Cumberland principal's letter to McCrory goes viral:

[marions ghost]

http://www.wral.com/cumberland-principal-s-letter-to-mccrory-goes-viral/12798132/

August 21, 2013, Cumberland County, N.C. — The letter from Peggy Raymes, principal at Margaret Willis Elementary School in Cumberland County, to Gov. Pat McCrory ends with a question.

“Do we give 37 percent pay increases to young men who worked for your campaign, or do we pay the teachers in North Carolina a fair wage?”

Raymes penned the letter in reaction to recent headlines about hefty raises given to young staffers who worked on McCrory’s campaign and were subsequently hired by the administration. When she posted her open letter to McCrory on NC Policy Watch – a website maintained by the progressive, nonprofit North Carolina Justice Center – she didn't expect it to be picked up and reposted many times over.

“I thought the letter was outstanding. It made me feel wonderful to know my boss had my back,” teacher Erick McLaurin said. Raymes said she was moved to write the letter after hearing about the high-dollar raises, including a 24-year-old policy planner who received a $22,500 raise and a 24-year-old public relations officer who got a $23,000 raise

Under the state’s budget signed into law by McCrory last month, North Carolina’s teachers received no raises.

--more of this story at http://www.wral.com/cumberland-principal-s-letter-to-mccrory-goes-viral/12798132/

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PDF of letter to McCrory written by Principal Peggy Raymes:

http://www.wral.com/asset/news/local/2013/08/20/12798135/Raynes_letter.pdf

[marions ghost]

1. The governor's office issued a statement:

When asked about her letter, the governor’s office issued a statement: "I'm doing all that I can for our teachers. My proposed budget had a raise for teachers, but because of Medicaid overruns to the tune of approximately $500 million, we couldn't make it happen this year."

[Lex]

2. He's a lying douche. nt

[marions ghost]

4. Yep. They lie without any shame--like it doesn't matter where the truth is--

They lie with malice & vengeance and bravado worthy of Blackbeard.

The Truth:

http://www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2013/04/15/how-broken-is-nc-medicaid/

Some observers say that the problems with Medicaid have been trumped up and that McCrory’s assertions of the program’s problems were devised to provide him with the political cover not to expand Medicaid as allowed for under the Affordable Care Act (often called Obamacare).

And even as the governor was rolling out his plan to overhaul the state’s Medicaid program, Sen. Richard Burr was in Winston-Salem presenting a national innovation award to the leaders of Community Care of North Carolina, the program that manages 1.3 million of the state’s 1.8 million Medicaid patients.

National data from the Kaiser Family Foundation have shown that North Carolina’s Medicaid program costs have increased at the slowest rate in the nation and per-capita costs are the lowest in the Southeast. Multiple states have asked North Carolina for help building programs that look like Community Care of North Carolina.

“There is no crisis in North Carolina Medicaid, and there is no national crisis in Medicaid,” said health policy researcher John Oberlander from the UNC School of Medicine. “This idea that Medicaid spending per person is spiraling out of control – it’s just not true.”
(more at link)

[Lex]

5. Exactly. Low information voters

don't know any better than to believe whatever he says. So he lies without care.

[sulphurdunn]

10. Maybe so, but

if true, how does it justify the governor's raises for his punks? One would think that if there's no money for teachers there's none for political butt boys either.

[Squinch]

3. How long till she's fired?

[marions ghost]

6. If they do that,

some of these teachers in red shirts might have her back:

?1375297816

[Squinch]

13. They'd like to, but people are fired all the time for speaking out in school systems.

I give her two years and no more. I'll be impressed if she makes the two.

And when it happens it will be because of something that on paper will sound unrelated. But this will be the reason.

Edited to add: And her life will be made hellish until then.

[marions ghost]

14. You sound like you know the territory well

--and I agree she may be in trouble down the road. Kinda depends how much the school and community support her I guess. And how many frenemies she has. Sad that everyone is muzzled in the field of education.

[Squinch]

15. I work in schools in a medical capacity with disabled kids. So I am not

a teacher, but I work alongside teachers in a number of schools and have closely witnessed the terrible, and really very cruel, changes in the way teachers are treated. I swear, it is heartbreaking.

[Link Speed]

7. No wonder they're acting like children

They are taking advice from 24-year-olds?

[tecelote]

8. How many here have ever had a $23,000 raise?

No-one I know.

[LittleGirl]

11. I was made to believe that that 50 buck

gift card was a BONUS at Christmas.

[blm]

9. Thanks for the alert, m_g

.

[marions ghost]

12. Sure

Principal Peggy Raymes and the teachers at Willis Elementary.

And her question hangs out there-- a $23 K raise for a 24-year-old McCrony staffer, but not a dime for teachers...???????????????

[marions ghost]

16. Check out this follow-up story:

http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/08/28/3143909/jobs-for-highly-paid-mccrory-staffers.html

(This story is long and detailed--suggest going to link...)

Jobs for highly paid McCrory staffers never posted

RALEIGH, N.C. — Gov. Pat McCrory says a pair of 24-year-old campaign staffers landed senior-level jobs in his administration because they were the most qualified applicants, beating out older candidates.

But the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, where Matthew McKillip and Ricky Diaz got big promotions and raises after only a few weeks of government service, has been unable to provide any evidence their positions were ever advertised to other potential applicants or that other candidates were considered.

In response to a public records request from The Associated Press, the state agency indicated there were no job postings or written skill requirements for the high-paying positions awarded to the young Republicans.

McKillip, the chief policy adviser to DHHS Secretary Aldona Wos, is paid an annual salary of $87,500. Diaz makes $85,000 a year as the communications director for the massive state agency, which has about 10,000 employees and an annual budget of more than $18 billion.

McKillip received a nearly 35 percent raise after only three months on the job, while Diaz got a 37 percent boost. The big raises came despite a March 8 directive the governor sent to state agencies to freeze salary increases, limit purchases and reduce travel to help cover shortfalls in state Medicaid funding.
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A review of job descriptions for similar government positions posted online by the Office of State Personnel show McKillip and Diaz don't meet the academic or experience requirements to qualify for even entry-level positions in the areas they now oversee. Their pay also exceeds the listed maximums for the most senior listed positions.
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The taxpayer-supported salaries for McKillip and Diaz are about three times the starting salary for North Carolina public school teachers, who received no raises in the $20.6 billion state budget signed by McCrory. The budget also eliminated a program that rewards teachers for earning master's degrees.

[blm]

17. Crime of OFFICE. Impeach.

.