A new report from the John Locke Foundation outlines ways to improve the North Carolina General Assembly, focusing on transparency, efficiency, and accountability.
A bill that would open disciplinary records of government employees is crawling through the Senate, and employee unions and Democrats are determined to kill it. Lawmakers filed Senate Bill 355, the Government Transparency Act of 2021, in late March, and it has been mired in committee since. Republic Sens. Norm Sanderson of Craven County, Bill...
With no meaningful state law giving North Carolinians the right to see disciplinary records of those they employ in state and local government jobs, how will we ever know? How will we know about the public school teacher who molested students in numerous mountain schools? About the superintendent of schools in the Piedmont who was...
Senate Bill 355, legislation that promotes and enhances public access to the performance records of public employees, is generating significant resistance from various state organizations that have several things in common—they are all union related and they are determined to continue operating without public scrutiny. The Government Transparency Act of 2021, championed by Sen. Norman...
N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein is hiding something, say Senate Republicans challenging a back-room, Democrat-led deal to rewrite state election laws. Stein — a Democrat who’s running for re-election and is the state’s top law enforcement officer — might learn something about government transparency from the N.C. State Board of Elections, legislators say. The NCSBE...
As Republican lawmakers fight Gov. Roy Cooper over the COVID-19 economic lockdowns, even their approach to news briefings has diverged. Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, held an in-person news conference Monday, May 18. But secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Mandy Cohen says she will continue virtual briefings as she encourages...
Carolina Journal Executive Editor Don Carrington knows a thing or two about uncovering stories of corruption in government. As an investigative reporter for CJ Carrington has broken several stories detailing cases of government corruption and incompetence. Carolina Journal Associate Editor Lindsay Marchello sat down with Carrington on Feb. 15 to talk about his career and the...
If places adopt new policies and get good results — or even just look like they might get good results — policymakers in other places can feel like they’ll fall behind if they don’t follow suit.
The following editorial was published in the August 2016 print edition of Carolina Journal: Several members of the Investment Advisory Committee, a state commission that advises the treasurer about financial strategies for the state’s substantial investment portfolio, were surprised to learn at a recent meeting that, unlike many elected and appointed officials in the federal...
