I subscribe to emails from the office of North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue so I can keep an eye on what she’s trying to do to keep herself in power. Usually, the emails are fairly innocuous: the usual attempts to take credit for good things that are happening in N.C. and boast how she and the people in her political party are working to make sure more good things will happen.

This morning’s email, though, was different. Titled “Gov. Perdue fights for education,” it opened by criticizing the budget passed by the N.C. House because of the need to make cuts in education. In reality, the cuts would have been needed no matter who was in charge. Perdue is just spinning it for the sake of partisan politics since her party no longer holds the majority in the House. Let’s review:

In 2009 Perdue took responsibility for the cuts made on teachers, including a mandatory 10-day furlough. “What it does is asks teachers and state workers to step up and help us as we move forward,” Perdue said. This was in lieu of eliminating the overpaid, extraneous administrative positions and departments which are sucking the education system dry. Those proposed cuts amounted to a modest $65 million allocated for all state employees combined. Read more here.

The economic situation hasn’t changed. We still have to make cuts. But…

This year Perdue is taking advantage of the new Republican majority in the House to blame them for making budget cuts affecting public school teachers. “North Carolina’s classrooms, colleges, teachers and children will become the victims of some staggering cuts,” Perdue said. These proposed cuts to education amount to a bold $360 million allocated for public school employees and included adjusting rules around tenure and evaluating of teachers based on performance rather than years of service.

But here’s the kicker: the email exploited a letter her office received from a six-year-old child from Chapel Hill purely for the sake of those same partisan politics. Anyone who has worked with children know how they absorb the words and emotions of the adults around them. This letter is a clear indication of such: a child who has heard that Republicans are bad and will ruin her school and make things hard on teachers, and who has heard that Gov. Perdue has the power to defeat these “bad guys.” Some of the words that popped into my head when I saw Perdue’s office exploiting this letter were “gall,” “nerve,” “malevolence,” and “child exploitation.”

I won’t say anymore. I want the letter to speak for itself. Here’s the letter posted in partial context posted by Chrissy Pearson, Communications Director at Perdue’s office:
http://www.governor.state.nc.us/eTownhall/Blog/post/2011/05/06/We-agree-Amelia.aspx

In case that disappears, I’ve captured a copy here:

Child's Letter to Exploited by Perdue

In May 2011, Gov. Perdue's office posted a child's letter in an effort to exploit its reference to partisan politics.