Category: Columns

House Bill 13 seeks to rein in educational bureaucracy

NC Legislative Building

by Elliot Engstrom Raleigh, NC – “We’ve got a loaded docket, so let’s go ahead and get started,” Senator Louis Pate, Co-Chairman of the Senate Health Care Committee, said to a crowded room in the Legislative Office Building. It was…

Happy 4th of July from the Chatham County GOP

Declaration of Independence

by Brian Bock Pittsboro, NC – On Saturday we will celebrate the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Most of us know the opening lines, but not all realize how exceptional it truly is. “We hold these…

Fix-836 (How to repair NC’s R-I-D loophole)

Trust but Verify

Raleigh, NC – The purpose of this article is to delineate, one step at a time, the provisions of HB 836 that open the door to enterprise-level vote fraud. The Reasonable Impediment Declaration (or Determination or R-I-D for short) law…

Moral claims don’t persuade

Tolerant Liberal

By John Hood Raleigh, NC – In nearly three decades of writing a syndicated column on North Carolina politics and government, I’ve always received reader response. Back in the day, I’d get an occasional phone call or personal letter, but…

WaPo: 17,900 non-citizen voters in NC’s 2008 elections

Stunning numbers from Friday’s Washington Post and VIP’s own research raise some serious doubts about SBoE reassurances that only 1,425 non-US citizens are registered to vote in NC. We estimate the number to be at least 10,000 and the Post pegged it around 17,900.