Civitas Review Online

New RNC Chairman Michael Steele was a featured speaker at the Civitas Institute's 2007 Conservative Leadership Conference.

Check out this short video where Steele outlines his definition of conservative values.

That's how much the North Carolina government, and thus taxpayers, will pay just to service the state debt this year according to the NC Treasurer's office.

The total state debt is now in excess of $6 billion (roughly 30% the size of the entire budget for the state for a year).

And to top it off, there is still roughly $800 million in debt authorized by the General Assembly that hasn't been issued yet.

Hmm… I wonder if the budget writers trying to fill a $2 billion gap would like to have that $643 million back now instead of just paying it in interest.

The Winston-Salem Journal takes to its editorial page today with its support for an independent redistricting commission.  And good for them.  It's a subject that needs to be discussed, but just isn't as sexy as taxes or smoking or filling $2 billion budget holes.

The best road back to competitive elections for both the U.S.
Congress and the two houses of the General Assembly is independent
redistricting. A nonpartisan commission would draw maps according to
redistricting standards laid out in a state Supreme Court ruling. Only
voter registration and demographic data that had been stripped of party
references would go into the computer programs.

It's not too late to implement such a system. If legislation were
approved this year, the commission's structure could be outlined in a
constitutional amendment and put before the state's voters in 2010. The
commission could draw the maps in 2011, and they'd be in use during the
2012 elections.

We can hope that this will get some traction this session, but somehow I doubt it will happen.  It would involve the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate thinking beyond protecting their own majorities and doing something in the best interest of the state.

The Freeman today has this outstanding piece which succinctly makes the case for why the current wave of Keynesian thinking leads to terrible policy.

This passage is especially insightful:

Usually the "government could just pay people to dig and fill holes" scenario is used by free market economists to mock the Keynesian mindset. Who knew they actually believed it! This is the kind of theoretical foundation driving the spending of nearly a trillion of your tax dollars. Truly frightening.

Further, the article warns of the long-term effects of this panic-induced spending spree:

Moreover, since the Federal Reserve will monetize the debt by continuing to
expand the money supply, it will set in motion all the evils that accompany
inflation: investment and price distortions, wealth transfers, and calculational
chaos. Any short-term illusion of recovery will be paid for with a new crisis up
the road.

Just as the easy credit, monetary expansion policies implemented to "stimulate" us out of the 2001-02 recession lead to the even larger recession we are in today; the policies being lauded as "saving" the economy now will only lead to a deeper and more severe recession in the future.

State Treasurer Janet Cowell would like for her office to be added to the "pilot" program for public-financing of campaigns according to the N&O.

Well of course she does, she's an incumbent, and what better way to guarantee your reelection than to limit the amount of money that can be spent to defeat you.

Just a bit self-serving, don't ya think?

Today's Investor's Business Daily poses a question for lefties longing for a single-payer, "Medicare for all" type health insurance scheme:

A new poll released today by Civitas Institute reveals that voters
in North Carolina are guardedly optimistic about Gov. Bev Perdue’s job
performance in office so far and the expectations she has set out for
the future.

According to 600 sampled voters, when asked how they would rate
Perdue’s performance as Governor, so far 47 percent of them said they
approved of her job performance, while only 8 percent said they
disapproved. However, 45 percent of said voters have not yet formed an
opinion.

“With a 6 to 1 approve-disapprove ratio early in her term, voters’
optimism towards Gov. Perdue’s term is apparent,” said Francis De Luca,
executive director of the Civitas Institute. “However, with nearly half
of voters not yet forming an opinion on her job performance, it shows
many voters remain guarded in their enthusiasm.”

When asked which issue they think Gov. Perdue will be most
successful at accomplishing during her term, 27 percent said they
believe it will be improving the economy and creating jobs, 19 percent
said improving education, while 10 percent said improving roads and
highways.

Fifty-nine percent of voters said tackling the economy and
unemployment should be Gov. Perdue’s highest priority in office. No
other volunteered response garnered double-digit support.

Full release here.

Check out this ad in the New York Times putting the lie to Obama's claim that "there is no disagreement" about the need for government action to "jumpstart" the economy.

Included are the names of more than 200 academic economists who "do not believe that more government spending is a way to improve economic performance." Included on the list are Nobel prize winners, North Carolina libertarian gubernatorial candidate Mike Munger, and the former Macro professor of yours truly.

Just like the global warming debate, assertions of widespread "consensus" on this topic are highly exaggerated.

Bravo to the Cato Institute for organizing and paying for the ad. 

On Monday Governor Beverly Perdue named Bill Harrison, superintendent of the Cumberland County Schools (CCS) to manage staff at the Department of Public Instruction and help guide education policy at the State Board of Education. Perdue’s appointment is an attempt to make public education more accountable and create defined lines of responsibility among the leading education organizations. According to Perdue, “This is the most important job in North Carolina.”

I applaud Perdue’s efforts to enhance accountability. The size of the job and the complexity of the challenges demand a top notch candidate who has a proven record of performance.  Does Bill Harrison fit the bill?  Mr. Harrison’s experience as a superintendent is dotted with stops in Fayetteville, Orange and Hoke County.  Since 1997 Harrison he has been superintendent of CCS. A look at State Report Cards since 2001-02 and recent graduation rates at CCS is instructive.

ABC: End of Grade Tests. The percentage of students who score at or above grade level on reading tests increased from 78.1 percent (2001-02) to 84.2 percent (2006-07).  With regard to math scores, the percentage of CCS students scoring at or above grade level declined from 84.4 percent (2001-02) to 57.4 percent (2006-07).  The slight increase in reading and significant decline in math scores mirrors the trend lines of many districts. However, the CCS scores in math and reading scores still trailed state averages for every category.

ABC Tests: End-of-Course Tests:  Only once between 2001-2007 did CCS students surpass the state average on any of the ten End of Course Tests.

Schools Making AYP: Since 2004 the number of CCS schools making AYP has generally trended downward: 75.3 percent (2004); 59.3 percent (2005); 31.8 percent (2006); 28.4 percent (2007) and 25.9 percent (2008).  CCS scores are significantly lower than state AYP scores for the same years: 85.2 percent (2004; 75.3 percent (2005); 79.3 percent (2006); 80.5 percent (2007) and 69.5 percent (2008).

Four-Year Cohort Graduation Rates: CCS slight improvement in four-year cohort graduation rates, increasing slightly from 67.4 percent (2007) to 71.3 percent (2008) mirrors the slight improvement in graduation rates state wide.  However, the CSS 2007 figure (67.4 percent) was slightly lower than the state average (69.5 percent ).  The CSS 2008 4-year cohort graduation rate is slightly higher than the 2008  state average (70 percent).

Five-Year Graduation Rates:  Over the same time period, CCS experienced a slight increase in five year cohort graduation rates, increasing from 67.2 percent (2007)  to 70.4 percent (2008).  Again, these trends mirror slight improvements on the state level as well. However, CCS figures for both years still trail state average for 2007 (70.3 percent) and 2008 (71.8 percent).

One of Mr. Harrison’s first challenges will be to boost state test scores and improve the graduation rate. Unfortunately, Mr. Harrison’s eleven years at CCS seem to lack a record of progress or accomplishment in these two areas. For most of this time, CCS has lagged consistently behind state averages in testing and graduation rates. If the new education COO position is the most important job in North Carolina, Governor Perdue should spell out the reasons why Bill Harrison is the right person for the job.

Bob Luebke

Only three months after a record-breaking voter turnout in the 2008
election, potential candidates for a North Carolina U.S. Senate
seat in 2010 all start out with very low statewide name recognition.
According to the latest Civitas Poll released today, a majority of
voters in North Carolina are not aware of either the incumbent US
Senator Richard Burr (R) or his two rumored potential opponents in
2010, Congressman Heath Shuler (D), or N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper
(D).

 “While Senator Burr enjoys a slightly higher overall favorable
rating than the other two, none of the three potential candidates are
widely known among the electorate,” said Francis De Luca, executive
director of the Civitas Institute. “Congressman Shuler is a virtual
unknown outside of his district in Western N.C.”

Current N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper and US Congressman Heath
Shuler are among the two most publicly speculated candidates to
challenge Burr.

“Despite being in office an additional three plus years, taking over
the highly publicized Duke lacrosse case, and just recently spending in
excess of $2.5 million on re-election, Attorney General Cooper has only
marginally improved his favorability since October 2005,” said De Luca.

Civitas tested voters’ opinion of Roy Cooper back in October 2005:
Favorable: 23%
Unfavorable: 4%
Unsure: 25%
Not aware: 47%

“All three candidates have a tremendous amount of work to do to
familiarize themselves with voters over the next two years. It is
almost as if voters are starting off with a blank slate of candidates
to choose from for their next US Senator,” De Luca concluded.

Read the full release here.