JLF lead man John Hood takes a look at the Skip Alston-Steve Arnold coup:

Anyone possessing more than a passing familiarity with Guilford County politics have come to expect theatrics and odd alliances. But I think there’s something else going on here. Approaching the problem from both sides of the political spectrum, Alston and Arnold have come to the conclusion that fiscal politics as usual – meaning expansive government when times are good and tax increases to finance it when times are bad – won’t cut it this time.

Then there’s this point of view from the Rhino’s Scott Yost:

These are not usual times. The economy is making it such that radical change of some sort simply had to be made in Guilford County government. The Board of Commissioners over recent years has spent so much money so fast without giving any thought how to pay for things, and it also has so many extravagant new projects on the way – ones that the commissioners literally have no idea how they will pay to run them – that the county was headed for a very ugly financial reckoning even before the economic meltdown.

I’d honestly like to think that Alston and Arnold are motivated by a legitimate desire to streamline county government during this turbulent time, especially when the federal government is using the downtown as an excuse to expand its power. But you’ll have to excuse us if commissioners’ theatrics of the past are still weighing on our minds. I agree with Guarino: something about this just doesn’t feel right.