Republicans are trying their best to turn the a scandal of their own aimed at House Speaker Tim Moore. Democrats have a better scandal than Republicans.
The accusations that the GOP is leveling at Cooper are convoluted and hard to follow. Apparently, the Cooper administration asked companies who have an interest in the pipeline to put money into a fund that would offset any environmental damage, give local communities access to the natural gas in the pipeline, and renewable energy projects. That seems like a good idea except that the Cooper administration wanted to control the money. The legislature balked and took control of the fund, pledging any money would go to schools. The conservative Civitas Institute filed a complaint, saying Cooper didn’t have authority to set up the fund in the first place. Republicans have tried to simplify it by calling it Cooper’s slush fund. That’s not really working. It affects a narrow group of people and is more about process and the rules of governing than any personal gain.
In contrast, Tim Moore and some businesses bought a property in Siler City for $85,000 and sold it for an astounding $550,000. Moore also requested that the Department of Environmental Quality wave fines for leaking fuel tanks while he and his partners owned it.
So, the competing scandals are:
- Roy Cooper created a slush fund that might benefit potential political supporters.
- Tim Moore used his influence for sweetheart real estate deal that made him hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Moore is clearly in more trouble than Cooper. Nobody understands what the slush fund is. The legislature now has control of it and the argument is whether Cooper should have set it up in the first place. Everybody understands what a sweetheart deal is. Moore is using his position of power for personal gain. It’s no contest.
The Atlantic Coast Pipeline dispute may stay in the pages of the newspaper but it won’t get much further. It’s hard to understand and is largely over since the fund no longer exists. Moore, on the other hand, benefitted personally after asking a favor of a government agency that’s funded by the legislative body he leads. That’s not a good look.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
Cooper and Moore are both crooks of different parties, same system.
Unfortunately, Thomas has missed the much bigger scandal associated with Governor Cooper and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
While Tim Moore’s scandal is disgraceful, it is just another run-of-the-mill example of corruption. The ACP, on the other hand, holds profound implications for for the future of our state, the climate and future generations. While Thomas has his eye on short-term politics, typical of corporate, non-progressive Democrats, he is failing to see the forest for the trees on this issue.
Governor Cooper made a huge moral AND political mistake by approving the permit for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.that will likely come back to haunt him and all NC Democrats in subsequent elections. He could have secured enthusiastic support from the progressive base of the Democratic Party, people who knock on doors, young people who know how to mount a massive and effective internet campaign, people who are conscious of the urgency of addressing climate change by immediately beginning the process of phasing out the extraction and burning of fossil fuels as the world-wide scientific community is screaming at us to do.
Instead, Cooper bowed to the corrupt influence of Duke Energy, the largest public utility in the nation, that intends to now invest heavily in infrastructure that will keep us dependent on fossil fuels for the next half-century, completely ignoring the reality and severity of climate change and all its horrible negative manifestations and implications for the lives of the present and future generations.
This is Governor Cooper’s real scandal and it won’t go without its profound political consequences. Expect massive civil disobedience. Expect the same coalition of more than 300 First American tribes and their allies who amassed at Standing Rock. Expect the massive resistance that needs to happen to defeat the fossil fuel industries and their lobbyists and paid politicians. Wake up to the new political reality that surrounds you. You are living in the distant past if you believe Roy Cooper can take our votes for granted in the next election. Any politician, Democrat of Republican, who still takes money from corporate PACs has leprosy. Don’t be surprised if a Green Party or other 3rd party candidate for Governor arises in NC to challenge the two corporate-owned candidates. Things are changing fast in America and a third party candidate might even win in NC by 2020.
Unfortunately, to quote Ronald Reagan, “There you go again!” Another case of a hot-blooded “Progressive” biting the hands of people, such as Cooper, who could be strong allies. As in sooooo many past elections (the most recent being “Crooked Hillary,” the election was probably lost in the margin by hot-blooded “Progressives” who demand complete doctrinal purity on each and every issue or else they will not support the candidate that vastly more moderates would support. From the above screed, I guess that Gov. Roy Cooper will be the next casualty of the purists! I have to keep arising from my rest to remind the purists of their self-destruction of the issues which they support–that’s why I have chosen the moniker,
Who gave their staff very large raises? Where did that tax paye money come from?
Or about the lawsuit on Gov. Cooper for the money he gave away to different groups when NC won some lawsuits.
Dear Feedup Voter,
I guess we need some details, as none of these allegations regarding the Cooper administration have made
the Hendersonville paper, which has a fairly reliable Republican slant regarding NC issues.