This story originally appeared on Facing South, the online magazine of the Institute for Southern Studies. They’re back. Real Jobs NC, one of the key groups that spent money to help Republicans win over the North Carolina Legislature in 2010, filed campaign reports over the last week that show they’re hoping big money can again […]
Chris Kromm
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The Art Pope empire: Media outlets, think tanks and election machines
Last November, the Republican tidal wave that washed Democrats out of North Carolina’s legislative leadership for the first time in more than a century caught many off guardbut perhaps no one was as baffled as state Sen. John Snow. A quiet Democrat from the mountains, Snow made few enemies and largely avoided controversy during his […]
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The Gulf of Mexico’s Dead Zone is among the world’s largest—and corn is one of the culprits
This story originally appeared in Facing South, the online magazine of the Institute for Southern Studies. For the hundreds of thousands of people in the Gulf of Mexico who depend on commercial and sport fishing, directly and indirectly, the assault on sea life from the BP oil disaster has been a serious blow. But it’s […]
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The great N.C. jobs scam
When North Carolina handed Dell Inc. –the second biggest computer maker in the world–over $280 million in tax breaks and other “recruitment” incentives last year to set up shop in the state, the backlash was fast and furious. Community leaders and advocates howled at the idea of shoveling taxpayer money to a company that in […]
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Searching For The Next Wellstone
The eulogies flowing in the wake of Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone’s untimely death last week have been remarkable–not only for what’s been said, but because of the messengers. Our own Senator Jesse Helms called him a “friend.” Pete Domenici, the tough Republican from New Mexico, couldn’t talk through his tears after hearing of the deadly […]
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Ballot Box Blues
September 10 was a bad day for progressive politics in North Carolina. Triangle-area residents, in particular, witnessed three races providing an ominous barometer of the way political winds are blowing.In the Democratic primary to pick a nominee to replace U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms, the message was simple: Money wins. Erskine Bowles–despite having absolutely no platform, […]