Chapel Hill Herald, Saturday April 09, 2005
It is odd to find a Democratic state legislator who, among his first prominent acts in office, would seek the means to elect a Republican to the Orange County Commission. Freshman Rep. Bill Faison has done just that by proposing a district representation scheme that would create a district in which Republican Jamie Daniel was the top vote-getter in 2004.
Odder still is the fact that Faison promotes this legislation without even an attempt at collaboration with the commissioners or with the other legislators representing Orange County, all fellow Democrats.
Faison has been called many things over the past few weeks but "team player" is not among them.
What Faison is up to is pure politics. Faison is well aware that Barry Jacobs won the Orange County vote in last summer's Democratic primary. Faison's margin in Caswell County was enough to give him a scant 647 votes victory overall. To win, he spent three times as much as Jacobs, over $100,000 more, an astounding $39 per vote (the state average is $12.94).
You may have seen the news reports on the so-called "academic bill of rights" proposed in the legislature a couple of weeks ago. This legislation, similar to bills now in vogue in conservative circles across the country, aims to end so-called liberal bias in academia.
The bill's sponsor, Republican Senator Andrew Brock said that as written, the bill would protect the "conservative train of thought."
The chairman of UNC Chapel Hill's College Republicans acknowledged that "Not everyone's out to get conservatives. That's just part of the partisan rhetoric But there are some out there, and that's what the Academic Bill of Rights is for -- to create guidelines."
In particular, the right is concerned about studies that show professors are more likely to be registered as Democrats than as Republicans. They suggest that this reflects a bias in academia.
Quite a number of locals blogged about the Tarheels victory last Monday night. Permeating our unity in support of this team is quite a lot of diversity in our reactions. Here is a collection of blog posts on everything from the players to the politics:
On the partying:
Town Council Member Sally Greene: "Fire chief Dan Jones came up with this: why not have an official bonfire somewhere on campus? But UNC hasn't warmed to the idea, and the police chief isn't so sure about it either, thinking shades of Texas A&M."
Sally was also guest blogging at Is That Legal? where she posted the police report and my picture of two women climbing a pole at the corner of Franklin and Columbia. Sally's husband Paul Jones posted pictures of the victory celebration at the Dean Dome when the team returned.
For the second year in a row, we have have won "Best Blog" from the Independent Weekly!
Last year, there was no reader pick for Best Blog so the Indy staff bestowed this honor upon Orange Politics. This year, the people have spoken and we are once again named the Best Local Blog!
Being chosen by the readers is an even bigger honor, and I'm very flattered and grateful. I especially appreciate Dan Coleman and the other OP contributors who create this site every day by sharing their knowledge and opinions. I also appreciate all the folks who read the site and comment regularly. There are many more who visit and don't comment, and that's just fine. If you are getting useful information and ideas, then we are doing our job. Please keep reading this and other local blogs!
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