Last week, Republican arrogance was on full display. First, they took turns ridiculing the governor, who admittedly is a bit of a joke. Then, they took vacation on the taxpayers dime. Clearly, they don’t believe they will be held accountable for their actions.
As reporter Jim Morrill reported, Republicans criticized McCrory in scathing terms. Senator Tom Apodaca called him irrelevant. Senator Harry Brown asked whether McCrory thought he was the “governor of Charlotte or the mayor of North Carolina.” Representative Chuck McGrady said, “It’s like he doesn’t understand what our job is. And some of my colleagues don’t think he understands what his job is.”
With veto-proof majorities, the GOP legislators don’t see McCrory as a player. He’s failed to build public support either for himself or his initiatives and apparently hasn’t made many strong allies in Raleigh. He’s clearly unprepared for the job but the public rebukes by his own party is pretty remarkable.
And if dissing the governor wasn’t enough, the legislature decided to take a little more time off. They took spring break in April and summer break a few weeks ago. Last weekend, a group of them went to San Diego to the annual conference of the American Legislative Exchange Council, better known as ALEC. And they want you to pay for it.
That’s right. They want taxpayers to pick up the tab for going to a conference of their choosing, even though ALEC is little more than a political organization that pushes right-wing policy ideas. They should pay a political price for such abuse, but with heavily gerrymandered districts, they don’t think they’ll be held accountable.
Legislative Republicans have gotten very comfortable with power. Their veto proof majorities allow them to pass legislation at will and their gerrymandered district protect them from being held accountable for bad behavior–like wasting taxpayer money. With few restraints, they’ve quickly become arrogant. Corruption is surely not far behind.
Funny things happen, though, in politics. Dissing the governor might seem fun and funny, but during an election, he’s the face of the Republican party. Across the state, most voters don’t know Harry Brown or Tom Apodaca or Chuck McGrady but everybody will know Pat McCrory. Almost certainly, if McCrory does poorly in 2016, so will the rest of the GOP.
Last week, between defining the governor and abusing tax dollars, the GOP handed Democrats potent ammunition for 2016. Arrogance in politics rarely pays off in the long run.
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 >
The failure of any Elected or Appointed member of the Federal or State government to perform the duties and responsibilities of their office shall be treated as an act of Treason against the people. They shall be arrested, charged, prosecuted and if found guilty they shall be sentenced to prison for no less than 10 years and no more than natural life.
Moderate republicans have begun turning from their majority. Michelle Presnell of Madison and Yancey counties won by a mere 869 votes in a Republicon wave year. Doubling up on our base, we are beginning the process of ousting her from public office.
It is not gerrymandered districts that have given us authoritarian state rule by the republicans, it is control of the ballot box vote totals contrived through electronic voting machines. The next election will return everyone of these republicans to office with yet even more elected, at which point it will be too for ballot paper trails. The arrogance we are witnessing is only possible with the confidence that comes from being beyond the reach of the voters. You may as we’ll stay asleep at the wheel, the hour for action has passed when even the NC Supreme Court upholds the illegal actions of the NCGA.
I have heard that the House needs only 4 districts to turn from GOP in 2016 and that will get rid of the GOP super majority that overrides vetoes, We need to get behind whatever four districts it is and defeat 4 Republicans
. It i harder for the Senate but I think they have an incremental plan to do the same.
Fair legislative districts is the answer, but getting them will be the challenge.
What was the total estimated cost to taxpayers for Republican legislator’s attending ALEC?
Just piecing numbers together from a few sources on the back of my napkin, it looks like claims of $854 may have been submitted by 5 House members, but it also appears that 4 others attended the conference and have not made claims—yet. So maybe a minimum of $4270 and maximum of $7686 would be paid for by the taxpayer.
But, as is said often, it’s not the money (or the amount), it’s the principle. ALEC is a partisan advocacy organization, and in every sense really no different than a political party. Unless all political party activities are redefined as “professional/educational development” activities, taxpayer funds should not be used to cover party affairs.
I used to work for the state, and we could not use state budget dollars to cover costs to attend meetings organized/sponsored by political organizations. Why should members of the NCGA be treated differently?
How about naming names? We’d all be interested in who is thumbing their noses at NC taxpayers.
Jeannie: The names of who attended are no secret. They are given in the N&O article that Thomas linked in his story above. Click on the above hot-linked passage (“a group of them went to San Diego to the annual conference of the American Legislative Exchange Council”), or just go to:
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/under-the-dome/article28642567.html
Thanks, PW!