Reading the tea leaves on Gov. Pat’s personnel moves
A recent personnel shuffle at NCDOT caught my attention. According to media reports, Deputy DOT secretary for transit Paul Morris was “removed” by newly-appointed DOT secretary Tony Tata. Many Charlotte area conservatives had been predicting that McCrory, a big fan of light rail, would keep or elevate Morris, also a big fan of light rail, within the department. Could this mean that light rail is fading as a priority for state government? Stay tuned.
Let’s move over to the state parole board. McCrory replaced former state senator Tony Rand as chairman of the board, but is allowing him to remain on the board. Board members serve at the pleasure of the governor.
The new chairman is Paul Butler, the former executive director of North Carolina’s Southeast. Butler has close ties to R.C. Soles and other southeastern North Carolina Democrats. Several of my spies had reported seeing Butler dining — and meeting — with McCrory in Charlotte during the campaign. So, his receiving an appointment is probably not all that shocking.
What is interesting is the continued employment of Tony Rand — one of the most hardcore partisan Democrats ever to walk the halls of state government. (Maybe there are legal issues we are not aware of.)
Generally, I am not seeing as many policy oriented Republicans, let alone policy oriented conservatives as in the Martin administration or even the Holshouser administration. That starts with cabinet secretaries. McCrory seemed to boast that half of his cabinet were not Republicans. As a Republican conservative who cares about issues and contributed a decent chunk of change to McCrory, I do not consider that something to boast about. I do not see many Republican policy types getting appointed at middle levels either, so far.
Even though he is a newcomer, Skvarla so far seems to be a good policy choice, and of course longtime GOP stalwart Shanahan at Public Safety is, as well. The rest of the cabinet is largely disappointments or question marks. Of course, Pope as budget director, not technically part of the cabinet, is a very solid policy choice.
I concur that leaving Tony Rand in any position raises eyebrows.
…What is interesting is the continued employment of Tony Rand — one of the most hardcore partisan Democrats ever to walk the halls of state government.
Are those that still believe there is an opposition party in NC?
Poltical class -v- the public.
That’s it. Think professional wrastlin’. The floor show is pretty entertaining but after hours lots of backslappin’, liquor lappin’ goings on behind close doors.
Unfortunately, the new boss may be the same as the old boss with the new Dep Sec for Transit. See…UPDATED: Shakeup at NCDOT. Will it affect the Red Line?