Trains, ambition, and moving expenses (06-17-2025--Hour1)

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[00:00:29] And it's Tuesday, it's noon, and so we chat with Andrew Dunn. He is a contributing columnist over at the Charlotte Observer and the Raleigh News and Observer. He's also the publisher of newsletter Longleaf Politics, longleafpol.com. Andrew, how are you, sir? Oh, I'm doing pretty good. How are you? Good, good. I'm doing all right. Hope you had a good weekend, good Father's Day. And apparently you wrote about this over at Longleaf Politics.

[00:00:56] You took a train from Charlotte to Raleigh. Was this the Carolina? Or there's another one, I forget what it's called. Yeah, I think I took the Piedmont up and the Carolinian back, or maybe the other way around, I can't quite remember. But yeah, I had just a quick day trip meeting in Raleigh, and I really didn't want to drive six hours. And I had my four-year-old with me, so I thought it would be fun for us to take the train.

[00:01:26] So what I wrote was, you know, it was a good experience. You know, the Wi-Fi is not super, but I could write a little bit, send a few emails. But when I got back, I just started thinking about, you know, what role does or should train travel play in North Carolina transportation. It just seems like we're always, you know, in the running for some sort of federal grant to add more of those trains. We sometimes talk about high-speed rail between the two cities.

[00:01:57] And, you know, overall, I think there is probably a role for train travel as the state grows. But I totally get why, especially conservatives, have some skepticism there. Yeah, and I remember I was a reporter here in Charlotte during Pat McCrory's push for the original, you know, one-cent sales tax to build the South Line.

[00:02:20] And his argument was always that it was to provide options and to focus development along the South Corridor light rail line. And that has been the case. That has worked. I mean, you go down into the South End now, and it's just jam-packed, filled with apartments. And, you know, the streets are all activated. You've got businesses and stuff. And that was part of the plan.

[00:02:45] But I thought you made a good connection here with the rural areas that are growing. And you mentioned Midland is one of them. Newton is another. And, you know, then there was the story about Albemarle exploding in population. And so how do we connect these places to the larger urban areas where people then would have the option to ride the train in?

[00:03:14] And maybe this is my bias, too, because I'm from Long Island, New York. And, like, you could jump on the train out on the island, and in an hour you were in the city. So maybe that's my bias. No, I think you're exactly right. I mean, for now, we've kind of avoided that long-term question. But, you know, Charlotte continues to grow. The whole region continues to grow. Albemarle. It shocked me to see Albemarle as a top 10 growing area in the entire country. But it makes some sense.

[00:03:44] You know, the solution to housing affordability, all those things, all those buzzwords that we talk a lot about, is building more housing, you know, not rent control, not any of that nonsense. It's building more houses. And where are you going to build more houses? It's in those more outlying areas. It's your Albemarle, your Midlands. You know, if you drive through there now, you see new housing communities popping up all the time.

[00:04:11] And I really think there is a limit to how many lanes you can put on a highway or how many cars that you can accommodate. And so at some point, trains become inevitable. So the problem with this mode of transport, I think, is that it's usually run by a government entity. And, you know, all the problems that are attendant to that. But you've got, you know, lack of accountability. You've got rising prices.

[00:04:40] You've got, you know, service that isn't fantastic. And, you know, time savings that may not actually save a lot of time. So I guess that's, to me, it goes back to what I heard somebody say this years and years ago, was that if people thought they were getting good value for their taxes, they wouldn't have a lot of the objections to the government spending. The problem is that they don't see the value in what they're getting.

[00:05:07] And I don't know how you solve for that issue, particularly among conservatives. Yeah, it's totally fair. I mean, you just think about the red line. You know, Charlotte's been promising a train from Charlotte up to the Lake Norman area for, gosh, decades now. It still hasn't happened. And, you know, maybe it'll happen in the future now that Norfolk Southern has, you know, given us the permission to use the train.

[00:05:35] But there's a lot of distrust there, and it's totally warranted. Yeah. So that's over at Longleaf Politics, longleafpol.com. Train travel isn't just for liberals with, and by the way, tip of the hat there for the Atlas Shrug reference in your piece, too. So, and then let's talk a little bit about Roy Cooper, but mainly Jeff Jackson. And you start off your piece at the Charlotte Observer, this op-ed,

[00:06:01] the longer Roy Cooper takes to decide whether to run for U.S. Senate, the more it seems like the answer will be no. And when I read that line, I thought, that's just classic Roy, you know, like waiting for years and years and years when everybody's like, oh, he's going to run for governor. Oh, he's going to run for governor. And then he doesn't run for governor. He's just going to, you know, stay camped out in the attorney general's office.

[00:06:22] But you seem to think that he's acting and speaking like he's not going to run for this U.S. Senate seat that's held right now by Tom Tillis. Yeah, and I could be completely wrong. You know, Cooper could come out later today and announce that he's running for Senate, and I wouldn't be shocked. But, you know, the more I especially when I was watching his little clip, his video clip from the portrait unveiling at the governor's mansion.

[00:06:51] You know, I'm trying I'm watching that clip, trying to read the tea leaves. You know, how what what does he sound like? And to me, he didn't sound like somebody who was gearing up to launch another campaign. He sounded more reflective and someone coming to terms with the end of an era. You know, that said, I don't have any inside info into his his mental state there. It's just more speculation at this point.

[00:07:18] But if he does not run, then you say that could make Attorney General Jeff Jackson the next man up to run for this U.S. Senate seat. And so I don't know if the Attorney General Jackson listens to you for advice on these things. But you're saying probably not a good idea, Jeff. Right. That's exactly right.

[00:07:41] So I don't think that national Democrats are going to be satisfied with Wiley Nickel as their standard bearer in 2026. You know, they really see this seat as as crucial for their national plans. So I would expect if Cooper does bow out that they're going to turn their eyes over to Attorney General Jackson. You know, he's very much a rising star. We've talked about him, you know, plenty of times over the past couple of months.

[00:08:11] He's got the excitement among the base and among more Democratic mainstays. He's got some of that star power that I think the national Democrats would be looking for. But, you know, I argue that it's not the right time. Why not? Well, you know, it almost seems too good to be true. Right. You know, he's two years into this term so he could run. Again, if he loses, then it's kind of no harm, no foul.

[00:08:41] He goes back to just being Attorney General. But I don't think that's quite right. I think that politics is a game of timing. And if he runs here and he does lose, and I think there would be at least 50-50 shot, probably, you know, if that was a matchup, I would give Tom Tillis a slight edge in that race. And I think he's basically burned himself out.

[00:09:05] He's got one shot at jumping up to the next level before he turns into an also-ran. And I just don't think that it's a worthy gamble for him. Well, and also you pointed out in this piece, and I think this is a very real concern and criticism that people have of him, was that he's always looking for the next gig. And this would confirm that suspicion that he's never really satisfied with whatever job he's currently holding.

[00:09:32] He's trying to get to a national office, probably with aspirations to be president. And so if people are comfortable with just rewarding that, then I guess so be it. But I think a lot of people kind of cringe at those types of moves that, okay, I got this job, I just got elected, now I'm going to run for something else. Right. I mean, that's absolutely a concern. And it doesn't always happen that way. I mean, it worked out decently for Barack Obama.

[00:10:01] But, you know, if it doesn't work, that's when you get the coulda, woulda, shouldas. Yeah. Andrew Dunn, you can read his work at the Charlotte Observer on the op-ed page and also at his site, longleafpolitics.com or longleafpol.com. Andrew, good to talk with you, sir. Keep up the good work. Appreciate it. Thank you. All right. If you're listening to this show, you know I try to keep up with all sorts of current events. And I know you do too. And you've probably heard me say, get your news from multiple sources. Why?

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[00:11:25] Got an email here from John to Pete at thepetecalendorshow.com. Roy Cooper is the weakest candidate the Democrats could put up for Senate. It will be Jeff Jackson. Yeah, so Andrew Dunn mentioned Wiley Nickel and he doesn't move the needle.

[00:11:51] Former state representative or senator, I think, I forget, but he was in the legislature and then he may have been oppressed and victimized by the redistricting Republicans or something. Yeah, so he is one of those guys. He's like a discount store Jeff Jackson. All right? Like he's Jeff Jackson but on sale, on clearance, you know?

[00:12:20] He doesn't captivate and animate. He doesn't have the gravitas, dare I say, or the on-screen charisma that Jeff Jackson has when he's doing his TikTok videos for the communist Chinese platform. So I don't think – I'm with Andrew on that. I don't think that Democrats want him to be the standard bearer.

[00:12:46] But you never know with Jeff Jackson because even if he is interested in running for the seat, like he was against Ted Budd – sorry, Ted Budd. If there is another candidate on the Democrat side that enters the race and that candidate is of a protected class status,

[00:13:11] Jackson would have to step aside again because that was the rationale that he did last time, right? That's why he stepped aside last time for Sherry Beasley to run. It was – this was for her and, you know, I'll run for something else. Of course, he ran for the congressional seat in the gerrymander district that he won and then they redrew those lines and he lost. So, yeah, I don't know. It's still way too early to tell but people are already starting.

[00:13:40] They have to be, you know, maneuvering right now and Wiley Nickel is the only one that's announced. In fact, he's announced – I think he's up to three times. He's done like three formal announcements and I don't know why he thinks everybody has forgotten that he's running for the U.S. Senate seat. He's declared to be a candidate except for the fact that everybody kind of has forgotten about it because it's him. And, like, he just – he's not really well-known. Jeff Jackson now has a statewide position. He has the big social media following.

[00:14:12] But you're the sitting attorney general. You just got the gig, right? You just asked for this job. And the first thing you're going to do is turn around and then run for a different job? So, I'm unclear as to how much that would hurt him, if at all. I know there was – gosh, what was it? Keith Young. Not from the WBT News Center. But there was a guy named Keith Young up in Asheville.

[00:14:42] And this guy won a seat on the Asheville City Council. And immediately, like, the next year, like, in his first year as a city councilman, he then tried to run or did run for the county commission. And then he tried to run for Congress. He lost all those times. And then he was eventually defeated in the Asheville primaries.

[00:15:10] But I just don't think that people – they don't take too kindly to that. When you ask for a gig and you're like, I'm going to be your representative. I'm going to work for you, the people, and all of this. And then you turn around immediately and say, I want a different job. I feel like people get their feelings hurt over stuff like that. So, it might be too soon for him.

[00:15:34] And if he just waits, you know, does another – you know, does one term, runs for re-election. If he wins re-election, then he could do it again, right? Then he could run for a U.S. Senate seat against Ted Budd if Budd is going to run for re-election. But, like, that seat would come open. Or he could try to make a run for governor. If Josh Stein is looking to make a run for president. Because that's the scuttlebutt up in Raleigh that he's positioning himself to do that. I don't know if he is.

[00:16:04] Josh Stein does not clue me in on his plans and such. But, you know, we'll see. We're tracking it. Also, kudos to Nate Morabito over at WCNC. This is the NBC television affiliate here in Charlotte. They went back and he went back and got public records turned over to him from the city of Charlotte.

[00:16:32] And it turns out that the $305,000 payoff to our police chief was not the first large chunk of change that the city put into the chief's pocket. Here's a great idea. How about making an escape to a really special and secluded getaway in western North Carolina just a quick drive up the mountain? And Cabins of Asheville is your connection.

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[00:17:45] And they have pet-friendly accommodations. Call or text 828-367-7068. Or check out all there is to offer at cabinsofashville.com and make memories that'll last a lifetime. All right, so WCNCTV. Newly obtained public records show the city of Charlotte paid Johnny Jennings moving expenses.

[00:18:08] After the city manager named the longtime Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department employee to be police chief. Way back in 2020. Records show that they paid him moving expenses totaling $77,000. $77,000.

[00:18:36] I have been paid moving expenses in the past. I have never been paid anything close to $77,000 large. Holy smokes. What service did you use to move? Did you like buy like a storage facility or something? Like not just like rent a unit. I'm saying bought the whole thing.

[00:19:06] $77,000 in moving expenses. Records show at the time Jennings was living in a neighboring county. From what I understand it was Union County. Way off in Union County. And so that... Even if you're doing it by mileage there's still no way. $77,000? That is absurd.

[00:19:33] Third, the city's 2020 job posting for the position listed a minimum requirement for the incoming chief to live within the city limits within three months of the hire date. Okay, that's pretty standard. In fact, in North Carolina, if you're a law enforcement officer, I believe you actually have to live in North Carolina. So, it's not a... That's not a huge surprise that there would be this residency requirement for the chief of police.

[00:20:02] So, and he would have known this. He would have known this prior to getting the job. Oh, and by the way, with the moving expenses thing, you usually have to submit the receipts. You know? You got to show the receipts and then you get paid back what you spent. It's not just like one big fat check and you can just spend it however you want and we totally trust that it's all for moving expenses.

[00:20:29] I'm kind of getting this suspicion here and maybe it's unwarranted, but given the history of the payoffs to the police chief, I'm kind of suspecting that maybe they just gave him a whole boatload of money and called it a moving expense. And it was basically just a bonus. Because, like, I cannot fathom, like, did you take a loss on your house or something?

[00:20:57] Like, you had to move, maybe you just moved into your house. Like, I'm trying to think of a scenario where you could accrue that kind of expense for moving from Union County to Mecklenburg County. How does that... How does that square? So this is obviously now above and beyond the $305,000 separation agreement that we all learned about a couple of weeks ago.

[00:21:25] WCNC reports amid mounting pressure and an investigation by the state auditor, the police chief eventually released the details of his separation agreement. The agreement includes a promise to retire on January 1, 2026. The settlement will actually cost taxpayers more money down the road since it's boosting his partially taxpayer-funded pension by at least $9,000 extra per year for the rest of his life.

[00:21:55] This is sometimes referred to as pension spiking, where you load up a bunch of compensation in the final few years of your tenure, and then that becomes the chunk of time that they look at. I think it's like a four-year window that they look at, your highest-paid consecutive years, and they take those to determine your pension.

[00:22:20] And so you just jack up the compensation levels at the end of your tenure, and you do that for four years, and then you use that number to calculate the pension. So you end up with a much higher pension for the rest of your life. David McGarry, he is the research director at Taxpayers Protection Alliance. He's quoted in this piece. He says,

[00:23:00] You can't see it, but my eyebrows are raised here, Mr. McGarry. They are raised. $77,000, he says. That's the annual income of many Americans. That's higher than the median household income in North Carolina. The TPA, nonpartisan nonprofit, has remained critical of the lack of transparency showed by the city of Charlotte throughout this controversy. McGarry said,

[00:23:27] While it's reasonable for a city to assume some of the costs of a move to incentivize securing the best candidates, $77,000 to change zip codes sounds excessive. I think there's a perfectly rational, logical explanation for why this would seem to be excessive. It's because it's excessive. That's why it sounds excessive. Because it is.

[00:23:55] All right, let me go over and chat with Earl. Hello, Earl. Welcome to the program. How are you doing? Hey, I'm all right. Hey, let me put a little insight into this. $77,000 to relocate is really not that much. Let me give you an example. Sure. I relocated twice with my company. And I relocated, my last relocation, it was from a neighboring state. And what, a $77,000, I'm assuming, what it goes towards is, okay, I had a house in my own location.

[00:24:25] I have to sell that house. So my realtor needed 7%. That comes out of the $77,000. Okay, when you move to Charlotte, you need to be in temporary housing. That's about $3,000 to $4,000 a month just for somebody to go month-to-month temporary. So that goes out of the $77,000. When you buy your new place, you've got to pay the closing costs. And typically, most companies will also give you 1% towards the, well, I give you one point, which is typically 1% of the mortgage.

[00:24:54] So that comes out of the $77,000. Okay, when you move, if you've got a wife and kids, if they're in some type of private school and they've got to move in the middle of that, there's probably a penalty. That comes out of the $77,000. While you're in short-term leasing, you've got to have meals. That comes out of the $77,000. And honestly, you can go through $77,000 with a simple relocation in a couple of months. Just to move the furniture and pack it of your old place, that could be up to $20,000.

[00:25:23] So this is normal in corporate America to give that much as a relocation. And then they mentioned... So you mentioned... Hang on, Earl. Hang on. Those are all very good points. Although I would question, number one, why the 7% for your realtor thought it was 6% split three to three and three for the buyer and seller realtors. And also, if you're selling your house, why would the city of Charlotte need to pay your realtor commission when that comes out of the price of the house?

[00:25:54] No. When I sold my house, my realtor, it may have been 7%. That's what I had to give her. And she pretty much said, take it or leave it. And I was in a time crunch that I needed to sell my house. And you know, because you don't want to be in corporate, I mean, housing too long. Because again, it's got to eat up. And then let me give another... But hang on. So, Earl, the realtor commissions, those are... That happens all the... I mean, that's in every sale of a house, purchase and sale.

[00:26:20] Like, that 3% is always part of the equation, buying or selling. So why is it on the taxpayers to pay for that? Also, why is it on the taxpayers to pay for his meals? Well, that's what corporate America... Why shouldn't it be? Because he's going to be eating no matter where he's living. Well, it depends. When I went looking for short-term places, I was in a hotel. That was the cheapest I could get. I mean, and honestly, if you've got a family, and I moved here single,

[00:26:50] if you come with a family, imagine that $77,000, they could be eaten up in a month. And then they mentioned the bonus. That is typical in corporation. If you move somebody, it's usually a one-month, a one-to-three-month salary in advance also. And the reasoning for that logic is, okay, you've got your new place. You're going to need window treatments. You're going to probably need to change some things. So they want to assist you in that moment, too.

[00:27:15] Typically, relocation, they want to make it seamless for the person that's moving to do that job. They don't want to make it difficult that you've got to go in the hole to move for a corporation. Well, I have never worked for a corporation that spent anything near that amount of money. So that's news to me. Earl, I appreciate the info. Okay, no problem. Have a good day. Yeah, you too. Take care. All right. So spring is here, a time of renewal and celebrations.

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[00:28:37] Get all the details at createavideo.com. Got a message here from Greg. I've been relocated a couple of times to Georgia and Alabama. $11,000 I received in 2014. In 2022, I got $20,000 for the relocation costs. I had never heard of real estate costs being included. Where and how you choose to live is pretty much on you. You could actually pocket a lot of money if your company pays the real estate fees,

[00:29:06] especially if you decide to relocate to a waterfront house on Lake Norman, for instance. Mm-hmm. Rob, welcome to the program. Hey, Rob. Hey, good afternoon. Thank you very much for letting me on your program. Sure. I don't get an opportunity to listen to you as much as I'd like, but I'm out this afternoon running a few errands, and I heard you talking about this ongoing scandal, and I'm just kind of wondering why, and this is a rhetorical question. Okay, so here we go.

[00:29:35] First of all, disclaimer, okay? I'm an American who happens to be black. Been black for 70 years, okay? Okay. So, number one. Number two, black police chief. Number three, black mayor. Number four, black people on the council, for the majority, okay? Are black folks, okay? So, the reason I'm putting this out is, you got black-on-black crime here. There's this guy going on. I don't know.

[00:30:05] I don't know if it's... Black-on-black. You got black-on-black crime, and somebody had to say it, and I'm saying it loud, and I'm saying it proud. It's black-on-black. And y'all liberals out there in the audience, y'all voted these Negroes in. Oh, my goodness. So, y'all live with them. Come on now, Rob. Y'all live with them. No, right. Y'all live with them. Y'all live with them, okay? Well, I mean, that... Okay. So, all right. I appreciate the call, Rob. Thank you. Yeah. To me, this isn't a racial thing,

[00:30:34] because bad behavior is on display by all races. So, like, it doesn't... Like, to me, that's not a vital part of this story. To me, it doesn't matter, because any time you have an unguarded store of value, it will be beset upon by parasites. So, you have to guard your store of value.

[00:31:01] By the way, one other quick point regarding Earl's call. The current relocation policy for the city of Charlotte allows up to $60,000 in relocation costs for deputy department directors and higher and above. $24,000 would go towards expenses, $36,000 helping with costs linked to selling an employee's primary home. Anything above the $60,000 would need city council approval. And to be eligible, you must be relocating from a distance greater than 50 miles.

[00:31:30] He was only 30 miles away. All right. That'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast. So, if you'd like, please support them, too, and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepetecalendorshow.com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.