The leader of the NC GOP

by | Mar 7, 2017 | Editor's Blog, HB2 | 6 comments

Lt. Governor Dan Forest has gone down to Texas to promote the Lone Star State’s version of HB2. In the eyes of Forest and social conservatives across the nation, the law is a booming success. In their view, it may be costing North Carolina hundreds of millions of dollars in business, but it’s turning back the clock on the immorality of LGBT protections and marriage equality.

Forest and his chief ally Tami Fitzgerald of the North Carolina Values Coalition have put pressure on Republicans to reject any compromise to repeal HB2. Republicans like to blame Cooper but that’s wrong. It’s the culture warriors in the GOP, led by Forest and Fitzgerald, who are gumming up the works. They are holding both Republican caucuses hostage.

Republican Rep. Chuck McGrady offered a compromise bill last week that included, among other things, a referendum on local non-discrimination ordinances. He called it a starting point for negotiations and had several Democrats sign on to the bill. Cooper and Democratic House Leader Darren Jackson initially rejected the referendum portion of the bill but said they would continue negotiating. Unfortunately, House Speaker Tim Moore ended the conversation.

Republicans howled that Democrats killed the deal but that’s not what happened. Moore didn’t have the votes among his caucus to support McGrady’s bill without any compromise. In fact, rumor has it that social conservatives threatened to primary McGrady merely for his attempt at repeal. Compromise was never really part of the equation.

Democrats have 45 votes of the 61 needed in the House to pass a repeal bill. Republicans only need to provide 16 more votes, only about 20% of their members. On the Senate side, Republicans only need to provide 11 votes. If they can’t do that with their huge legislative majorities, then they clearly own House Bill 2 heading into 2018 and Dan Forest emerges from this fight the most influential Republican in the state. That bodes well for making Roy Cooper a two-term governor.

6 Comments

  1. Ebrun

    From a recent essay by Tom Campbell, Executive Produces and Moderator of WRAL’s NC SPIN:

    “To be honest, when the GOP gained control of our legislature in 2011, North Carolina was struggling to recover from The Great Recession, there were large budget deficits and government had grown larger. They quickly cut spending to balance the state budget, later cutting taxes to put more money into the pockets of corporations and our citizens, in hopes the additional money would encourage spending and investments in jobs.

    North Carolina’s economy, coupled with the national recovery, has improved to where we now have more than a billion dollars stored in reserves to ward off another downturn. State revenues will exceed spending by approximately a billion dollars and the state’s economic picture is bright, according to Mike Walden, one of North Carolina’s most respected economists. NC State just released the NCSU Index of North Carolina Leading Economic Indicators. The report predicted continued economic growth at the current pace for the near term.”

    • EBRUN

      Wow, D.g. that sure took a lot of ‘splaing. If your intelligence could be judged by your verbosity, you might qualify as a potential genius. LOL

      BTW, I didn’t raise the point, it was raised by Tom Campbell, a well know local liberal, and Michael Walden, a well-respected NC economist.

  2. Jay Ligon

    PolitiFact recently rated Dan Forest’s claims about the minor impact of HB2 on the North Carolina economy as “True.” So far.

    “Our research, plus interviews with economists and analysis of other studies, has shown HB2 probably cost the state between $450 million and $630 million. Others have cited a $500 million loss. The law has also cost North Carolina a minimum of 1,400 jobs.

    “North Carolina’s GDP is around $510 billion, so even a $500 million loss would only represent 0.1 percent of that.”

    The North Carolina was growing at a robust rate before McCrory took office and economic growth continued to be impressive until the end of his term when North Carolina’s 2015 GDP growth was below the national average, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

    Economic statistics reflect the past. We are always looking into a rear-view mirror. The real impact will only begin to be felt this year and subsequent years as reports begin to measure the full impact in jobs and revenues lost. We should begin to see the losses later this year.
    .
    As we watch the ACC tournament on our televisions now, an event normally held in North Carolina, those jobs and the revenue generated by that event will be realized in New York City, lost to this state. That cost has not been factored in yet. Nor are abandoned travel plans, conventions, other sporting events, and foregone vacations part of Forest’s or Politifact’s calculations.

    Forest is so giddy about the HB2 gambit, he has taken his show on the road to encourage other nutty legislatures to follow suit. Forest’s traveling to Texas to tout the loss of signature events, jobs, and revenues as a reasonable investment in Republican dominance has some jeopardy attached to it.

    There is the story of the man who leaped from the Empire State Building and, as he passed the 50th Floor plummeting toward 5th Avenue, someone shouted to him: “How are you doing?”

    “So far, so good,” the jumper responded.

    The “ick” factor must be considered. The Republican legislature has not been shy about sponsoring racist, bigoted, ill-considered bills, passing them even when the bills took the bullet train to higher courts where they were struck down. Forest and his unlettered fellow travelers are proud of their record of intolerance and bigotry. The NC GOP oozes an ick factor that contaminates our brand and makes people want to take shower, not dive into the same pool where they just left a nasty ring.

    There is also the new Republican thing, devising stratagems out of dross and malice. Maybe people are too gullible to catch on, but if they do, will the voters overlook your untrustworthiness?

    Half a billion dollars isn’t chicken feed, especially for those who lost the money. Throwing 1,400 jobs away isn’t a prudent investment, but wait a while, it will get worse. The chickens will eventually come home to roost.

  3. Troy

    I was thinking along those same lines myself Dis. My thoughts were running more toward the notion of, “the State idiot has found his way home.” Perhaps he can tuck Speciale under his arm and take him along too.
    Nothing like the spectacle of two idiots for the price of one.

    • Jay ligon

      “I am convinced, the republican party is in the same position it was under Nixon. Maybe even worse. Bad name, lack of public trust and out of control. So our NC republican politicians had best move quickly.”

      The Republican Party under Nixon bears no resemblance to this current pack of junkyard poodles. As a group, the Republicans of the late 1960s and early 1970s were patriots. They were mostly veterans of World War II. Bob Dole had been seriously injured in Italy in April 1945 and lost the use of his arm for the remainder of his life. Edward Brooks of Massachusetts had served in Italy in the segregated 366th Infantry where he, too, was injured and earned the Bronze Star. How unlike the current crop of Republicans who shy away from personal injury but enthusiastically send others’ children into the fray. ; Today’s Republicans are covering for the traitors and Russian spies in the White House and are putting our national in grave danger.

      They were, as a group, opposed to Communism. Margaret Chase Smith of Maine was in favor of dropping nukes on Russia. Barry Goldwater of Arizona was famously opposed to Russian aggression and did not rule out nuclear strikes in Vietnam. But, as committed as they were to fighting Russian Communism, most were not on the John Birch end of the spectrum. New Jersey’s Clifford Case was called the “Pro-communist Republican” by Joe McCarthy after he criticized the Senator’s witch hunt. Nixon was criticized by McCarthy as was Eisenhower. This group of Republicans are cashing the checks send to them by the Koch Brothers who founded the John Birch Society.

      Many of those Republicans fought for civil rights. New York’s Jacob Javits supported LBJ’s civil right agenda and Illinois’s Everett Dirksen sponsored the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

      There were opponents of the Vietnam War within the Republican Party including Javits.

      When Watergate became a problem for Republicans, many of them did not shy away from the facts of the case. Tennessee’s Howard Baker asked the quintessential question that has reverberated ever since through history: “What did the President know, and when did he know it?”

      Sen. Bob Packwood of Oregon proposed legislation to legalize abortion two years before the Roe v. Wade opinion.

      The problem with Republicans today is that they are not patriots; they would never put on the uniform and fight a battle; they have no experience in and cannot supervise or give advice to combat troops; they are driven by fear not bedrock principles; they cluster together and follow the flock; they do not appreciate what dangers confront the United States. These Republicans are intrigued by the gains to be made by bogus claims and crocodile tears. They are not genuine; they are Machiavellian. They tell strategic lies and create improbable scenarios and myths. They believe in the power of confusion. They are a foot shorter than the men in the Republican Party in the 1960s and 1970s. They are spoiled children without a moral compass.

  4. Jay ligon

    New York City is happy about HB2. The ACC tournament will be played there this weekend.

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