The new governor of North Carolina is getting the “how to” from the Left here in Carolina. Much of the complaining is petty and Occupy’ish. The normal gnashing of teeth, the “hating” and the “racisting” and the “poor” stuff that always accompanies the Left.
However, there are places where the good gov’na has missteped. And the right is calling him out too:
Gov. Pat has bent over backwards to defend the DHHS pair by (1) insinuating AGE discrimination by the media and (2) suggesting that the raises and hiring decisions were handled in a very private sector -like manner. Nonsense. In this economy, NO ONE in the private sector is handing out raises of that size. NO PRIVATE SECTOR EMPLOYER is handing out that kind of responsibility, those kinds of raises, or that level of pay to anyone two years out of undergrad.
While this story is embarrassing to Gov. Pat, I don’t think it’s fatal. The story line gets problematic when you tie it to the spin about “draconian education cuts” and teacher pay. If you’re not a teacher, you are likely to be related to, or know someone who is — or has been — a public school teacher. You hear about the bureaucratic garbage teachers have to deal with, and see how many have to work multiple jobs to make ends meet. Take that information — pile it in with the stories about these two wet-behind-the-ears kids who don’t even have master’s degrees getting RAISES bigger than many teachers make in a year — and your blood pressure can start to rise.
This whole matter illustrates to me just how politically tone-deaf McCrory and his team are. Education & The Economy are the two top things on the minds of the people out there.
I think the criticism is valid. Kids straight oughta college really don’t expect to make the kinda cash these guys are; $87,500 and $85,000 respectively. And to hand out raises to 24 year old kids with little experience during times like this – well, it’s tone deaf in the same way that Obama playing gold so often is tone deaf.