You're certainly free to feel good about NC's standing and "grade" for openness, compared to other states, but I do not. Haven't you heard that comparisons are odorous? Also beside the point when your own government is an enabler of official secrecy.
NC legislators haven't been up front with the public about fracking risks. Fracking brings contaminated ground water, poisoned air, three times normal asthma, increased ozone, exposure to carcinogenic benzene, and increased global warming.
The Collaborative Laboratory for Environmental Analysis and Remediation (UTA-CLEAR) is offering a free Science of Drilling Webinar December 2, 2015 @ 12pm EST.
Join CLEAR at UTA and our top environmental scientists to learn how unconventional drilling can affect the environment and your health. Our boots on the ground scientists come face-to-face with the unconventional drilling industry on a weekly basis. Learn from their experiences and research before unconventional drilling hits Florida and North Carolina. Have your questions ready and join us live.
More information including sign up information can be found at https://www.facebook.com/events/1666702353584914/ Your link to the webinar will be emailed to you at 10am EST on December 2, 2015.
12:28 PM
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North Carolina government got an overall grade of "D" on the 2015 State Integrity Investigation, "a data-driven assessment of state government by the Center for Public Integrity and Global Integrity."
Our state government -- particularly Governor McCrory's office -- is fighting lawsuits from multiple media outlets for failing to turn over public records in a timely manner -- and as provided for by state law.
The report points out that the State Board of Elections (SBOE) "is years behind in auditing campaign finance reports. That means it could be months or years before a violation, such as a candidate spending campaign funds for personal use, is discovered."
For example, just this past summer the SBOE "called Sen. Fletcher Hartsell, R-Cabarrus, on the carpet for inappropriate expenditures of campaign funds on personal expenses. The inquiry marked the first time a full audit had ever been done of his campaign committee, despite his serving more than two decades in office. A pair of state laws require the State Board of Elections to give each report filed a once-over within 30 days and a complete audit within four months." But that's not happening.
Most alarming, perhaps (considering the recent arrest of a Superior Court judge for attempting to bribe an FBI agent), in 2013, "the Republican-controlled legislature limited the power of the State Judicial Standards Commission to discipline judges."
That 2013 bill stripped the Judicial Standards Commission of its authority to issue public reprimands and placed all forms of public discipline in the hands of the North Carolina Supreme Court. All disciplinary hearings are now private, and case records are confidential unless the Supreme Court decides to take disciplinary action.
Secrecy is always the fertilizer for corruption.
Some of the lack of openness is the result of budget cuts, a specialty of our Republican General Assembly. And isn't it nice for them that saving government money coincides so nicely with blocking public access to what they're doing behind the scenes?
posted by J.W. Williamson at 9:38 AM on Nov 9, 2015
"North Carolina Gets a "D" Grade for Openness, Honesty in Government"
4 Comments -
and of course it was only an oversight that you forgot to mention that only 3 states scored C or better and that NC placed 18th of the 50 states.
12:08 PM
Yep! Old Judge Jones got hisself arrested for bribery. That's what we get for electing Democrats to the bench!
12:17 PM
You're certainly free to feel good about NC's standing and "grade" for openness, compared to other states, but I do not. Haven't you heard that comparisons are odorous? Also beside the point when your own government is an enabler of official secrecy.
4:28 PM
NC legislators haven't been up front with the public about fracking risks. Fracking brings contaminated ground water, poisoned air, three times normal asthma, increased ozone, exposure to carcinogenic benzene, and increased global warming.
The Collaborative Laboratory for Environmental Analysis and Remediation (UTA-CLEAR) is offering a free Science of Drilling Webinar December 2, 2015 @ 12pm EST.
Join CLEAR at UTA and our top environmental scientists to learn how unconventional drilling can affect the environment and your health. Our boots on the ground scientists come face-to-face with the unconventional drilling industry on a weekly basis. Learn from their experiences and research before unconventional drilling hits Florida and North Carolina. Have your questions ready and join us live.
More information including sign up information can be found at https://www.facebook.com/events/1666702353584914/
Your link to the webinar will be emailed to you at 10am EST on December 2, 2015.
12:28 PM