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Moore County Democratic Party Chairman Bill Newton will head a local delegation to the 6th District convention Saturday, May 22.

Newton is one of 16 delegates elected at the county convention on April 17.

Secretary of State Elaine Marshall will be keynote speaker for the district convention, which will be held at Davidson Community College between Lexington and Thomasville. Registration will open at 11 a.m. with the convention beginning at noon. Dave Ragsdale of Greensboro is the district chairman.

Principal business will be election of delegates to the state convention, where delegates will be chosen for the national convention. The state convention will be held June 19 at the Convention Center in Raleigh. The Democratic National Convention will be held in late summer in Boston.

Moore County Democrats will have a special interest in the state convention, where delegates will be allocated for the party’s presidential choice. Sen. John Edwards, a former Moore County resident, was the top vote-getter when the party held presidential caucuses in April.

Edwards dropped out of the race when Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts claimed enough delegates to nail the nomination. Edwards is still prominently mentioned as a potential running mate for Kerry.

COOL ON CUTS — If state legislative leaders are cool about raising taxes, they are just as unenthusiastic about tax cuts this year.

Richard Morgan, Republican co-speaker of the House, told The News & Observer of Raleigh that the state needs to take “a comprehensive look at our tax system,” rather than concentrating on one particular tax.

Morgan was quoted in connection with requests from business groups for a cut in corporate income taxes from 6.9 percent to 5.9 percent, or less.

North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry, a nonprofit organization representing businesses across the state, was disappointed, but the good news is that Morgan, his Democratic counterpart, Jim Black, and Senate Leader Marc Basnight are not talking about hiking taxes either.

“We haven’t given up on this year,” said Phil Kirk, NCCBI president. “But just being candid, the governor’s budget spends all the available money.”

The General Assembly convened for its election year budget session Monday. For the first time in three years, the state appears to be in the operating in the black. However, the additional available revenues are limited, and legislators are aware of such budget calls as schools and raises for state employees.

LITTLE — Republican gubernatorial candidate George W. Little of Southern Pines has renewed his criticism of incumbent Democratic Gov. Mike Easley.

In his latest radio ad, Little chides the governor “for failing to show up for work and for making frequent personal use of the state helicopter at taxpayers’ expense.”

The ad quotes from a news item in The N&O of Raleigh, which reported that in his first 100 weeks in office, Easley’s daily calendar was blank of appointments for 31 weeks.

On Tuesday, Little’s campaign issued a statement about the ad:

“North Carolinians need to be put on notice that their governor has been a no-show who has been thoroughly disengaged from the task of rebuilding our economy and who habitually makes personal trips on the state helicopter with the taxpayers footing the bill.”

Little said that such “misuse of state property” would end if he is elected governor.

Before he can face Easley, Little, a Southern Pines businessman, must first win the Republican primary election in July. He is one of six GOP candidates for the gubernatorial nomination.

COBLE — U.S. Rep. Howard Coble was a member of a delegation that traveled to the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Coble led the delegation in his capacity as chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security.

The group traveled to Cuba to inspect facilities where the United States is holding about 600 detainees as al Qaeda and Taliban suspects from Afghanistan. In his report, Coble called living conditions “spartan but clean.”

Other members of Congress accompanying Coble were Rep. Melissa Hart, a Pennsylvania Republican, and Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat.

Coble, a Greensboro Republican, represents Moore County in the 6th District.