If having a must-read political Twitter feed is a sign of influence, then North Carolina is lacking.
Al Eisele, editor-at-large of The Hill, compiled a list for The Huffington Post of 25 political Twitter feeds you have to follow. Not a one was from North Carolina.
Sure, there's Republican House whip Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia. And there's Sen. Russ Feingold, the Wisconsin Democrat who helpfully notifies readers of which tweets he personally wrote versus those that were by staff members. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs gets the nod, as does Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican.
There's no mention of feeds by our own Republican U.S. Reps. Walter Jones, Patrick McHenry, Sue Myrick or Virginia Foxx. Democratic U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan is left out as well. U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, a Republican from Winston-Salem, has a feed for his campaign.
So it sounds like our good elected representatives need to start burning up the tweet-verse. For links to your representatives' Twitter feeds and to the list of must-read tweets, visit bit.ly/9DQPJ7.
From the grass to the class
Commissioner of Agriculture Steve Troxler will need a pocket protector and a tweed jacket with elbow patches to go along with his tractor.
Troxler, a Republican, is co-teaching a course at N.C. State University this fall. The course: "Agriculture Perspectives and Opportunity."
About 40 students have enrolled in the one-credit course, which meets Wednesday afternoons. Troxler will be teaching with Barbara Kirby, who directs the university's Agricultural Institute, which offers two-year degree programs.
Troxler's role at the head of the class grew out of a three-part speaker series he moderated at NCSU this year.
For those looking for an elective to fill out that schedule, here's the course description:
"Students who enroll in this course will be exposed to traditional and contemporary issues in domestic agricultural and food policy. Students will examine the major problems and challenges confronting agriculture, and discuss how innovation, research, and public policy will shape the response to those challenges. Students will also learn the realities of how agricultural policy is made, be introduced to the actors who are involved in setting that policy, and better understand how to influence policy as a participant of the agricultural community."
Master or menace?
U.S. Rep. Brad Miller was the subject of a column this weekend by Gretchen Morgenson of The New York Times.
The column highlighted Miller, a Raleigh Democrat, for his work on financial services regulation. As Morgenson put it, Miller has been a pain for banking interests.
"Depending upon your perspective, Mr. Miller is either the right man in the right place on Capitol Hill - if you're a consumer - or a threat to the status quo," she wrote.
Morgenson was highlighting a bill sponsored by Miller that would force the big mortgage service companies, which collect and distribute loan payments from homeowners, from having a conflict of interest in dealing with consumers who are struggling to make payments.
Some of those banks hold the second, but not the first, mortgage on a home and have encouraged homeowners to continue payments on the second mortgage at the expense of the first. Morgenson wrote that such conflicts are part of the reason the federal government has had trouble getting struggling homeowners into more affordable loans.
Miller's bill hasn't yet gotten much attention, she wrote.
"Mr. Miller recognizes that his is an uphill climb because the big banks have many friends in high places across Washington," wrote Morgenson, who quoted Miller saying he had noted a slight shift in the balance of power. " 'I've seen the banks going from losing no fights to losing a few fights,' he said. 'What I've found is the more fights we pick, the more success we have.'"
By staff writer Benjamin Niolet
