As we've noted over the past week, the politics of the UNC system's Board of Governors is changing.

A Republican majority is now running things in Raleigh, and has put its imprint on the UNC system by thoroughly re-making its governing board.

After a slew of new appointments over the last two weeks, Republicans now out-number Democrats 18-13 on the board.

Does it matter?

Well, maybe. We'll see how ideological the board becomes when its new members are seated in July. It hasn't been too political in recent history.

Though the board itself is rarely openly partisan in its decision-making, the process to get there sure is.

Take, for example, the case of Clarice Cato Goodyear.

Goodyear, of Charlotte, is a current board member, named to the board in 2007 on the nomination of a Democratic State Sen. Daniel Clodfelter.

She has been active on board committees and has represented the board in an official capacity at commencement ceremonies for 16 of 17 campuses in the system.

 She concludes her first four-year term later this year, and in recent months has clearly fought hard for reappointment.

The nomination packet she submitted to legislators was far more robust than many; it extols her accomplishments at length and makes the point several times, often in bold print,  that while she used to be a registered Democrat, she's now registered as an unaffiliated, and brings the backing of many influential Republicans.

She notes that she's a fiscal conservative who has spent more than 30 years as an executive with the Cato Corporation, a women's fashion retailer.

She enlists 23 influential movers and shakers to offer endorsements. Several happily point out that she's seen the light by abandoning the Democratic party.

Her four pages of endorsements include these snippets: