Close races and upsets in Tuesday's Primary Elections could affect the balance of power in Raleigh — and potentially the debate over raises, cost-of-living adjustments, job cuts, and other issues important to state employees and retirees in the upcoming short session. This week the SEANC teams examines the results and what they could mean for state employees and retirees.

This week on the SEANC View Podcast, we check in with Past President Charles Johnson. Charles served as SEANC President from 2010 to 2012. He also served on the State Health Plan Board of Trustees and on statewide boards for the pension system and criminal justice. He retired from state service, primarily in prisons, where he rose from an entry-level correctional officer to Associate Warden. Charles details how he fought against passing exploding health care costs onto state employees and retirees while on the Plan board. He also discusses his career in prisons, the changing state workforce, the vacancy crisis, and his strategies for retaining employees during his time in leadership. We also discuss early voting turnout for the March 3 Primary Election, and key races that are hotly contested.

This week, SEANC First Vice President Emily Jones joined the team during Board of Governors week to discuss the growing staffing crisis across prisons and probation & parole, the use of lapse salaries, and the toll underfunding takes on morale and public safety. Emily shares frontline experiences — from inmate confrontations to challenges in community supervision — while the team also touches on mental health, homelessness, law enforcement benefits, and broader public concerns raised by recent policy debates.

This week, we sit down with Department of Adult Correction Secretary Leslie Cooley Dismukes to discuss urgent challenges facing North Carolina prisons. The wide-ranging interview includes discussion of chronic staffing shortages and retention, the use of lapse salary to cover operating costs, rising medical and facility expenses, and safety priorities such as body cams, drone detection, and fire prevention. 

In this episode, we interview Sam Watts, executive director of the state retirement system, about a recent board vote and what it could mean for cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) for retirees. Sam explains the system’s funding history, the role of employer and employee contributions, how past policy choices created unfunded liabilities, and the board’s proposal to use investment gains above a 6.5% threshold to help fund future COLAs — possibly as early as 2027. The conversation breaks down complex policy choices, timelines, and trade-offs for retirees, employers, and the General Assembly.

The SEANC team discusses the recent winter storm and recognizes essential state workers who kept services running. We also address the Retirement System board meeting and the push for a COLA amid growing unfunded liability, staffing shortfalls that threaten SNAP funding and other services, UNC Chapel Hill administrative cuts, a reminder about early voting, and other local and cultural updates.