Earlier today, the Wake County government’s Twitter account posted some good content.
Wake County later deleted the tweets and posted another saying they were hacked, which would win a gold medal for “lamest hack ever,” but what’s more likely is that a politically-engaged employee with a personal Twitter handle was signed into the wrong account.
More importantly, though, the Wake County government did raise some good questions about Sen. Tom Apodaca’s provision in the Senate budget that would have reduced tuition at three North Carolina HBCUs. The plan caused a protest yesterday outside of the Legislative Office Building because, well, no one who this bill applies to really likes it. From WNCN:
“It does sound great but then it also sounds cheapened. So are we looking at the value in the quality of the education?” asked Victor Bruinton, Winston-Salem State University’s national alumni president-elect.
…
“Well if you decrease tuition it could cause a decrease in the quality of education we are receiving as of now,” said Amber Caesar, a Western Carolina University student.
There’s also the question of whether the NCGA would always be willing to make up the loss in funding cause by the tuition reduction, which is far from guaranteed given the legislature’s general posture towards public education.
The lucky person on the receiving end of Wake County’s line of questioning is Brent Woodcox, who has been the NCGA’s redistricting counsel since the Republicans took power in 2010, and has helped to defend the legislature’s unconstitutional redistricting efforts that were drawn on racial lines. Woodcox responded by trying to get the Wake County Commissioner who is most known for having a reserved social media presence on the case.
Let this be a lesson to every government employee who has a slightly controversial political opinion you want to post on social media: double-check what account you’re posting it from, or an NCGA lawyer will try to get you reprimanded or worse.
