Rookies get their General Assembly bearings

Freshman legislators are learning the ropes this week.

During a two-day orientation, five newly elected state senators and a number of new state House representatives are learning how to make their way through the legislature, literally and figuratively.

Sen.-elect Don Vaughan said the group has heard welcome speeches from Speaker Joe Hackney and Senate leader Marc Basnight, but the more critical information has been about logistics.

"Everybody's pretty green, and there are a lot of questions about how to get around the legislative building, where the Senate floor is, how many seats are in the Senate -- basic types of things," he said.

Vaughan, a seven-term member of the Greensboro City Council and longtime lawyer, said the bill-writing part is not new to him, though he was interested to learn about the legislative Web site and get tips from state capital police about emergency procedures.

Vaughan said he wants to do well in the former seat of U.S. Sen.-elect Kay Hagan.

"They are certainly big shoes to fill," he said. "Kay Hagan has been an outstanding member here for 10 years, so I'm here to learn and hit the ground running."

Sen.-elect Josh Stein, a Raleigh Democrat, said legislative leaders have told him and others to work hard.

"Be civil. Get to know your colleagues," he said. "Hackney said that occasionally partisan issues come up, but the bulk of the work here is what makes most sense. ... It's not particularly glamorous. Most of legislating is pretty much grunt work."

Budget hole: $3 billion?

Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue's office warned this week of a looming budget shortfall that could reach $3 billion, the first time a figure that large has been used by a ranking state government official.

The estimate comes after months in which the administration of Gov. Mike Easley routinely has cautioned against using a specific figure for the expected gap between revenue and planned spending. Some legislators cautiously spoke of a $2 billion hole.

"Nobody knows what the number is going to be. We hope for the best but prepare for the worst," Perdue spokesman David Kochman said. "We don't want the public to be surprised, and we want to make sure the people involved in the decision-making are prepared to make some tough choices."

Easley's office neither embraced nor challenged Perdue's budget figures. "We agree that whatever the figure, we will be prepared," Easley spokesman Seth Effron said in a statement.

Kinnaird, Pollitt engaged

State Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, a Carrboro Democrat, is engaged to Daniel Pollitt, retired UNC-Chapel Hill law professor and longtime civil rights advocate.

"We're trying to keep this low key," Kinnaird told Dome, "but that's very hard to do."

Word leaked out last week in The Carrboro Citizen.

The pair have not set a date, though Pollitt said the wedding likely will be in the spring.

Kinnaird, 77, is finishing her sixth term. The two have known each other for years, and Kinnaird said they have enjoyed "a mutual journey." She has been divorced since 1980.

Pollitt, a widower, retired from UNC's law school in 1991. He's 87 years old and still teaches in a program for retirees at Duke University.

There's a new 'Oldest Rat'

Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, the first woman elected to the Council of State, is about to become the longest-serving member of that group.

Marshall received the honor of "Oldest Rat in the Barn" at Tuesday's council meeting, along with a wedge of cheese, from outgoing Insurance Commissioner Jim Long, who was passing on the title.

Long, who did not seek re-election, held his post 24 years, the third-longest for a North Carolina official.

Among council members, the oldest rat title was first applied to then-Secretary of State Thad Eure, Long said. Eure held his office for 52 years.

Noting that she had moved from being the first woman on the council after her 1996 election to being its most senior member, Marshall said, "It shows a lot of progress in this state."