Carolina Journal News Reports
CJ Series

Carolina Cronyism

The John Locke Foundation and Carolina Journal are highlighting state government policies that promote cronyism. Cronyism covers a host of government activities by which an industry or even a single firm or speculator is given favors and support they could not attain in market competition. Examples include regulations helping favored businesses, laws restricting new competitors from entering a market, government-sponsored cartels and monopolies, mandates requiring consumers to buy government-favored products, and tax breaks targeting specific businesses.

(6.18.13) (TUE 6/18)CJ Flashback: Rural Center Under Fire
RALEIGH — The N.C. Rural Economic Development Center faces the most uncertainty since its creation in 1987. But this scrutiny is nothing new: Carolina Journal questioned the value of the giant grantmaking agency to North Carolina taxpayers and businesses 15 years ago — along with its cozy relationship to the politically connected.

(5.02.13) Bill Gutting Renewable Mandate Survives in Senate Committee
RALEIGH — The Senate bill would cap state-mandated utility generation of renewable energy at 3 percent of total use, and eliminate the mandate and its subsidies after 2023. The House alternative would allow the mandate to rise to 12.5 percent and then end in 2021. The support of House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, is uncertain.

(4.26.13) Hager Vows Bill Capping Renewable Energy Mandate Remains Alive
RALEIGH — A handful of House Republicans dealt a stunning blow to state Rep. Mike Hager’s bill to phase out slowly North Carolina’s subsidies, tax credits, and purchase mandates propping up renewable energy companies. Six Republicans voted against the Affordable and Reliable Energy Act in Hager’s committee Wednesday, helping to sink it on a 13-18 vote.

(4.03.13) Obamanomics on Steroids: Renewable Energy and Job Creation
Those pushing renewable energy subsidies in North Carolina are using the same faulty logic that propped up the president's failed stimulus plan.

(4.03.13) UPDATED: Bill Freezing Renewable Mandate Squeaks Through First Vote
RALEIGH — After two hours of discussion and comment earlier this afternoon, House Bill 298, a measure freezing the state’s renewable energy portfolio standard, squeaked through a House Commerce subcommittee 11-10. Republicans Tom Murray of Wake County and Ruth Samuelson of Mecklenburg County joining eight Democrats opposing the bill.

(4.02.13) Cut Your Electric Bill: Repeal the Mandate!
A bill moving through the General Assembly would block higher electricity costs that are being imposed on North Carolinians for no good reason.

(4.02.13) New Report Bats Back Claims That Renewable Energy Mandates Create Jobs
RALEIGH — A recent report "claims a great deal, but offers nothing of substance" as it touts thousands of new jobs and other economic benefits linked to North Carolina taxpayers' subsidies for renewable energy. That's the bottom-line conclusion in a new economic analysis prepared for the John Locke Foundation.

(3.28.13) JLF Report Urges Repeal of Costly, Ineffective Renewable Energy Mandate
RALEIGH — North Carolina should repeal its six-year-old renewable-energy mandate. It has raised electricity prices for consumers while failing to meet its original goals. That's the key conclusion in a new John Locke Foundation Spotlight report, which also questions new job-related justifications for the mandate. At the very least, state legislators should cap the mandate at its current level, according to the report. House Bill 298 would address that goal.

(3.26.13) Renewable Energy’s Costly Trade-Offs
It’s hard to argue that forced investments, artificially higher electricity prices, and more hardships for households lead to net benefits for North Carolina.

(3.21.13) Renewable Energy Study Using ‘Job-Years’ Likely Overstates Employment Gains
RALEIGH — A study produced by the renewable energy industry claiming significant employment gains from the adoption of green technologies has come under fire because, in part, it uses the misleading "job-years" statistic to exaggerate the positive impact of a legislative mandate forcing utilities to purchase renewable power.

(2.18.13) Renewable Energy Mandates Face Scrutiny From GOP Lawmakers
RALEIGH — Interest is coalescing around legislation that would repeal a law forcing energy companies to buy increasingly larger volumes of costly, tax-subsidized, renewable energy. Rep. Mike Hager, R-Rutherford, is drafting language for a bill as Gov. Pat McCrory pushes for offshore wind farms — a form of renewable energy — and endorsing an “all-of-the-above” approach to energy.

(2.07.13) CJ Editoral: License To Stifle
Many licensing rules are little more than a protection racket, allowing existing practitioners to block would-be competitors from offering their services. Time to clean house.

(1.10.13) Negotiating Poorly With The Big Cat
City and county governments can benefit from applying some basic business practices to how they operate.

(12.13.12) Rethinking A Misguided Mandate
North Carolina and its citizens reap no benefits from a costly scheme to prop up inefficient forms of renewable energy.

(12.13.12) A Victory Against Unwarranted Regulation
Too many state licensing rules are about nothing more than "naked transfers of wealth."

(12.04.12) Food Trucks Still Not Free of Restaurant Ties
RALEIGH — Five months after state lawmakers passed a law freeing food truck owners from a regulation that required them to rent space in a restaurant or commissary, no food truck operator has taken advantage of it. The Mobile Food Vendors Association said most don’t know about the new law, and the few who do have been thwarted by their local health departments.

(11.16.12) The FTC Witchhunt Against Google and Entrepreneurial Success
Google holds no monopoly on search engine activity. It has succeeded by innovating and outperforming its competitors.

(10.23.12) Raleigh Considers Allowing More Food Trucks
RALEIGH — Since Raleigh legalized food trucks a year ago, 18 have been permitted to operate in 11 locations. After receiving only positive feedback about the roaming restaurants, city council now is considering opening up a few more places for them to park.

(10.17.12) Nutrition Board Casts Net Far Beyond Paleo-Diet Blogger
RALEIGH — The N.C. Board of Dietetics/Nutrition has investigated nearly 50 people or organizations over the past five years, including athletic trainers, a nurse, a pharmacist, a spa, and even Duke Integrative Medicine, according to a document provided to Carolina Journal.

(10.11.12) Paleo Diet Blogger Loses Round One of Free Speech Case
RALEIGH — A federal judge has thrown out Paleo-diet blogger Steve Cooksey’s lawsuit against the North Carolina state agency he claims censored his blog and violated his freedom of speech. U.S. District Court Judge Max Coburn said Cooksey has no grounds to sue because he has not been injured yet.

(9.10.12) Lawmakers Ease Regulations on Food Trucks
RALEIGH — Until now, the “commissary rule” had forced food truck operators either to rent space in brick and mortar restaurants or commissaries or to buy their own restaurant-quality kitchens to serve as home bases for their mobile businesses. For many would-be entrepreneurs, the commissary rule is an impossible hurdle to jump.

(8.31.12) Coastal Wind Projects Come Under Fire
RALEIGH — Among the obstacles facing the Pantego project in Beaufort County are the potential for a Mitt Romney victory in the November presidential election, conflicts with military aviation training, and the prospect that the wind turbines will cause the death of too many birds.

(8.28.12) Paleo-Diet Blogger Expects to Lose First Round of Free Speech Lawsuit
RALEIGH — In an order dated Aug. 7, U.S. District Court Judge Max Coburn denied Steve Cooksey’s request for a preliminary injunction against the North Carolina Board of Dietetics/Nutrition, which Cooksey claims is stopping him from giving nutritional advice on his blog, Diabetes-Warrior.net.

(7.19.12) N.C. Film Incentives Help Government-Favored Groups, Keep Taxes Higher For Others
RALEIGH — Less than a month after North Carolina legislators approved more money for the state’s film tax incentives program, a new John Locke Foundation Spotlight Report pans film incentives as a clear example of cronyism. Another newly released Policy Report helps launch a series titled “Carolina Cronyism.”

(5.31.12) Paleo Diet Blogger Sues State for Violating Free Speech
RALEIGH — The Institute for Justice will represent Charlotte-area blogger Steve Cooksey, who was told by the North Carolina Board of Dietetics/Nutrition that it was against the law for him to give dietary advice without a state license.

(7.10.07) JLF: Energy Mandates Ignore Customer Demands
RALEIGH — New energy mandates could drive up North Carolina’s regionally high electricity rates, even though consumers have shown little interest in paying more for renewable energy sources, a John Locke Foundation Spotlight report says.