http://66.225.205.104/GC20110603.mp3
North Carolina House Republicans caucused Friday at the state capitol. These meetings are essentially strategy sessions that are closed to the public. But unbeknownst to lawmakers, the media was able to listen in. WFAE's Greg Collard reports. About 20 minutes into the meeting, a lawmaker walked up to a microphone and asked, "Is this working?" Was it ever. The meeting took place in a legislative committee room where debate during public meetings is streamed on the web. There's also a feed to the press room. These feeds are turned off when the political parties caucus. But today, the feed to the press room stayed hot. So reporters listened in, recorded and posted the audio of a rare behind-the-scenes look at the political process. Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Brubaker offered advice to colleagues if Democrats ask "penetrating" questions during debate over the budget. "We'll say, 'That's a great questions I don't have all the details. I'm gonna ask staff to come back there and brief you on it.' And then we don't hear it all on the floor. Shut 'em down," Brubaker said. Governor Perdue's decision Friday to extend federal unemployment benefits was another topic of discussion. Republican leader already have the extension in the budget, although it's tied to their legislative priorities. "Here's the spin on that," offered House Majority Leader Paul Stam. "We need a letter to the attorney general, we need a press release. If she had the power to do this by executive order, she could have done it six weeks ago," Stam said. After someone says the governor should fire her attorney for "screwing around for 2 -and-a-half months," Stam continues. "Either way, she's incompetent. Reality is she knows it's going to be come law anyway, and she wants to get the credit, and we really need to crack on her for this is. This is one of the worst things she's done," Stam said. Stam also said Perdue was "belly-aching and crying" about the difference between her budget and the House Republicans' budget.