Free Republic

Dell promised publicly that, in exchange for $242.5 million in incentives, it will invest at least $100 million to relocate in the Triad and create 1,200 jobs in five years. Nothing, however, will require Dell to show the public that it kept its promises -- not the way state law is written now. Not the press, not the public at large, not even the legislature -- which voted last week to give Dell the huge incentives package of tax breaks and direct grants -- can require Dell to provide production, employment and tax information to prove the computer company is...

RALEIGH - ... "There's been a cavalier attitude toward issues of the state constitution as fewer and fewer attorneys serve in the General Assembly. The state constitution has become an area that is less meaningful to them...." Orr said. ... Orr-- [as] the new executive director of the N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law, a nonprofit formed at the end of 2003 to both litigate in what it calls defense of the constitution and to raise public awareness of it (snip) --already has one target: the legality of business incentives. Or, as the former justice says: "What is the public purpose,...

While the state Supreme Court decides whether new legislative districts are invalid because a clause in the state constitution bars the splitting of counties, House Democratic leaders are considering amending the constitution to delete the provision. House Speaker Jim Black, a Matthews Democrat, has been gauging support among members for putting a constitutional amendment on the ballot. One option that Black is discussing with legislators is to ask voters to delete the whole-county provision and approve a provision requiring all legislators to be in single-member districts. If necessary, such a move could be done in a special legislative session or...