Maxine (and Ben) Swalin's legacy: A symphony

Generations of North Carolinians and newcomers alike may take it for granted that the North Carolina Symphony has always been there, and always will be -- an assumption that ignores the fact of the symphony's fragile beginnings and its fragile finances that threaten its future. But the symphony story is worth telling and retelling as a reminder of how many good things in North Carolina are the result of a few individuals' inspiration and hard work that resulted in an institution that we can't imagine not existing.
So when Maxine Swalin died last week at 106, it was an occasion to remark on how far the symphony has come since the days in the 1930s when she and her husband Benjamin Swalin, who taught in the music department at the University of North Carolina (decades before the legislature would rename it UNC Chapel Hill), took on the symphony as their personal project and campaigned for its survival. They reorganized the symphony, begun in 1932 but on the brink of oblivion, sold subscriptions to its performances one by one, traveled on intercity buses to promote its future, helped persuade the NC General Assembly in 1943 to pass the "horn tootin' bill" that gave the symphony annual financial support and over the decades built the symphony into a nationally known and acclaimed organization.
The genius of the symphony, from a North Carolinian's point of view, is that it brought classical music into public schools from one end of the state to the other, playing in tiny auditoriums and drafty gyms and wherever its schedulers could find a place to introduce children to fine music. There are a number of blogposts where the Swalins are recognized for all they did (Benjamin Swalin died in 1989).
Here's the symphony Web site's tribute. I particularly liked its last paragraph noting that the lobby of Raleigh's Meymandi Concert Hall is dedicated to the Swalins, and features a statue with these words by former Gov. Terry Sanford: "But for Ben Swalin, the North Carolina Symphony would not be. But for Maxine, Ben would not have prevailed. Bravo."

Burr to avoid 'serious challenge' in 2010?

The other day, PPP, a Democratic polling firm, found things were looking before for Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr's re-election chances in 2010. Now a Washington Web site, The Hill, has sensed the same thing. Blogger Aaron Black says Burr could avoid a serious challenge next year. Here's his post:


Burr Looking Less Vulnerable Amid Changing Environment
By Aaron Blake
The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room
10/08/09 11:08 AM ET

The changing political environment could be helping Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) avoid a serious challenge in 2010.

Public Policy Polling, the Democratic-leaning firm based in North Carolina, just put out new numbers on Burr that show him leading a generic Democrat 45-34. Four months ago, Burr trailed that generic Democrat 41-38.

Burr has also extended his lead over all of his potential Democratic opponents to double-digits, including leading Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-N.C.) 44-33 and Secretary of State Elaine Marshall 44-32. Marshall is in the race; Etheridge is weighing it.
Burr's favorable numbers remain largely unchanged, so it doesn't appear to be anything that he's doing. But perhaps more than any other state that voted for President Obama last year, North Carolina is experiencing buyer's remorse.
Obama's approval rating in the state has sunk from around 60 percent early this year to the mid-40s, with more North Carolinians disapproving of him than approving of him.

Burr, who looked like one of the most vulnerable GOP incumbents at the beginning of the year, will likely remain a target because of his favorability numbers, but he's looking to be in better and better shape, and that could scare away someone like Etheridge.

Neighborhood schools advocates win in Wake

Voters in Wake County sent more than a message Tuesday when they overwhelmingly voted into office three opponents of Wake County School's diversity policy and advocates for more neighborhood schools. Voters also came close to putting a fourth critic of the existing policy into office, but there may be a runoff for that seat. One member of the board, Ron Margiotta, already opposes current policy. The overall impact of the election, so far, is that four members of the nine-member Wake County School Board will be advocates for more neighborhood schools, and potentially a fifth could be elected, giving the board a majority of change advocates.

Deborah Prickett, Debra Goldman and Chris Malone won their races handily with margins averaging 22 percent over candidates favoring the current school assignment and busing policies, the News & Observer notes. In the fourth race at issue, change advocate John Tedesco got 49 percent of the vote; Cathy Pruitt, who considers herself a potential swing vote on the board if she were to call for a runoff and win the election, got 24 percent and incumbent Horace Tart, who loses his seat, got 23 percent.

Wake County has long had a good reputation for its public schools, using busing and frequent student reassignments, among other policies, to maintain racial diversity at its schools. But many parents across the city have become increasingly concerned about assignment policies. That concern developed into strong interest in remaking the school board in this election. Both the local chamber of commerce and a number of local leaders, fearing a change to neighborhood schools would lead to re-segregation, tried late in the campaign to generate concern among other voters about keeping current policies in place, but public opinion polls ran strongly in the other direction. With a low turnout Tuesday of about 9 percent, advocates of change carried the day.

Wake schools v. CMS, by the numbers

Chris Fitzsimon, a former newsman, advisor to former House Speaker Dan Blue and now policy analyst and blogger for N.C. Policy Watch (www.ncpolicywatch.com) at the N.C. Justice Center in Raleigh, looks at some interesting numbers as voters in Wake County go to the polls today in an election that could change the county school system's diversity policy and require more neighborhood schools and less busing.

Here's part of Fitzsimon's latest blogpost:


139,599-number of students in Wake County schools in the first month of 2009-2010 school year

128,072-number of students in Wake County Schools in the first month of 2006-2007 school year

79.71-percent of Wake County students in 2008-2009 who attend a school within 5 miles of their home

79.57-percent of Wake County students in 2006-2007 who attended a school within 5 miles of their home

107,970 number of Wake County students who attend specific school by assignment

30,150 number of Wake County students who attend school by choice

86.6-percent of Wake County students who attend school within 5 miles of their home due to school assignment

55-percent of Wake County students who attend school within 5 miles of their home due to choice of school

8,117-amount in dollars of spending per student in Wake County in 2007-2008 school year

8,595-amount in dollars of spending per student in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in 2007-2008 school year

35-amount in millions of dollars that budget of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools exceeded budget of Wake County Schools last year

71.7-percent of students statewide who graduate from high school as reported in 2009 AYP results

78.4-percent of students in Wake County schools who graduate as reported in 2009 AYP results

66.1-percent of students in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools who graduate as reported in 2009 AYP results

63.4-percent of African-American students in Wake County Schools who graduate

55.5- percent of African-American students in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools who graduate.

54.2-percent of students in Wake County Schools who receive free or reduced lunch who graduate.

52.0- percent of students in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools who receive free or reduced lunch who graduate

100-number of points the average score on the SAT in 2009 in Wake County was higher than the average score in Charlotte-Mecklenburg

5,935-amount by which student enrollment in Wake County Schools exceeded enrollment in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools

17-percent that spending on busing by Charlotte Mecklenburg exceeded spending on busing by Wake County Schools in 2008-2009 school year.

Burr's in a 'lot better' position, PPP says

Earlier this year, before the numbers on Democrats' popularity went over the edge, a lot of Democrats were salivating about the prospects of knocking off Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, who is up for re-election in 2010. Among their thoughts was this: If the relatively unknown Kay Hagan could bump off Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole in 2008, surely someone could do the same with Burr. His numbers weren't particularly good, and they're still not. But Tom Jensen of Public Policy Polling says he's in a better position than he was three months ago:

"As we head into fall Richard Burr's political position, though still somewhat precarious, is a lot better than it was at the beginning of the summer.

"There has not been a major improvement in Burr's approval rating over that time. It was 34% in June and 38% in September. But tested against a generic Democrat he's gone from trailing 41-38 three months ago to leading 45-38 in our most recent survey, an overall shift of ten points in his direction.

"His standing has improved not so much because of anything particular to him, but because the Republican base nationally and in North Carolina right now is considerably more fired up than the Democrats.

"Some have pointed to the lack of clarity about the Democratic field as the major factor improving Burr's position, but Democrats are in the same position on that front as they were two years ago at this time so that's really not the issue. There's just been a significant shift toward the Republicans in the national political climate. If it should shift back by this time next year Burr will be just as vulnerable as he looked six months ago, regardless of who the Democratic nominee ends up being.

"If Burr ultimately does become the first North Carolina Senator besides Jesse Helms to be reelected in more than 40 years, it will be quite a lesson about how important timing can be in determining whether someone's political career is successful or not. If Burr had been up for reelection in either 2006 or 2008 there is virtually no chance he would have been reelected given his approval numbers and how strongly Democratic the state voted in those years. But he made it to the Senate in one good election year for Republicans and it looks like he'll stand for reelection in another good one. I don't know that Burr is a better politician than Elizabeth Dole, Lauch Faircloth, Terry Sanford, or Robert Morgan- but he might have better luck than all of them."

Education leadership and illegal immigrants

Time was when such icons of N.C. public life and progressive politics as UNC President Emeritus Bill Friday and former Gov. Jim Hunt set a standard for Democratic politicians aspiring to higher office. In April 2005, Hunt and Friday and several legislators, including a few Republicans as well as Democrats, were proposing allowing illegal immigrants to attend public colleges in North Carolina at in-state tuition rates. Undocumented students who spent four years in and graduated from N.C. high schools, and who qualified academically for admission, could attend at in-state rates. There were some undocumented students attending some campuses at out-of-state rates, but no one seemed to know how many there were. The higher rates for out-of-stte tuition were thought to be a big barrier.

But then-Gov. Mike Easley said he thought federal law would prohibit their attending at in-state rates, though a number of other states allowed it, and after Rush Limbaugh ridiculed the idea, it died in the legislature.

Two years later, when the immigration debate had heated up somewhat, Easley offered another view: admitting illegal aliens to public colleges at out-of-state rates made sense because it at least didn't cost the state any money out of pocket and because it would give them some training to perform work if and when they became legalized citizens. Easley thought illegal immigrants ought to be required to go to school, in fact.

But in the 2008 election, the state Community College system changed its policy to bar illegal immigrants at any price. Among those driving the policy change was then-Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue, running for governor. She won election narrowly last fall.

After more than a year of study, the system's governing board last month reversed itself once again, voting to allow illegal immigrants to attend at out-of-state rates as long as they didn't take the place of any legal students. Still opposed to admitting illegal immigrants are Gov. Bev Perdue, as well as Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, now a member of the community colleges board, though they haven't worked hard to keep them out. Still, illegal immigrants evidently won't be allowed to enroll before next fall, though.

Democrats such as Perdue and Dalton generally hold in high regard the views of a former education governor such as Jim Hunt or a lion of American higher education such as Bill Friday. But on the issue of illegal immigrants in public colleges, their view is more in line with Republicans in the legislature who hope to push legislation next year to prohibit the admission of undocumented students.

That puts Perdue and Dalton at odds with the 2005 views of Friday and Hunt on this one issue, and complicates their chances of becoming known as education governors, if they want to earn that recognition. But it's also worth noting this verity: Friday and Hunt don't have to run for re-election.

Perdue has 'no unique appeal' for women voters

Tom Jensen has thought about Rob Christensen's article in Sunday's papers about some grumbling among women about Gov. Bev Perdue's failure to appoint more women to top posts. Here's a link.

Thing is, Perdue owes women little -- at least not based on results in 2008, Jensen says. She didn't enjoy unusual support from women, he notes.

Here's Jensen's analysis:

I think the first thing that should be noted when talking about Perdue and women is that she actually was not the beneficiary of an unusual gender gap when she was elected last fall. Exit polls showed Perdue winning 52% of the female vote and 47% of the male vote. The gender gap was larger in both the Presidential race, where Barack Obama won 55% of the female vote and 43% of the male vote, and in the Senate race where Kay Hagan 55% of the female vote and 47% of the male vote.

So despite the fact that Perdue was the only woman running against a man at the top of the ticket last year, she actually earned a smaller percentage of the female vote than both Obama and Hagan.

That trend has continued in approval polling over the course of this year. In our July, August, and September polls Barack Obama averaged a 50% rating with women and a 43% rating with men for an average gender gap of 7 points. Perdue has averaged a 27% rating with women and a 25% rating with men for an average gender gap of just 2 points.

What does it all mean?

Perdue, despite her status as the state's first female Governor, has no unique appeal to women voters. She got few, if any, extra votes last fall from Republicans or independent women who wanted a woman in that office. Folks who would normally have voted Republican still did. And women aren't cutting Perdue any slack for the issues she's had during her first eight months as Governor, evaluating her more or less the same way men are.

It's certainly significant on paper that Perdue is the state's first woman Governor, but that seems to be having little impact on her overall political standing.