Civitas Capitol Connection March 2012 Special Edition

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Civitas CAPITOL CONNECTIONMarch 2012 • Special Edition • Vol. 4, no. 2

ments have been increasing taxes and cutting services, Caldwell County reduced the budget from $77 million in the 2008-09 budget year to $66 million for the 2011-12 budget year -- a 14 percent reduction in three years. The Caldwell Finance Officer noted, “Despite the spend-ing cuts necessary to balance the county budget, without raising taxes, vital services provided to the citizens have continued without interrup-tion.”

Not only were there no interruptions in vital services, there were improvements and expansions in a number of ar-eas. For instance, the county’s EMS service was able to ex-pand its fleet of ambulances and increase the number of ambulance stations, thus en-

abling more rapid response times. The Sheriff’s Office ex-panded its capability with the addition of equipment such as night vision, thermal imag-ing, and new tasers. In edu-cation, the current expense funding to local schools in the 2011-12 budget is $300,000 higher than the amount allo-cated in 2008-09.

In an issue that people across the country have be-come more aware of over the last three years, government debt, the county commis-sioners took a very aggressive approach to paying down the county government’s debt.

By paying off several loans early, and prudently restructuring several other loans with lower interest rates, county leaders shaved off an impressive $20 million from the county debt – a 33 percent reduction in a mere three years. As a result, an-nual debt service payments dropped by nearly half, free-ing up resources to fund local schools and core services such as public safety.

How did the county board accomplish all this in such a short period, during these trying economic times? They did it through a com-monsense, business-like ap-proach that allowed them to build a more efficient and ef-fective county government.

For instance, in 2008-09 county taxpayers were sup-porting an 8-person planning

Show Your Support forVoter ID on Page 3

BY BrIAN BAlFOur

department. Based upon in-formed feedback from county workers, that department was pared down to one employee, without any loss of output.

Additionally, significant savings were realized by hav-ing the sheriff’s department purchase used vehicles (in-stead of new), and to extend the service life of existing ve-hicles and equipment – with-out jeopardizing safety.

During the last few years of this severe economic reces-sion, far too many politicians and county governments have reacted by raising taxes and refusing to take a seri-ous look at responsibly rein-ing in government spending. Caldwell County has shown county governments across the state a fiscally-responsi-ble, common-sense approach

to building a county budget. Public officials across

North Carolina should look to Caldwell’s positive exam-ple of how to set priorities and govern in a way that ben-efits everyone.

BATTLEGROUND BASH

Coverage of this year’s Conservative Leadership

Conference begins on Page 5

Caldwell Benefits When Govt. Sets PrioritiesBUDGET BLISS

In 2008, as hardworking Caldwell County taxpayers struggled with what would come to be called the “great recession,” the county was already on its way to double-digit unemployment and resi-dents had just been hit with a 22.2 percent increase in prop-erty taxes.

The voters of Caldwell, demanding commissioners who would set priorities, pro-vide more accountability and fight for hardworking taxpay-ers, elected three new mem-bers to the Board. One of those new members was sub-sequently elected chairman.

The new board leader-ship quickly got to work and determined that it was a dra-matic increase in the size of county government that had been the primary driver of the property tax hike. They set about to make fact-based decisions as to how to ap-proach the problem and re-verse the trend of ever-higher government spending and tax increases.

The minutes from the October 2011 commission meeting show that the county

Finance Officer reported that Caldwell County’s budget has

been trimmed and the level of county debt has been significantly lowered. In addi-tion, essential county services have been maintained and local school funding has been increased, with-out raising taxes on hardworking taxpay-ers.

While across the state county govern-

The Caldwell county budget has been trimmed and the level of county debt has

been significantly lowered.

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Caldwell County’s budget was reduced by 14 percent in three years — without interruption to core services.

2 March 2012 nccivitas.org

CAPITOL CONNECTIONCivitas

The left graph shows the rise in voter registration in 2008, with Democrats leading the surge. In contrast, the graph on the right shows that most recent registrations are unaffiliated.

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Vote sign-ups take different direction

Many North Carolinians are asking the same question: Will the 2012 election be any-thing like the 2008 election? If voter registration in North Carolina is an indication, then probably not.

In 2008 the Barack Obama campaign was responsible for voter registration efforts that resulted in unprecedented in-creases in North Carolina’s voter rolls.

While Obama won North Carolina by only 14,171 votes, the state’s voter rolls increased by 678,155 voters in the 10 months leading up to the No-vember 4, 2008 election. The rate at which the voter rolls grew was unparalleled and Democrats out-registered re-publicans and unaffiliated voters in every month except December. In the months of March and April, the Demo-cratic Party out-registered the republican Party by 80,815 new voters to 3,073.

When the dust settled, the Democratic Party had in-creased by 360,143 voters, re-publicans had added 85,811 and the ranks of the unaf-filiated in North Carolina had grown by 222,794.

This time around, President Obama’s campaign has been

talking about voter registra-tion efforts since mid-2011. In August 2011 President Obama’s reelection campaign announced “Project Vote,” a campaign aimed at “increas-ing registration and participa-tion among Democratic base constituencies — including young voters, seniors, African Americans and Hispanics, plus Native Americans and gay and lesbian voters.” And in Septem-ber the campaign announced a new voter registration portal as part of an “aggressive early ef-fort to help get supporters back to the polls.”

Here in North Carolina, a December 2011 story in the Charlotte Observer described Obama volunteers who have “been active in the state for months, knocking on doors, hosting house parties, and, ev-ery day of the week, all over the state, registering people to vote.” The article quoted a campaign official saying that “the campaign has logged about 84,000 one-on-one con-versations.”

But as yet, these conversa-tions have not translated into an increase in voter registra-tions for the Democratic Party. A look at voter registration in North Carolina since the No-

vember 2008 General Election shows that there has been a net loss of 34,188 voters. Demo-crats have lost 147,112 voters and the republican numbers decreased by 44,949 voters, but the unaffiliated ranks have grown by 148,351 and the lib-ertarian Party has added 9,522 voters.

In every month since the 2008 Presidential election, un-affiliated voters have out-reg-istered both parties combined and in many months by more than a 2 to 1 margin.

Although no one knows for sure what the shift in North Carolina’s voter registration means, it is obvious voters are opting for the ranks of the unaf-filiated and the changes do not reflect the 2008 voter registration trends.

As we move clos-er to this year’s elec-tion, voter registration n u m b e r s will become even more impor tant . For instance, beginning in

October of 2011 and through February 2012, North Caroli-na saw a net increase of 73,394 voters.

Of those voters, the Dem-ocratic Party grew by 9,852 voters, republicans grew by 19,927 voters, libertarians added 1,259 to their rolls and the unaffiliated ranks grew by 46,356.

These numbers are a stark contrast to the changes in voter registration during Oc-tober 2007 through February of 2008, when the voter rolls grew by 115,200 voters and the Democratic Party added 42,074 voters, republicans picked up 24,153 voters and the unaffiliated ranks grew by 48,973.

In 2008, candidate Obama’s campaign had the momentum that led to a successful result in a historic election, and he generated the excitement that added hundreds of thousands of new voter registrations to North Carolina’s rolls.

We should remember that even with all the momen-tum and excitement of 2008, Obama won the state by less than 15,000 votes. The num-bers are telling.

At this time it does not look like we will see voter registra-tion in the 2012 election grow as it did in 2008. If voter regis-tration is an indicator of voter enthusiasm, then 2012 could be a far different election than that of 2008.

BY SuSAN MYrICk

3March 2012nccivitas.org


mistake. The legislature should

implement a health benefit ex-change only if Obamacare is up-held. until then, the legislature should take every opportunity to undermine this federally intru-sive bill and uphold North Caro-

linians’ personal freedoms. These issues were made the

focus of our Obamacare lunch & learn on March 28, the day the Supreme Court was sched-uled to hear the last of the oral arguments.

For the luncheon event, Civitas scheduled a discussion featuring experts with extensive appellate litigation and medical experience to discuss the merits of the oral arguments and the likelihood of Obamacare’s pend-ing constiutionality.

North Carolina Voter Photo ID Support

I support the requirement that voters present government-issued photo identification before being allowed to cast a vote in North Carolina. By its very nature,

in-person voter fraud is virtually undetectable without a photo ID requirement. The purpose of a voter photo ID requirement is to secure

North Carolina’s elections for all voters.

Please mail to: Voter ID C/O Civitas, 100 S. Harrington St, Raleigh, NC 27603. Questions? Email [email protected]

Civitas will keep you informed on voter ID and election reform issues and developments. (Please make copies of this form for others to sign.)

The u.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear an unprec-edented three days of oral argu-ments March 26-28 regarding the Patient Protection and Af-fordable Care Act (Obamacare). This federally intrusive law ex-cessively interferes with the pri-vate lives of Americans.

under the Constitution’s Necessary and Proper Clause, Congress can regulate economic activity if, in the aggregate, it has a substantial effect on inter-state commerce. However, non-economic activity, or even more precisely in this case, inactiv-ity, cannot fall under Congress’ commerce power. If Obam-acare’s individual mandate passes constitutional muster, Congress will be able to regulate inactiv-ity by compelling Americans to purchase health insurance. It will be the first time in history that Americans will be forced to pur-chase a product simply because they exist.

The Obama administration will argue that not being insured – not purchasing insurance – is an economic decision and thus represents commercial activity. However, the concept that some-one may participate in the mar-ketplace in the future exceeds

any current Court precedent and far surpasses Congress’ current commerce power.

Maintaining this delicate balance between Congress’ pow-er to regulate interstate activ-ity and its inability to regulate intrastate activity, or even non-activity, is crucial to preserving the authority of the states. It pre-vents Congress from using the Commerce Clause as a federal policing power.

If the individual mandate is upheld, what’s to stop Congress from forcing us to purchase only

“green” cars or even determining what food we can and cannot eat? The preservation of individ-ual rights and limits on govern-ment authority is crucial.

To demonstrate our com-mitment to a free market econo-my and healthcare system, as well as our dedication to upholding individual freedoms, the Civitas Institute has signed on to an am-icus brief, a “friend of the court” brief, against Obamacare’s indi-vidual mandate. The brief urges the Court to affirm the Florida lawsuit Eleventh Circuit’s ruling

that the mandate exceeds Con-gress’ power to regulate interstate commerce.

By signing on to this am-icus brief, Civitas is joining with other organizations and legisla-tors across the nation to show the u.S. Supreme Court that Obamacare, especially the indi-vidual mandate, is not in the best interest of our citizens and that it infringes upon our individual rights.

Our NC legislature must also stand strong against Obam-acare. legislative leadership has signed an amicus brief in sup-port of the Florida lawsuit that 26 states have joined.

Earlier in the session, the legislature also passed HB 2, the Protect Healthcare Freedom Act, which would have allowed North Carolina to join the Flor-ida lawsuit in challenging the constitutionality of the federal law. However, Governor Bev Perdue vetoed the bill and the legislature was unsuccessful in overriding the veto.

While the legislature filed an amicus brief and passed HB 2, the same House representatives passed an Obamacare exchange bill, HB 115. Fortunately, the Senate has not made the same

BY kArEN DuquETTE

Freedom hinges on Obamacare ruling

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The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington.



Death Tax May Kill Family FarmsA dramatic rise in the death

tax threatens family farms and small businesses, as some North Carolina families un-derstand all too well.

For instance, Fred Burt says his family’s land was first ac-quired from king George II around 1750. Now, however, their farm faces one of its big-gest threats — a dramatic rise in the estate tax scheduled for Jan. 1, 2013. To protect the family’s legacy, he must pay for an expensive insurance policy to pay the looming tax bill. And that hurts everyone, as he explained recently to the Civitas Institute. “I’ve tried to tell a lot of politicians that if I didn’t have to worry about that, I could’ve spent that money on buying more equip-ment, expanding the business, hiring more workers, expand-ing the economy. Instead, I spent that money trying to keep what’s ours.”

For that’s what the death tax is: an attempt to grab what a family has earned at the time when they are hurting the most. After having been repealed for a year in 2010, the death tax is back, and will take a larger bite out of estates in 2013. At the federal level, this means a 55 percent tax on estates with assets valued at $1 million or more. Prior

BY BrIAN BAlFOur

to 2013, the asset threshold stood at $5 million. Such a move will prove devastating to a growing number of family farms and small businesses.

North Carolina also im-poses a death tax, taking an additional portion of estates ranging from 0.8 percent to 16 percent — depending on the value of assets of the estate.

Some state lawmakers, however, are seeking to kill North Carolina’s death tax. Members of the revenue laws Study Committee recently drafted legislation to repeal North Carolina’s estate tax. Passing such legislation would prove to be highly popular among the state’s constituents. Furthermore, some of the ob-jections to repealing the state’s death tax are unfounded.

unsurprisingly, the no-tion of state bureaucrats tak-ing property from families upon the death of a loved one is quite unpopular among citizens. In an October 2011 statewide opinion survey, re-spondents said they oppose the North Carolina estate tax by more than a 2.5-to-1 mar-gin over those saying they sup-port the tax.

Furthermore, re-pealing the death tax will help create jobs. A recent study by the Institute for research on the Economics of Taxation concludes that estate taxes “re-sult in a reduced stock of capital,” and that such consequences are “borne by the labor force” through lost jobs. Why would this be the case?

The estate tax, like any other tax, lowers the return on invest-ment for entrepre-neurs. On the mar-gins, when that rate of return is lowered enough, entrepre-neurs determine that the risk, time and ef-fort of starting a new business or expanding their current opera-tions are not worth it. repeal-ing the death tax will encour-age more capital investment by increasing the rate of return on that investment. Increased investment means a growing economy and more jobs. So when supporters of the death

fold increase in the number of estates impacted.

Critics of legislation to re-peal North Carolina’s death tax point out that under cur-rent laws, in 2013 there is scheduled to be a full federal tax credit for state death taxes paid. This means that if an es-tate owes $10,000 in federal estate taxes and $1,000 in state taxes, they will be given a full credit of the $1,000 paid to the state to apply against their federal tax bill – bringing that down to $9,000. Thus, say the critics, repealing the state death tax will provide no relief to North Carolinians because the state savings would need to go to the federal tax bill.

This observation is likely to become irrelevant, however, because there is major sup-port at the federal level for eliminating this credit. North Carolina lawmakers would be wise to take a proactive ap-proach rather than sit back and wait until after the federal government acts. 2013 will be approaching fast, and any hesitation could prove costly to North Carolina families.

Finally, it is important to note that the state death tax generates only a tiny fraction of all state revenues. More spe-cifically, only one-half of one percent and four-tenths of one percent of state revenue in FY 2009 and FY 2010, respective-ly. Even with the significantly lower exemption affecting many more small business-es and farms, the estate tax would still generate less than 1 percent of state revenue in the future.

tax claim it only affects “the rich,” they are completely mis-taken.

Also important to remem-ber is that the lower asset threshold going into effect in 2013 means the death tax will affect a growing share of farms and businesses. Indeed, data from the state’s fiscal research division suggests the lower ex-emption could trigger a ten-

V. Mac and Peggy Baldwin are also among the North Carolina farm families worried about increases in the death tax. Speaking of the impending drop of the exemption from $5 million to $1 million, V. Mac said, “That could wipe us out.”

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BATTLEGROUNDBASH

More than 600 attendees from as far away as Macon County and Wrightsville Beach traveled to Raleigh for “Battleground North Carolina,” the Conservative Leadership Conference (CLC). Attendees heard national figures such as columnist Charles Krauthammer address vital state and national issues, including the upcoming Marriage Amendment vote and President Obama’s chances of winning the state in 2012.

The odds of the GOP re-claiming the White House in November stand at 50-50, krauthammer said in his speech to a packed dinner crowd Fri-day evening. President Obama may have overplayed his hand and “misread the mood of the country,” he explained, but re-publicans have hurt themselves by running a primary race that resembles “a clown-car demoli-tion derby.”

Nevertheless, he concluded, the moral fiber of the American people will win out in the end.

And, he added, “I have a sense of a providential hand in American history.” When things have looked darkest, the nation has always produced a George Washington or a ronald rea-gan to lead us through. The clear implication was that such a leader may emerge again in this crucial time.

The presidential race was

‘OBAMA CAN WIN NC’

Democrats are getting a jump on the GOP in setting up their state organization

-- Civitas President Francis X. De Luca

also rated a toss-up by Ar-thur C. Brooks, head of the American Enterprise Institute. Brooks predicted that President Obama’s policies would provoke a conservative backlash, just as Jimmy Carter’s disastrous presi-dency paved the way for rea-gan.

“The question is, do we need a full Jimmy Carter or a double Jimmy Carter?” he said of such a backlash. “And I don’t know the answer to that.”

The key to victory, he said, will be to convince voters that free enterprise is the fairest sys-tem. “It’s a moral fight, not an economic disagreement.”

Civitas Institute President Francis De luca’s assessment of the race was clear from the title of the talk he delivered on Sat-urday: “Obama Can Win NC.”

With their national conven-tion set to be held in Charlotte in September, the Democrats are

getting a jump on the GOP in setting up their state organiza-tion, De luca explained. Dem-ocratic convention planners have already begun appointing “welcoming committees” head-ed by “convention community organizers” in each of the state’s 100 counties.

De luca also shared results from the latest Civitas poll, taken a week before the ClC, which pitted the four remaining republican contenders against President Obama in head-to-head match-ups. Santorum polled best with a 47–47 tie, followed by romney at 46–48.

romney had performed better in previous polls.

“Maybe the long primary is hurting him,” De luca said.

Helen Rittelmeyer, formerly an editor for National Review Online, covered the CLC for the Civitas Institute.

Charles Krauthammer

BY HElEN rITTElMEYEr

Arthur Brooks



No one knows Georgia’s photo-ID voting requirement better than Brian kemp (right), who as Geor-gia’s secretary of state has been in charge of overseeing the law, which he also voted for in 2006. kemp moreover has taken part in the judicial and political battles surrounding the law.

“We sued the Obama Justice Department and won both times,” kemp told ClC on Saturday. Georgia needs federal approval to change its voting laws, under Sec-tion 5 of the Voting rights Act.

African-American turnout in-creased by 42 percent in the four years after the voter-ID law’s pas-sage, kemp said, dramatically un-dermining the argument made by the NAACP, the league of Women Voters, and other voter-ID oppo-nents that such requirements are racially discriminatory.

“It’s kept thousands of people who aren’t citizens from register-

ID LAWS PROTECT VOTING RIGHTSing to vote” was Hans Von Spak-ovsky’s assessment of the Georgia law. Von Spakovsky is a Heritage Foundation expert in election re-form and served in the Justice De-partment’s Voting rights Section under President George W. Bush.

He recounted numerous stories of voter fraud from California, Tennessee, and New York in his ClC remarks on Saturday.

“What’s the common thread in all these cases?” he said. “It wasn’t election officials who caught this. It was other people.”

He praised the efforts of True the Vote, an election-fraud watchdog group that grew out of a Houston Tea Party. True the Vote now oper-ates in North Carolina, in associa-tion with the local Voter Integrity Project, and Von Spakovsky urged attendees to get involved with the group. “And they didn’t pay me to say that,” he added.

Congressional Debate

Every ClC slot was sold out in advance, testifying to the eagerness of conservatives to find out more about the political scene. To mention just a few, workshops included “How to Be a lobbyist,” with karen Du-quette; “Online Activism,” with Tabitha Hale of the Franklin Center; the Civitas Free Market Academy, led by Brian Balfour; “Is Obamacare Constitutional?” with Edmund Haislmaier of the Heritage Foundation; and “Getting ready for 2012: Mapping the left,” with Susan Myrick.

Republican hopefuls for the 13th Congressional District (from left) Bill Randall, George Holding and Paul Coble clashed in a debate Saturday to conclude the CLC.

CLC S.R.O.



Award HonorsBold Leadership

Congressional Debate

Former Wake County School Board Chair Ron Margiotta (left) receives the first Civitas Audentia Award from Civitas

board Chair Bob Luddy. Audentia is the Latin word for cour-age and boldness, qualities Margiotta displayed in abun-

dance in his successful drive to bring Wake County students better educational opportunities.

Keynote speaker Charles Krauthammer (left) speaks with Marlene and Baker Mitchell prior to his speech Friday night

at the Raleigh Crabtree Marriott Valley hotel.

The Values Bus also rolled into Raleigh. The Heritage Foundation and the Family Research Council sponsor it to advance the cause of fiscal and moral responsibility.

Civitas Institute President Francis X. De Luca (left) presented and explained the latest polling data.

Radio personality Bill LuMaye addresses CLC participants at the Friday dinner.

CLC Meetings of the Minds



Nationally-syndicated radio host Jason lewis (left) discussed the importance of adhering to the u.S. Constitution and providing checks on government power in his lunchtime address Saturday at ClC. lewis cited 19th-century French economist Frederic Bastiat’s measure for determining whether or not government actions are proper or not: try doing that action yourself. If that action is something that would get a private citizen arrested, like using force to take property from a citizen to give it to another, then government likewise has no right to engage in such action. Also joining lewis were fellow commentators (flanking lewis, below, from left) Matt Mittan, Chad Adams and Bill luMaye.

RADIO HOST EXTOLS INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS

CLC EDUCATES AND ENERGIZES

After two days of informative breakout sessions and inspiring commentary from nationally-rec-ognized speakers such as krauthammer, Brooks and lewis, ClC attendees walked away with greater knowledge and passion to apply to the political battleground North Carolina is sure to become in 2012.



Licenses Block Road to Successanything to the standards profes-sional organizations, education agencies and school boards al-ready set for such a high-profile position.

Yet licensing has been contin-ually expanding. It is estimated

that during the 1950s only 4.5 percent of the u.S. workforce needed a license to do their jobs; today nearly 30 percent of the workforce does. Is all this really needed?

The evidence that licensing improves public safety has been very limited. For example, a re-port by the Office of Fair Trad-ing in the united kingdom con-cluded that the evidence “does not support the contention that quality justifies restriction” by licenses.

The notion that licenses protect people is further under-mined when the differences be-tween states are examined. For example, though recreational therapists must be licensed in North Carolina, only three other

states license or register people who use recreational activities to treat ailments or disabilities. Despite the lack of such licens-ing, those 46 states have avoided being ravaged by unscrupulous recreational therapists.

licensing is often supported most vehemently by people in the profession itself because it prevents competition by raising barriers for new competitors, a fact noted by great economists beginning with Adam Smith and researchers ever since. re-

licensing costs the u.S. economy more than $34 billion each year.

Given all this, how can we modify licensing in North Caro-lina? While licensing is likely to persist, we should begin a pro-gram of common sense reforms. These reforms should include lowering fees and requirements for licenses where possible, eliminating licenses that serves no regulatory purpose or engage in little regulatory activity, and combining boards that cover similar occupations.

To learn more, see our 3-part series on Occupational Licensing on nccivitas.org

Imagine a practice that re-stricts freedom, stifles competi-tion, crushes dreams of success, and takes money out of consum-ers’ pockets — often for little or no good reason. Would you call it bureaucratic red tape? re-straint of trade? Highway rob-bery?

In North Carolina and other states it’s called occupational li-censing — the practice of requir-ing a permit, registration, cer-tification or a license to pursue one’s chosen field. North Caro-lina agencies and boards impose occupational and regulatory li-censes or other requirements on more than 700 professions, rang-ing from doctors and lawyers to barbers, kickboxing promoters, ginseng dealers and cemetery salespeople.

Getting such documents from state government is often a heavy burden for people trying to improve their lives. In North Carolina, for example, manicur-ists must attain 300 hours of training and pass an exam.

Some other licenses seem su-perfluous. For instance, North Carolina requires licenses for school superintendents. It’s hard to imagine how that could add

search by university of Minne-sota professor Morris M. kleiner suggests that where occupational licensing reigns, for every five people who gain permission to enter a field, there’s one person who has been shut out.

While the cost of a license itself is usually within most peo-ple’s reach, boards often impose requirements that are highly onerous to fulfill.

For example, licensure as a landscape contractor in North Carolina requires three years of landscaping experience. But a 4-year degree in landscape ar-chitecture or horticulture counts only as 1.5 years of experience and many jobs in landscaping only receive 75 percent or 50 per-cent credit for time. This means a “three-year requirement” could take, for example, four years of college plus three years of work in a landscaping job.

Consumers ultimately pay the price for these often ridicu-lous regulations. For example, in the u.S. dental fees were found to be 14 to 16 percent higher in states with the strictest dental li-censing laws compared to those with weaker ones. It is estimated by the reason Foundation that

Licensure as a manicurist

requires only 40 hours of training in Iowa, but 300

in North Carolina.

BY ClArk rIEMEr

BY NEAl INMANRedistricting ‘reform’ drive could backfire

In the aftermath of the 2011 redistricting, a number of good government groups and legisla-tors are pushing for “indepen-dent” commissions that would take electoral map-making out of the hands of lawmakers. But the experiences of other states suggest these efforts can easily fail.

One model, the “citizens’ commission” used in Califor-nia, has significant drawbacks, as shown by how congressional districts were redrawn in 2011. The passage of a 2010 ballot ref-erendum removed redistricting powers from the California leg-islature. Many observers expect-ed the heavily Democratic Cali-fornia Congressional delegation to gain a few more republicans.

However, Golden State Democrats were the major ben-eficiaries of the new map, with republicans expected to lose anywhere from two to seven seats in the u.S. House after the 2012 elections. As a damning new report from the generally left-leaning group ProPublica illustrates, California Demo-crats were able to manipulate the commission through a co-ordinated series of astroturfed pressure groups. California’s hapless republicans apparently made no efforts to protect their own members.

Because of flaws in the com-mission’s design, it was left without the experience or data necessary to recognize political manipulations. The commis-sion chose to not view data reflecting par-ty registration or incumbent r e s i d e n c y . Anyone with the signifi-cant political e x p e r i e n c e necessary to u n d e r s t a n d the impact of the maps was excluded. In addition, the commiss ion was not given sufficient re-sources to pay for staff, expens-es, or even an effective organiza-tion system for the thousands of suggestions and maps received. The resulting map probably preserved nearly every Demo-cratic incumbent, including the heavily endangered reps. Jerry McNerney, Judy Chu, and lin-da Sanchez, and makes a 2012 Democratic recapture of the House much more likely.

Another redistricting model with significant nationwide support, an independent com-

mission appointed from mem-bers of both parties, ran into difficulties in Arizona this year.

The Arizona board is com-posed of two republicans, two

Democrats, and one “non-partisan” member to act as a tie-breaker. This independent member is supposed to be free of bias or connections to the political structure of either par-ty. However, Colleen Matthis, the independent member dur-ing the 2011 process, failed to disclose her husband’s involve-ment with a Democratic legis-lative campaign. Matthis voted with Democrats on the board to block the GOP members from choosing their preferred legal

counsel, and joined with the Democrats to hire a mapping firm involved with the Obama campaign and Wisconsin recall drives against GOP officials.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and the heavily republican l eg i s l a tu re alleged the c o m m i s -sion violated open meet-ing laws and disre-garded other i m p o r t a n t r e d i s t r i c t -ing factors, among other sins. They a t t e m p t e d

to remove Matthis, but these moves were reversed by the state Supreme Court.

Both sides of the aisle can gain an underserved electoral boost from an independent re-districting commission. New Jersey’s independent commis-sion created a map that will likely result in a six-republi-can, six-Democrat congressio-nal delegation from dark-blue New Jersey, prompting protests by Democrats.

However, a third model

shows some promise. A com-mission composed of legislative staff has been used somewhat successfully in Iowa, and a bi-partisan group of legislators is attempting to bring this meth-od to North Carolina. House Bill 824, “Nonpartisan redis-tricting Process,” would estab-lish this commission model.

Caution is needed before implementing this legislation. legislators may be justifiably suspicious regarding the loyal-ties of a “non-partisan” staff commission.

rapidly-changing judicial interpretations of the Voting rights Act also leave legisla-tors uncertain of the impact of their legislation. Codifying the staff model into law too quickly could result in map-making be-ing burdened by outdated defi-nitions of federal law.

Additionally, many lawmak-ers and citizens have a philo-sophical objection to unelected officials making decisions that will impact election outcomes for a decade.

For these and other reasons, House Bill 824 has passed the state House but remained in committees in the state Sen-ate. North Carolina lawmakers should move cautiously in this area, where well-intentioned ef-forts can easily backfire.

The 10 Most Unnecessary

Licenses in NC

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10March 2012 nccivitas.org


‘No Child’ Waivers May Be D.C. Ployed to circumvent Congress and issue waivers to states that agree to his administration’s preferred education policies – a move that

will not provide genuine relief to states and schools. The waivers are conditions-based, and states

a result of the waivers, they’ll be binding their hands in the long run by ceding more control to Washington. . . ..”

Do states need relief from NClB? The Bush administra-tion’s signature education pro-gram had lofty goals and contro-versial mechanisms for measur-ing progress. The nearly decade-old law was supposed to end the achievement gap and ensure that all students were proficient in math and reading by 2014. Dis-appointingly, the achievement gap still persists, and our students are far from proficient in either subject. States are now facing the punishment of failing to reach the goals articulated in NClB.

Instead of offering states the opportunity to opt out of the 2014 NClB legislation, the Obama administration said it will grant waivers to those states that did what Washington wanted in terms of school reform. Trans-lation: do it our way and jump through more hoops. In order to get waivers states have to promise to implement college- and career-ready standards for students, set

will only have access to the “re-lief” they offer if they agree to re-forms such as adopting common standards and tests – a huge step

toward nationalizing curriculum. So while states might feel some temporary relief from NClB as

Twenty-six states and the Dis-trict of Columbia have requested waivers from the Federal govern-ment for No Child left Behind (NClB) legislation. The waivers free the states from changes re-quired of schools and states who fail to meet the goals outlined in NClB. Nearly all states have failed to meet the goals outlined in the legislation.

Don’t be fooled. This is not an innocent exercise in help-ing struggling states and schools. The Obama administration is us-ing the waivers as a strategic tool to get the states to federalize the curriculum and give Washington greater control over education policy. Because President Obama stands little chance of passing leg-islation to do so, the administra-tion is seeking to impose policy preferences through bureaucratic control by the Department of Education.

In a recent column on the subject in CNN, lindsay Burke, Senior Policy Analyst at the Heri-tage Foundation, describes the details of the proposed waivers on policy when she writes:

“Nearly everyone agrees that No Child left Behind is broken. But President Obama has decid-

There they go again: The North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) continues to pump out misleading claims about Civitas and the state’s public school system.

last month’s Civitas article Behind the DPI School Personnel Numbers analyzed changes in North Carolina school person-nel over the past year using data provided by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruc-tion.

Based on the factual errors, misrepresentations and faulty claims made in the February 8 NCAE Daily Political Brief-ing, however, you would have thought NCAE had never read the article. let’s review a few of the most prominent claims.

NCAE: Civitas falsely claims 4,720 added state-sup-ported teachers.

Behind the DPI School Per-sonnel Numbers reviewed final school personnel data and re-ported “more than 4,600 addi-tional state-funded employees”– 4,613 to be exact. Nowhere is it stated that these are all new jobs. Nowhere is it stated that these are all teaching positions.

The most recent Civitas re-port and an earlier one on pre-liminary but very similar staff-ing figures make it clear that they are discussing state-sup-ported or state-funded educa-

NCAE Claims Clash With Factstion employees, not state-sup-ported teachers as reported in the NCAE claim.

NCAE: The General As-sembly’s claim to have ex-panded teacher positions is false.

DPI school personnel data (not numbers “cooked up” by Civitas) show the overall num-ber of teachers (state, federal and local) declined by 915 in FY 2011-12 compared to the prior year. However, when looking at the number of state-funded jobs, the number most directly impacted by policies of the General Assembly, it’s a dif-ferent story.

Because the state picked up funding for about 80 percent of the jobs previously funded through federal stimulus money – many of which were teacher jobs – the DPI data report the net number of state-funded teachers actually increased by 2,057 to 81,020. About 86 percent of all teacher jobs in North Carolina are now state-funded.

Furthermore, the budget bill also allotted an addition-al $62 million this year and $63 million next year to add 1,124 teaching positions for class size reduction in Grades 1 through 3.

NCAE claims the 2011-12 state budget adversely impact-

ed the classroom and was the cause of massive job losses.

DPI data reveal there were 4,840 fewer public school per-sonnel than the previous year – a fact reported in both Ci-vitas school personnel articles but conveniently ignored by NCAE. But the data also show that the loss of federal funding – not cuts to the state budget – was the major impetus for job losses. The expiration of federal stimulus money resulted in the loss of 7,420 federal jobs, and 2,033 local funded school em-ployee positions. But because these facts don’t fit NCAE’s nar-rative, it avoids them.

How did job losses impact the classroom? Of the 4,840 education employees who lost jobs last year, only about 19 percent were teachers. Non-certified personnel (e.g., teacher assistants, clerk typists, etc.), made up about 72 percent of all job losses last year. The loss of a job is a difficult event in anyone’s life, no matter what the position. However, accurate figures disprove NCAE’s claim.

NCAE’s penchant for in-venting claims, misinformation and ignoring cold hard facts shows the lengths to which the organization will go to discredit those who dare to challenge the failed status quo.

BY BOB luEBkE

new student achievement targets and create evaluation systems for principals and teachers that in-clude standardized test scores as at least one of the measures, find ways to reward top-performing schools and how best to inter-vene with struggling schools.

Why should this concern Americans? The practice of granting waivers raises new legal and constitutional questions. The Obama administration is willing to grant waivers if states agree to principles outlined in Blueprint for reform, the administration’s proposal for reauthorizing the El-ementary and Secondary Educa-tion Act, NClB’s parent legisla-tion.

Many conservatives contend the waivers will allow the ad-ministration in essence to craft a whole new law even if it is only “principles” that are agreed upon.

Although government-by-waiver has been around for a while, the evolution of far-rang-ing legislation like No Child left Behind is a crapshoot. Execu-tion and implementation mat-ter as much as what is actually in the legislation. It looks like the Obama administration is think-ing that the landscape and the education politics have changed sufficiently to make a legislative defeat unlikely.

Those who believe questions regarding public education ought to be decided locally should be alarmed at these developments. legal prohibitions against federal control of the curriculum (e.g. common core standards) have failed to stop growing federal power over public education.

Billions in federal spending has bought little academic prog-ress for American schools. The disappointing results have failed to curb federal intrusion into lo-cal schools.

That states would still will-ingly trade away control of public education in exchange for federal funds and agreement to a set of new principles is a decision void of logic and evidence.

BY BOB luEBkE

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New Stats Reveal Higher NC Unemployment On January 24, 2012 the

state Division of Employment Security (DES) announced that North Carolina’s December 2011 unemployment rate had dropped one-tenth of one per-cent from 10 to 9.9 percent. At the time, a spokesman for the Department of Commerce said; “We are seeing some moderate signs of improvement.”

The January DES report showed that the number of peo-ple unemployed decreased by 5,193 to 446,402 and that the number of people employed in-creased by 9,532, to 4,061,136. Since December 2010, the number of people unemployed has increased by 9,154. The state unemployment rate in De-cember 2010 was 9.8 percent.

On February 1, 2012, one

week after DES announced that the statewide unemploy-ment rate had decreased, the department released the unem-ployment rates for individual counties. This report was not so promising.

DES revealed that in De-cember unemployment rates increased in 93 out of the state’s 100 counties, decreased in four counties and remained the same in three. Fifty-nine counties had rates 10 percent or higher while 41 counties showed unemploy-ment rates between 5 and 10 percent. The county report also showed that rates had increased in 13 of the 14 state’s Metropol-itan Statistical Areas.

The second report corrected the earlier report in two areas. Instead of an increase of 9,532

people employed in December, there was a decrease of 32,021 people employed; instead of the number of people unem-ployed decreasing by 5,193, the number of people unemployed actually increased by 12,412 in December.

The inconsistencies don’t stop there. As of this writing, DES has adjusted December’s unemployment numbers — in-stead of 9.9 percent, the Decem-ber unemployment rate is now reported as a whopping 10.4 percent (seasonally adjusted).

While North Carolina’s un-employment numbers seem to be shooting upwards, the na-tional unemployment figures continue to fall and in Decem-ber were at 8.5 percent, almost 2 percentage points lower than North Carolina’s.

BY SuSAN MYrICk

State Unemployment Rates December 2011

Source: Division of Employment SecurityMap data preliminary and not seasonally adjusted



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WATCHDOGSSessions Equip Citizens with Investigative Skills

Instead of highlighting another North Carolina scandal, this week we report on how Civitas is train-ing citizen-journalists to expose fraud, waste and abuse in local and state government.

Close to 150 activists participated in the four investigative journalism sessions at the 2012 Civitas Institute Conservative leadership Conference, held in raleigh on March 2 and 3. Trent Seibert, founder and Execu-tive Editor of Texas Watchdog, led the training. Seibert sought to drive home one fundamental point: with a little training and determination, the average citizen can make a difference.

Seibert, a veteran newspaperman, shared how downsizing in the news business has created a need for aver-age citizens to assume the newspaper’s traditional role as government watch-dog. Among other things, Seibert showed attendees how to make public

records requests, investigate govern-ment grants, peruse State Auditor re-ports and access the FBI files of famous personalities.

Seibert’s sense of humor and infec-tious love of reporting contributed to the full classrooms and glowing reviews. Becky from raleigh said the training was “a first-rate presentation that provided practical information that encouraged and prepared me for my first attempt at investigative journalism.”

This year’s Conservative leadership Conference marks Seibert’s sixth trip to North Carolina to train aspiring citizen- journalists.

On Saturday Matt Willoughby and Bob luebke, both of the Civitas Institute, led the session “Digging for

Trent Seibert of Texas Watchdog

BY BOB luEBkE

Dirt.” luebke, a Senior Policy Analyst at Civitas who writes about education issues, led a PowerPoint presentation ti-tled “Public records 101.” The presen-tation covered state statutes and public records, talked about what is and is not a public record; discussed how to make public records requests;s and shared tips to expedite or avoid protracted public records requests.

Willoughby, a veteran news reporter

with the Civitas Institute, shared how his interest and experience investigating state grants on NC OpenBook piqued his curiosity and motivated him to de-velop a tutorial so others could investi-gate how state grants are distributed. In a later session, Willoughby also shared with attendees the importance of work-ing sources. Tips from local sources put him on the “chicken nuggets” story in Hoke County, North Carolina, a story later carried on the Drudge report, Fox News and several national media outlets. Willoughby credits his ability to work sources and to gain additional tips for two follow-up stories regard-ing the school lunch controversy in Hoke County.

Since 2009, Civitas has trained over 600 citizen journalists. Many have gone on to post their work on blogs and web sites and to have made important contributions to their communities.

Activists interested in learning more about citizen journalism may be interested to know the Civitas In-stitute offers classes in how to expose government waste, fraud and abuse. If you’re interested in learning more about Civitas IJ training or schedul-ing a session, contact Bob luebke ([email protected]) or call him at 919-834-2099.

Since 2009, Civitas has trained over 600 citizen journalists.

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Civitas Capitol Connection March 2012 Special Edition

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