Views

Republican pols split on Mark Robinson

ncgop logo new

In the latest Civitas Poll, 49% of North Carolinians likely to vote in the Republican primary say they’d pick Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson to be the GOP nominee for governor in 2024. Of the remaining voters, 41% are undecided and the rest support other candidates such as State Treasurer Dale Folwell or former congressman Mark Walker.

So, is Robinson the inevitable nominee? That’s been the conventional wisdom.

Keep in mind that the threshold to win a primary outright, without a runoff, is only 30%. Robinson is already well above that, uh, mark.

Most North Carolina Democrats agree with that conventional wisdom — and find it delightful. They have a thick binder of opposition research on Mark Robinson. They’re looking forward to playing up his checkered financial past, unimpressive tenure as lieutenant governor, and history of outrageous comments.

Given the recent terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians by Hamas thugs, in particular, Robinson’s past use of antisemitic tropes in social-media posts will appear not just in attack ads but in appeals to out-of-state donors. Democrats think the resulting river of campaign cash will wash away not just Robinson but other Republican candidates down the ballot in 2024.

The lieutenant governor and his political team are clearly worried about this. That’s why Robinson called a press conference a couple of weeks ago, while Gov. Roy Cooper was in Japan on a trade mission. As “acting governor,” Robinson proclaimed “North Carolina’s Solidarity with Israel Week” and argued that his prior complaints about the financial and cultural power of Jews had been misinterpreted.

“There have been some Facebook posts that were poorly worded on my part,” he allowed, even as he insisted that “there is no antisemitism standing here in front of you.”
With the gubernatorial primary still five months away, Republican politicians, consultants, donors, and activists are not of one mind about how to respond to the Robinson problem (which virtually everyone acknowledges, at least in private). Based on numerous conversations, I’ve concluded there are three schools of thought.

Call the first the Accommodationists. They agree with Democrats that Robinson is inevitable but disagree that he’s destined to lose. They observe, correctly, that the 2024 election cycle will be dominated by the presidential contest. President Biden is unpopular. If he loses, they reason, the Democratic nominee for governor (presumably Attorney General Josh Stein) will likely go down with him. On the other hand, if Donald Trump is nominated and goes down in felonious flames, it won’t matter whether Robinson is the nominee. Stein will win, anyway. 

Given this scenario, why not endorse Robinson, help his campaign, and hope for the best? If he wins, they’ll be in a position to help staff and advise his administration. And if he loses, no one will blame them.

The second camp, the Challengers, refuse to accept Robinson as inevitable. They observe, correctly, that Republican primary voters actually know very little about the lieutenant governor. The latest entrant to the GOP field, attorney Bill Graham, has pledged to spend at least $5 million on ads in the coming weeks. Much of that will, presumably, be used to warn voters about Robinson’s many political vulnerabilities.

A Republican Party led by Mark Robinson, they reason, is a party that can neither win close races nor govern a closely divided state with credibility and prudence.

The third camp, the Hedgers, include many Republican leaders in the General Assembly. They don’t relish being on a ballot with Robinson, though they’re not sure this can be avoided. On the other hand, if he happens to win, they doubt he’d be an effective governor. They observe, correctly, that the legislation they just passed to strip the governor of appointments to such panels as the State Board of Elections and the Board of Transportation would apply equally to a Governor Josh Stein or a Governor Mark Robinson.

By strengthening legislative supremacy, which was already their default position, they’ve made the gubernatorial election less consequential.

It does not have to be this way

P3

It would be laughable if it were not so terrifying.
The United States House of Representatives’ inability to elect a Speaker has focused not only the eyes of our country but also those of the entire world on a democratically elected body in danger of self-destruction.
A small minority of extreme House members with single-issue concerns shut the closely divided House down with its toddler-temper-tantrum behavior.
The rest of the members, all Democrats and some moderate Republicans, became the grown-ups in the room, albeit very frustrated ones.
The House show has been world-class political theater, but the reality of this self-inflicted wound is that it could further degrade or kill our already endangered democracy.
It does not have to be this way.
Twenty years ago, the North Carolina House of Representatives faced almost the same dilemma — how to elect a leader in a chamber that was not just closely but evenly divided, 60 Democrats and 60 Republicans. It was high drama, indeed. Republicans started the year with a 61-59 majority, but one Republican switched parties, so it was back to 60-60, with 61 votes needed to elect a Speaker.
Democrats backed the incumbent two-term Speaker, while Republicans squabbled among themselves and the various factions of the party — shades of Washington today.
Voting continued for the first week of the 2003-2004 session, with no candidate receiving 61 votes, which meant, as in Washington, that the House could not conduct any business for the people of North Carolina. By the second week, reality had set in, and Democrats and a group of moderate Republicans agreed on a power-sharing agreement, a co-speakership, one Democrat and one Republican. Each Speaker had his own staff, his own office, and his own gavel. They presided over the House Chamber on alternate days.
It is an interesting historical footnote that Patrick McHenry (R-NC), who presided over the U.S. House’s recent efforts to elect a speaker, was a member of the N.C. House during the co-speakership.
Representatives who served in the N.C. House during the two-year co-speakership remember it as a routine session in which most bills moved along smoothly. Few controversial issues were addressed, however, primarily because if something were too conservative for the Democratic Speaker or too liberal for the Republican Speaker, it was unlikely to see the light of day in a committee, much less on the House floor.
Issues painful for one side or the other were kicked down the road until the House got back to “normal.” It was a time of governing from the center, not from either side, and it was not all bad. There are Americans on both sides of the “extreme,” but most of us, both Democrats and Republicans, are in the moderate middle. The actions of our elected officials should reflect that reality.
A judge once told me he knew he had handled a legal issue fairly if both sides left the courtroom “mildly miffed.”
That is precisely what we need from our U.S. House of Representatives. Legislating is not a contest between two sides. It is our elected public servants acting in the best interests of our state and nation, and if one side does not get its way all the time, the legislative process is working.
The U.S. House should look at what the North Carolina House did two decades ago. It is far preferable to be “mildly miffed” than foaming at the mouth.

Medicare charges, coverage can be confusing

p6

For 64 years, your insurance works one way, then suddenly, you turn 65, and everything you thought you knew goes out the window. You gaze into the labyrinth of Medicare and hope you get Theseus and not the Minotaur.

Allow me to make like Ariadne and spin a yarn to help navigate these corridors. For this purpose, the dollar amounts given apply to 2024 and can be confirmed at medicare.gov

The biggest takeaway that people need to understand with original Medicare is that, unlike employer-provided insurance or an individual policy, there is no Maximum Out-of-pocket.

Generally, Medicare charges a whole lot less than commercial for practically every procedure as the government sets the prices; however, there is no cap on annual charges. The Max OOP in under 65 insurance limits your loss. If the Max OOP is $6,500, then that means only $6,500 total can be charged in one year, not including premiums. Original Medicare does not have this limit.

Original Medicare has two parts: A and B. Part A is free-ish. If you or your spouse paid taxes for ten years, it is premium-free. Otherwise, it costs between $278 and $505 monthly. So, if you didn’t pay taxes, marry someone that did. Part B has a monthly premium beginning at $174.70. Part B is subject to income and can scale up to $594 monthly.

Part A is usually referred to as “hospital insurance,” but I prefer to think of it as “room and board” insurance. “Hospital insurance” confuses people because that implies that everything in the hospital is covered. It isn’t. Broadly, Part A covers the room, the bed, general nursing, meals and it also helps cover skilled nursing facilities and hospice — mostly places involving a room and a bed.

Part A has a resetting deductible of $1,632. The first 60 days in the hospital are covered by this deductible, then days 61-90 cost $408 dollars daily, 91–150 cost $816 a day while using the 60 lifetime reserve days, and afterward, it is all out of pocket.

After 60 days without hospital services, the deductible resets and must be paid again if used. Skilled nursing facilities have the first 20 days covered at no cost, then 80 days at $200 and afterward, everything is out of pocket.

Remember how I said Part A doesn’t cover everything in a hospital? Doctors are in hospitals, and Part B is what pays them, as well as anything considered to be “durable medical equipment.” If you don’t have Part B, then everything the doctor does is out of pocket, which is why it is often referred to as “Medical Insurance.” It has a one-time $240 deductible that resets annually like traditional insurance. In general, there is a 20% copay on most of the services covered by Part B.

So, how do we solve the problem of no Max OOP?
Medicare Advantage plans or Medicare Supplements both provide an answer. In the Nov. 1 issue, I’ll compare the two.

Hope Mills resident calls out bad behavior

Hope MIlls TOwn Hall

For years, there has been a small group of silent, disgruntled individuals who have been waging a guerilla-style war against Hope Mills Mayor Jackie Warner and those who advocate for progress and growth in the beautiful town of Hope Mills. 

Unfortunately, the unintended consequences are that innocent citizens are often caught up in the nastiness of it all. I do not know Cindy Hamilton, nor have I ever met her. However, I admire her moxie for standing up to those who threatened her First Amendment rights and then dared to share her experience with the Hope Mills Mayor and Town Commissioners. 
Now, in her letter below, she wants to tell her story to the entire community. Hope Mills and Cumberland County need more involved and concerned citizens like Cindy Hamilton. 
Thank you for reading the Up & Coming Weekly community newspaper. 
                   — Bill Bowman, Publisher
 
This letter is to share the horrific assault on free speech and democracy in the Town of Hope Mills.
I recently helped organize a Candidate's Forum Meet and Greet for those running for office in the Town of Hope Mills. I responded to an online post asking for volunteers and decided to help. Little did I know what a firestorm of discourse I would create! 
With all good intentions, I joined Hope Mills residents Harriet Horner, Sally Bailey, and Phyllis Hales to organize a Candidate Awareness Campaign for Hope Mills's citizens. We organized it, prepared the five questions to be presented to the candidates, promoted it, and distributed a general information flyer to local business. Collectively, we paid for everything.  
The discourse and firestorm started when we asked Meg Larson of the HopeMills/CumberlandCountyMatters Facebook site if we could post Forum information on her site. Larson insisted that she wanted to know who was hosting the event and who would be the moderator. To my surprise, the following comment from Meg Larson was emphatic: "I'm not supporting anything that has that racist piece of sh** involved!" 
I advised her that we were still looking and deciding on that, and Up & Coming Weekly newspaper and Bill Bowman were not even a consideration. This is when I realized there is a small but vocal faction of discontented Hope Mills residents (The Chatter Group: former Hope Mills Commissioner Meg Larson, Lisa Carter Waring and Mike Smith, (who is not a resident of Hope Mills) that share several unscrupulous common bonds: They have all have weaponized social media sites specifically designed to disparage Hope Mills progress and defame Jackie Warner, undermine her leadership and disseminate information to their online audiences that are anti-media, anti-Up & Coming Weekly newspaper, and anti-U&CW Publisher Bill Bowman — honestly, we had no idea this was going on. 
This is when I began receiving mean, hateful, and threatening texts. I was told in no uncertain terms that: "Everyone (Larson, Smith & Waring) has already stepped up to do something better for this community. Now that you [the committee of concerned residents and forum organizers] have gotten involved, it somehow negates the decades [of work] that some of us have done." 
Larson refers to the ongoing attempts to undermine Mayor Jackie Warner's leadership and diminish her accomplishments as Mayor over the years. Larson also accuses Mayor Warner of creating the Candidates Forum for her benefit. Nothing could be further from the truth. I believe the assault on me and the event was caused because the Chatter Group perceived that Mayor Warner engineered the Forum to garner support for her reelection. This is not the case. 
To mitigate the rumors and accusations and set the record straight, I attended the Board of Commissioners meeting on October 16th. I spoke directly to the Mayor and Town Commissioners about my concerns and the hateful way our committee was being treated for trying to do something valuable and good for the entire community.  
It was also disappointing that the next day, Commissioner Joanne Scarola conducted an online "fireside chat," advising everyone on the chat that our event was thrown together haphazardly [sic]and poorly executed. This seems like highly unethical behavior by a Hope Mills Town official. 
She identifies herself as a member of the Chatter group. The response to our Candidates Forum by Mike Smith, Joanne Scarola, Meg Larson and Lisa Waring has been so outrageous and unprofessional that I can only believe it is an ongoing attempt to discredit me, the Forum committee and Mayor Warner.  
To sum it all up, I genuinely believe that initially, they were so frightened and distraught at the thought that Mayor Warner and newspaper publisher Bill Bowman from the Up & Coming Weekly were behind organizing the event that they panicked and attempted to destroy it by discrediting its organizers. This is sad and alarming. 
Until now, we had no idea this systemized misinformation network and unethical behavior was happening in our community. Now, the Candidate Forum committee and I have experienced it firsthand while exposing those individuals who have weaponized social media sites into a three-tiered network of lies, slander, and misinformation: Mike Smith: The Hope Mills Bee, Meg Larson: Hope Mills/Cumberland County Matter and Lisa Waring: The Hope Mills Chatter. 
They discredit Bill Bowman and his weekly newspaper and vigorously work against Mayor Jackie Warner's success, progress, and achievements, those who support and admire her, and those who genuinely love the Hope Mills community. The proof is the quality of life we experience daily living and working in the lovely Hope Mills community.
 
           — Cindy Hamilton, Hope Mills

Real story of Cinderella is not a cheerful tale

p5

Has life seemed a little off-putting to you lately? Wars and rumors of wars abound. Israel and Hamas have pushed Ukraine out of the news. Will the United States government come to a screeching halt when the budget deal expires in November? The circular firing squad of Republicans and their saga of finding the perfect Speaker of the House, coupled with the increasingly grim international news, reminded me of our old storytelling buddies, the Brothers Grimm. Did the Brothers Grimm intend to soothe or scare the kinder when they were collecting folk tales? Buckle down and read the rest of the column to find out.
Some background: first, the Grimm Boys did not invent fairy tales. They collected folk tales that floated around Europe since the memory of man runneth not. Their bright idea was to write the stories down to print them in a book. The first book of Grimm’s Fairy Tales came out in 1812. Like recipes for shrimp and grits, there were many versions of the same basic stories. The Grimm’s version of the stories stuck for the most part until Disney got hold of them. Uncle Walt sweetened up the stories and added music. The original Grimm stories were grim. You say: “What? Fairy tales are sweet stories to soothe little children.” Gentle Reader, as Jules in “Pulp Fiction” said: “Allow me to retort.” Things were tough back in Medieval Times. It was not a place for sissies. Below is Cinderella, the original Brothers Grimm version.
Cinderella begins with Cindy’s dying mom telling her: “Be good as gold and meek as a lamb, and the blessed Lord will protect you.” This does not turn out to be the case. Cindy’s dad waits only six months to marry Wicked Stepmother, who has two unpleasant daughters.
Dad is oblivious to how Wicked Step Mom and Sisters treat Cindy. Cindy is reduced to a kitchen scullery maid who is the butt of the evil Step Sisters’ abuse. It is not enough that Cindy must sleep in ashes in the hearth. Lacking social media to drive Cindy to suicide, the Sisters make up names to bully her. They suggest nicknaming her Ashy-Face, Sooty Bottom and finally settle on Cinderella.
One day, Dad is heading to town. He asks the Step Sisters and Cindy what they want him to bring them. The Evil Sisters ask for fancy dresses and jewels. Cindy asks for the first tree branch that brushes Dad’s hat on the way back. Everyone gets what they ask for. Cindy plants the branch on Mom’s grave, watering it daily with her tears. It grows quickly into a hazel tree that becomes home to many birds. Alfred Hitchcock Spoiler Alert — don’t mess with “The Birds.”
Prince Charming announces a three-day
Batchelor in Paradise Royal Ball at which he will choose his bride. Cindy helps the step-sisters get gussied up. Step Mom won’t let Cindy go to the ball, so she sneaks out to the hazel tree and makes a wish for a fancy prom dress, which magically appears. Surprise! The Fairy Godmother is a tree in the original story. Cindy goes to the ball, wows the Prince, and sneaks out before he can find out who she is. This goes on for the next two nights. On the last night, Prince has his lackeys spread pitch so he can follow Cindy’s footsteps. The Prince finds her golden shoe stuck in the pitch and announces he will marry the Shoe Fittee.
The Step Sisters go to try on the golden shoe. Step Mom tells them if the shoe doesn’t fit, they should cut off part of their foot to make it fit. Step Sister One cuts off part of her heel. Step Sister Two cuts off her big toe. Cindy’s birds tell the Prince, who is apparently a bit slow, to check the shoe for blood. He examines the bloody shoe and disqualifies both Step Sisters. Cindy’s foot fits, and the wedding takes place. The Step Sisters decide to butter up to Cindy and walk on each side of her into the church. Cindy’s birds are not fooled and peck out the left eye of each Sister. On the way out of the church, the birds peck out the Sisters’ right eyes, leaving them blind. Cindy and Prince live happily ever after.
So, what have we learned today? Fairy tales are not all sweetness and light. Hazel trees watered by tears are as good as a fairy godmother. Do-it-yourself podiatric surgery is a bad idea. If your step-sibling is good with birds, you better wear a helmet if you want to see the food at the wedding reception.
Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo! Happy Halloween.

Latest Articles

  • Gallery 208: Beyond Surface: Abstractions by Kellie Perkins
  • Kindah Temple No. 62 hosts annual Spring Ceremonial
  • FTCC Foundation invests in students’ futures
  • Unique Easter traditions from around the globe
  • Flawless Touch Detailing celebrates new location
  • CFRT: The Play That Goes Wrong...Again
Up & Coming Weekly Calendar
  

Advertise Your Event:

 

Login/Subscribe