The Republican grievance is gutting the executive branch
Published 11:12 a.m. Thursday
When they are challenged on their authoritarianism, North Carolina Republicans’ most frequent ploy is to retrieve grievances from decades ago. The party is run by a coterie of legislators who suffered years of irrelevance and disrespect at the hands of the eastern North Carolina Democratic machine, and these people still enjoy resurrecting Democratic misdeeds to justify their own malfeasance.
This canard has arisen recently in the case of the atrocious “Helene Relief” bill. North Carolinians must understand that, whatever the genuine excesses of previous Democratic majorities, the assault we now are seeing on democracy is unprecedented and inexcusable.
The old Democratic bull moose had an occasional—and deplorable—habit of enhancing their own power at the expense of political rivals. The most notorious example of this corruption took place when Republican Jim Gardner flipped the Lieutenant Governor’s office from Democratic to Republican control and Senate Democrats stripped it of its authority.
Completely inexcusable, this abuse was, however, different in kind from what the modern GOP has done to offices held by Democrats. First, the Democrats were removing legislative powers that had been informally awarded to the lieutenant governor over the course of the state’s history. Gardner did not have any constitutional authority to appoint committee chairs or run the Senate. His office’s only job, then and now, is to preside over Senate sessions and break tied votes.
Unlike the Gardner affair, the “Helene Relief” bill is an act of aggression against the other branches of government. It does not reduce the role of one office within a branch already controlled by legislative leaders. The bill reduces the authority of executive offices on their own terms and awards much of that power to the legislature, which has no constitutional right to wield them.
In particular, the bill effectively makes the AG into a puppet of legislative leaders—an egregious encroachment on a constitutional office that reeks of autocracy. This bill smashes the guardrails of democracy.
The second distinction rendering GOP excuses bogus is that previous Democratic turpitude was carried out by a party that bears almost no resemblance to the Democratic opposition today. In the heyday of its majority, the NC Democratic Party was far more conservative and “Southern” than the largely urban party Republicans now enjoy tormenting. Legislative kingpin David Hoyle was a pro-business conservative whose politics were solidly right-of-center. Even the more moderate members of Marc Basnight’s Senate caucus opposed the state House’s efforts to raise taxes on the wealthy after Wall Street destroyed the American economy. Throwing stones at a party led by Sydney Batch—a woman lawyer from the affluent Raleigh suburbs—because the old-school Southern Democrats misbehaved decades ago is perfect nonsense.
Finally, the GOP’s assault on democracy has been far broader, and far more comprehensive, than any of the isolated abuses Democrats committed in the ‘80s and ‘90s. As right-wing blogger Brant Clifton has observed, Senator Phil Berger is spreading his tentacles across state government. He rules the legislature without dissent. His son sits on the Supreme Court. He has key staffers in the incoming Treasurer’s office. He is attempting to shift the administration of elections from the elected Governor to a hardcore partisan operative and legislative factotum who has just won the Auditor’s office. Berger clearly wields more power than his predecessor Marc Basnight ever did, and his constellation of influences increasingly resembles the autocracy of Depression-era Louisiana demagogue Huey Long.
I doubt any North Carolina progressive would defend what Democrats did to the lieutenant governor’s office 35 years ago. This is so clear as to be rather uninteresting. What is crucial to understand is that even the most egregious abuses in the increasingly distant past were not comparable to what right-wing politicians are doing in North Carolina today. We are encountering a vigorous effort to replace the separation of powers with untrammeled rule by a few legislative mandarins. It’s a profound challenge to our state’s long and shaky journey towards authentic democracy.
This piece was originally published in NC Newsline.
This canard has arisen recently in the case of the atrocious “Helene Relief” bill. North Carolinians must understand that, whatever the genuine excesses of previous Democratic majorities, the assault we now are seeing on democracy is unprecedented and inexcusable.
The old Democratic bull moose had an occasional—and deplorable—habit of enhancing their own power at the expense of political rivals. The most notorious example of this corruption took place when Republican Jim Gardner flipped the Lieutenant Governor’s office from Democratic to Republican control and Senate Democrats stripped it of its authority.
Completely inexcusable, this abuse was, however, different in kind from what the modern GOP has done to offices held by Democrats. First, the Democrats were removing legislative powers that had been informally awarded to the lieutenant governor over the course of the state’s history. Gardner did not have any constitutional authority to appoint committee chairs or run the Senate. His office’s only job, then and now, is to preside over Senate sessions and break tied votes.
Unlike the Gardner affair, the “Helene Relief” bill is an act of aggression against the other branches of government. It does not reduce the role of one office within a branch already controlled by legislative leaders. The bill reduces the authority of executive offices on their own terms and awards much of that power to the legislature, which has no constitutional right to wield them.
In particular, the bill effectively makes the AG into a puppet of legislative leaders—an egregious encroachment on a constitutional office that reeks of autocracy. This bill smashes the guardrails of democracy.
The second distinction rendering GOP excuses bogus is that previous Democratic turpitude was carried out by a party that bears almost no resemblance to the Democratic opposition today. In the heyday of its majority, the NC Democratic Party was far more conservative and “Southern” than the largely urban party Republicans now enjoy tormenting. Legislative kingpin David Hoyle was a pro-business conservative whose politics were solidly right-of-center. Even the more moderate members of Marc Basnight’s Senate caucus opposed the state House’s efforts to raise taxes on the wealthy after Wall Street destroyed the American economy. Throwing stones at a party led by Sydney Batch—a woman lawyer from the affluent Raleigh suburbs—because the old-school Southern Democrats misbehaved decades ago is perfect nonsense.
Finally, the GOP’s assault on democracy has been far broader, and far more comprehensive, than any of the isolated abuses Democrats committed in the ‘80s and ‘90s. As right-wing blogger Brant Clifton has observed, Senator Phil Berger is spreading his tentacles across state government. He rules the legislature without dissent. His son sits on the Supreme Court. He has key staffers in the incoming Treasurer’s office. He is attempting to shift the administration of elections from the elected Governor to a hardcore partisan operative and legislative factotum who has just won the Auditor’s office. Berger clearly wields more power than his predecessor Marc Basnight ever did, and his constellation of influences increasingly resembles the autocracy of Depression-era Louisiana demagogue Huey Long.
I doubt any North Carolina progressive would defend what Democrats did to the lieutenant governor’s office 35 years ago. This is so clear as to be rather uninteresting. What is crucial to understand is that even the most egregious abuses in the increasingly distant past were not comparable to what right-wing politicians are doing in North Carolina today. We are encountering a vigorous effort to replace the separation of powers with untrammeled rule by a few legislative mandarins. It’s a profound challenge to our state’s long and shaky journey towards authentic democracy.
This piece was originally published in NC Newsline.
Alexander H. Jones is a Policy Analyst with Carolina Forward. He lives in Carrboro. Have feedback? Reach him at alex@carolinaforward.org.
