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News Monday, Apr 27 2015

McCrory Hit By Boomerang, Broken Promises

Apr 27, 2015

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory’s disastrous record is catching up with the governor as an NCGOP attack boomerangs and voters are reminded of his broken campaign promises.

From Raleigh News & Observer cartoonist Dwayne Powell:

mcrorycartoon

And the N&O editorial board:

North Carolinians should be offended by this kind of waste, and the Republican Party ought to be just plain embarrassed. This is supposed to be the party, after all, of careful spending and belt-tightening and judicious oversight of the public purse.

Apparently when the party’s self-interest is involved, it’s time to open the taxpayers’ wallets and have at it.

The party says it will go to court to get Cooper to comply more quickly. Great. Now the public can spend even more money on a silly paper chase.

This isn’t some serious, earnest attempt to pursue legitimate questions about legitimate issues of public interest. It’s a farcical hunt for nothing in particular, with about as much credibility as a wild goose chase.

N&O Excutive Editor John Dresher:

If 14 years of records should be supplied in 36 days, Gov. Pat McCrory ought to be able to meet our much smaller requests in a few days. The executive branch spends millions of dollars a year on public information officers. Their jobs are to provide information owned by the people of North Carolina. The law requires the agency to furnish copies “as promptly as possible.”

Yet the McCrory administration’s record in meeting requests has been dismal:

We follow up on unmet requests and, in some cases, we sue the public agency. If the agencies would provide the documents, they wouldn’t have to fight our court challenges.

When McCrory ran for governor in 2008 and 2012, he criticized former Gov. Mike Easley for not being transparent, for good reason. Easley ordered public emails killed and generally resisted disclosing information.

Easley set a new modern standard among N.C. governors for lack of openness – but McCrory is up there with him. Or maybe it’s down there with him. McCrory promised a new era of openness. He hasn’t delivered.

Not to be left out, McCrory’s hometown Charlotte Observer spent the weekend taking the governor to task on another issue:  his broken promise to North Carolina women.

Fear not, women of North Carolina.

A bill that would create new obstacles to getting an abortion has moved to the N.C. Senate after passing the House this week. House Bill 465 would require women to wait three days, instead of 24 hours, before getting an abortion.

But the bill will not make it past the desk of Gov. Pat McCrory.

That’s what the governor said.

You remember. During his campaign back in 2012, McCrory was asked during a debate what further restrictions on abortion he would sign. “None,” he replied, simply and unequivocally.

Yes, we know. The governor turned his back on that promise – within a year, in fact – when he signed into law legislation that made it harder and more costly for abortions to be performed.

That’s OK with the bill’s supporters, who quite simply want to set up any barrier to abortion they can. But that’s what moderate gubernatorial candidate McCrory promised to reject three years ago.

Who knows? Now that the governor is facing reelection in 2016, he might decide to act like a moderate again.

So you can be comforted, women of North Carolina.

You are comforted, right?

Neither are we.


Published: Apr 27, 2015

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