Legislature Silently Deals Potentially Fatal Blow to Red Line

When the NC State Legislature adjourned last week it appears to have done so without extending the sunset provision in legislation critical to the finance plan for the Red Line.  This legislation authorizes the Special Assessment District (SAD) financing mechanism targeted for the project, and it expires on July 1, 2013.

Edition 3 of Senate Bill 426 from May of 2011 contained a provision to extend this sunset date until 2016.  The bill sat quietly in the House Finance committee for over a year.  On June 19, 2012, this provision was removed by the House committee in Edition 4 and returned to the Senate for final approval where the bill passed without the sunset extension.  The bill was ratified on June 28th.

Without this extension, a Red Line financing plan does not exist.  Even more interesting is that this requested extension, so critical to the project, was never mentioned at any of the public meetings over the past six months.  Now, the project must count on the new Legislature passing this extension as one of the first orders of business in the next session - a risky proposition.

Bonus Observation:

At the NC Senate 41 runoff debate in June, John Aneralla mentioned recognizing a lack of support for the project in the Legislature.  Jeff Tarte responded that he thought it was a good project as long as a financing plan could be worked out.  Looks like that plan just took a serious hit, and Mr Aneralla looks like he has his finger on the pulse of what's really going on in Raleigh.

NCS41 Debate

Jeff Tarte and John Aneralla met for a debate at Cornelius Town Hall on Thursday during lunch.  As one would expect in a primary between members of the same party, the candidates agreed on many points.  While it's difficult for Twitter to communicate complex topics, the below series does show a couple of themes. First, neither candidate comes off as a liberal. Both give fairly standard conservative answers. However, where they disagree, John Aneralla consistently took a more conservative stance. 

NC Senate 41 Forum

The race for the new NC Senate 41 district took center stage at Cornelius Town Hall Tuesday evening. There were 50-75 people in attendance for what was one of the more informative debates I've seen this season. If you missed it, it will be broadcast on Mi-Connection Channel 4 by the end of Thursday - an exact time is still TBD.

Maybe the most important thing to say was this district is fortunate to have such a slate of high quality people running. I was particularly impressed with political newcomer Troy Stafford of Cornelius. While he may not have the necessary name recognition this time around, Mr Stafford certainly held his own against some experienced debaters. Robby Benton pointed out that this race has been much cleaner than some in the area, and compared to the sometimes bitter race for NC-9 that's certainly correct. Dr Copeland tried to steel the show with some good one liners. If the number of laughs was the criteria for winning the debate, he was certainly in the running.

NC Senate 41 Endorsements...Co-Worker Opinions



Cornelius Today posted a pair of dueling endorsements last week which more than anything else I've seen can be used as a proxy for who may be seen as the most "conservative" candidate in the race for NC Senate 41. See "Gilroy endorses Aneralla; Woods endorses Tarte" at the link.

What makes these endorsements more interesting than most is the fact that both endorsers work directly with one of the candidates on actual governing - serving on boards and making decisions together.  That they come to different conclusions on who will govern "best" as a NC Senator says a good bit about who will be the most conservative.

Dueling Press Releases In NC Senate 41 Race Reveal Inconsistency For One Candidate

The two most well known candidates for NC Senate 41 issued dueling press releases Tuesday regarding their transportation priorities - one of the hot topics in the district.

Both mentioned widening I-77 as their top priority, but that's where the similarities ended.

Former NC GOP Chairman John Aneralla clearly stated his opposition to the Red Line Regional Rail project in his statement while Cornelius Mayor Jeff Tarte conspicuously failed to mention the most discussed (and most expensive) project in his notice to the press.

Picking a Candidate in a Primary

This primary season is already shaping up to be one of the most interesting in recent memory, and the filing period is only one week old. Voters will have more choices to make between members of the same party than in many past election cycles.  Since many districts are "safe" for one party or the other, the primary is the real race, but sizing up the differences between candidates of the same party can be difficult.

Will everyone who supports the Red Line please raise your hand?

NC Speaker Thom Tillis spoke at the North Mecklenburg Republican Women's meeting on Monday night.  One of the more interesting moments occurred when someone asked if he supported the Red Line.

His initial response was to ask all RLRR supporters to raise their hands.  Not a single hand shot up.  Then a few sort of inched up - a little.  None of the candidates for office who were in the room put their hands up.  None.

Stand Up North Carolina Draws Republicans Looking to Bolster Conservative Credentials

Seen an Stand Up North Carolina in Mooresville on Wednesday night, Charlotte City Councilman Andy Dulin and Mayor Jeff Tarte of Cornelius.  Both are eyeing higher office and looking to burnish conservative cred in North Meck / South Iredell. 

Will it work?  Will their records appeal to the Tea Party crowd?

From Twitter...

@JeffTarteNc..."Thank you to the members of @StandUpNC for having me last night. Great group of super folks..."

@LawShaheenJr..."At @StandUpNC @adulin says he is going through his checkoff list for #nc09. He would be shocked if he doesn't run. His wife is 90%"