Four more state legislative district polls were released this week in competitive legislative districts — and as a whole, continue to portray a difficult year for Democratic candidates. On Monday, Civitas released results for HD 4, an open seat in Duplin and Onslow counties, rated as a neutral district on the NCPI. Republican Jimmy Dixon [...]
Politicians & Politicking Archives
- 1Aug23
Award raises questions
Over the weekend, Gov. Bev Perdue awarded state NAACP president Rev. William Barber the Order of the Long Leaf Pine. It’s interesting that Perdue chose to focus on Barber. Barber has gained most of his notoriety for leading the opposition to the Wake County School Board’s decision to scrap the use of socioeconomic status in [...]
- Aug18
HD 112: Hager (R) 46% – Proctor (D) 36%
In the race to replace the retiring Rep. Bob England (D-Rutherford) in House District 112, Republican Mike Hager leads Democrat Jim Proctor 46%-36% according to the latest Civitas Poll of that district. The district consisting of Rutherford and a portion of Cleveland county is an R+7 district on the NCPI. Many people have theorized that [...]
- Aug18
Teachers Union Buys A Spot Inside Perdue’s Inner Circle
Remember how the National Association of Educators (NEA) spent $2.2 million helping Bev Perdue get elected governor? Well, it looks like it has bought them a seat in her inner circle. From the News & Observer: Dawn Shephard Pope is Gov. Bev Perdue’s new teacher adviser. The governor’s teacher adviser is a liaison between the [...]
- Aug17
Hackney Leads in HD 54
Since we polled Senate President Marc Basnight’s district a couple of weeks ago, we thought it was only fair that we poll House Speaker Joe Hackney’s as well, and Hackney is faring much better than Basnight. Basnight led challenger Hood Richardson by a mere 10 points, whereas Hackney is leading Cathy Wright by 16 points [...]
- Aug12
Even More Whining About Civitas Polling
Another day, another story on some politician whining about Civitas polling. Today’s whiner is Rep. Bill Owens (D-Pasquotank) who tells The Daily Advance that our questions are “slanted”. Here are the questions and results from the poll Civitas conducted in his district. I challenge Rep. Owens to tell us which one of these questions he [...]
- Aug10
Democratic Pollster has Republican in the Lead in HD 49
So much for all the whining on the left that all Civitas does is produce polls favorable to Republicans (they never stop to think that things might actually be that way in reality right now) — let’s see what the knee-jerk reactionaries will say about this one: Democratic polling firm Public Policy Polling (PPP) conducted [...]
- 2Aug09
Printelect Involved in Entire Ballot Process
The News and Observer and the Charlotte Observer have concentrated on the fact that Printelect prints the majority of ballots used in every election in NC (86 out of 100 counties) and that they charge considerably more than other printers. They have also pointed out that Printelect is the sole agent for Election Systems and [...]
- Aug06
Government finally cuts the fat!
Our friends down at Wilmington Rants have broken a major story about politicians cutting fat…unfortunately we are not talking about government spending, we are talking about real fat. The Wilmington Mayor and New Hanover County Commission Chair have a weight lost contest that is being publicized using tax dollars. So no cost cutting – actually more spending. Read [...]
- Aug05
Voter Opposition to Public Financing Remains Strong
The latest Civitas poll shows more than 3/4ths of NC voters (76%) are opposed to using taxpayer dollars to finance the campaigns of statewide candidates. Full press release here. In fact, even 78 percent of Democratic voters oppose the idea. No wonder there was such a visceral negative reaction from the public when our friends [...]
- Aug05
Bailouts R’ Us
The latest $26 billion federal bailout package passed yesterday claims it will protect another 4,500 teaching jobs in North Carolina. If you remember, earlier this year Gov. Perdue transferred over $100 million in lottery revenue to protect another 1,700 teacher and other staff positions. So we’re protecting 6,200 school positions that normally would have been [...]
- 1Aug05
Larry Leake must go!
This story about Larry Leake is just the latest in a long growing list of reasons why he should resign immediately. He has been on the board for far too long and it is time to go. By inserting himself into an ongoing investigation he has disqualified himself from sitting as a member of the board [...]
- Aug04
Civitas Report on 10 Worst Federal Stimulus Projects in N.C. Featured on Rush Limbaugh Show
A report by Civitas Institute Policy Analyst Brian Balfour was discussed on the Rush Limbaugh show on Tuesday, August 3. Rush was discussing the new McCain-Coburn report that highlights 100 stimulus projects that have been wasteful or mismanaged. He cited the state’s study of monkeys using cocaine that cost $71,623 ; the North Carolina Dance [...]
- Aug03
Politicians Refuse Accountability in Ethics Bill
One can only speculate why the ethics bill signed yesterday by Governor Perdue did not include a provision that would make politicians personally liable for campaign finance penalties. Perhaps it has something to do with the ongoing drama that is the Perdue Campaign and its failure to report $56,000 in flights taken during the 2004 [...]
- 1Aug02
Big Oil, Big Tobacco & Big Ed?
Education Next has an eye-opening article on the growing influence of teachers unions, especially in political campaigns. How powerful are the unions? According to the Center for Responsive Politics and the National Institute on Money in State Politics: In the 2007-08 election cycle, total spending on state and federal campaigns, political parties, and ballot measures [...]
- Jul30
“Extreme Makeover” Series Draws More Workforce than Construction of Jennette’s Pier
The $25 million, state-funded, job-creating Jennette’s Pier project in Nags Head has sustained a Nor ‘easter and a broken wind turbine. That said, recently hired Pier Manager Mike Remige says the project’s timeline is on schedule to open May 21, 2011. The pier’s operating budget alone, Remige mentioned, will cost $578,000 a year, and he [...]
- 1Jul28
Basnight Fundraiser Advertised Via Public Listserv
A political fundraiser for State Senate Pro-Tem Marc Basnight (D-Dare) was advertised via a publicly funded e-mail list according to a news report. An invitation to the event was sent to the town of Kill Devil Hills e-mail list. Using the town e-mail list was unethical, but news reports suggest that the entire episode was [...]
- Jul28
Senator Hagan still debating whether to support extending tax cuts
Senator Kay Hagan is on record now supporting continuing tax cuts set to expire if they only benefit the “middle class.” Our analysis shows all the cuts affect that population in some way. See the latest Civitas Report at the “Transparency” link above.
- 2Jul27
Governor Perdue Has Right Idea
Dare I say that Governor Perdue may be on to something? According to a recent article on WRAL.com, a good read by the way, the Governor is open to privatizing parts of the ABC System and legalizing video poker for the purpose of increasing tax revenue and allowing government to focus on its core missions [...]
- Jul22
The Civitas Report
NAACP uses busing rally to motivate voter base http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbn_moShw14