The Conservative Hawk Vol. I Issue 3

8/14/2019 The Conservative Hawk Vol. I Issue 3

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2/8

By: Bethany Turner

Much like the candidates

running for a seat with Wilmingtons

city council, I have a goal: I hope

to help educate our campus on the

importance of local elections. Our

beloved city is governed by a coun-

cil consisting of: a mayor, a mayor

pro tem, and five council members.

I have done a bit of research and

collected some general information

to help my fellow students gain at

least a broad knowledge of the citi-

zens running for the next two-year

term. Read the basics here and the

unedited version online.

The Incumbents: Jim Quinn, Mar-

garet Haynes, & Dr. Earl Sheridan

There are several reasons

why you should not vote for these

candidates (yes, even Dr. Sheri-

dan), but the strongest may be this:

They are all current members of the

council, yet none of them attended

the 2009 Stand Up & Vote Can-

didates Forum. Were these three

incumbents afraid to face the resi-

dents of our city?

Kevin OGrady:

OGrady has a very can-do attitude. He holds many leader-

ship positions in city organizations.

He disagrees with a lot of the deci-

sions made by the current council,

including the ways they are han-

dling both Titan and annexation.

OGrady would be a fresh change

of pace for our city council andwould add some fun debate if elect-

ed along with our endorsed candi-

dates.

Ricky Meeks:

Meeks supports improv-

ing public transit and lowering

crime. He has run for city council

five times, New Hanover County

School Board four times, and was

even on the ballot for mayor at one

point. He has not been elected to

any of these positions.

Charlie Rivenbark:

I must give him credit

where credit is due; he was presentat the Candidates Forum. How-

ever, one can only extend so much.

In an interview with the candidate,

he avoided my easiest questions

(Why are you running?) and in-

sulted the intelligence of our resi-

dents. The best way to understand

this candidate is to check out my

Conservative Hawk blog, available

on our Webpage. You wont be dis-

appointed.

Susan Clarke:

Clarke opposes denser

zoning development without the

foundation of sufficient infrastruc-ture. She believes there is out-of-

control spending with the current

council, claiming they use invol-

untary annexation to make up for

their shortfalls. She ran in 2005

and 2007, but was not elected either


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There is no better way to describe these three candidates cam-

paign other than revolutionary. LaNasas best contribution is his beliefthat the city needs to start thinking out of the box to create new ways

to generate revenue, rather than relying on annexation. McCoy feels

forced annexation in general is tyrannical and un-American, conclud-

ing this speech with, If a body of government levies its taxes on a group

of citizens before they have had the opportunity to vote and elect the

people within that body of government, that is taxation without represen-

tation. All three would like to be a voice of the People, as DeHart states,Too long have the voices of the average citizens been ignored. McCoy

sums it up best when he says, Our current leaders have no mentality

other than to keep bloating the budget year after year, to look for more

revenue through annexation and raising your taxes. We the People have

to take back our government. I do not want to be a politician - I want to

be a representative.


4/8

By: Kevin King

Editor-In-Chief

One of the perks of running

a publication like The Conservative

Hawk is people see you as an out-

letan outlet through which injus-

tices may be corrected and important

questions be asked. Over the past

few weeks, students, faculty, and

staff brought one particular injus-

tice to my attention: In these tough

economic times, when the budget is

frozen, certain people are allowed to

spend money that supposedly does

not exist. At UNC Wilmington, those

certain people are in the InformationTechnology Systems Division, or

ITSD.

When a budget is frozen,

there is not an extra $125,000 lying

aroundlet alone such a large num-

ber going only to salary increases.

ITSD has not only given raises this

fiscal year, but also has a net gain intheir total salaries of $124,805. Doc-

uments from an anonymous source

show salary increases for 27 em-

ployees within the division. In a year

when the budget is said to be frozen,

these numbers are suspicious - and I

want answers.

For those not familiar with

the budget freeze, the University is

basically cash-strapped. No unnec-

essary spending is allowed. We have

all felt this in the classrooms when

our professors have told us they

were unable to print out our syllabus

or a particular quiz or test. Where isthis money then?

The UNCW Budget Office

seemed the most logical place to

start. I corresponded with Mr. Robert

Bob Russell, Director of Budgets,

via e-mail. After asking about gen-

eral salary increases at UNC Wilm-

ington, Mr. Russell said, There are

no salary raises for state employees

for FY 09-10 or FY 10-11, according

to Senate Bill 202.

North Carolina State Sen-

ate Bill 202 (SB 202) was ratified on

August 5, 2009. The bill set the ap-

propriations for the fiscal year 2009-10 and limited budgetary items such

as raises.

If this were so, how can the

salary increases of 27 employees

within ITSD be legal? When asked

this very question, Mr. Russell re-

sponded (punctuation errors includ-

ed), There are many ways that anemployee can get an increase in their

salary, i.e., promotion, increase in

job responsibilities, changing jobs,

etc; all of which are perfectly legal.

I believe thats enough with your

questions.

Enough with my ques-

tions? Is that strictly because I asked

about salary increases during a fro-

zen budget? Or is it because I am a

student asking questions above my

pay grade? Either possibility is ap-

palling. However, both possibilities


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are topics of an entirely different dis-

cussion: Either no one is willing to

divulge the answers, or the answers

are kept from us intentionally.

Mr. Bob Russell does not

provide clarity or rationale about

the ITSD salary increases. It makes

sense when he states, there are

many ways that an employee can

get an increasefor one employee

here and there. But how does that

statement explain pay raises for 27

employees? That answer seems toelude the Director of Budgets.

Simple answers are not easy

to find. Therefore, a formal Freedom

of Information Act request is cur-

rently on file and pending. Once the

source of these frozen funds is dis-

covered, we will provide you with an

update and explanation. Until then, I

encourage everyone to continue to

ask questions. If you dont feel com-

fortable confronting an issue on your

own, you can contact me at editor@

theconservativehawk.com and I will

be more than glad to help in any way

possible. After all, The ConservativeHawk is here to give a voice to those

who are silenced.


6/8

By: Vincent Conti

Years ago I argued with an el-

derly woman who was convinced that

the war in Vietnam was a meaningless

endeavor. At the time I had studied

the matter very little; but, I felt in my

gut that whenever men and women

fight for America it cannot possibly be

deemed meaningless.

Years later I was part of the

initial phase of the war in Iraq. By

2006-07, when public support for the

war was at its lowest, I heard similar

sentiments from some of my class-

mates and professors. Thankfully by

this time, I not only had some experi-

ence, but some years of study behindme, and refuted these claims. In light

of recent events in the past election

season, I am not sure I was correct.

What exactly was the purpose

of the war in Iraq, or WWII, or even

the American Revolution for that mat-

ter? After all, no one had to take our

freedoms away; In 2009 Americans aremore than willing to vote away their

liberties to progressive politicians.

Why is it we stand up to the threats

from abroad, but actively embrace the

enemy from within? Since 1913 the

progressive movement has made ma-

jor gains, from the burdensome and

punishing income tax to activist courts

that impose their will on the people.

My criticism of the abandonment of

liberty is a bipartisan one; however,

clearly the progressive movement has

all but entirely taken over the once

honorable Democratic Party.

In January we saw the his-

toric inauguration of our nations first

bi-racial President - for this we should

all be proud. However, President

Obama is the most radically progres-

sive president in our nations history.

Progressivism is a belief in a strong

curtailment of our individual liberties

and our private property for the gen-

eral use of the collective, includingthe outrageous belief that the purpose

of taxation is not to provide for the

legitimate needs of government but

social engineering, as well as buying

future votes. The recent Economic

Recovery and Reinvestment Act of

2009 is little more than a federal

subsidy of Democratic Party donors.From restricting the individual right to

self-preservation, massive new taxes

(including hidden taxes as the result

of the Cap and Trade scheme), this ad-

ministration has at its core a distrust

for you and your freedom.


7/8

A reasonable question to

pose is simply: Was the point of

fighting wars to free ourselves from

the British Crown, to avoid submis-

sion to the various despotisms of

the past century just to vote for theimposition of totalitarianism upon

ourselves? Is it okay to be a sub-

ject of a statist power if that power

is spread between three branches of

government as opposed to a singletyrant? Does the fact that the destruc-

tion of our liberty is being achieved

by democratic means as opposed to aviolent revolution or war make it more

palatable to my progressive friends?

I, for one, am not going to be polite

about this any longer. I am not going

to abide by the advice given to me as

a young man to not discuss politics in

public any longer. I am going to speak

truth to power from this point on andall lovers of constitutional liberty

should join me in this quest in their

own way.

Anticipating an objection that

I am overstating the dire circumstances

we find ourselves in, I would remind

you of the liberty already lost since the

progressive era began. One quick ex-ample is the fact that private property

rights are under assault throughout

the country through eminent domain

and the endangered species act. What

was once understood to be a primary

freedom is now subject to the whim of

government needs.

It is true the Republican Partyhas not done enough to stop the pro-

gressive movement and begin to re-

peal the soft tyranny that is its goal.

For that reason, I invite all readers of

this column to re-examine their politi-

cal beliefs, seek out information about

why the Constitution was framed the

way it was, and you might better un-

derstand what the Founders were try-

ing to prevent.Individual liberty tempered

by a good moral standard (to distin-

guish liberty from license) is the ulti-

mate goal of a civil society. Through

individualism we can all set our agen-

da, provided I dont interfere with

your life, liberty and property. The sky

is the limit.This is a call to action for all

of us: republicans, democrats, and in-

dependents. Let us reject anyone who

rejects our Constitution and the juris-

prudence of originalism; anyone who

plays the rich against the poor, or vice

versa. Let us all respect the property

of one another so that ours will be re-spected in turn. Call it conservatism,

libertarianism, or simply the American

way; it is about political freedom, and

not government dependency - which to

my mind is the new slavery. If we can

reverse the trend and begin the hard

work of undoing the massive state and

restore the America that has been abeacon to the world, the wars fought in

our history, those currently underway,

and even those yet to be fought will be

worth it. If not, Im afraid that elderly

woman may have made a good, albeit

inadvertent, point.


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21-40 of the Top Salaries of UNCWThis month we felt it important to continue to shed light on the

salaries here at UNC Wilmington. Below we have listed the next 20 sala-

ries to expand on the 20 from last issue. We will continue to do so every

issue. You can find these and more online at http://starnewsonline.com.

Documents

The Conservative Hawk Vol. I Issue 3