Off the reservation | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: Brant Clifton uses the words of others, in part, to keep a close inspection of the NC General Assembly in his "bare knuckles" Conservative online publication known as The Daily Haymaker.

    That's right. You read it correctly. Leftist strategist Thomas Mills is praising the work of new Republican speaker Tim Moore:

    Speaker Tim Moore is off to an impressive start. In less than two months, he's passed bipartisan legislation and struck a tone remarkably different than his predecessor. He may prove to be the balance that keeps the Senate's most extreme impulses in check while providing a bridge between the Senate and Gov. Pat McCrory.

    When Moore took the Speaker's gavel, he said that Republicans need to show that they can govern. He's right. After almost four years of tearing down and remaking state government, it's time to make it work. [...]

    Again, those words come from a guy paid to elect Democrats. I don't remember all of this camaraderie when Jim Black, Liston Ramsey, et al. were in charge.

    Senate Finance chairman Bob Rucho has an interesting outlook on the role of government that sounds like something you'd expect from David Price, Harry Reid, or Barry Obama:

    Still, some taxpayers might have higher tax bills because they made more money in 2014, Rucho said. Others might have benefited from tax deductions and credits that have been eliminated.

    "If you have a special tax preference, that means everybody else has to pay a higher tax rate to pay for your special tax preference," he said. "We're trying to get out of that by having government not pick winners and losers, but to treat everyone the same."[...]

    "Paying" for your special tax preference? Republicans USED to talk in terms of cutting spending AND taxes. Now, we've got people like Rucho suggesting that tax cuts and tax credits are somehow wrongfully short-changing the bureaucracy. (Things change when your hands are the ones managing the cash box.)

    We also have had House Appropriations chairman Nelson Dollar TRYING to sound like he actually understands business, capitalism, economics and stuff like that:

    [...] This is a very interesting and compelling debate that every state legislature wrestles with. For the purpose of this e-mail I will not debate the points made by Rick and Becki, but I do believe it is important for us to realize the debate on all sides seems to be missing a key element - "a Market." As a state we can impact tax rates, regulations and infrastructure, but no business big or small and especially small businesses can be created or survive for long if there is no substantial market for their products/services. For some reason this gets lost in the debate. You have to have customers in need of the product or service in order to grow. As you know, the theory behind recruiting a major auto manufacturer is all the myriad of ancillary products & services required - the closest example is the BMW plant in upstate South Carolina with all of its spin offs, suppliers, etc.

    Whether for or against incentives or somewhere in between, we do need to be able to explore and explain how doing business in North Carolina puts an enterprise in the best position to market their products and services. [...]

    Is the GOP seriously NOW in the business of using government power to "create" markets for goods and services? The party USED to talk about cutting back the regulatory overgrowth and thereby freeing up the ingenuity and creativity of private individuals to create and sell new services and products. What does handing out taxpayer money to large industries - that will fold up and leave you for someone else who offers ONE MORE DOLLAR - offer toward accomplishing that end?