Dairy is cross-posted from www.BlueNC.com
Here is what the Raleigh N&O wrote in this week's Notable Numbers on its editorial page:
66: The percentage of the tax cut passed by the 2013 General Assembly that will go to the wealthiest 1 percent of North Carolinians
$513 million: The original estimate for the cost of that 2013 tax plan
$1.1 billion: The latest estimate of its cost to the state
We have an oligarchy ruling our country. We have to oppose the Koch Brothers and Carl Rove and their minions like Thom Tillis. Under Speaker Tillis there was an income transfer from the typical and lower level taxpayers to the top 1% of NC taxpayers. Republicans are disdainful of any transfer from the wealthy to the poor, but they supported in NC a 660 million Dollar transfer of tax money-- our dollars--to the Oligarchy of the 1%. I can think of dozens of better uses for that money for the majority of North Carolina's citizens.
Tillis (one reader called him accurately "Shillis") brags about job creation as a result of these tax cuts, but the NC economic recovery lags and unemployment is still high.
It appears the mainstream media including even the Charlotte Observer and the Atlantic magazine have not really given credit to Sen. Kay Hagan, who as a newly minted freshman Senator cast an unpopular vote for the Affordable Care Act, any credit for her work in the Senate.
I think Senator Hagan has more liberal tendencies than her US Senate record to date reflect, but she is in synch with the varied electorate that she represents. Thom Tillis represents the worst of the worst in NC. He panders to the ultra right wing of the GOP, and then flip flops when the General Election season gets underway. He is not just wrong on many, many issues, he is mean spirited.
The Charlotte Observer's editorial endorsing Sen. Kay Hagan for re-election is lukewarm at best. Here is the intro:
Kay Hagan has been a disappointment to many voters who sent her to the U.S. Senate six years ago – and to this editorial board, which recommended her.
She has done about the minimum you’d expect from a U.S. senator, with few if any notable legislative achievements. She has a chronic reluctance to take firm positions on controversial issues, leaving voters wondering what she believes in and will act upon.
But then the O's editorial moves quickly to the reasons why North Carolina must re-elect Sen. Kay Hagan:
Since he ascended to N.C. House leadership in 2011, [Thom] Tillis has consistently shepherded legislation and supported policies that are bad for North Carolinians.
He harshly cut off long-term employment benefits for tens of thousands of unemployed North Carolinians, forcing them and not businesses to pay the long-term price for unemployment funds the state owed the federal government.
After a long list of other reasons to vote against Thom Tillis, the Observer says this:
Tillis is, however, a friend to corporations and the wealthy, whom he believes will create jobs if they receive tax breaks and other benefits. That philosophy is not borne out by history, and it will hurt North Carolina, as it has other states. It’s the wrong philosophy to send to Washington.
This is exactly right.
Before the GOP's complete domination of political power in NC, I was proud to call myself a North Carolinian. Republican Governor McCrory and the leadership in the legislature are trying to turn back the clock, and they have succeeded in doing so in many ways already. With voting law changes and incredible Gerrymandering since 2010, our state is suffering.
This is an important election for many reasons, but the US Senate race is the most important among them. I proudly cast my vote for Senator Kay Hagan on Thursday.