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Monday Roundup
posted at 2007-07-09 23:55 | Last modified 2007-11-14 10:38
Thanks for all the listener feedback on my story this morning on the fate of the State Energy Office. It's really great when a story strikes a chord with so many folks.
In the meantime, session marches on, of course. Tune in Tuesday at noon (repeat at 9pm) to catch your humble barkeep and Greensboro's Mark Binker chatting with guest host David Crabtree (WRAL) on what's up at the legislature.
In the meantime, today's highlights:
Budget?
Well, no, not exactly, not yet. Not to say that Approps folks aren't meeting - they are. But what they're engaged in is essentially faith-based budgeting.
For those that don't know, the state budgeting process is split into two major categories - how to get money, and how to spend it. As anyone who's ever run a household knows, it's awfully hard to tell what you can afford to spend until you know what your income is.
But that's basically what's happening on Jones St. right now. The House and Senate Finance folks (i.e., those who bring in money) can't agree how much they ought to bring in, or how. So in the interim, the spending folks - Approps - are meeting to settle disputes over how to spend the virtual money they haven't yet agreed how to get.
Well, it keeps 'em off the streets, I guess. And to be fair, they CAN at least settle priorities, and then agree on numbers later in the process. But anyone's who's followed this process through to the finish knows the devil's in the details.
Meantime, there's no significant progress as of this evening on taxes, Medicaid, land transfer fees, etc. Till House and Senate negotiators decide how they want to slice that Gordian Knot, the rest is....well, theoretical.
Let them read 20/20
Charlotte's David Ingram and Gary Wright say attorneys for former House Speaker Jim Black are proposing public service in lieu of prison time.
Black's attorneys say their client, a licensed optometrist, could do hundreds of thousand of dollars' worth of eye exams instead of serving jail time. Not surprisingly, the proposal hasn't exactly garnered a groundswell of support - especially from federal prosecutors, who, according to Ingram, haven't found Dr. Black particularly helpful.
Black's federal sentencing is set for this Wed., June 11th.
'08 News
Ouch. Dem contender John Edwards is losing steam in his home state, according to the latest numbers from Public Policy Polling. Maybe we'll see Barack and Hillary headed down this way soon to do more than pick up checks. The PPP blog has more here.
On the R side, Thompson still leads - but he caught some flak this weekend after reporters revealed Watergate transcripts showed Nixon didn't think Thompson was all that bright. (I'm not sure whether that's a liability or a de facto endorsement.) Facing South has more plus links here.
Comments? Drop me a line.
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