Drats! Foiled again

We have noted on many occasions the illogical, convoluted and partisan arguments expressed by Wilmington StarNews editorial editors. A recent editorial view takes us to a laughable level. (link)

In summary, we’re told that Republicans in the General Assembly plan to “create gridlock at the polls” because they have caused $600,000 to “mysteriously” disappear from the state budget so that election officials won’t be able to train poll workers.

As a result, these ignorant folks will give out the wrong ballots unnoticed by apparently also ignorant voters. Without that money (and the usual suspect: $4 million in matching federal cash) voters will be standing in long lines at the polls while workers fumble with equipment and try to figure out how to “ensure that human error does not compromise election results.”

Of course, editors are not at all concerned about the human error of allowing noncitizens or otherwise ineligible people to vote. They’re more upset that getting a wrong ballot may “disenfranchise legitimate voters.” But why worry? Probably only a few hundred thousand illegal aliens reside in the state. When told how to vote by Democrat operatives, guess how they’ll cast the ballots? But who knew they weren’t citizens? Virtually anyone with an address can vote.

Editors tell us that Republicans will “create a new obstacle for the young, the poor, the elderly and other groups.” They say that the “democratic process is harmed” by requiring voters to prove who they claim to be by producing photo identification. This presumably is an unbearable hardship on the groups victimized by Republicans and enabled by Democrat policies.

Gridlock will happen when “hundreds of thousands of people who lack photo ID,” and those with identification that doesn’t match their registration information, stall the polling lines. Get ready for it, say editors, because Republicans cut the early voting period and failed to “properly fund the election.”

Well, what can we say? Those wascally Wepublicans continue to gum up the good works of Democrats who welcome all voters—whoever they may, or may not, be.

Oak Island. . . Another Responder DWI . . .

Wasn’t all that long ago that Oak Island had a Fire Chief in trouble with DWI and that was a nightmare.  And now it happens again?  This time with a water rescue asst. chief.

Short version, helicopter flips near the pier, asst. chief responds, is on the radio, says he wasn’t on duty, hits a car at the scene, later discovered at his truck, in his driveway, blows a .14.

What?  It’s pretty bad when the folks doing the rescues probably need a rescue themselves!  Geesh!

City Leaders Avoiding Tough Question? Any questions?

With apologies to Monty Python’s “Holy Grail” one cannot look at the recent story at WWAY and not think that the new city motto as it relates to public communication is “Run Away!”

Local TV station WWAY invited the city manager and/or Mayor Saffo to sit down and answer questions about the pending baseball stadium, convention center and the budget.  Saffo indicated he wanted to see the questions ahead of time.  Surprisingly, the station agreed to do so.  Even then, the Mayor never showed or returned the calls.  City Manager Sterling Cheatham also was a  no-show.

Councilman Charlie Rivenbark was also asked for an interview and indicated he was out of town to one of their reporters.  But then the general manager ran into him an eating establishment downtown an hour later.

There is much that can be said, but the short version of what this is NOT is leadership!  The city is responsible for creating the strife on the baseball issue, it shouldn’t run and hide from the issue IT created.  Running away is not a mark of greatness or vision, it is a sign of shame and/or fear.

Privatizing The City?

Limited government advocates have long hailed ideas such as “competitive sourcing” and “priority based spending” as a way to same taxpayer dollars from the local level to the White House.  A great story in the NY Times illustrates that it CAN work if there is a dedication to a high level of service and accountability.  Wilmington just passed a 20% increase in its tax rate. Roughly half of that was an outright tax increase even as city leaders duck the media on why they are doing what they’re doing. From the NYTimes:

The entire (City of Sandy Springs, pop. 94,000) is housed in a generic, one-story industrial park, along with a restaurant and a gym. And though the place has a large staff, none are on the public payroll. O.K., seven are, including the city manager. . . Since the day it incorporated, Dec. 1, 2005, it has handed off to private enterprise just about every service that can be evaluated through metrics and inked into a contract.  . . city manager, John F. McDonough, who points not only to the town’s healthy balance sheet but also to high marks from residents on surveys about quality of life and quality of government services.

Impressive, and saving money with high satisfaction, why are NC cities so reluctant to try? Oh, and they save money:

When the competition (for services) was over, the town had spread duties to a handful of corporations and total annual outlays dropped by $7 million.

Much more on the article here.