Real pull
The center of gravity in North Carolina politics has shifted. The obvious direction is the one indicated by the most recent election.
The less obvious shift in power was in the direction of the courts.
If the new majority in the General Assembly follows through on its plans for cutting education, mental health and the delivery of social services, it is likely to run smack into a repeat of the lawsuit-riddled era at the close of the 20th century.
That’s when major court decisions mandated better state efforts to ensure that all citizens of the state receive equal protection of their constitutional rights. Responding to those decisions and funding their remedies shapes state policy – and budgets – to this day.
Court rulings triggered, among other things, the transition to a community-based mental health system and more equitable school funding formulas – two efforts that remained underfunded even when their proponents were in power.
Now, with such initiatives as lower class sizes, better preparation of at-risk children for school and mental health reform the obvious targets for the budget ax, advocates are no doubt exploring their legal options.
Those who earlier this month rode to victory while waving a copy of the Constitution may be in for a few rude reminders of what the document really means.
VIP treatment
Speaking of mental health reform, one of its chief proponents, Chapel Hill Democratic Rep. Verla Insko got an interesting reception during a recent tour of Dorothea Dix State Hospital.
As the News & Observer reported this week, Insko, paying a visit with others at the request of a doctor at the hospital, was summarily ushered out of the tour once the fact that she was on premises worked its way up the food chain.
The incident, which hospital officials said was necessitated by patient confidentiality and for Insko’s personal safety, underlines the tension between the Perdue administration, mental health reform proponents and the growing movement by professionals and elected officials to keep Dix open.
As if we need another reminder that turf battles and budget cuts are putting this state’s rickety mental health system and its patients in ever greater peril.
CORRECTION
Last week’s For the Record contained an error regarding a proposed resolution opposing funding for the war in Afghanistan. The Orange County Board of Commissioners voted on Tuesday not to support the resolution. We regret the error.