legislature “cease and desist” from harmful policymaking. In a letter sent by email to the members of the General Assembly on Friday August 11 and delivered again in-person on Monday, representatives of Repairers of the Breach — a national advocacy coalition […]
The Medicaid expansion celebrations are premature
North Carolina has witnessed a spate of glowing and upbeat news reports and commentaries in recent days in the aftermath of last week’s announcement by Republican legislative leaders that they had reached an agreement to expand the state’s Medicaid program.
A holiday wish list for North Carolina pols and their pals
Well, the season of giving is upon us again, and while it’s clear that North Carolina ethics statutes prevent public servants and other “covered persons” from receiving any gifts that might influence their official actions, the law includes a number of – nudge-nudge, wink-wink – exceptions, so one hopes that perhaps there is a way to make the following list a reality. For Senator-elect Ted Budd: A collector’s edition set of official Donald Trump superhero trading cards.
The latest lame excuse for holding up Medicaid expansion
For nearly a decade, North Carolina has forgone billions of federal dollars, prevented the creation of thousands of good jobs, caused multiple rural hospitals to close, and most disturbingly, condemned thousands of uninsured people to an early death by refusing to follow the lead of 38 other states in expanding Medicaid. As scores of experts, advocates, public officials and average North Carolinians have repeatedly attested and evidenced...
WRAL investigative reporter Cristin Severance discusses the new documentary “Leandro: The Case for a Sound Basic Education”
The latest WRAL documentary dives into the facts of the case, its impact on students in North Carolina and why there could finally be a resolution. Click below to listen to our interview with documentary producer Cristin Severance. Watch the full Leandro documentary here.
NC GOP’s judicial impeachment threats are a new low in Trump-like lawlessness
Impeachment. Like the snowflakes that flew last week in many parts of North Carolina, that word has been in the air in the state capital of late – darting crazily here and there in wild and erratic patterns and, ultimately, depositing a kind of icy blanket on state government. A few weeks’ back, right-wing politicos were rattling the impeachment saber at Superior Court Judge David Lee because they didn’t like his attempts to enforce the state constitution when it came to the right of schoolchildren in poor counties to a sound basic education.
Last minute stocking stuffers for the naughty and nice of NC politics
Ho, ho, ho! It’s that time of year again – the fleeting period during which Americans of all stripes set aside petty partisan and ideological differences (hah!) and focus their attention on the one thing that, as humorist Jean Shepherd so accurately observed in his holiday classic “A Christmas Story," tends to unify us all in and around the winter solstice: “unbridled avarice.”
Editorial blasts GOP leaders for failure to call out Cawthorn, Robinson
Be sure to check out this morning’s lead editorial in the Charlotte Observer and Raleigh’s News & Observer. The headline — “NC Republicans are becoming the party of bigots, insurrectionists and the cowardly who let it happen” — leaves no uncertainty about its content. Not surprisingly, the chief “bigot” and “insurrectionist” highlighted are, respectively, North […]
The North Carolina redistricting charade
It’s hard to pinpoint the most maddening thing about the rushed, convoluted and opaque redistricting process that North Carolina Republican legislative leaders have been running in recent weeks, but there are several leading contenders. First has been the disregard for the pandemic. When so much of modern life has moved online due to COVID-19, it’s ridiculous that the public was forced to attend crowded in-person hearings...
This fundraiser invitation should disqualify Justice Phil Berger, Jr. from numerous Supreme Court cases
Be sure to check out this morning’s lead editorial in Raleigh’s News & Observer about the extraordinarily blatant (if not at all surprising) conflict of interest that is evidenced by the political fundraiser invitation that appears to the left. As the editorial notes, Supreme Court Justice Phil Berger, Jr. — the son of longtime state […]
The sound of crickets chirping: The discouraging response of NC conservatives to new Trump coup attempt revelations
The United States of America will celebrate its 250th anniversary as a free and democratic republic in less than five years on July 4, 2026. At least that’s the plan. Amazingly, however, this event appears no longer to be a sure thing.