Sifting Through The Ashes, Part Three – Coup in North Carolina

Greetings and Salutations;

It is a busy time here at the end of a long,  ugly year.    There are so many instances of insanity in the Political World that I am motivated to post a comment on at least one.   So…This essay is about the situation in North Carolina.

For y’all that have not heard…the Republican Governor of the state lost his re-election bid, and will be replaced by a Democrat.   There are a number of explanations for this somewhat unexpected turn of events,  but,  I suspect the virulent Anti-LGBTQ  legislation passed and signed by the governor earlier this year is a big factor in it.   This legislation has already cost the state $Millions  as quite a number of large events have canceled their trips to the state and moved their event, and of course, the cash that would have come with these events, to another state.

Well,  as the inauguration of the Democratic Governor nears,  the Republican Legislators and Governor are frantically passing new laws that will limit the powers of the incoming Governor.   They are, of course, trying to do it under the cover of darkness so no one will notice! They called a special session of the Legislature,  and as the night spread across the state,  they started passing many restrictive bills.   It was a classic example of smoke and mirrors too!   The Legislators announced that they were having a special session to pass disaster relief for victims of floods and fire in the state.  Well,  they did that…then,  they closed that session and immediately called another special session, “without an Agenda”.   This was a surprise for everyone except the Republicans who had set it up.  They,  by the by,  tried to claim that it was a last minute decision.  However,  already paperwork has shown up showing that this “special session” was planned several days in advance.

Here are some of the actions that they have taken already:

• The Republican Legislators have taken action to make it harder for the disadvantaged to vote, all in the hopes that the Republicans can keep and maintain their hold on political power in the state.
• They have passed a bill that cuts,  by almost 2/3,  the number of positions in the government appointed by the Governor.  The end result is that the political appointees of the Republican Governor will now become permanent employees of the state.
• They have passed “Election reform bills.”  These rework the state board of elections and combines it with the state ethics commission. Previously, the state board of elections had a 3-2 majority in favor of the governor’s party, while every county board had a 2-1 advantage for the governor’s party. Under the new rules, the state board will have eight members, four of each party, appointed half by the governor and half by the legislature. County boards will have four members. The chairmanship will rotate, but appears to guarantee that Republicans will lead the board during crucial even-numbered election years for the foreseeable future.
• They increased the power of the state’s appellate court.
• Supreme Court elections, which have been nonpartisan but handed a majority to Democrat-aligned justices this November, will now be partisan. This change requires that the party affiliations of judicial candidates to be printed on ballots.
• They confirmed Yolanda Stith, the wife of (ex Governor) McCrory’s chief of staff, to the state industrial commission. (During this time, Republicans complained that the protestors outside were disrupting a triumphal moment for a black woman.)

Update, 2023 — A bit after I wrote this essay, a second bill was introduced by the House, passed, and signed into law by the lame-duck Governor. It continued to erode the power of the office…and here is a list of the changes it made.

Needless to say,  there WERE quite a few protestors at the state Capitol,  and upwards of 55 of those folks were arrested for protesting this raw power grab.  

The bottom line for me, though is that it should be impossible for the legislators to claim that there was not a strong,  racial/economic motive to these changes,  as many of the new laws put into place by these Right-Wing legislators have openly attacked the ability to vote of people of color or of lower economic class.

The combination of the rhetoric produced by the Right-Wingers, the actions they have taken, and the care that they took to mask what was going on by keeping it from being publicized, and doing the deed in the dark of night, make it look to me as this is nothing more than a palace coup,  emboldened by the grifted victory of #45 in the presidential election, to take and hold legislative power, against the express wishes of the Citizens of North Carolina.   This will bite the Right-Wing in the ass at some point in time, I am sure,   but, considering the political climate we are in right now, I can only hope that America is still around to see it happen.   This is such a bad situation that it has moved far beyond any sane commentary other than to say it is another step towards turning America into a fascist state.

Pleasant Dreams???

Bee Man Dave

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