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Opinion

Earls is right — legislature should reform Judicial Standards now

As a  conservative commentator, I rarely find agreement with Democrat NC Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls. However, today I do.  The North Carolina Judicial Standards Commission should not be in the business of policing political speech. As reported by Carolina Journal,  Earls — the most liberal and outspoken member of the state Supreme Court — has filed...

Dallas Woodhouse
Opinion

GOP legislators welcome unaffiliated primary voters… permanently

Legislative Republicans sent a clear signal to the largest group of registered voters in the Tar Heel state, unaffiliated voters, that they are welcome to continue voting in Republican primary contests, now and forever more.   Included in a recently passed election bill is a requirement that unaffiliated voters be allowed to vote in a political...

Dallas Woodhouse
Opinion

Pastor Mark Harris seriously considering running for Congress

With Congressman Dan Bishop’s (NC-8) announcement that he will retire from Congress to run for North Carolina attorney general, former congressional candidate Mark Harris, a Republican, tells Carolina Journal he is seriously considering making a third try for Congress in the same area, despite the controversial 2018 election that saw Harris’ victory overturned due to...

Dallas Woodhouse
Opinion

Kidwell running for NC House Speaker

Rep. Keith Kidwell, R-Pamlico, chair of the North Carolina House’s conservative Freedom Caucus, has declared his intent to run for House speaker to succeed Speaker Tim Moore. First elected to the House in 2015, Moore has said he will not run again. Moore set the chamber’s record at five terms as speaker. “We need to...

Dallas Woodhouse
Opinion

Justice Morgan’s likely run is good news for NC Dems

It has been a little quiet around Raleigh, as legislators finish up a marathon legislative session. Democrats have been beat down in the capital with Republican legislative supermajorities working their policy will over the objections of Democrats, including Gov. Cooper.  Yet, Democrats have reasons for hope because of a few recent developments.  One of the...

Dallas Woodhouse

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Opinion

Fact, fiction, and fixes to NC’s prop-plane election bill

The North Carolina Senate recently passed two important bills that seek improvement in how we elect people and who administrates elections in North Carolina. The Senate has made mostly reasonable adjustments to election procedures that should not overly burden any qualified citizen from voting.  Here we separate fact from fiction and add our proposed fixes...

Dallas Woodhouse
Opinion

Democrats needed Tricia Cotham in 2007 but then turned on her

North Carolina Democrats desperately needed a fresh-faced 29-year-old Tricia Cotham to succeed when she was appointed to Mecklenburg Counties House District 100 in 2007. The North Carolina Democratic Party was mired in corruption and scandal. The North Carolina Democrat party WAS the face of corruption and scandal. The North Carolina Democrats were the jailbird caucus. Cotham...

Dallas Woodhouse
Opinion

Justice Earls openly flouting NC Code of Judicial Conduct

Part 2 of 2. Read Part 1 here: Democrat North Carolina State Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls, a well-known liberal activist before and during her time on the bench, appears to be actively ignoring and defying North Carolina’s Code of Judicial Conduct, the state’s ethical rule book for judges and Supreme Court justices.   Woodshed recently...

Dallas Woodhouse
Opinion

Three years in, Cooper, Stein, Earls still fighting for soft-on-crime policies

In January of this year, North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls spoke glowingly of her work on the state’s Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice. Along with Attorney General Josh Stein, Earls is the co-chair of the task force, created in the summer of 2020 by Gov. Roy Cooper.  According to the task...

Dallas Woodhouse
Opinion

Haley’s candidacy can elevate transparency to top issue

As a public policy organization, the John Locke Foundation polls, examines and opines on political races as a means to an end. The end being sound public policy that encourages responsible citizens, strong families, and successful communities committed to individual liberty and limited, constitutional government. No one person nor political party has all the answers...

Dallas Woodhouse
Opinion

GOP lays down the law. Dems work the refs

Moments after Cleveland County state Rep. Tim Moore was selected for a historic and record-setting fifth term as speaker, the Kings Mountain Republican made it clear that if North Carolina legislative Democrats and Gov. Roy Cooper want to obstruct the Republican majority, it will be tough sledding. In the Senate, Republicans have exactly the 30...

Dallas Woodhouse