Another failed NC power play
Published March 18, 2015
Editorial by Charlotte Observer, March 17, 2015.
Add one member to the list of those who’ve been on the receiving end of the General Assembly’s arrogance.
It’s a not-so-exclusive club of cities and towns, councils and commissions that have been disregarded by a Republican legislature that believes it can do pretty much everything it wants – and doesn’t like to be told otherwise.
Welcome, Gov. McCrory.
The governor got a close-up view of the legislature’s brazenness Monday after a three-judge panel ruled that McCrory had authority to appoint members of certain N.C. commissions. McCrory had sued for that authority last year after the legislature created a Coal Ash Commission to oversee the cleanup of coal ash ponds. McCrory cried foul then because such oversight belonged to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Regardless of what you think of the job DENR has done with coal ash, the governor is right. Historically, legislatures enact laws and the executive branch carries them out. By giving itself the power to appoint members of the Coal Ash Commission and two others, the General Assembly was snatching power that belonged to the administration.
The three-judge panel – led by Wake County Superior Court Judge Howard Manning – not only disagreed with the legislature’s interpretation of constitutional balance, it slapped the notion down rather harshly. “Borderline specious,” said the ruling of the General Assembly’s arguments.
Did Republican leaders bow to the clear, unanimous ruling and take a pass on the appeal they’re entitled to? Of course not. “We are disappointed in today’s decision that disregards a century of rulings from our state Supreme Court and will appeal,” said Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore.
It’s the same type of stubbornness that Republicans have regularly displayed after court rulings, including when a federal judge rejected N.C.’s abortion ultrasound mandate (as other judges had done with similar mandates) and when federal courts struck down marriage bans across the country, including ours.
It’s the same type of legal cluelessness that’s prompted doomed legislation like the “Choose Life” license plate – which was promptly and predictably struck down – and the new so-called religious freedom bill that would allow magistrates to opt out of giving marriage licenses to gays.
It’s also the same type of audacity that prompted failed takeovers of Asheville’s water system and Charlotte’s airport, as well as new bills that propose changing the makeup of the Greensboro City Council and Wake County Commission without asking local voters if they even want those changes.
The governor was right to fight the commission gambit, but he is often too timid in the face of legislative aggression that he once decried as Charlotte’s mayor. He did speak up earlier this month against the proposal to restructure the Greensboro City Council, but that’s a “local bill” that doesn’t need his approval.
We hope McCrory holds to those convictions with bills he can veto. Until then, Republican leaders should give up on their coal ash power play, and the governor should remember what it feels like for the rest of us when they don’t.
March 18, 2015 at 10:23 am
Norm Kelly says:
Amazing. When libs respond/react to what goes on with Republicans, the only descriptive word I can come up with is 'amazing'.
Republican in-fighting is always celebrated by libs. Libs/demons/socialists NEVER have in-fighting; they'll tell you this as will their media allies. But the slightest disagreement in Republican ranks is touted as the party falling apart. Amazing.
It's also amazing that when the law restrains Republicans, libs/socialists/media ally types all celebrate. However, when the wording of a law is clear, and the intent clear, libs refuse to be held within the bounds of the law. And libs/socialists/media ally types tell us that we are simply reading the wording of the law wrong. Or the exact words used were not the INTENT of the law writers. Kinda like when socialized medicine says that only states that setup their own socialist medical insurance schemes are participants eligible for someone else to pay for their premiums. The wording of the law specifically says that states like NC that rely on the central planners to control health insurance restrict their residents from receiving payments from other citizens. In this case, libs/socialists/media allies insist that the wording of the law is irrelevant and that their scheme will collapse if they aren't allowed to violate their own law. Imagine that. They lied about the plan, specifically worded the law so as to bribe states to participate, and now they want us to ignore the wording of the law. But when the wording of a law restrains, restricts, or smacks down a Republican, then libs/socialists/media allies celebrate.
Amazing. Libs must be kept in the minority for many years to come so we can get the state and nation back on the right and proper track. We've had enough with socialism, and enough history of socialism around the world, to know that even American socialists are doomed to failure. Let's hope that enough people wake up to the schemes of socialists early enough to right this nation! We won't get any support from what used to be main-stream media types.
