Twelve years ago, Republican legislators adopted a contract with voters that helped them win the state House in the 1994 elections and allowed them to elect the first Republican House speaker – Harold Brubaker of Randolph County – in modern times in the 1995 and ’97 sessions.
Now, with House Democrats on the defensive over allegations of corruption related to passage of the lottery last year and campaign contributions from video poker and optometric interests, Republicans once again hope to win the House with a contract of sorts. It’s not as extensive as the plan the GOP adopted in 1994, but it tells voters what Republican candidates aim to do. House Republican leader Joe Kiser of Lincoln County released the policy statement the other day – with the help of former Speaker Brubaker. Here’s what it says:
North Carolina House Republican Caucus 2006 Position Statements
Policy statement
It is the policy of the North Carolina House Republican Caucus to work as a collective, unified body to implement these position statements and by providing jobs with the overall effect of bettering the lives of all North Carolinians.
Ethics
The House Republican Caucus supports and is committed to making real, meaningful changes to the ethical code that must be adhered to by all members of the General Assembly as well as the Executive Branch of State Government.
Illegal Immigration
The Republican House Caucus supports and is committed to attacking the issue of Illegal Immigration in the name of public safety, especially in regards to the issuance of North Carolina driver’s licenses and the impact on our State budget with increasing costs to public education, healthcare, law enforcement, and the judiciary.
Eminent Domain
The House Republican Caucus supports and is committed to passing a constitutional amendment to protect individual property rights to prohibit the government from seizing private property for commercial use.
Marriage
The House Republican Caucus supports and is committed to defend marriage by a constitutional amendment recognizing only marriages between one woman and one man.
Budget Reform
The House Republican Caucus supports and is committed to utilizing zero-based budgeting to effectively estimate, justify, and prioritize North Carolina’s spending plan.
Taxation
The House Republican Caucus supports and is committed to reducing the personal income tax burden on working families through responsible budgeting and government efficiencies.
Medicaid
North Carolina is the ONLY state that forces counties to help fund Medicaid benefits. The House Republican Caucus supports and is committed to relief in the country funding of Medicaid, which will in turn provide property owners tax relief and more local revenue to be used for school construction, police, fire, emergency, medical services and waste/sewer infrastructure.
Republicans trail Democrats 63-57 in the House and hope their position statements draw clear comparisons between them and Democratic candidates. But as House Democratic leader Joe Hackney of Orange County has pointed out, the House Democratic caucus announced its own policy agenda at the start of the legislative session and addressed each issue before the House adjourned.
Republicans may be a bit tardy releasing their own position statement, but at least they’re doing it now. As former state Sen. Patrick Ballantine emphasized in the 2004 governor’s race, Republicans must demonstrate what they’re for, not just what they oppose, and Kiser and his colleagues clearly understand that.
But there are some unknowns that will also affect this race. One of them is the Republican disarray in Congress and President Bush’s low numbers in the polls. Another is a current campaign within the state Republican Party to drum out some lawmakers who cooperated with House Speaker Jim Black, a Democrat, and Republican Richard Morgan in the 2003 and ’05 sessions. That came about after then-Republican Rep. Mike Decker switched parties, helped keep Black in power and produced a deadlock that led to the first co-speakership in state history with Black and Morgan in the 2003-05 session.
Democrats have their own problems to contend with, of course, and the rumor mill in Raleigh has run wild the past six months over who was about to be charged with this or that. Some of these shoes may fall before the election, and they, too, would have an effect on voters.
Monday, September 11, 2006
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7 comments:
Jim Black is not doing the Democrats any favors by staying in office either. He can't make himself do the honorable thing by resigning as speaker. I can't imagine him having any impact or influence due to the scandals that he has created. The Democrats have a long history of skullduggery in NC. Black falls right in with the Liston Ramsey and Jimmy Green crowd.
This nothing but Repbulicans doing a "WITCH " hunt; The Republicans in the North Carolina Region want to sink their fangs into Democrats and get JIM Black out to push Bushs theory of how it should go in the U.S. Bushs plan for the working class is chinese overtime and companies love this idea. The Republicans have been trying to get a foothold in North Carolina not by their works but by destroying Peoples reputation. For the last six years Bush idealogy has cost us the world reputation we earned in prior years. The Republicans always claim to have a "better idea" just ask them what they have in mind!
The Republicans in North Carolina always hated the State Lottery theory because they claim more poverty will develop as a result if it; The truth is that the flip side of the coin in lui of the Lottery is huge taxes thrown on the backs of the working poor. It makes no difference how you cut the cake , the cake is still the same size; In fact , the Lottery is the fastest way to get revenue to the schools. Just ask any Republican to make a plan other than a lottery and they have none but raise taxes to the hilt.
The truth is that everyone in North Carolina wants the Lottery including some Churches; Because of the higher land taxes Churches are having to cough up, many churches are struggling like the rest of us. The church collection baskets are going dry for various reasons: 1) The Federal Governmnet is taking all the textiles, furniture and manufacturing to China and not replacing the work. North Carolina has lost hundreds of thousands of jobs at the hands of free trade with no hopes of a car plant like Alabama and many other States have won.
This Yankee from Ohio is tired of seeing the Southerners suffer a poverty at the hands of the unconcerned Federal Government; We have lost hundreds of thousands of decent jobs only to be replaced by coffee shop jobs; Now all of you who read this know the U.S. Governmnet can wave a magic wand and make a Toyota, Honda or Hyundai plant happen anywhere at anytime; where is Richard Burr, Elizabeth Dole, Robin Hayes and many others while poor people suffer poverty. Thank God for FDR ,thank God for that man seeing the Appallation poverty in the 30s. And how could our Federal Governmnet forget "History is repeating itself".
I always heard something from my neighbor that he sometimes goes to the internet bar to play the game which will use him some hero gold，he usually can win a lot of hero online gold，then he let his friends all have some hero online money，his friends thank him very much for introducing them the hero money，they usually buy hero gold together.
Thanks for the great post
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