McCrory turns his day around

Today started pretty badly for Gov. Pat McCrory.

The state Senate convened early and took, oh, about five minutes to override his only two vetoes since taking office.

The House had done the same yesterday, enacting the measures over his objections.

No sooner had legislators left Raleigh than McCrory answered with a defiant statement.

After praising much of the work by his fellow Republicans during this year's General Assembly session, he added:

"One part of our culture that did not change was passing some flawed legislation during the last hours of session with little debate, understanding or transparency. Too much education policy was slipped into the budget bill causing serious concerns especially from our teachers and educators. Executive branch concerns over long-term operational costs were ignored by passing bills with good intentions but unintended consequences, and overriding vetoes on drug testing and immigration."

Tell it, governor.

And:

"House bill 786 triples the E-Verify seasonal worker exemption from 90 days to nearly nine months and has created a loophole that could cost legal North Carolinians jobs. This measure changes the law’s focus from exempting 'temporary seasonal employees' to help the state’s farming industry to exempting a category of employees for any industry, regardless of the season or the needs. Thus, I will direct the executive branch to explore all legal and executive authority to ensure the letter and spirit of our nation’s immigration law is followed in this state

"Based upon the lawmakers’ vote on drug testing, the executive branch will not take any action on the new law’s implementation until sufficient funds with this unfunded mandate are provided, not only for the Department of Health and Human Services, but also the funding for consistent application across all 100 counties."

Can he get away with this? After all, the governor is required to execute the law. He says he won't in regard to drug-testing for welfare applicants.

But there's an important caveat. He's says the funding isn't provided. Spending unallocated funds could, theoretically, tilt the state's budget out of balance. The state constitution empowers the governor, when facing a budget deficit, to withhold spending as necessary to keep the budget in balance. He could use that pretext to avoid enforcement of this drug-testing mandate. He's right, anyway, that it's a waste of money.

As for the E-verify exemption, McCrory is hanging his hat on federal law. Of course the state should not contribute to any violation of U.S. immigration law. The legislature wants to wink at immigration rules to make sure agribusinesses can hire enough illegal immigrants to plant and harvest their crops. On this one, though, the governor lacks the authority to enforce federal law. If the feds do nothing, then no one will have his back.

On another issue, McCrory is acting very decisively. He announced his administration will provide enough funding -- about $10 million -- to grant the master's degree pay bump for all teachers currently enrolled in graduate programs.

Wait! Where'd that money come from?

Well, never mind. This is a very positive step for teachers, at least in the short term. He may count on the legislature supporting this move when it returns next spring.

Whether it does or doesn't, McCrory is smart to try to regain favor with some of the groups that have been alienated by Republicans in Raleigh. To do that, and to preserve his own political viability and relevance, he must establish independence from the legislature. He must become the leader of state government, not a follower of Phil Berger and Thom Tillis.

Throughout the year, McCrory's popularity has sunk toward the low level of Berger's and Tillis'. He's made many missteps of his own, but appearing to be a yes man to the far-right Republican legislature would doom his chances of re-election in 2016. He would spend his entire tenure as a Republican echo of his Democratic predecessor Bev Perdue and, like her, end up as a one-term governor.

Today began with defeat for McCrory, but he may have begun to turn it around. Sure, he signed a lot of terrible legislation which he'll drag around like Jacob Marley's chains. Still, with the legislature out of session for the next eight months (we hope), he has a chance to put forward some better policies. He has an opportunity to lead.

He'd better make the most of it.