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One ray of sunshine
State Sen. Don Vaughan of Greensboro has earned a Sunshine Award from Democracy North Carolina.
And not for his cheerful disposition. The watchdog organization, which has stayed busy in recent years hounding politicians for unethical practices, recognized legislators who filed the most informative campaign finance reports.

Holding candidates accountable depends on their compliance with laws requiring them to disclose where their campaign money comes from and how they spend it. Some are very sloppy about that. Not Vaughan, a first-term senator.

Unfortunately, no other Guilford County senators or representatives were among the 32 legislators recognized by DNC. Voters here should expect sunshine from every candidate who runs for public office

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Right time for a give-back
With the economy still hurting and jobs scarce, it’s reasonable for companies that received incentives in better times to get a break.

Last week, Thomasville City Council unanimously amended its incentives contract with Unilin Flooring. The company originally had planned on 400 new jobs at its Davidson County facility. However, the housing construction slowdown has taken its toll and only half that number were added.

So, the council amended the contract and Unilin will get incentives based just on the jobs created.

By working together, both will prosper in the long run. Davidson County residents, hard hit by the recession, eventually will get those jobs. By the same token, Unilin will benefit from an eager labor force anxious to get back to work.

Skirting the regulations
Reports earlier this year of greedy corporate CEOs getting bloated compensation packages resulted in a well-deserved public outcry.

To find out that the same is happening at some nonprofits in the Carolinas is even harder to stomach.
A recent Charlotte Observer investigation revealed that a few charities are quietly taking advantage of a legal loophole to give out excessive salaries and perks.

 One in Cornelius, set up to help people in debt, paid its CEO $5 million, nearly all the money it had. A religious-based group in Spartanburg, S.C., paid its president nearly a third of its budget, $800,000. The list goes on.
Not only are such breaches of trust appalling, they give a black eye to the dozens of well-run, law-abiding nonprofit organizations struggling to survive and help people zapped by the Great Recession.

Helping hand for Willow Oaks
Banking institutions nationwide  have been roundly and fairly criticized for letting foreclosed residential property deteriorate, much to the detriment of neighborhoods.

However, there are notable exceptions. In east Greensboro, Carolina Bank deserves praise for finishing homes in the city’s Willow Oaks urban redevelopment project.

The bank took possession after the builder declared bankruptcy. Rather than leaving the properties vulnerable to looters, it took a chance and moved forward with construction. Several of the homes already have been sold.

Leaving them abandoned could have adversely affected the unique mixed-income, diverse neighborhood built on the site of the former Morningside Homes housing project.

Now the odds are better that the $90 million, 450-unit development will attract new residents to a unique community with a bright future.

Mental health cuts go to court 
There’s still hope that some of the draconian cuts in the state’s mental health budget can be restored.

A lawsuit brought by the advocacy group Disability Rights North Carolina will be heard today in federal court in Raleigh. And it has the added support of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department. Both claim clients are being adversely impacted because the state wrongly cut funding that provides disabled clients with home health care, rent and other expenses.

They reason that, as a result, the disabled will be forced to move from their communities into institutions in violation of federal law. Not only would that take away their independence, taxpayers would end up paying more for their care — even if the state could find places to put them.

Unfortunately, relief through the courts may be the best way to address the state’s bungled efforts at mental health care reform and heavy-handed budget cutting.