Where credit’s due

by | Jul 5, 2016 | Editor's Blog, NC Politics | 3 comments

I’m with my family in Minnesota for the week, visiting my in-laws and generally marveling at people who call 85 degrees in July a heat wave. It’s harder to keep up with North Carolina politics than it is at home but I’ll try to make a few comments. There’s certainly been enough happening.

Today, I want to give credit where it’s due. State Rep. John Blust and other Republicans who stood up to Sen. Tom Apodaca’s plan to redistrict Asheville City Council deserve a big round of applause. It’s high time that the legislature stops randomly redistricting and otherwise meddling in local government affairs. Just because they can, doesn’t mean they should, and it certainly doesn’t make it right.

The GOP legislature has been exerting its authoritarian muscles since it took power in 2011. Now, some members seem to be having sudden fits of conscience. I’m sure some of them are sincere. Others, though, understand that in Buncombe County last cycle, Republicans lost two house seats in the middle of a GOP wave—in no small part because of legislative overreach.

In his speech on the floor, Blust noted that people in North Carolina hold political leaders in contempt. Polls show the favorability of the legislature in the gutter. According to PPP, only 18% of North Carolinians have a favorable view of the General Assembly. That’s bad news for incumbents trying  to get re-elected this November.

Other members were angry that the leadership was ignoring their own rules to pass the bill. Local bills were not supposed to be debated at that time. Other folks speculated that the court finding unconstitutional the legislature’s redistricting of Wake County Commission districts made legislators skittish of taking on another redistricting proposal.

Regardless of the reason, standing up to Big Government conservatives is admirable, especially when bucking the will of the leadership. Blust and his compatriots deserve a round of applause for standing for good government instead of Big Government.

 

 

3 Comments

  1. Jay Ligon

    It is reassuring to hear that there are some conservatives with consciences in Raleigh mixed in with the zealots and sociopaths.

  2. John Ager

    How and why the Asheville bill outshone all of the other last minute high visibility bills (TABOR, HB2 fix, immigration, reg reform…) was a fine moment to behold. And thank you for giving credit to the 24 GOP members who broke ranks to do what was right.

  3. Norma Munn

    You are correct, but I find it hard to clap loudly. One rational response does not quite out weight the multitude of damaging choices.

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