RALEIGH – At the beginning of this year, North Carolinians were concerned about the economy and other matters but remained optimistic. Having just elected a new governor and president, many voters believed that a welcome change was in the offing.
In its first three monthly polls for 2009, the Civitas Institute found a plurality of voters willing to say that North Carolina was headed in the right direction. But a turnabout was just ahead.
In April, the percentages flipped – 49 percent said the state was on the wrong track while 35 percent said it was on the right direction. The pessimism has only deepened since then. In the July sample, the wrong track/right track split was 53 percent to 34 percent.
Why are so many North Carolinians so upset about the direction of their state? Well, take a look at news headlines from over the weekend (summed up conveniently at the Monday edition of Carolina Journal Online):
• The state’s jobless rate remained at 11 percent in July, up from 6.3 percent in July 2008. The rate has been in double digits for six months. North Carolina isn’t used to hosting one of the worst-performing state economies in the country.
• The scandal surrounding former Gov. Mike Easley just keeps getting worse and worse. The Raleigh News & Observer reported that a former Highway Patrol captain close to the Easleys had ordered their travel records destroyed.
• Meanwhile, State Auditor Beth Wood testified before a federal grand jury about her handling of an audit looking at how Mary Easley got her N.C. State job. An investigator who worked for former State Auditor Les Merritt disputed Wood’s version of events – and Wood’s version didn’t make herself look too good, anyway, by suggesting that the state auditor’s office ought to defer to the judgment of powerful Sen. Tony Rand, also acting as an attorney for Mary Easley.
• The longest-serving state legislator, Sen. R.C. Soles, is reportedly the subject of separate federal and state criminal probes examining his financial and personal relationships with a number of troubled young males, most with criminal convictions. On Sunday evening, in an incident that appears to be unrelated to any of the live investigations, two of Soles’ former legal clients tried to break into his house. Soles shot one in the leg.
• The national health care debate continues to flare up in North Carolina, with many citizens troubled about the prospect of a federal takeover of the health insurance market – make no mistake, that is exactly what the Obama administration proposes – and some of their own state and federal representatives continuing to disparage concerned citizens as “mobs.”
• Having just raised the tax burden in North Carolina by another $1 billion, state officials are seeking ways to force online shoppers to pay sales taxes even when there is no reasonable nexus between their transactions and the use of state or local government services. Taxpayers now face the prospect of being hit up for higher taxes coming and going.
Is it any wonder that North Carolinians aren’t exactly enthusiastic about how things are going in our state right now? They see an ineffective and corrupt government in Raleigh. They see an ineffective and reckless government in Washington. They see rising taxes and falling economic prospects.
Legislators and statewide elected officials are most fortunate that they won’t be facing the voters at the polls this year. But, hey, all you municipal officials and school board members, watch out!
Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation