John Locke Foundation President John Hood continues to offer his expertise to print and broadcast media outlets, as well as live audiences. The state’s ongoing budget stalemate prompted WNCN Television to seek comment from Hood Thursday, in a story that was picked up by WNCT. Freedom Newspapers interviewed Hood recently for a story about potential cuts in the state’s mental health budget. (John Hood,
president of the John Locke Foundation, a conservative think tank based
in Raleigh, agrees that mental health is a state responsibility. “The
mental health function is a core state responsibility because the
alternative is another state responsibility,” Hood said.) The Gaston Gazette and Shelby Star both published that story. Creative Loafing also quoted this week a Hood Daily Journal column about Gov. Beverly Perdue’s struggles. (In a recent column, John Hood
of the John Locke Foundation speculated on why newly minted governor
Beverly Perdue’s job approval ratings have hit rock bottom. “While most
Americans slogging their way through the economic downturn are disenchanted with politicians, North Carolinians have experienced one
of the biggest reversals of fortune in the country,” Hood wrote.) Speaking of Hood’s columns, N.C. Senate Republicans highlighted this week in their daily e-mail Hood columns on tax policy and annexation. (The latter e-mail blast also featured a Carolina Journal exclusive from contributor Colleen Calvani on the status of a bill to expand North Carolina’s taxpayer-funded elections to municipal races.) Meanwhile, Congressional Quarterly‘s CQPolitics.com interviewed Hood for a story about the likelihood of a tough congressional election battle next year in North Carolina’s Eighth District. Hood also took his show on the road this week for a presentation to the Crabtree Valley Rotary Club.