HAND-DELIVERED

 March 23, 2011

 Speaker Thom Tillis

2304 Legislative Building,

Raleigh, NC 27601-1096

Dear Speaker Tillis,

Congratulations on your election as Speaker. Like many North Carolinians, I am hopeful that your leadership will lead to a stronger economic foundation for our state. I am writing to offer my thoughts on three separate measurers currently being considered by the North Carolina General Assembly.

First, I would like to offer my enthusiastic and unqualified support for legislation that would establish term limits for the positions of Speaker of the House and Senate President Pro Tem. Concentration of power, whether it is in Cairo or on Jones Street, has a pernicious effect on government. Your leadership on this issue has been important, and I hope that the majority of both chambers will see the wisdom of this legislation. During the last five years, I have repeatedly advocated on this issue as I believe it is a critical reform. Simply put, it elevates public service over the raw pursuit of political power. 

Second, I hope you will consider ways to diminish the role of caucus politics on legislative outcomes. Many of the problems that face our state do not yield themselves to simplistic ideological solutions. It makes little sense for the controlling political caucus to write legislation behind closed doors and then try to use their majority status to ram the legislation through the General Assembly. This practice was wrong-headed during Jim Black’s tenure as Speaker, and it is wrong-headed today.

Let me take the current charter school legislation as an example. In just a few short months, the General Assembly has taken a solid idea with bipartisan support—expanding our state’s charter school toolbox—and instead crafted legislation that has hardened the partisan divide in Raleigh. Perhaps more importantly, the legislation does not accomplish its goal of advancing educational opportunities across the state. Most North Carolinians believe that a limited number of charter schools can play a role in expanding educational opportunities for our state’s children and should be part of the state’s policy options. The legislation passed by the Senate was not the by-product of this bipartisan coalition but rather a narrow ideological construct that defies common sense. The legislation fails to acknowledge that the state simply can not oversee 50 new charter schools a year; fails to properly distinguish between non-profit sponsors and for-profit operators (who may not have children’s education as their top priority); and fails to adequately address questions about access, diversity, and accountability for student outcomes. North Carolina’s educational system will suffer if this bill passes in its current form.  

Last, I want to express my dismay that important campaign finance reforms have been included in a nakedly partisan voter identification bill.  The fact that these provisions have been included in a bill that in all likelihood will be vetoed and/or challenged in the courts does not advance these campaign finance reforms or make their passage likely this session. I strongly support measures designed to lessen the influence of the pay-to-play culture in state politics, but the inclusion of these items in the “Restore Confidence in Government” legislation (H351, S352) is a death knell for reform. I encourage you to separate these pay-to-play provisions from the voter identification legislation in the hopes of achieving a successful outcome for pay-to-play reform.

I am happy to discuss these or other issues with you, your staff, and your caucus at your convenience.

Sincerely,

Joe Sinsheimer