The Official Website of the North Carolina Republican Party
Top Story
MAN IN THE ARENA
DOLE INTRODUCES BILLS TO STRENGTHEN
IMMIGRATION
LAW AND REPEAL COSTLY
NON-ENGLISH SERVICES REQUIREMENT
Press Release
March 5, 2008
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole today introduced two immigration bills – one eliminating the costly requirement of providing government services in languages other than English and one aimed at strengthening immigration law with regard to drunk driving convictions.
Dole’s bill would repeal President Bill Clinton’s executive order requiring the federal government to provide services in languages other than English – a requirement that is estimated to cost up to nearly $2 billion annually. Her measure also would help ensure that federal funds to local and state governments are not jeopardized by their providing English-only services.
“Hundreds of different languages are spoken by people in this country, and it is fiscally irresponsible and impractical for our government to provide services in all of these languages,” said Dole. “Moreover, proficiency in English should be encouraged, as it is not only required for citizenship but also is essential for maximizing opportunities in this country.”
Dole’s other bill, the Safe Roads Enhancement Act, would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to make a drunk driving conviction a deportable offense for illegal aliens and some temporary visa holders. The legislation also amends the INA to classify repeat drunk driving (more than two offenses) as an aggravated felony, and therefore a deportable offense for foreign nationals.
“In North Carolina, we have had a number of fatal automobile accidents caused by an intoxicated person who was in the United States illegally,” said Dole. “In several of these incidents, the illegal alien has a record of DWI, but has been caught and released. My bill would help ensure that undocumented aliens who have self-identified themselves by drunk driving are removed. Likewise, individuals who abuse their legal status in the United States by repeatedly breaking our drunk driving laws should lose their privilege of living in our country.”
Dole, a member of the newly-formed Border Security and Enforcement First Caucus, today joined her colleagues in introducing bills that address a number of enforcement and border security needs, such as completing the border fence, establishing mandatory minimum prison sentences for individuals convicted of entering the United States illegally and utilizing the National Guard for border control activities.
HAYES ADVISES TAXPAYERS TO BEWARE
OF SCAMS DURING FILING SEASON Several Current Email, Telephone Scams Promise Advanced Refunds, Rebates
Press Release
March 11, 2008
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Robin Hayes (NC-08) today advised taxpayers to beware of several scams currently targeting consumers anticipating standard refunds or one-time rebates under the economic stimulus plan. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued a warning to consumers to be on the look-out for email and telephone scams that use the IRS name and claim to provide quicker returns. In actuality, the scam is seeking the victim’s personal and financial information to commit identity theft.
“There are con-men looking to exploit taxpayers – especially seniors – by posing as the IRS and requesting sensitive financial information,” said Hayes. “They promise early refunds or claim they need additional information in order to process their claims. The bottom line is that the IRS does not send email to taxpayers and their representatives don’t call to ‘verify’ bank account numbers. Residents in the 8th District who believe they have been targeted by a scam are encouraged to contact my office or the IRS directly, especially if they suspect identity theft has already occurred.”
Hayes introduced a bill to protect seniors from telemarketing fraud called Seniors Taking On Phony Marketers Act (STOPM). This bill amends the federal criminal code to increase from 10 to 15 years the additional term of imprisonment for telemarketing fraud aimed at individuals over the age of 55. STOPM would authorize appropriations for: (1) 50 new postal inspectors to investigate telemarketing fraud; (2) 30 new assistant U.S. attorneys to prosecute telemarketing fraud cases; and (3) public awareness and prevention initiatives to educate senior citizens about telemarketing fraud.
The IRS hotline is 1-800-366-4484. Representatives in Congressman Hayes office can be reached in the Concord office at (704) 786-1612 or in the Rockingham office at (910) 997-2070.
A state testing and accountability commission recently recommended that the N.C. State Board of Education reduce the number of state tests given to public school students. Most notably, the recommendations included eliminating the North Carolina Writing Assessment, a test that the state administered to thousands of fourth, seventh, and 10th grade students last week. While the recommendation to eliminate the defective writing assessment is a good one, the problem with North Carolina's testing program is not simply the quantity of tests, but their quality.
For the past 15 years, the state's testing program, the ABCs of Public Education, has established a dubious record of bewildering parents, vexing educators and exaggerating student performance. It is time to move to a better testing program, rather than tinker with the flawed ABCs.
The N.C. Department of Public Instruction now controls every aspect of North Carolina's testing program. Our state tests are produced in-house and are not norm-referenced, meaning that we do not know how North Carolina stacks up against other states, let alone other nations. State-by-state comparisons are essential because they are a much more accurate gauge of grade-level proficiency than the in-state comparisons provided by the ABC tests. More importantly, norm-referenced tests would permit North Carolinians to compare student and district performance to state, national and, possibly, international averages. …
It is imperative for the Department of Public Instruction to get out of the testing business and use an independent, credible, field-tested national assessment.
There are a number of norm-referenced tests available for students in grades K-12, including the Basic Achievement Skills Individual Screener (BASIS), Metropolitan Achievement Tests (MAT 8), and the Stanford Achievement Test Series, 10th Edition (Stanford 10). Using one or more of these tests may require the N.C. Department of Public Instruction to make changes to the state curriculum. The effort would be well worth the time - North Carolinians would finally have a testing program they can trust.
Former teacher Terry Stoops is the education policy analyst at the John Locke Foundation.
EASLEY CALLS SPECIAL SESSION ABOUT WRIGHT Democrat’s fate will be decided by House members
By Gareth McGrath
The Wilmington Star-News
March 12, 2008
Danny McComas was hoping to spend the day before Good Friday getting ready to fly to Costa Rica to visit his daughter.
Instead, the Republican lawmaker will find himself in Raleigh deciding on the political fate of fellow New Hanover County state legislator Thomas Wright.
"I may have to take a lump on this," he said of the plane ticket.
Easter plans for the House's other 118 members also will be disrupted. Gov. Mike Easley on Tuesday called a special session to consider removing Wright from office for ethical misconduct. The session will be held at 10 a.m. March 20, as House Speaker Joe Hackney requested earlier.
Last week a six-member committee of Wright's fellow legislators unanimously recommended his expulsion after finding "clear and convincing" evidence that the Wilmington Democrat had acted fraudulently and unethically.
If expelled, Wright would become the first sitting lawmaker thrown out of the General Assembly since 1880. …
The cost of the special session on the House side is nearly $20,600 in per diem and travel costs, assuming all 119 members attend.
The seat of state Rep. Pete Cunningham, a Mecklenburg County Democrat who resigned Dec. 31, has yet to be filled.
State Rep. Bonner Stiller, R-Brunswick, said he didn't really have a preference of when the issue of Wright's status was taken up.
But he said it was in Wright's best interest to get the situation cleared up as quickly as possible, especially considering that Wright had ignored repeated requests by his party leadership to resign.
"It's their call," Stiller said. "They have the gavel."
Democrats control the House, Senate and Governor's seat. …
EASLEY GOES INTO DENIAL The Governor’s claim that he opposed a mangled mental-health reform plan is implausible. It’s past time for him to address its serious problems.
Editorial
The News & Record
March 8, 2008
Mike Easley had a lousy week. But, if the governor could turn back the clock, he should retreat seven years rather than seven days.
In 2001, the state legislature embarked on an ill-conceived plan to reform the delivery of mental-health services throughout North Carolina. The result was an unmitigated disaster, wasteful of taxpayers' money and harmful to patients.
Many newspapers, including the News & Record, have reported about the problems. Last week, The News & Observer of Raleigh completed an exhaustive investigation, setting the cost of failure at $400 million and 82 avoidable deaths in state mental hospitals.
Easley responded with a news conference in which he contended his administration "vigorously opposed" the reforms from the beginning.
That was absolutely not true. His secretary of Health and Human Services at the time, Carmen Hooker Odom, boasted of developing the reform plan in collaboration with the legislature and formally presented it to the people of North Carolina "with pride and enthusiasm."
If Easley harbored reservations, he didn't express them openly or exercise his power to block the legislation. Nor did he act to fix obvious deficiencies in the years since then. …
The idea in 2001 was to put people with mental-health needs in the hands of private service providers. Because of poor oversight, too much state money was paid for unnecessary care while people with severe, more-expensive-to-treat problems were neglected. Drastic budget cuts left state mental hospitals understaffed and patients at risk.
These troubles caught up to the governor this week and were laid at his feet. He tripped trying to dance out of the way — not his best moment.
He can't turn back the clock, so he should use the rest of his time in office trying to fix what's broken.
Click below for more information on the Governor’s responsibility in the mental health reform fiasco. . .
Paid for by the North Carolina Republican State Executive Committee, Rob Moseley, Jr., Treasurer
Not Authorized by any candidate www.ncgop.org | 919.828.6423
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole today introduced two immigration bills – one eliminating the costly requirement of providing government services in languages other than English and one aimed at strengthening immigration law with regard to drunk driving convictions. 
Click here to listen to audio of Senator Dole’s proposal. . .
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Robin Hayes (NC-08) today advised taxpayers to beware of several scams currently targeting consumers anticipating standard refunds or one-time rebates under the economic stimulus plan. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued a warning to consumers to be on the look-out for email and telephone scams that use the IRS name and claim to provide quicker returns. In actuality, the scam is seeking the victim’s personal and financial information to commit identity theft. 
A state testing and accountability commission recently recommended that the N.C. State Board of Education reduce the number of state tests given to public school students. Most notably, the recommendations included eliminating the North Carolina Writing Assessment, a test that the state administered to thousands of fourth, seventh, and 10th grade students last week. While the recommendation to eliminate the defective writing assessment is a good one, the problem with North Carolina's testing program is not simply the quantity of tests, but their quality. 
