A shortsighted power grab

by | May 14, 2014 | Editor's Blog, NC Politics, NCGA, NCGov | 1 comment

Republicans have a plan to shift the State Bureau of Investigation from the Attorney General’s office to the Governor’s office. They must want to ensure that it stays under Roy Cooper’s control. 

Seriously, though. Who in their right minds would give Pat McCrory control of anything else? I mean, the guy has broken virtually every agency he’s touched and earned the ire of politicians in both parties. Giving him the SBI is like giving the criminals a head start.

From the Department of Motor Vehicles to the State Board of Elections to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to the mother of all debacles, the Department of Health and Human Resources, McCrory’s agencies have screwed up spectacularly and he’s either oblivious or incompetent. Despite lousy headlines, no one is held accountable and McCrory never admits mistakes. Everything is alway just peachy in McCroryland

Moving the SBI to the executive branch is just a pure power grab. After last session, you would think that the GOP would have gotten over some of their hubris by now. I guess not but they are also shortsighted. The chance of them holding the executive branch in the future is pretty slim. 

It’s not just McCrory’s incompetence. It’s that the state is evolving and the GOP is not. North Carolina is getting browner and younger. The GOP is getting older and whiter. Attrition is about to catch up with them. Unless they change, the party will have an increasingly difficult time winning statewide elections. 

Which means Democrats will run agencies like the SBI no matter where the GOP puts them. It’s just a question of which constitutional office will run them. SBI should be the realm of the Attorney General, an inherently less political office than governor. 

1 Comment

  1. Thomas Ricks

    A conservative thinks its a swell idea.

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