Burr's curious, welcome reversal on DADT

We never thought we'd see the day when Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., would vote to repeal the military's discriminatory "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The nation's ninth most conservative senator, as ranked by the National Journal, declared "No one can get to the right of me" when he announced his re-election campaign.

Yet there he was on Saturday, among a handful of Republicans siding with Democrats to allow gays to serve openly in the military. He said he recognized how society has changed and that "this policy is outdated." Good for him for being on the right side of history.

Still, it was a puzzling vote because Burr has consistently said now is not the time to change the policy. Even more puzzling: He still says that. "I remain convinced that the timing of this change is wrong," he said after the vote. Given that he voted against cloture Saturday morning, why the sudden change later in the day?

-- Posted by the Observer editorial board

Marriage wanes for N.C. working class?

Here's an intriguing report. A new study by the National Marriage Project finds 44 percent of those with high school diplomas but no college degrees now have children without being married. That's more than triple what it was in the 1970s. And it's not mostly teen mothers; half of those nonmarital births were to couples living together.

It's also not mostly people living in big northern cities. According to the report, it's the same among communities that make up the bedrock of the American middle class — small-town Maine, the working-class suburbs of southern Ohio, the farmlands of rural Arkansas, and the factory towns of North Carolina. Data reveal a consistent story: Divorce is high, nonmarital childbearing is spreading, and marital bliss is in increasingly short supply.

The 2010 issue of The State of Our Unions, "When Marriage Disappears: The Retreat from Marriage in Middle America," concludes that in Middle America, marriage is in trouble.
Data indicate that trends in nonmarital childbearing, divorce, and marital quality in Middle America increasingly resemble those of the poor, where marriage is fragile and weak.

However, among the highly educated and affluent, marriage is stable and appears to be getting even stronger. In the early 1980s, only 2 percent of babies born to highly educated mothers were born outside of marriage, compared to 13 percent of babies born to moderately educated mothers and 33 percent of babies born to mothers who were the least educated. In the late 2000s, only 6 percent of babies born to highly educated mothers were born outside of marriage, compared to 44 percent of babies born to moderately educated mothers and 54 percent of babies born to the least-educated mothers.

"When Marriage Disappears" finds that shifts in marriage attitudes, increases in unemployment, and declines in religious attendance are among the trends driving the retreat from marriage in Middle America. These findings were released this week by the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia and the Center for Marriage and Families at the Institute for American Values.

Backroom dealing at county commission?

Sounds like an attempted coup is in the works at the Mecklenburg County board of commissioners. If it happens, Chairman Jennifer Roberts, a Democrat, could lose the gavel.

Roberts, a Democrat, was the top vote-getter in last month's election and thus stands to be chairman. But that's tradition, not law.

Word is that fellow Democrat Harold Cogdell is making his own effort to be chairman. He would probably need to secure Republican votes to make that happen. Democrats control the board by a 5-4 margin.

Roberts posted this on her Facebook account today: "The voters of Mecklenburg have indicated their continued support for me as top vote getter. Harold Cogdell will come round to realize that now is not the time for a personal power play."

She added: "It is time for the County Commission to focus on service, and the needs of the community. It is not time to be divisive and to succumb to personal ambition and backroom deal making that does not serve those who elected us."

In an e-mail to the Observer this morning, Roberts said she and Cogdell "trust and understand each other." But she also referred to "budget promises" being made as part of "back room conversation."

Cogdell could not be immediately reached for comment. One possibility: Cogdell is promising to vote for a revenue-neutral tax rate as part of next year's revaluation, and to make Republican Jim Pendergraph the vice chair. That might win him the four Republican votes which, with his own, would be enough to seize the chairmanship.

It all makes for captivating political intrigue, but also perhaps more than that. Cogdell and the Republicans could be cutting deals on not raising next year's tax rate. That would contradict Cogdell's campaign pledge not to make promises on the tax rate before he knew how exactly the budget numbers were shaping up.

We're not casting a vote on who should be chairman, but in this volatile economy, it's not smart to be locking in your budget vote almost seven months before the budget takes effect.

-- Posted by the Observer editorial board

Pro-conservation N.C. legislators did well

The Conservation Council of North Carolina is happy with this year's N.C. General Assembly results. In a note to the media, the group touted the performance of pro-conservation candidates they supported.

"Of the 20 CCNC endorsed N.C. Senate races, 14 were victorious. The N.C. House saw an equally satisfying run with 36 of the 45 endorsed races claiming the win. The successful endorsed candidates also include 17 former recipients of a CCNC Green Tie Award for their achievements and support of conservation efforts."

Said Dan Crawford, director of governmental relations for CCNC, said, "We look forward to working with the new leadership in the House and Senate. Our economy needs to move forward while maintaining the strong environmental protections that make North Carolina one of the
best places to live and work. I am confident we can have a strong economy and a sound environment-- one does not need to happen at the expense of the other."

Here's how Mecklenburg County pro-conservation lawmakers did:

In the House:
District 99 -Rodney Moore, D-Meck. - Won
District 100 -Rep. Tricia Cotham, D-Meck. - Won
District 102 -Rep. Becky Carney, D-Meck. - Won
District 103 -Ann Newman, D-Meck. - Lost
District 104 -Rep. Ruth Samuelson, R-Meck. - Won
District 106 -Rep. Martha Alexander, D-Meck. - Won
District 107 -Rep. Kelly Alexander, D-Meck. - Won

In the Senate:
District 37 -Sen. Dan Clodfelter, D-Meck. - Won
District 40 -Sen. Malcolm Graham, D-Meck. - Won

Bill James is sly, or confused

Mecklenburg County commissioner Bill James is confused. Or he's having some fun. James, a Republican, tallied up the early voting statistics for Mecklenburg County and concluded that "the Ds are winning the turnout war." Shoddy work for an accountant like James, unless he knew what he was doing all along.
First, James' stats (which differ slightly from what we find on the Board of Elections website):
31,627 Democrats have voted.
26,363 Republicans have voted.
12,894 unaffiliateds have voted.
77 Libertarians have voted.
Total votes cast in Mecklenburg in early voting: 70,961.
That's 5,264 more Dems than Repubs, so the Democrats are winning in turnout, James says.
Ah, but in fact those numbers show the exact opposite: that Republicans are winning the turnout war, at least in Mecklenburg. Here's why:
Republicans are 28.5 percent of registered voters in Mecklenburg. But they are 37.2 percent of early voters.
Democrats are 45.7 percent of registered voters, but are 44.6 percent of early voters. (Unaffiliated voters are staying home: they are 25.7 percent of registered voters but only 18.2 percent of early voters.)
So in fact, Republicans are doing better than Democrats at getting their folks out.
We shared all this with James and speculated that he knew this all along. His response: "Yes, you got me."
P.S.: James also says that in early voting the best estimate is that 20 percent of Democrats are voting Republican and 70 percent of unaffiliateds are. If you assume Republicans are voting at least 95 percent Republican, here's what those numbers suggest: That Republicans are winning so far, 57-43.

-- Posted by The Observer editorial board

Report: Economic school diversity works

The Public School Forum of North Carolina took note of a new report by the Century Foundation that gives thumbs up to economic school integration, the kind of plan that Wake County used until a new school board threw it out this year making some residents furious.
Here's some of what the Public School Forum had to say:
Last week the Century Foundation released a new report, “Housing Policy is School Policy”, which studied the benefits economic integration has had on low-income students in Montgomery County, Maryland. The study examines Montgomery County, Maryland, an affluent suburban county adjacent to Washington, D.C. In 1976, the county passed an inclusionary zoning law requiring new housing developments to include homes affordable for moderate means (subsidized homes) and to set aside one-third for the local public housing authority.
The study, by Century Foundation, examines seven years (2001-07) worth of longitudinal data for 850 Montgomery County students who live in the “set-aside public housing”. The report found that in math especially, low-income students attending more affluent schools performed well enough to narrow achievement gaps significantly. Achievement gaps in reading were narrowed as well, just not to same extent.
Similar in size to Wake County, Montgomery County (roughly 144,000 students) has been divided into high-performing, more affluent green zone and high-needs red zones. Even with red zones schools receiving nearly $2,000 more in per pupil spending than green zone schools, the low-income students in the Century study performed better in the green-zone schools.
Researchers see the results as especially significant as Montgomery, one of the nation’s largest schools districts has been uncommonly aggressive in seeking to improve the performance of students in schools with higher poverty. While most districts throughout the country now assign students to schools based only on where they live, a growing number of school districts (roughly 60) have in recent years been experimenting with strategies to promote economic diversity.

McHenry one of Time's "40 under 40"

If you missed seeing Time magazine this week, you missed seeing North Carolina's 10th District Congressman Patrick McHenry get dubbed one of the "40 under 40 rising stars of American politics." It's Time's first list of this kind and includes an array of "civic leaders" across the political spectrum.

Among those on the list? Marco Rubio, whose running for the U.S. Senate in Florida; Ben Jealous, who heads the NAACP; George P. Bush, son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and the nephew and grandson of two President George Bushes; and Nikki Haley, who's running for governor of South Carolina.

Here's Time's blurb on McHenry:
A former state assemblyman and Labor Department aide, the Republican was elected to Congress from North Carolina in 2004 at 29. Now 34, he's focused on "restoring fiscal sanity" with deregulation and a balanced budget.

Who is your political hero/inspiration, and why? "Ronald Reagan. As a kid growing up in the 1980s, there was no one else."

What's your go-to political blog? "Drudge Report" - several times a day."

If you weren't working in politics, what would you be doing? "Real estate investing, perhaps teaching a college course, or maybe even a fulltime NASCAR fan."

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? "Husband, father, public servant. It'll take dedication, listening, focusing on what's important, and remaining true to my principles."

What's the most overlooked issue facing America? "We absolutely need to reform the Congressional budget-writing process. The issue of debts and deficits on our collective radar, but we need to help people understand how fixing the process will equal more economic opportunity, not more red ink."

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2023831_2023829_2025206,00.html/lixzz12qLotj1U

Spratt among 100 who stand for children

A Washington-based bipartisan children's advocacy group has named its 100 most valuable members of Congress in improving the well-being of children. Carolinas representatives and senators are absent from the First Focus Campaign for Children list, with the exception of S.C. Rep. John Spratt.

The Campaign for Children said it "presses for policy changes to improve the well-being and protect the rights of the next generation of America’s leaders. Our advocacy is focused in the areas of child health, education, early childhood, family economics, child welfare, immigration, and child safety, in addition to tax and budget policies that lift children out of poverty. In all our advocacy, we seek to increase the federal investment in programs that support and protect our nation’s most precious resource, our children."

The group named 50 members of Congress as “Champions for Children” for what they called "their extraordinary efforts to protect and improve the future of America’s next generation." Another 50 were named “Defenders of Children,” recognized for their support of policies that advance the well-being of children.

Republican "champion" senators included Richard Lugar of Indiana and Susan Collins of Maine. Among Democrats were Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. Republican "champion" representatives included Vernon Ehlers of Michigan and Todd Platts of Pennsylvania. Among Democrats were Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas and Raul Grijalva of Arizona.

Among those named "defenders" were Republican senators Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Charles Grassley of Iowa. Among Democratic senators were Max Baucus of Montana and Barbara Boxer of California. GOP representatives included Mark Kirk of Illinois and Frank Wolf of Virginia. Democratic representatives include John Spratt of South Carolina and Steny Hoyer of Maryland.

Great Recession makes N.C. much poorer

The N.C. Justice Center has dissected new census data and found poverty rose sharply in every region of North Carolina in 2009, highlighting the widespread impact of the recession.
The information released today from the U.S. Census "offers the first glimpse of the impact of the recession on North Carolina’s families and shows even sharper increases in poverty and child poverty than anticipated," the Justice Center reported.
“North Carolina’s families are struggling to get by in this economic downturn and this is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Louisa Warren, a Senior Policy Advocate at the center. “The Great Recession has pushed more than 168,000 North Carolina families into poverty just from 2008, a startling increase that will put pressure on our public systems as they work to support struggling families.”

The Census’ American Community Survey recorded a large jump in poverty in North Carolina, from 14.3 percent in 2007 to 16.3 percent in 2009. That puts nearly 1.5 million North Carolinians officially in poverty, or making at or below $22,050 annually for a family of four.
Similar to overall poverty, child poverty in North Carolina surged to 22.2 percent in 2009 from 19.2 percent in 2007. More than one in five children in North Carolina are now poor.
Further demonstrating the profound impact of the Great Recession, deep poverty—those living below half the poverty rate—has also risen considerably in North Carolina. In 2009, 7.1 percent of North Carolinians were living in deep poverty, making at or below $11,025 annually to support a family of four, up from 6 percent in 2007. In 2009, an estimated 643,429 North Carolinians were in deep poverty, representing significant distress for North Carolina.
According to the Justice Center, even these numbers may understate the problem. the center noted that "the census data released today were collected in the 12 month period around December 2008 when unemployment remained low relative to its levels in the latter half of 2009. Today’s data is therefore just a first look at the recession’s impact."

As a result of rising unemployment rates, median household income in North Carolina dropped to $43,674 in 2009, down from $46,210 in 2007.
Median household income varied across the state and the country. Robeson County had the lowest (among those for which data is available) median household income at $24,788 and many of the counties with high unemployment additionally experienced low median household income: Surry County’s median household income was $33,159 while Burke County’s median household income was $35,004. Urban counties continued to experience the highest median household income: Wake County’s median household income, the highest in the state, was at $63,609 in 2009 and Mecklenburg County’s median household income was at $52,881.
North Carolina’s median household income remained lower than some of its Southern neighbors and Virgnia, Georgia, and Florida all had higher median household incomes in 2009.
For strategies and more information on the report, go to www.ncjustice.org.