New Year's revelers started staking out prime spots 15 hours before the ball dropped Friday, banking on bundled-up bodies, folding chairs and strong bladders to make it to midnight.
Melissa Castrogiovanni, 17, and Charlotte Cooper, 25, parked themselves against a stage cordoned off by police barricades at 46th St. and Broadway at 9 a.m.
The Clinton, N.J., residents vowed not to budge from the coveted spots until 2011.
"We are not leaving," Castrogiovanni said.
They were prepared to endure near-freezing temperatures in the evening and no access to bathrooms or food after 6 p.m. just to say they spent a New Year's in Times Square.
"We wanted to cross it off our bucket list," Cooper said.
Castrogiovanni had a 12-ounce Gatorade bottle to last her the day. But at noon, Cooper went on a fast-food run.
"We did cave in and each got a cheeseburger from McDonald's," Castrogiovanni said. "I stayed and Charlotte went and got the cheeseburgers."
She and Cooper ruled out bathroom breaks - even if nature calls.
"We went to the bathroom at 8:30 a.m.," Castrogiovanni said. "We said good-bye to the toilets. We are not going anywhere."
But at 3:30 p.m., as the crowd swelled and police lined up, they lost their choice location. Cops booted everyone inside the cordoned section in order to perform security checks.
Castrogiovanni and Cooper ended up a block south - still close to the ball drop, but farther from the entertainment.
"A lot of people were in there all day, and they kind of shoved everybody out," Castrogiovanni said. "They had to set up new barricades. I understand that, but they should have done that from the beginning."
By then, the New Year's Eve revelry was in full swing. Cheering and noisemakers echoed through the Crossroads of the World.
Yoshi Watanabe, 30, bravely bared his body to the elements while dancing for dollars. The Tokyo native wore a vest, a belly-dancer's mini skirt and pharaoh's hat, while his friend, DJ Dr. Namakato, blasted music from a boom box.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime event that I wanted to do," Watanabe said. He planned on heading to his East Village apartment and coming back in the afternoon dressed as a New Year's baby.
Canadians Alicia Flood-Phillips, Rebecca Kruger and Tanya Coutts were also spending New Year's Eve in Times Square for the first time.
"This is the biggest party of the year. Why wouldn't you want to come?" Flood-Phillips, 23, asked. "They don't have anything like this in Canada."
She and her friends hunkered down on 46th Street and Broadway.
They layered themselves in tights, sweaters and jeans. They also added a little sartorial touch from their homeland - lumberjack hats and mittens from the Vancouver Olympics.
Bathroom breaks weren't a concern.
"I think the adrenaline is going to be rushing so much, we won't even notice," Coutts, 23, said.
"Another Fresh New Year Is Here. Another Year To Live! To Banish Worry, Doubt & Fear. To Love, Laugh & Give! This Bright New Year Is Given To Me. To Live Each Day With Zest. To Daily Grow & Try To Be My Highest & My Best. I Have The Opportunity Once More To Right Some Wrongs. To Pray For Peace, To Plant A Tree & Sing More Joyful Songs."
William Arthur Ward
Sources: Hot Air Pundit, Think Exist Quotes, Youtube
The current $3.7 billion budget deficit facing North Carolina presents a golden opportunity to re-evaluate the size and scope of state government. Presented with this opportunity, however, Governor Bev Perdue has failed to clearly articulate her vision for government’s role in society.
For instance, Perdue recently revealed a broad outline of her “reorganization plan” for state government. The plan included consolidating or privatizing some state agencies and a hiring freeze of “non-critical” state positions.
In an email to state employees discussing her reorganization plan, Perdue stressed that her priority is for state government to focus on its “core priorities.”
Readers of the email eager for Perdue to clearly define her vision for what she believes to be the state’s “core priorities” were left wanting. Perdue’s message disappointingly included only a vague and principle-free passing reference to “jobs, investing in our children’s education and safer and healthier communities.”
Unsurprisingly, Perdue’s lack of vision has resulted in confusion from state agencies as they try to define which positions are “critical” in their agency so as to implement a hiring freeze of non-critical positions. As mentioned in a Raleigh News & Observer article, “Perdue’s call for state agencies to voluntarily impose a hiring freeze for noncritical positions is being met with varying degrees of support, wariness and questions over what state jobs should be subject to a freeze.”
It seems that without a clearly stated vision of the proper functions of state government, assignments to identify “critical positions” can quickly become an exercise in futility.
Perdue’s lack of a clear vision has also created much uncertainty regarding two significant issues facing North Carolina: privatizing the ABC system and legalizing video poker. Perdue is waiting for the results of a consultant’s study on the impact of privatizing the ABC system before committing to a position on the issue, saying “I’m not quite there. I need to know what its worth. I need to know what its worth to the taxpayer.”
Similarly, Perdue remains uncommitted about the legalization of video poker, even though she admits she is not “philosophically opposed” to gambling.
If the governor was interested in defining her core principles and beliefs regarding state government, the answers to these questions wouldn’t require any studies; they would be quite simple. State control and monopolization of liquor sales is either a “core priority” of state government or it is not.
Furthermore, if she is not philosophically opposed to gambling (and in fact she was the tie-breaking vote in favor of the state lottery as lieutenant governor in 2005) she would find no reason to criminalize video poker.
But it does seem that, in spite of her reluctance to clearly state her beliefs on core functions of government, Perdue has recently offered some significant clues as to the principles that guide her decisions.
First was on the issue of legalizing video poker. Perdue sent her chief of staff, Britt Cobb, to a video poker parlor to report on the atmosphere at such locations. In response to Cobb’s report that the parlor was smoke-filled and “the saddest thing he’s ever seen,” Perdue said "I don't believe I'm the mother of North Carolina, that I should ...regulate people's personal choices, but I don't like what I heard from Britt and I don't like what I see.”
Have you ever noticed that the word "but" often reveals someone's true thoughts? For instance, a person may start a sentence saying "I'm not a racist, but...." and then proceed to say something extremely racist. In other words, injecting the word “but” in such a way is an indicator that whatever was said before “but” is untrue and the speaker’s true intentions are revealed after it.
In this case, we can see Perdue does believe she's "the mother of North Carolina."
Similarly, Perdue had this to say about corporate welfare: “I don't like them (incentives), but they are part of the game.”
Translation: Perdue likes incentives.
It seems by these most recent statements that Perdue is unwittingly providing us with a glimpse into her belief system. And what we find is a person committed to the nanny state with a healthy dose of crony corporatism.
It all adds up to someone who favors the accumulation of power in the hands of the ruling class at the expense of individual liberty.
Although the next election is not until 2012, Republican Pat McCrory leads Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue by 15 percent, according to a new poll released today by the Civitas Institute.
According to the live caller poll of 600 likely voters, 51 percent of voters said they would vote for McCrory if the election for Governor were held today. Thirty-six percent said they would vote for Perdue, and 12 percent said they are undecided.
This is a 6 percent increase in McCrory’s lead from a June 2010 Civitas poll when he led Perdue by a 46 percent-37 percent margin.
“Support for Perdue is low as voters see job creation and economic recovery remaining flat,” said Civitas Institute Francis De Luca. “Despite press releases heralding new jobs and incentive giveaways, voters are not seeing improvement in the employment picture.”
McCrory leads among Republicans by an 83 percent-8 percent margin and among unaffiliated voters (53 percent-23 percent). Democratic voters support Perdue by a 64 percent-29 percent margin.
“Perdue has an uphill climb in light of the recent midterm elections, bleak jobs picture and the challenging state budget situation,” added De Luca. “In the next few months, the public will see whether she works with the new Republican leadership to balance the budget and improve the employment picture. If successful, that may prove critical to her reelection plans.”
In addition, 60 percent of voters said they think Perdue does not have a clear plan for creating jobs, while 25 percent said she does. Fifteen percent of voters said they do not know.
The Civitas Poll is the only monthly live-caller poll of critical issues facing North Carolina.
“And although the next election isn’t until 2012… if the election for Governor were being held today, for whom would you vote if the candidates were Pat McCrory, Republican and Bev Perdue, Democrat? And would you definitely vote for (choice) or just probably for (choice)?”
This poll of 600 registered voters in North Carolina was conducted December 15-16, 2010 by Public Opinion Strategies of Alexandria, Virginia. This survey has a margin of error of +4.0% in 95 out of 100 cases. To ensure a representative sample, interviews were conducted proportional to voter registration figures for each county in the state based on the most recent figures compiled by the State Board of Elections.
Former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory has a commanding lead over Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue in a new poll.
If a rematch up of their 2008 race were held today, McCrory would defeat Perdue by a 51 to 36 percent margin, according to a new survey commissioned by The Civitas Institute, a Raleigh-based conservative think tank. Twelve percent said they were undecided.
McCrory's lead has expanded since a June Civitas poll which showed Perdue leading by a 46 percent to 37 percent margin.
Perdue defeated McCrory by a 50 to 47 percent margin in 2008, the closest governor's race in the nation that year.
The spin:
“Support for Perdue is low as voters see job creation and economic recovery remaining flat,” said Francis De Luca, the institute's president. “Despite press releases heralding new jobs and incentive giveaways, voters are not seeing improvement in the employment picture.”
The survey of 600 registered North Carolina voters was conducted Dec. 15-16 by Public Opinion Strategies of Alexandria, Virginia. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
A growing chorus of conservative criticism is prompting some House members to rethink the $850 billion package of tax cuts and extended jobless benefits that President Barack Obama negotiated with top Republicans in Congress.
The attacks are unlikely to derail the measure, which gets a final vote Wednesday in the Senate, to be followed by a debate and vote in the House. But they underscore the difficulty of building centrist coalitions after an election in which tea party conservatives ousted many Democrats and some veteran Republicans who were seen as too willing to compromise with opponents.
Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh, GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and the Tea Party Patriots have denounced the tax plan, which previously was criticized mainly by liberals as a giveaway to the wealthy. The new reproach from conservatives is that the package would swell the federal debt while failing to make permanent the tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 by then-President George W. Bush.
Congressional insiders still predict the tax plan will pass in some form before Jan. 1, when almost every American's income tax rates would go up if a new law isn't in place. But House passage this week seems a bit less certain than before, and Obama's supporters are watching anxiously to see how many opponents on the right will join those on the left.
"The longer we wait, the harder it's going to be," said Rep. Jack Kingston, a Georgia Republican who is leaning against the package. He said House leaders probably are close to assembling enough support to pass it, but many GOP lawmakers are hearing from constituents who follow commentators such as Limbaugh.
The radio talk show host says the package should cut taxes, not leave them at the Bush-era levels.
The group Tea Party Patriots also urges the tax package's defeat. The legislation was crafted in secret, the group's petition says, and it fails to kill the estate tax, a goal of many hard-right groups.
But other tea party groups, including Freedomworks, support the tax compromise. Freedomworks, headed by former House Republican Dick Armey, says conservatives should be pleased to see the Bush tax cuts extended for another two years when Democrats still control Congress and the White House.
The tax cut debate is splitting Republicans at several levels. Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney criticized the plan Tuesday in a column for USA Today.
"Given the unambiguous message that the American people sent to Washington in November," Romney wrote, "it is difficult to understand how our political leaders could have reached such a disappointing agreement." It will add nearly $1 trillion to the national debt, he said, "when we are already drowning in red ink."
Another possible presidential contender, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., defended the tax measure in a Senate speech Tuesday. To oppose it, he said, "is to advocate for a tax increase," because a congressional impasse would allow all the Bush-era tax cuts to expire as scheduled on Jan. 1.
A new, more Republican Congress would probably restore them next year retroactive to Jan. 1, but workers might still see smaller paychecks for weeks or months because of higher withholdings reflecting the higher pre-Bush tax rates and smaller credits and deductions for children, college tuition and other expenses.
The Obama-backed plan would extend all those tax cuts, for rich and poor alike, for two years. It would trim Social Security payroll taxes and extend unemployment benefits for a year. It also would continue a number of tax breaks for business investments.
The plan restores the estate tax at a lower level -- 35 percent and exempting the first $5 million -- than many Democrats want. House Democratic leaders are weighing efforts to increase the rate to 45 percent and exempt only the first $3.5 million when the measure reaches their chamber.
Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, who negotiated the tax package with the White House, warned Tuesday that it is "not subject to being reopened."
House staffers in both parties say no firm count of likely votes for the tax measure has been taken. One top Democratic aide guessed that perhaps 100 Democrats would support the measure. That would require Republicans to provide more than half the votes to reach the 218 needed for passage.
Conservative groups opposing the tax measure include the Club for Growth. Other influential critics include Republican Reps. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, a tea party favorite; Jeff Flake of Arizona, a prominent critic of pork barrel spending; and John Campbell of California, a certified public accountant.
Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer wrote a widely discussed article last week saying Obama's plan would be a political coup for his 2012 re-election hopes, because the expensive package would stimulate the economy enough to bring down unemployment.
Prominent conservative supporters of the tax package include House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Americans for Tax Reform.
Boehner, who will become House speaker when the new Congress convenes next month, would suffer a big setback if the tax package fails. The criticism from the right clearly makes him and his allies nervous.
Boehner told CBS' "60 Minutes" that he refuses to say he compromised with the White House, preferring to say they found "common ground."
On tax and spending questions, House Republicans "are on a pretty short leash," Boehner said. "If we don't deliver what the American people are demanding, they'll throw us out of here in a heartbeat."
Republicans poring over a 1,924-page overarching spending bill proposed by Democrats to cover the rest of the fiscal year are threatening to grind the legislation to a halt, citing massive earmark spending, which, if passed, would be enacted into law without debate in the full Senate.
Two sources who spoke to Fox News are describing the legislation as "a total mess."
But the head of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, said he believes the legislation must pass.
"The twelve bills included in this package fulfill the Congress' most basic responsibility, to exercise the power of the purse," he said in a statement. "This measure reflects a year's worth of work by members of both parties. Together, we have closely scrutinized the president's budget request, held hundreds of hearings, thousands of meetings, and asked literally tens of thousands of questions to each and every federal department and agency seeking justification for how taxpayer dollars are being spent."
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, responded in a statement, saying that after neglecting to pass a budget, "today we learn Senate Democrats now want to sandwich them together, totaling almost 2,000 pages, and jam them through in the waning moments of this lame duck session before anyone can read them. This political end-around reveals just how quickly my colleagues across the aisle have already forgotten the voters' message in November."
Though none of the spending bills has passed the Senate, all the individual appropriations bills have been through the full committee process. In an afternoon release, the Appropriations Committee website listed all of the requested earmarks, winnowed into separate categories that go into making up the 12 separate annual spending bills.
In total, thousands of earmark requests are listed. The financial services earmark chart, for instance, lists 220 earmark requests from dozens of lawmakers, mostly in the House, each worth anywhere from $50,000 to $2.4 million. The largest sum was requested by Inouye and his Hawaii colleague Sen. Daniel Akaka for "Bank on USA" demonstration projects" in their state. The projects are designed to give underserved communities greater access to financial institutions.
Elsewhere, the Department of Defense earmark list, mostly requests by senators, is 29 pages long and individual requests more often are worth $2 million to $5 million each. In that list, Inouye's requests total more than $159 million, including $21 million for a Hawaii Federal Health Care Network. Cornyn's defense spending earmarks total nearly $16 million.
The list was released after a Republican policy lunch that a source said was devolving into pandemonium.
"All hell is breaking loose," the source told Fox News, noting that Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Jim DeMint of South Carolina were expected to insist the omnibus bill be read in its entirety by the clerk on the Senate floor before a vote is held. They also were expected to seek debate on all earmarks and any amendments.
If the clerk follows the pace of last year's reading of the health care bill -- 53 pages an hour -- it will take almost 40 hours to read the omnibus bill.
A spokesman for Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky responded that "all hell is not breaking loose just yet. But I'm sure there will be a robust conversation."
In a news conference, McConnell compared the omnibus bill to the health care legislation last year, calling it a big bill arriving amid cold weather and no one knowing exactly what's in it.
On top of Republican angst, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., also is revolting against the Democratic-sponsored bill, saying she will not support an omnibus spending bill unless it includes an amendment proposed by McCaskill and Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., that calls for a three-year cap in discretionary spending. Democratic leaders told McCaskill on Monday that they would meet a one-year gap, which she rejected, according to sources familiar with the conversations.
But sources said Inouye was confident he had the votes needed to get the legislation passed and sent to the House.
The fiscal year runs from Oct. 1-Sept. 30. Currently, a continuing resolution, the stopgap measure to keep government operational until a budget is passed, is set to expire on Saturday. If another CR or the bill itself isn't passed and signed into law by President Obama by then, the government will shut down.
On the House side, Republican leader John Boehner is apparently warning that if the Senate sends over the bill as it is, "We will work to kill it." House Democrats had hoped to file a year-long CR at the previous year's rates.
Opponents of the package are finding support among conservative groups who describe the legislation as a Democratic attempt to lock in 2010's $3.5 trillion budget for the next year without allowing any spending cuts.
"Despite the dire fiscal crisis the nation faces, with a $13.8 trillion national debt that cannot be paid, and in spite of the American people who are demanding action to cut spending, Congress is busy voting to kick the can for yet another year. A vote for the continuing resolution is a vote for another trillion dollar-plus deficit, and that is simply unacceptable to all Americans. Any politician in Congress that has ever promised to reduce the deficit should vote 'no' on this continuing resolution," Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson said in a statement Tuesday.
In the spirit of the holiday season, President Barack Obama's tax-cut deal with Republicans is becoming a Christmas tree tinseled with gifts for lobbyists and lawmakers.
There are ethanol subsidies for rural folks, commuter tax breaks for their cousins in the cities and suburbs, wind and solar grants for the environmentalists - all aimed at winning votes, particularly from reluctant Democrats.
The holiday additions are being hung on the big bill that was Congress' main reason for spending December in Washington, long after the elections that will give Republicans new power in January. The measure will extend Bush-era tax cuts, averting big tax increases for nearly all Americans, and keep jobless benefits flowing.
Republicans generally liked that agreement, worked out by Obama and GOP leaders. Democrats generally didn't, hence the add-ons.
It's expected to come to a decisive vote next week, at a total cost by the latest congressional estimate of $857.8 billion.
Almost $5 billion in subsidies for corn-based ethanol and a continuing tariff to protect against ethanol imports were wrapped up and placed on the tree Thursday night for farm-state lawmakers and agribusiness lobbyists. Environmentalists won more grants for developers of renewable energy, like wind and solar.
For urban lawmakers, there's a continuation of about-to-expire tax breaks that could save commuters who use mass transit about $1,000 a year.
Other popular tax provisions aimed at increasing production of hybrid automobiles, biodiesel fuel, coal and energy-efficient household appliances would be extended through the end of 2011 under the new add-ons.
The package also includes an extension of two Gulf Coast tax-incentive programs enacted after Hurricane Katrina to spur economic development in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama.
While the add-ons may have won more votes for the Obama-GOP deal in the Senate, their potential impact is less clear in the House, where Democrats have criticized the package as a tax giveaway to the rich.
There's the possibility the added goodies will have opposite the intended effect for some lawmakers. Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said the add-ons could turn his fiscally conservative colleagues against the bill.
"You don't want to be accused out there of supporting stimulus three," he said. "It will knock some votes off in the House, but more than anything, it will show the voters out there that things haven't changed with Republicans."
Republicans poring over a 1,924-page overarching spending bill proposed by Democrats to cover the rest of the fiscal year are threatening to grind the legislation to a halt, citing massive earmark spending, which, if passed, would be enacted into law without debate in the full Senate.
Two sources who spoke to Fox News are describing the legislation as "a total mess."
But the head of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, said he believes the legislation must pass.
"The twelve bills included in this package fulfill the Congress' most basic responsibility, to exercise the power of the purse," he said in a statement. "This measure reflects a year's worth of work by members of both parties. Together, we have closely scrutinized the president's budget request, held hundreds of hearings, thousands of meetings, and asked literally tens of thousands of questions to each and every federal department and agency seeking justification for how taxpayer dollars are being spent."
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, responded in a statement, saying that after neglecting to pass a budget, "today we learn Senate Democrats now want to sandwich them together, totaling almost 2,000 pages, and jam them through in the waning moments of this lame duck session before anyone can read them. This political end-around reveals just how quickly my colleagues across the aisle have already forgotten the voters' message in November."
Though none of the spending bills has passed the Senate, all the individual appropriations bills have been through the full committee process. In an afternoon release, the Appropriations Committee website listed all of the requested earmarks, winnowed into separate categories that go into making up the 12 separate annual spending bills.
In total, thousands of earmark requests are listed. The financial services earmark chart, for instance, lists 220 earmark requests from dozens of lawmakers, mostly in the House, each worth anywhere from $50,000 to $2.4 million. The largest sum was requested by Inouye and his Hawaii colleague Sen. Daniel Akaka for "Bank on USA" demonstration projects" in their state. The projects are designed to give underserved communities greater access to financial institutions.
Elsewhere, the Department of Defense earmark list, mostly requests by senators, is 29 pages long and individual requests more often are worth $2 million to $5 million each. In that list, Inouye's requests total more than $159 million, including $21 million for a Hawaii Federal Health Care Network. Cornyn's defense spending earmarks total nearly $16 million.
The list was released after a Republican policy lunch that a source said was devolving into pandemonium.
"All hell is breaking loose," the source told Fox News, noting that Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Jim DeMint of South Carolina were expected to insist the omnibus bill be read in its entirety by the clerk on the Senate floor before a vote is held. They also were expected to seek debate on all earmarks and any amendments.
If the clerk follows the pace of last year's reading of the health care bill -- 53 pages an hour -- it will take almost 40 hours to read the omnibus bill.
A spokesman for Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky responded that "all hell is not breaking loose just yet. But I'm sure there will be a robust conversation."
In a news conference, McConnell compared the omnibus bill to the health care legislation last year, calling it a big bill arriving amid cold weather and no one knowing exactly what's in it.
On top of Republican angst, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., also is revolting against the Democratic-sponsored bill, saying she will not support an omnibus spending bill unless it includes an amendment proposed by McCaskill and Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., that calls for a three-year cap in discretionary spending. Democratic leaders told McCaskill on Monday that they would meet a one-year gap, which she rejected, according to sources familiar with the conversations.
But sources said Inouye was confident he had the votes needed to get the legislation passed and sent to the House.
The fiscal year runs from Oct. 1-Sept. 30. Currently, a continuing resolution, the stopgap measure to keep government operational until a budget is passed, is set to expire on Saturday. If another CR or the bill itself isn't passed and signed into law by President Obama by then, the government will shut down.
On the House side, Republican leader John Boehner is apparently warning that if the Senate sends over the bill as it is, "We will work to kill it." House Democrats had hoped to file a year-long CR at the previous year's rates.
Opponents of the package are finding support among conservative groups who describe the legislation as a Democratic attempt to lock in 2010's $3.5 trillion budget for the next year without allowing any spending cuts.
"Despite the dire fiscal crisis the nation faces, with a $13.8 trillion national debt that cannot be paid, and in spite of the American people who are demanding action to cut spending, Congress is busy voting to kick the can for yet another year. A vote for the continuing resolution is a vote for another trillion dollar-plus deficit, and that is simply unacceptable to all Americans. Any politician in Congress that has ever promised to reduce the deficit should vote 'no' on this continuing resolution," Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson said in a statement Tuesday.
In the spirit of the holiday season, President Barack Obama's tax-cut deal with Republicans is becoming a Christmas tree tinseled with gifts for lobbyists and lawmakers.
There are ethanol subsidies for rural folks, commuter tax breaks for their cousins in the cities and suburbs, wind and solar grants for the environmentalists - all aimed at winning votes, particularly from reluctant Democrats.
The holiday additions are being hung on the big bill that was Congress' main reason for spending December in Washington, long after the elections that will give Republicans new power in January. The measure will extend Bush-era tax cuts, averting big tax increases for nearly all Americans, and keep jobless benefits flowing.
Republicans generally liked that agreement, worked out by Obama and GOP leaders. Democrats generally didn't, hence the add-ons.
It's expected to come to a decisive vote next week, at a total cost by the latest congressional estimate of $857.8 billion.
Almost $5 billion in subsidies for corn-based ethanol and a continuing tariff to protect against ethanol imports were wrapped up and placed on the tree Thursday night for farm-state lawmakers and agribusiness lobbyists. Environmentalists won more grants for developers of renewable energy, like wind and solar.
For urban lawmakers, there's a continuation of about-to-expire tax breaks that could save commuters who use mass transit about $1,000 a year.
Other popular tax provisions aimed at increasing production of hybrid automobiles, biodiesel fuel, coal and energy-efficient household appliances would be extended through the end of 2011 under the new add-ons.
The package also includes an extension of two Gulf Coast tax-incentive programs enacted after Hurricane Katrina to spur economic development in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama.
While the add-ons may have won more votes for the Obama-GOP deal in the Senate, their potential impact is less clear in the House, where Democrats have criticized the package as a tax giveaway to the rich.
There's the possibility the added goodies will have opposite the intended effect for some lawmakers. Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said the add-ons could turn his fiscally conservative colleagues against the bill.
"You don't want to be accused out there of supporting stimulus three," he said. "It will knock some votes off in the House, but more than anything, it will show the voters out there that things haven't changed with Republicans."
The Congressional Budget Office released its score Friday on the tax plan hammered out between Republicans and President Barack Obama, showing a $893 billion hit on the deficit over the next five years.
The bulk of the deficit increase comes from loss of revenue -- $756 billion -- with the rest coming from additional direct outlays.
The 13-month extension of unemployment benefits adds less than $57 billion to the deficit.
The highest price item is the extension of the Bush-era tax cuts, which will add more than $400 billion to the deficit, followed by the payroll tax holiday at about $225 billion.
Earlier, Obama enlisted former President Bill Clinton to help sell a compromise tax package negotiated with Republicans to reluctant Democrats.
After meeting with Clinton at the White House, Obama brought him to the briefing room to tout the proposal to reporters, even backing off after a brief introduction to let Clinton do the talking and take questions.
"I personally think this is a good deal, and the best we can get," Clinton said, arguing that the combination of payroll tax cuts, unemployment insurance benefits and various tax credits would help the economy grow.
Acknowledging that the Republican insistence on extending tax cuts to the wealthy would help him personally, Clinton said the compromise meant that both sides had to accept provisions they disliked.
"There's never a perfect bipartisan bill in the eyes of a partisan," Clinton said. "I believe this will be a significant net-plus for the country."
It was the latest salvo by the Obama administration in a battle for public and political support for the plan that combines extended tax cuts from the Bush era with extended unemployment benefits, tax breaks and the payroll tax holiday intended to bolster a sluggish recovery from economic recession.
House Democrats declared Thursday they opposed the package because it would extend the lower Bush-era tax rates for millionaires. They support the stance Obama has championed for years -- extending the current lower tax rates only for those earning up to $200,000 a year, or families earning $250,000, while letting rates for higher incomes return to 1990s levels.
However, Senate Republicans have refused to accept any difference in tax treatment for the wealthy, demanding that all current rates be extended. With the tax cuts expiring at the end of the year, and Republicans able to block any legislation in the Senate, Obama and Democrats face a fast-approaching deadline to reach a deal or see tax bills increase for everyone.
Earlier Friday, Obama told National Public Radio that the tax and benefits package would gain congressional approval because "nobody -- Democrat or Republican -- wants to see people's paychecks smaller on January 1 because Congress didn't act," Obama said in an interview with National Public Radio.
"And I think that the framework that we've put forward, which says not only that people's taxes don't go up on January 1, but also that we extend unemployment insurance for a year, that we make sure that key provisions like the college tax credit, the child tax credit, the earned-income tax credit are included -- that that framework is going to serve as the basis for compromise," Obama said.
The debate over taxes in the waning days of a lame-duck session of Congress illustrated the mistrust and animosity that has built up in the deeply partisan environment on Capitol Hill.
Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-New York, told CNN Friday that the tax plan will need Republican support to pass so that voters in 2012 will know it was not Democrats who approved the measure's projected $857 billion cost.
Obama will have to "get more Republicans than Democrats to make it go through," Ackerman said.
So far, Republicans "haven't said that they're all going to vote for it. They haven't said how many votes they're going to provide," Ackerman said. "This is on our (Democrats') watch. Then they're going to attack us in the next election for increasing the deficit when most of them are going to vote against it. ... Why should the Democrats get all the blame? The Republicans are very good at this. ... They get the credit for everything we do. We get the blame for everything they did that went bad."
Also Friday, conservatives Republicans questioned the tax and benefit package, warning it went against the campaign mantra from November of holding down the deficit.
U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minnesota, told CNN that the package would increase the deficit, adding that "investors are reacting to the increases in the deficit and so we're concerned about that. We want to get on a sound financial footing."
Sen. Jim DeMint, R-South Carolina, vowed earlier this week to filibuster the tax and benefit package to prevent a vote on the Senate floor. He noted that those who ran from the right in the election had said they would oppose anything that increased the deficit.
The Senate will consider the tax package first. On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, released the first version of legislation to implement the negotiated deal and said the first vote on it, a procedural one to open debate, would occur Monday.
The Senate version made public by Reid was largely the same as the deal announced by Obama, but it added a one-year extension of a program that provides cash grants in lieu of a tax credit for construction of new solar and wind energy projects. The Treasury Grant Program was part of the 2009 economic stimulus bill.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Friday that the additional clean energy provision added $3 billion to the cost of the package. Meanwhile, a letter to House Democratic leaders signed by at least 79 Democratic members called for the provision to be extended for two years.
The negotiated package includes a two-year extension of Bush-era tax cuts set to expire at the end of the year, as well as 13 months of unemployment benefits and a cut of 2 percentage points in the payroll tax. In addition, the plan extends current tax breaks for students and lower-income Americans, and adjusts the estate tax in a way that Democrats believe benefits the wealthy.
However, Bachmann and other conservatives complained that the compromise resurrects the estate tax, which had expired for 2010 but was set to be restored in 2011 at a rate of 55%, with inheritances under $1 million exempted. A bill that passed in the House set the tax rate at 45% and exempted inheritances under $3.5 million, while the provision in the tax deal would exempt estates up to $5 million and set the tax rate at 35%.
To Obama, the bottom line is that legislators from both parties will prevent a tax increase on January 1 by accepting the main components of the negotiated package, including the extension of unemployment benefits.
"At the end of the day, people are going to conclude we don't want 2 million people suddenly without unemployment insurance and not able to pay their rent, not able to pay their mortgage, not able to pay their house note," Obama said, adding that the package also will bolster the so-far sluggish recovery from a recession that has unemployment still near 10%.
"I think that people are also going to understand that the single most important thing we can do for all of our constituencies is to make sure that the recovery that is taking place right now gets stronger," he said, adding that economists have noted the negotiated package would increase growth and could mean more jobs, a development that "has got to be the highest priority for everybody."
He called for legislators "to act responsibly and to think not in terms of abstract political fights here ... on Capitol Hill, but to think about those families that, in the middle of the holiday season, are trying to figure out -- are they still going to have unemployment benefits at the end of this month?"
"I'm confident that we're going to be able to get this resolved by the end of the month," Obama said.
Thursday's vote by the House Democratic caucus was a defiant rejection of both the agreement on tax and benefit measures, as well as what many Democrats in the chamber perceived as being marginalized in the talks by the White House.
"This message today is very simple. That in the form that it was negotiated, it is not acceptable to the House Democratic caucus," said Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who represented House Democrats in the negotiations. He pledged to "work with the White House and our Republican colleagues to try and make sure we do something right for the economy and right for jobs."
During their meeting, caucus members chanted "Just say no," according to two Democrats in attendance, and Rep. Laura Richardson of California later asked reporters outside the room: "Did you hear us saying 'Just say no'?"
Overall, Republicans generally appear supportive of the package, which White House advisers noted gave them their two main priorities -- an extension of the lower tax rates from the Bush era to everyone, including the wealthiest Americans, and setting a lower-than-expected estate tax rate only on inheritances of more than $5 million.
Both provisions angered liberal Democrats, who oppose extending the lower tax rates enacted in 2001 and 2003 to the wealthy. Some said Obama should have forced a showdown with Republicans over the tax cut extensions by holding out longer to force more GOP concessions.
However, Obama and White House aides said the deal reached in negotiations was the best they would get from unyielding Republicans, who will take control of the House and enjoy a stronger minority stake in the Senate when the next session of Congress begins in early January.
Gibbs told reporters Thursday that he expected Congress to pass a package this year because the alternative was higher taxes for everyone after December 31.
"At the end of the day, members are not going to want to be in their districts, senators are not going to want to be in their districts, when their constituents find out their taxes have gone up by several thousands of dollars," Gibbs said, noting that the deal is a compromise with elements unpalatable to both sides. "If everybody took out what they didn't like, we'd have nothing. And we know the consequences of doing nothing."
A top Democratic adviser to the White House added that Senate Democrats "have several vehicles they can use" as the legislative base for the tax plan, and are working on a plan to pass a tax bill and "then jam the House" with that legislation.
Some House Democrats say they will support the tax package as a compromise made under tough circumstances.
"If it passes the Senate and this is the compromise the president of the United States has committed to, what are we going do in the House, hold this up?" said Rep. Shelley Berkley of Nevada.
Last Christmas Eve, the U.S. Senate gave Americans the lump of coal known as Obamacare. This year, they may take even more of our money to fund it and also force us to buy a pork-barrel full of thousands of earmarks. In a 212-206 vote, House Democrats pushed through a flawed continuing resolution yesterday that funds Obamacare and extends overall funding for the next year at reckless 2010 levels.
As Sen. Tom Coburn has pointed out, the House-passed bill contains significant Obamacare funding, which is why Coburn called the bill a “Trojan Horse to Fund New Health Law.”
Now the focus shifts to the Senate, where efforts are underway to amend the House-passed version—and not for the better.
Senate Democrats will offer an amendment to make it even worse with a full-blown omnibus appropriations bill packed with pork-barrel earmarks, spending increases, and even more funding for every top Obama administration priority. And unfortunately, some Senate Republicans may be poised to help the Democrats pass it.
Rumors are swirling that despite the fact Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell pulled the plug on official Republican support for the omnibus, a small group of rogue Republican appropriators are playing ball, planning to vote for the massive bloated spending bill in exchange for a parting Christmas gift of pork-barrel goodies for their states.
The most likely to play ball are three retiring appropriators: Kit Bond of Missouri, George Voinovich of Ohio, and Robert Bennett of Utah who will never face voters again. Plus, there's also the highest-ranking Republican appropriator: Thad Cochran of Mississippi.
We don’t know which earmarks made it into the omnibus yet but we do know that Kit Bond requested 142 earmarks this year totaling over $600 million. George Voinovich requested 172 earmarks totaling over $460 million, Robert Bennett requested 321 earmarks topping $1.3 billion, and Thad Cochran requested a whopping 712 earmarks totaling over $2.4 billion.
Other Republican senators worth worrying about identified themselves last week when they voted against the Coburn-McCaskill amendment to ban earmarks: Susan Collins (R-Maine), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Dick Lugar (R-Ind..), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.).
These nine Republicans must be urged to abide by the wishes of the American people and to learn the same lesson Mitch McConnell, himself an appropriator, made clear in his wonderful Senate floor speech embracing the earmark moratorium:
“Nearly every day that the Senate’s been in session for the past two years, I have come down to this spot and said that Democrats are ignoring the wishes of the American people. When it comes to earmarks, I won’t be guilty of the same thing.”
Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, some Republicans may vote for the Democrats’ pork-packed, Obamacare-funding omnibus monstrosity.
That’s why pressuring Democrats is critical, starting with the ones who voted in favor of the Coburn-McCaskill earmark ban.
Claire McCaskill herself is the most likely Democrat to oppose the omnibus. Unlike her pork-loving Republican colleague Kit Bond, McCaskill has requested no earmarks this year and has long been a proponent of reform. This vote will test whether, when the rubber hits the road, she is really willing to vote to stop a rolling pork-barrel.
The other Democrats who voted with Coburn include Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), neither of whom requested any earmarks this year, along with Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.). They will be put to the test of whether their earmark reform was sincere when they have the opportunity to stop the omnibus.
Moreover, all senators need to be forcefully reminded that this will be the first vote on funding Obamacare, a signature issue that will loom large in the 2012 election.
The bottom line is that this Congress had all year to do its job and pass legislation to fund the government before the November midterm elections. They failed. They should not now be rewarded with a massive omnibus spending bill on their way out the door.
Sen. Coburn got it exactly right when he said: “It’s time for Congress to extend current tax rates, pass a clean spending bill – a ‘continuing resolution’ -- without extraneous and vague health care provisions, and go home.”
The U.S. Department of Education will investigate Civil-Rights Complaints alleging that the closing of eight Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools discriminates against Minority Students, according to a notice sent to Superintendent Dr. Peter Gorman this week.
Seven people filed complaints based on a November vote by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board to close schools that serve mostly Black, Hispanic and low-income Students, part of a package of budget-cutting changes for 2011-12.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials acknowledge the cuts disproportionately affect minority families, but say the decision was based on low enrollment and/or academic weakness, not race.
The department's Office of Civil Rights does not reveal who filed complaints, but families held a rally at Waddell High, one of the schools that will close, urging people to file such reports.
"Opening a complaint for investigation in no way implies that OCR has made a determination on the merits of the case," education department spokesman Jim Bradshaw said in an e-mail. "Rather, the office is merely a neutral fact-finder. It will collect and analyze all relevant evidence from the parties involved in the case to develop its findings."
If investigators find violations of federal civil-rights laws, they try to negotiate a resolution. In a worst-case scenario, a violation that can't be resolved could lead to CMS losing federal money or facing a Justice Department investigation.
Wake County Schools is also being investigated, based on complaints that its new student assignment plan violates civil-rights laws. The Wake board recently decided to scrap a plan that uses family income to promote school diversity, moving toward a neighborhood-based plan that is expected to create schools with higher concentrations of minority and low-income students.
Twelve years ago, the school board declared war on the suburbs. That war would eventually break the county financially, destabilize the school system and launch middle-class flight.
Last Tuesday, the chickens finally came home to roost. At a school board meeting that at times threatened to turn violent, Minority parents accused school board members of Racism. The board closed or reconfigured a long list of schools with heavy minority and poor populations to save money. Understandably, outraged protestors believed this to be an assault on poor minorities, given that whiter, more suburban schools were left untouched.
They're right in their instinct that their children will pay the price for the fiasco school leaders created over the last decade, but not for the reasons they think.
Rewind to 1997, when white suburban parents sued to end busing for racial integration. The school system fought them bitterly in court, but lost.
In retribution, the school board's majority and Superintendent Eric Smith decided to starve the then-booming suburbs of school-building dollars. The formula used to calculate where schools should be built was jiggered to show negative growth in the suburbs during a time when the county regularly ranked among America's top 10 fastest-growing places due largely to suburban growth.
Suburban schools were allowed to burst at the seams while the school system went on a billion-dollar building spree, throwing up schools in low-income areas where the bulk of the county's growing population didn't actually live. This was by design. The courts had blocked the school system from busing kids by race to achieve school diversity. They would use space to achieve it instead.
Eventually, school leaders believed, suburban schools would overflow and occupancy would violate fire codes. Suburban, mostly white children would be forced into the half-filled urban schools. Diversity could still be achieved through spite.
Waddell High School, the focus of much of the crowd's anger Tuesday night, was a classic spite school. In a contentious 5-4 vote, the school board decided to bypass desperately overcrowded suburban areas and locate Waddell just a few miles from struggling Olympic High School in a lower population west side area.
Waddell was state of the art, with science labs and a media center that most school districts would envy. Yet it opened half full in 2001 and struggled to attract students while bursting suburban schools were forced to hold classes in their gyms. Waddell was closed Tuesday as a high school and will be replaced with a magnet school.
Between 2001 and 2004, 17 new schools were built. Of those, just four were in booming suburban areas of the county. Dozens more urban schools were renovated from top to bottom. Some of this made sense. Because of the lawsuit, minority kids would be returning to neighborhood schools that were decrepit and needed to be renovated.
But the school board took its construction orgy to levels so outrageous that classes in new urban schools were half full with ratios of 15 kids to a teacher. The school board blew a billion dollars on school construction, doubling the county's debt load while the population only grew by 28 percent. By 2010, Wake County had 6,000 more students than Mecklenburg did, but 17 fewer schools.
In the process, the school board made a terrible miscalculation. It wrongly assumed that suburbanites would put their kids on buses to half-empty urban schools once suburban ones burst at the seams. Instead, parents began to bypass absurdly overcrowded schools here and moved to Union and York counties.
The board alienated an entire generation of suburban parents who could have diversified our schools, the vast majority of whom had nothing to do with the busing lawsuit. While thousands of new children a year showed up to school in neighboring counties, our schools bled middle-income white kids. In 1998, our schools were 58-percent white. Today they are 33 percent; the schools built to hold them remain partially full.
Worse yet, the county is now struggling to operate its schools and libraries while paying down its enormous school construction debt. On Tuesday, the school board took the first step in cleaning up this mess, closing down and consolidating schools so that they can get back to the business of educating kids.
For instance, CMS black and Hispanic students in grades 3-8 were more likely to pass reading and math exams than the same groups statewide and in Wake and Guilford counties, N.C. school report cards for 2010 show.
CMS's black, Hispanic and low-income students were more successful on high-school exams but less likely to graduate.
The report cards package information that has already been reported in different formats, and confirm trends that have been emerging for the last few years. But the easy comparison of schools and districts often provides the clearest gauge of accomplishment.
And the question is timely in Charlotte. People angered by the board's recent decision to close 10 schools serving mostly African American and impoverished students have accused officials of Racism and filed complaints alleging civil-rights violations.
Board Chair Eric Davis, Superintendent Peter Gorman and others have argued that they're closing buildings to protect academic gains in a shrinking budget. CMS has spent millions putting extra teachers, technology and other aid into schools serving the neediest students, most of whom are black, Hispanic and impoverished.
The report cards provide detailed data on academics, safety, discipline and faculty, broken out by school and district. They illustrate CMS's progress with minority and low-income students, even though those groups continue to trail white and non-poor students by large margins.
In the last couple of years, districts across North Carolina have seen more disadvantaged students pass exams, partly because the state now requires students who fail the first time to take the test again.
Gorman has complained that retesting inflates pass rates and provides false hope to some students and families. But because all N.C. districts are playing by the same rules, district-to-district comparisons give perspective on the gains.
Just a few years ago, such comparisons were embarrassing for CMS. Minority and low-income students trailed state averages on most measures, especially in high schools. Wake outperformed CMS by large margins.
But in recent years, CMS has surpassed Wake and the state on many measures, especially for disadvantaged students. White and nonpoor students in both districts do extremely well, with pass rates of 85 percent or higher.
CMS's edge is most pronounced on the high-school exams. But the low graduation rate counters that advantage; pass rates could be rising because weak students are dropping out, rather than staying and flunking tests.
Wake's overall proficiency rates remain above CMS's because Wake has fewer poor and minority students. Last year about a third of Wake students qualified for lunch subsidies, used to gauge school poverty, while just over half of CMS's did.
As national experts laud Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' success with low-income and black students, some local families are taking to the streets, accusing officials of shortchanging those very children.
A proposal to close eight urban schools, where less than 10 percent of the total enrollment is white, has state and local NAACP leaders accusing CMS of racism while crowds stand and cheer.
School change is always tumultuous. But people are startled by recent arrests, protests and strident rhetoric in a city known for polite discourse and reticence about race.
"I don't know how widespread it is, but the people who are angry about it are extremely angry," said county commissioners' Chair Jennifer Roberts, who attended a recent NAACP meeting where leaders urged about 200 people to fight school-closing plans, going to jail if necessary.
Tasha Houston, a housekeeper, says she'd never marched for anything until she showed up for a public forum about closing J.T. Williams Middle, where she has a child. Her sense that school officials are mistreating African-American and low-income families led her to the street.
"It's like a volcano is erupting," Houston said, "and we have to deal with it."
Hundreds of parents, including many from the suburbs and affluent in-town neighborhoods, have protested recent changes in boundaries and magnet programs.
But talk of closings takes anxiety to a new level. Superintendent Peter Gorman has suggested closing eight of CMS's 176 schools. They're home to about 4,000 students, mostly black, Hispanic and low-income. The schools were tagged, he says, because they have empty classrooms and/or academic failings. And with budget cuts looming, he says, it's better to sacrifice buildings than teachers.
"We didn't target any one group," Gorman said last week. "What we're doing is targeting problems, and our problem is the financial challenge."
Historic echoes
But to some, it's the latest twist in a cycle of discrimination that dates back to Jim Crow schools, continued with urban renewal projects that razed black neighborhoods, and gathered new force when courts dismantled CMS's desegregation plan about 10 years ago.
That history makes skepticism understandable, says Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx, a West Charlotte High alum. He says CMS leaders bear the burden of persuading a wary community that proposed changes will help their children succeed.
Tension spiked at an Oct. 12 forum on westside and central schools, when the board cut off public comments from an overflow crowd. The board plans to hold a makeup session for 19 speakers on Tuesday, but some say the damage is done.
The Rev. William Barber, president of the N.C. conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, came to Charlotte last week to help plan follow-up action. He says Charlotte's national prominence and historic position as a leader in the quest for desegregation makes it the ideal place for a long-term fight against neighborhood schools isolated by race and income.
"Resegregation of schools is the enemy of educational excellence," he said Friday.
Fiery rhetoric
When the Rev. Kojo Nantambu was elected president of Charlotte-Mecklenburg's NAACP branch last fall, he promised to shake up a dormant civil-rights community.
For months, he spoke at school board meetings, denouncing Gorman and the board as racists who encourage school resegregation. Aside from a handful of fellow activists, he got little attention.
Then the school-closing plan landed, bringing out people like Houston, who says she's normally too busy working to attend meetings. Now Nantambu is getting standing ovations from dozens eager to join his fight.
Nantambu was arrested after the Oct. 12 forum, charged with disturbing the peace when he led the crowd in chants of "We want more time!"
His rhetoric in follow-up meetings has been fiery: Resegregation is evil, and CMS is perpetuating "spiritual and mental torture" of children. At an NAACP meeting on Monday, he pinned the blame squarely on Gorman, along with unspecified people controlling him: "They do not want black children and white children to go to school together. They do not want rich children and poor children to go to school together." Nantambu has not returned repeated calls from the Observer after his arrest.
Hero or Villain?
When Gorman was hired from California in 2006, he succeeded the district's first black superintendent, James Pughsley. He took over a system that had recently switched, after a long court battle, from race-based assignment to a mix of neighborhood schools and magnets.
And he was hired by a board that had seen the number and influence of black members decline as white and suburban voters mobilized around school issues. To many community and business leaders, Gorman was a refreshing face of reform. He has emerged as one of the nation's high-profile superintendents; on Monday, the Broad Foundation honored CMS as one of the country's five best urban districts. But to some in Charlotte, he symbolizes white political control of a system where about two-thirds of students are black or Hispanic.
County Commissioner Vilma Leake, who says she "reluctantly" voted to hire Gorman when she was on the school board, agrees with much of what Nantambu says about CMS. She blames Gorman for laying off hundreds of employees - including bus drivers, teacher assistants, maintenance workers and other positions dominated by African Americans - and populating his upper echelon with white administrators.
A current list of Gorman's 14-person executive staff includes three African Americans, one of whom, legal counsel George Battle, was hired by the board, rather than Gorman.
Last year's school board election brought in a new majority. Richard McElrath and Joyce Waddell, elected last November, are now the only African Americans on the nine-person board.
McElrath and Waddell attended Monday's NAACP meeting, standing and applauding for some of Nantambu's and Barber's comments. But even though they disagree with parts of Gorman's plan, both say he's not the villain.
McElrath praises Gorman for speaking up about the way housing patterns shape racial and economic isolation of schools. And Waddell notes that the board employs Gorman, so bad decisions rest on them.
Vice Chair Tom Tate, who is white and represents a district with many urban schools, agrees. He has questioned whether Gorman's plan is fair to disadvantaged kids, but "I do not think that there is anything that is motivated by racism of any sort."
CMS asks for Trust
Board Chair Eric Davis, one of the members elected last fall, touted the student-assignment review that led to the closing plan as a new era in citizen participation. Starting in July, board members and staff have spent dozens of hours in meetings with parents, educators and others interested in schools.
The process gets mixed reviews. Supporters applaud the time spent listening and Davis's willingness to respond quickly to flaws in the system. Skeptics say they can't keep up with rapidly changing proposals and crucial meetings held during work hours, and complain that CMS staff filters public comments.
Officials unveiled plans for closings and other major changes before they had estimates on savings or details on how the changes would work. They said they wanted to hear public views before delving into details - essentially asking the public to trust CMS to work out the plans before school opens in 2011-12.
No way, many parents, volunteers and educators say. They've chided CMS for trying to launch complex efforts, such as converting elementary schools to accommodate pre-kindergarten to eighth grade or launching year-round school, on a speeded-up timetable and shoestring budget.
Earlier this month, the board voted to pull some popular magnets and suburban neighborhood schools off Gorman's list for closing or other change. That fueled suspicion that inner-city schools are getting short shrift.
As Houston, the J.T. Williams parent, put it: "They're not targeting the schools that have these giant PTAs. They're targeting our children because we are who we are."
Key meeting dates
Decisions about 2011-12 school closings will take shape on Tuesday, when Gorman's staff presents final recommendations, and Nov. 9, when the board votes.
Both meetings are likely to be packed. Parent groups are planning candlelight vigils and other strategies.
Bud Cesena, chief of CMS police, says he hopes to avoid making more arrests. If chants or disruption arise, he says, his force will get the school board into a back room, leaving the meeting chamber to protestors and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police.
Foxx says he has been on the phone with board members and other leaders, trying to figure out how to bring the community together in two weeks. "There's some important dialog that's got to take place between now and then," he said .
But tension isn't likely to end Nov. 9. One scenario: Some version of the current plan could be approved on a split vote, with the board's two black members on the losing end.
The question then becomes: What next?
Barber says the state NAACP and allied groups are in it for the long haul. He said he plans to bring civil-rights lawyers to Charlotte for a panel talk about legal options.
In Raleigh, Barber has led school-board sit-ins to protest school resegregation. Some wonder whether Charlotte will see similar scenes.
"This could be as fragile as Wake County, just because everybody's nervous or on edge," said Kathy Ridge, executive director of Mecklenburg Citizens for Public Education, or MeckEd. "I hope it's not a tinderbox getting ready to blow."
Malachi Greene, a former Charlotte City Council member who is African American, sees other options.
"It's another one of those community problems that we've got to roll up our sleeves and do the Charlotte way: Work it out without tearing Charlotte apart," he said. "We've got to get through this without hurting what we all love, and that's our children and our community."
The U.S. Education Department is reviewing five civil-rights complaints alleging that Charlotte-Mecklenburg's school closings and other assignment changes discriminate against black and Hispanic students.
The department, which does not reveal who files complaints, expects to decide within a couple of weeks whether the complaints merit an investigation.
In a worst-case scenario, a finding that CMS violated federal civil rights laws could block federal money or lead to a Justice Department probe. However, the Education Department tries to negotiate a resolution without resorting to those steps, according to its Web site.
Education Department spokesman Jim Bradshaw said the first complaint was filed Oct. 29, before last week's vote to close 10 schools and change programs and/or assignments at about two dozen others. Four more were filed after the vote, he said Wednesday.
Most students affected by closings and major changes are black or Hispanic and from low-income homes, prompting some to accuse Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools of racism or class discrimination. Feelings ran high: About a dozen people protested outside Superintendent Peter Gorman's house the weekend before the vote, and board members Eric Davis and Kaye McGarry received death-threat letters afterward.
Gorman and Davis, the board's chair, have repeatedly said closings and school mergers were based on empty classrooms and/or academic weakness. They note that CMS spends millions providing extra teachers, supplies and other aid to high-poverty schools serving mostly minority students, and say sacrificing buildings could help protect such aid in the face of huge projected budget cuts.
"Most of the schools we closed are in the African American community. That's factually accurate," Davis said the day after the vote. "We didn't close them because they're in the African American community."
Parents at Waddell High, which will close next school year, held a news conference the day after the vote urging parents to file complaints with the Education Department's Office of Civil Rights.
"We all need to do this together," parent DeAndra Alex said. "We need to do this proactively, and we need to do this forcefully."
The Observer has filed a request for the complaints and any other related documents. The Office of Civil Rights deletes "personally identifiable information" from any information provided, Bradshaw said.
The President of Charlotte's NAACP chapter has called former mayor Pat McCrory "Racist" in a televised interview, after McCrory said comments by Kojo Nantambu might incite violence.
The two men's comments are the latest chapter in an ongoing dispute triggered by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' decision to cut costs by closing a number of schools, mostly in African American and Latino communities.
In recent days, two CMS board members reportedly received threatening letters, tied to their votes to close the schools.
During interviews with at least two Charlotte media outlets Monday, McCrory said Nantambu's protest chant during last week's school board meeting could lead to violence.
After the school board voted 5-4 to approve a cost-cutting plan that included the school closings, Nantambu began leading a chant, "No justice, no peace!"
McCrory told WBTV, "This should be a man of peace who's encouraging respectful dialogue, even during disagreements -- as opposed to a mean tone and very violent words."
Nantambu, also in a WBTV interview, countered that his chant was not intended to trigger violence. "In a society or community anywhere, if there is not justice, there's not going to be peace," he said. "But it doesn't mean there's going to be violence."
Then Nantambu criticized McCrory, saying, "That's the way he perceives it. That's because he has a very distorted view of reality in himself. And because he's a racist himself."
When asked by WBTV reporter Brigida Mack if he were calling McCrory racist, Nantambu responded, "Yeah, he's a racist."
McCrory later said Nantambu "sbould be ashamed of saying that."
Nantambu said during the weekend that the NAACP had no involvement in the threatening letters received by board chairman Eric Davis and board member Kaye McGarry.
Emotions bubbled to the surface during last week's CMS school board vote, prompting someone to put their feelings down on paper.
"In the letter it's clear and obvious they are being targeted because of the way they voted on the school issue," said Milton Harris with CMPD's Criminal Intelligence Unit.
On Friday, board member Kaye McGarry received a threatening letter. On Saturday CMS board chairman Eric Davis received one as well.
"Basically the contents of the letter would give the average person concern for their personal safety," said Harris.
Both Davis and McGarry were outspoken proponents of closing E.E. Waddell High.
"I feel that as chairman, Davis said we need to make a decision tonight," Kaye McGarry said last Tuesday night at that controversial meeting.
NewsChannel 36 contacted McGarry on the phone Monday, but she would not talk about the threat.
She did say whoever wrote it referenced Waddell in the letter.
"We have it in the lab. We're looking at the forensics. Any forensics that may apply to documents we're applying that to these documents," said Harris.
Police are taking the situation seriously given that whoever made the threat took the time to learn where the board members live.
"We don’t know who wrote the letters. We don’t know their mental status," said Harris.
Davis contacted NewsChannel 36 late Monday afternoon. He, too, declined to discuss the threat.
When asked if he was worried about it he said, "No."
Police think the same person wrote both letters, and they are confident they will learn who that person is and why they made the threats.
Hundreds of students at E.E. Waddell High School held hands and stood outside the school Wednesday morning, refusing to go inside as a silent protest to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' decision to close the school.
In a Tuesday night meeting marked by split votes, angry protests and accusations of racism, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board approved a sweeping plan to close 10 schools and make other dramatic changes.
In the most controversial item, the board voted 5-4 to close Waddell High and make it the new home for Smith Language Academy, a K-8 magnet. Harding High, which had also been considered as a home for Smith, will turn into a neighborhood school housing many of Waddell's students, along with the International Baccalaureate magnet now at Harding.
Most other efforts to block or revise the plan failed, often with the board's only two black members on the losing end of votes.
"That's a racist vote," speaker John White told the board after the seven white members rejected a move by Joyce Waddell and Richard McElrath to delay a vote on all proposed changes.
Race was a common theme as more than 100 people made one last attempt to sway the board on its historic decision.
The votes change life for about 25,000 students next year. It is the first time the district, which has long grappled with the challenges of growth, has faced massive closings and reassignments because of a shrinking budget.
Most speakers were critical of the plans crafted by Superintendent Peter Gorman and hashed out after five months of board meetings and public forums. Many noted that closings and other major changes would land disproportionately on schools serving minority and low-income students.
Only about 5 percent of students in the schools slated to close are white, compared with a third district-wide.
"Everyone should share the pain, including our suburban families and communities," said Adrian DeVore.
"You are about to wake a sleeping giant called the civil rights movement," said Darrell Bonapart.
Gorman, board Chair Eric Davis and other members say the changes are based on low enrollment and/or academic weakness, not on race or clout. And they say it's just the start of a quest to cut up to $100 million from next year's $1 billion budget.
Before public comments began, Waddell and McElrath argued for pulling the vote off the agenda. Waddell said by waiting until February, officials could craft a fairer plan.
Other members said they needed to vote now to be ready for the 2011 magnet lottery.
After the motion was voted down, a handful of activists began chanting "No justice, no peace." CMS and Charlotte-Mecklenburg police led them from the meeting chamber.
A gray-haired woman collapsed into the space between rows of seats. The board watched quietly as officers worked to get her to her feet.
"You knocked her down?" someone called.
"No," others said.
Another woman, whom police later identified as Niksa Karina Balbosa, 39, was led away in handcuffs. "They are voting to destroy our children," she shouted. "We won't stop until we're heard."
She was charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing, CMS Police Chief Bud Cesena said.
Charlotte NAACP President Kojo Nantambu arrived 15 minutes after the meeting began and tried to get into the meeting chamber, but was turned away. He led a group of roughly 30 people, some with signs, who began chanting in the lobby, calling on the school board to push back the vote.
Even after the board voted to keep the closings plan on the agenda, many speakers urged members to start over. Sarah Stevenson, a former school board member, was among them.
"You have a golden opportunity to be fair and equitable to minority children and minority communities," Stevenson said. "You'd be the first board of education to do that in the 60-something years that I've been active in politics in this community."
The local League of Women Voters also called for a do-over, saying the current plan creates too much disruption and distrust for a relatively small savings.
"This is not the time to be penny wise and pound foolish," said co-president Janet Brinkley.
But some speakers from Smith Language Academy, which now moves to Waddell, urged members to vote.
"It's not fair to the students and the parents to delay the process any further," one said.
Joyce Waddell also made a motion to scrap a plan to close three high-poverty, mostly minority middle schools and move the students into new pre-K-8 schools. She said Gorman hasn't shown that students will benefit from the move. Her motion lost on a 5-4 vote.
Five and a half hours into the meetings, feelings were running high. Audience members shouted at board member Joe White as he spoke from the dais. He snapped back that he hadn't interrupted them when they spoke.
"No wonder we have kids who don't know how to behave," White said. He quickly added that some of the best and most civil speakers earlier in the meeting were students.
On the eve of the controversial vote on closing and consolidating Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools, CMS board members Joyce Waddell and Richard McElrath made small contributions to the NAACP's legal research fund.
Both McElrath and Waddell put cash in a bucket passed around at the end of an NAACP meeting Monday night.
Chapter president Rev. Kojo Nantambu called the meeting to encourage the African-American community to come out to fight the school district's cost-cutting proposal. Nantambu asked members to put money into buckets he called "a legal defense fund."
Asked later about the purpose of the funds, he said they are for "legal research," including both looking for more equitable solutions to the cash crunch and exploring the possibility of legal action against CMS.
Waddell has said she has concerns about the impact on poor and minority students, reiterating Monday night, "Look at it, and you can see for yourself. Minority students are the ones taking the largest burden of what's out there."
When asked about the donation, "I do not support suing CMS," Waddell said. "That money is for research."
McElrath did not return several phones calls about the donation.
A CMS spokesperson could not comment late Monday on ethics rules regarding donations and conflicts of interest. She promised more information Tuesday.
Tuesday night the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board voted to shut down 10 schools, expand other schools, and change boundaries.
In the most controversial vote of the night, the board voted 5-4 to shut down Waddell High school and give its building to Smith Language Academy.
That vote also means that Harding High will lose its math and science magnet program to Phillip O. Berry High, and Harding will become a partial neighborhood school instead of a full magnet school. Harding will keep its IB program.
Both Harding and Waddell parents expressed disappointment after the vote.
The four members who voted not to shut down Waddell and make the change to Harding were Tom Tate, Joyce Waddell, Richard McElrath, and Trent Merchant. Board chair Eric Davis, Joe White, Kaye McGarry, Rhonda Lennon, and Tim Morgan voted yes.
The school board also voted to make a host of other changes which are listed at the bottom of this article.
Not long after it began, the Charlotte Mecklenburg School Board meeting was disrupted Tuesday night when a group of people started chanting from inside the board chambers.
Several folks began chanting, "No justice, no peace," and were led out of the room by police officers from Charlotte-Mecklenburg police.
At least two people were arrested during the meeting, including CMS parent Niksa Balbosa. She shouted, "There is a bigger plan than public knows! Fight for your children! Fight!" as she was being taken, in handcuffs, into the elevator at the Board of Education.
Police tell us that Balbosa will be charged with disorderly conduct and she was being taken to the Mecklenburg County jail. NAACP members told WBTV's Dedrick Russell that they were planning to bail Balbosa out.
The meeting interrupting lasted for several minutes. When police escorted some of the chanters outside, the chants continued in the hall.
In the lobby, NAACP President Kojo Nantambu lead a group of protests in chanting, "Push Back the Date!" referring to their demand that the board not vote on a host of controversial measures Tuesday night.
A woman fell during the chanting and an ambulance was called to check out her injuries which appeared to be minor. Its not clear how she fell.
There are 25 measures the board is scheduled to consider, which include school closures and other big changes. A crowd of close to 500 showed up, including many who had to watch in the government center lobby and two overflow rooms.
Before the disruption, board member Joyce Waddell had tried to get the board to delay voting on all the measures.
"I am asking that this be delayed until the February meeting," Waddell said.
But Waddell's motion was shot down 7-2, with only board member Richard McElrath joining Waddell.
Here are the changes the board voted to make:
These are the schools that, except for one, will be closed by next school year:
* Irwin Avenue Elementary (students would be sent to Dilworth or Ashley Park elementaries; IB Primary Years magnet program at Irwin goes away; the board originally planned to turn Irwin into CMS offices, but instead decided Tuesday night that the Villa Heights Learning Immersion/Talent Development program would move into the Irwin facility) * Lincoln Heights Elementary (Lincoln Heights students will go to Bruns Avenue Elementary) * Oakhurst Elementary (students will be sent to either Rama Road or Billingsville elementaries; Paideia magnet program at Oakhurst will close) * Pawtuckett Elementary School (Pawtuckett students will go to Whitewater Academy) * Davidson IB Middle (the IB program will be relocated to Alexander Middle) * John Taylor Williams Middle * Bishop Spaugh Community Academy (Middle School) * Wilson Middle School * Waddell High School (Smith Language Academy will move into Waddell's building and take the Waddell name) * Amay James Pre-Kindergarten (closing a pre-K does not require a board vote, so this closure was not voted on Tuesday night) * University Park Elementary (it will not shut down until the 2012-2013 school year; at that time its creative arts magnet will be combined with First Ward Elementary's creative arts magnet)
Here are some other changes the CMS board approved Tuesday night that will start next school year:
BOUNDARY CHANGES:
* Community House Middle students who live north of 485 will now go to South Charlotte Middle * Some Garinger High students will go to Cochrane Middle, which will eventually become a 6-12th grade school by 2014; Cochrane will not have sports but students will be allowed to play for Garinger * Some Nathaniel Alexander and Hornets Nest elementary students will now go to Winding Springs Elementary, which without its magnet will now become a neighborhood school * Students at Tuckaseegee Elementary School will go on to Whitewater Middle School * Students at Barringer Elementary will go on to Sedgefield Middle School * Students living in the Dilworth and Eastover elementary zones who formerly went to Bishop Spaugh Middle will now go to Alexander Graham Middle
NEW MAGNETS:
# Create a learning immersion/talent development partial magnet at Mallard Creek Elementary # Create a Primary Years International Baccalaureate (PYIB) partial magnet program at Blythe Elementary School
MAGNET THAT WILL MOVE:
# Harding High's math and science magnet program will move to Phillip O. Berry High; Harding will keep its IB program and no longer be a full magnet school -- some kids will be assigned to it as a neighborhood school
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