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CORRECTION
The Under the Dome column Wednesday on Page 3B included inaccurate dates related to former Gov. Jim Martin. His trip to the Kentucky Derby was in 1987, and his re-election campaign was in 1988.
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In its first vote related to the destructive storms that ripped across the state on Saturday, the House on Tuesday suspended the ban on plastic bags in coastal counties. How's that?
They did it because the major distribution center that retailers use for paper bags in the region was severely damaged by the tornadoes that struck Dunn. Rep. David Lewis, a Harnett County Republican, sponsored the bill, which passed unanimously and will go to the Senate.
The plastic-bag ban will be suspended until June 30, or earlier if the governor determines that paper bag production is back up to speed and restores it. Businesses in certain counties on the coast have been prohibited from using plastic bags since October.
Governors and horse races
Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue's excursion to Kentucky bluegrass country is not the first time a North Carolina governor has kicked up dust over a horse race.
Republican Gov. Jim Martin's 2007 trip to the Kentucky Derby became political fodder that year because it came during key legislative negotiations designed to avert a hostile takeover of Burlington Industries.
During his 2008 re-election campaign, Martin's opponent, Democratic Lt. Gov. Robert Jordan, ran a TV commercial featuring footage of the Kentucky Derby and criticizing Martin.
"His idea about what's good for North Carolina and what's good for North Carolina jobs is a little different from mine," Jordan said on the campaign trail. "I would not have gone to the Kentucky Derby while were fighting to save Burlington's jobs. I would not have gone sailing in the Caribbean while we were making budget decisions."
Want to talk drilling?
Hammered in recent weeks by Democrats for putting their focus more on social issues than living up to campaign promises of job creation, Senate Republicans sent out an email invitation to a media conference for today "about an announcement concerning jobs and offshore energy."
Republican Sens. Bob Rucho, Harry Brown and Tommy Tucker are expected to announce the introduction of a bill to study offshore drilling for natural gas, along with other energy generation options.
The timing of their announcement, from a PR perspective, is either brave or somewhat foolhardy.
Does anyone over at the GOP caucus remember that April 20 is the one-year anniversary of a particularly tragic and costly offshore drilling accident?
Staff writers Craig Jarvis, Rob Christensen and Michael Biesecker contributed to this report.
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