Top members of the N.C. Senate’s Democratic leadership team have announced plans to resign or forgo re-election bids. The News & Observer asked John Hood for his assessment of the impact of those high-profile departures on Senate business. Speaking of Hood, Senate Republicans noted this week his column about taxpayer-funded elections. The Lincoln Tribune also published Carolina Journal contributor Sam Hieb‘s latest exclusive on taxpayer financing of politicians’ election campaigns. In other state tax-related news, both Roy Cordato and John Locke Foundation Fiscal and Health Care Policy Analyst Joseph Coletti have written Daily Journal columns in the past week on tax reform. The Richmond County Daily Journal picked up Coletti’s column. Senate Republicans noted both columns in their daily e-mails. (Communications director Mitch Kokai also discussed tax reform during an appearance Wednesday with Curtis Wright on the WLTT Radio morning show.) Senate GOP e-mails in the past week also promoted two other CJ exclusives. One highlighted Vice President for Communications Jon Ham‘s article on a court hearing linked to a public-records lawsuit filed against the Easley administration. Another e-mail noted Carolina Journal Radio Co-Host Donna Martinez‘s article about a Chapel Hill hookah bar owner who plans to challenge the state’s new smoking ban.
