July 25

July 25, 2013

Dear Pat,

I know you think we women can't be trusted to make choices for ourselves, and I can see that you are about to be handed a budget from your legislature that will certainly take away a lot of our choices. I hope that you don't become too busy making all the choices for us from now on, since it looks like you are also taking away some important choices from some men, too!

I know I'm just a woman, but I do know how to read, however I hope you can help me with my reading comprehension. Here are some questions I have at this point:

I see that you are cutting taxes. That sounds like a good thing to lots of people, but as I understand it, my paychecks, and yours, come from taxpayer dollars. On the other hand, it does say that you are raising taxes on a whole lot of people, and just a few wealthy people are getting tax cuts. It seems like I'll be making less money and paying more in taxes if I figure it right. I need some explanation of this. If my math is wrong I need to know, since I will be teaching a class in the fall to prepare people to teach math. Again, I invite you to come speak to my students any time! Please help me understand the math here!

The new taxes, according to what I read in the News and Observer, seem to actually hurt the public schools. I know that North Carolina got a "Race to the Top" grant from the federal government a few years ago. Did we already win that race? Or did we decide to just let Alabama or Mississippi pass us on purpose? I think that if you approve this budget, it will put lots of people out of work. I know you have heard about the classroom assistants, but the teachers will probably have to spend more time at their second jobs and may have to end up staying there and giving up teaching. Since your plan is to keep everyone at the same pay as they have been making for the last five years, you can just have teachers who teach for a year, and then move to another state to make that second-year teacher money. That should be good, though, since the teachers will be near the age of their students and won't have experienced teachers around to confuse them. Do I have that right?

I've already talked to you about the voter id bill. I heard that you might get sued over that one. In fact I'd be surprised if you don't get sued over several things in the budget. I hope you have plenty of good lawyers.

Well, I will close now. Turns out that because my university has less money to operate with, as I mentioned the other day, I have to nearly double the number of classes I'm teaching this fall. So, I had better get busy with my day! I will write you later if I need to figure out how to fit everything in my syllabi.

The good news is that our garden is still producing good vegetables! That is saving us a lot of money at the grocery store.

Thank you for your time,

Nancy

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July 25

Dear Governor McCrory,

As the legislative session is coming to a close, there is so much I would like to say but I have found that I am out of words to express my feelings.

As I look at the path of destruction wreaked by you and your fellow Republicans, I can only shake my head in disbelief and sadness.

I have written you numerous letters and have yet to get a response. Don't confuse my use of humor and satire to mean that I don't expect to hear back. You are my governor and you are responsible to me.

The only thing left to say is if I were your Mama, I would put you and your friends in time out. Hopefully the voters will see things my way in 2014 and begin the process for me.

Very sincerely,

Debbie Leonard

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