McCrory's flailing on license plates a microcosm of his reign in Raleigh
Published July 25, 2015
by Chris Fitzsimon, NC Policy Watch and NC SPIN panelist, July 24, 2015.
Governor Pat McCrory keeps claiming that he wants the state to stop issuing license plates featuring the confederate flag but still can’t seem to muster the courage to make it happen.
It has now been a month since McCrory earned national headlines after the racially-motivated shootings in Charleston for saying he wanted North Carolina to stop issuing the specialty license plates featuring the flag.
A spokesman said McCrory believed, “the time was right to change the policy.”
But the policy has not changed. The sales of confederate plates increased since McCrory’s statement and DMV has since run out of them and ordered more.
McCrory said at the time that the General Assembly must act to stop the issuance of the plate, while Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger claims that McCrory can stop it himself with an executive order.
Thursday a coalition of advocacy groups delivered petitions to McCrory’s office from more than 13,000 people demanding that he order an end to the confederate plates.
His office issued a statement in response again shirking responsibility with Press Secretary Graham Wilson saying “It’s time for the General Assembly to provide the governor the legislative fix he needs so that this issue can be resolved once and for all.”
McCrory hasn’t mentioned the confederate plates on his own since his statement a month ago. He hasn’t publicly called for legislation banning the plates, or brought it up at any of the dozens of public events he has held since then.
He only talks about the license plates when he is asked about them or confronted with petitions from 13,000 people he is supposed to be representing.
Wilson says it’s time now for the General Assembly to act. It apparently wasn’t time for the last month while McCrory was enjoying the credit he got for speaking out against the plates.
And it will take more than a statement from his press secretary to make it happen.
McCrory himself needs to speak out forcefully and demand that lawmakers immediately pass legislation to stop the plates. That’s what South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley did when she wanted the confederate flag taken down on her state’s capitol grounds.
She didn’t make a public statement and then forget about it. She made a public statement and then went to the South Carolina General Assembly and demanded that lawmakers act and they did.
McCrory is either unwilling or unable to do that in North Carolina.
Ending the confederate license plates is not the biggest issue facing North Carolina. But it is an important and symbolic one.
It is also not complicated. This is not Medicaid reform or coal ash regulation or a $22 billion state budget we are talking about. It is one simple act, one simple bill that would take lawmakers a day to pass.
The fact that it has not even come up either means McCrory isn’t sincere about removing the offensive symbol from state issued license plates or simply doesn’t have the leadership skills to make it happen.
It’s becoming a microcosm of his reign as governor. He makes a lot of speeches and cuts a lot of ribbons but doesn’t have much power or respect in Raleigh.
Senate Rules Chair Tom Apodaca garnered a lot of headlines recently for telling the Asheville Citizen-Time that McCrory wouldn’t play much of a role in budget negotiations because he “doesn’t play much of a role in anything.”
Surely that didn’t set too well with the often thin-skinned governor, a cynical dismissal of his influence by a prominent legislator from his own party.
McCrory is already teetering on the edge of irrelevant three years into his administration. If he wants to change that, demanding an end to the confederate plates is a good way to start. It’s simple, easy to understand and it’s the right thing to do.
All it would take is a little courage and leadership. Wonder if he is up to it?
July 25, 2015 at 1:58 pm
Richard L Bunce says:
It's time the State puts an end to all the specialized license plates... State governments should not be in the issue advocacy business... that is what bumper stickers are for.
Also get out of the famous person statue, infrastructure, etc naming business... not a minimum essential service of government.
July 25, 2015 at 4:22 pm
Johnny Hiott says:
Removing the Confederate flag is NOT the right thing to do. There may be thirteen thousand in this state willing to sign a petition against it's being on a north Carolina tag but that is no cause to remove it. Regardless of how much liberals want to believe otherwise the Confederate flag represents the honor and bravery of many residents ancestors and we are very proud of them for what they fought for ! One more time, the war of northern aggression was NOT about slavery until the tyrant lincoln made it so in order to keep the northern states from suing for peace !Just an FYI...... Had the South won, we here in north Carolina and the other southern states would be living in a nation that still obeyed the Constitution ! This nation is now being destroyed by the very same type criminals in government that started the war between the states. The only difference between then and now is that both democrats and republicrats are ALL criminals guilty of failing to uphold their oath of office and numerous acts of treason to boot. If you don't like the Confederate flag don't look at it ! If you can't control what you look at MOVE up north !
