Legislative leaders thumb their noses at voters, western NC with new power grabs

The Bottom Line from NC Newsline

Legislative leaders were able to flip three GOP votes in the House — a trio of members from western North Carolina who initially objected to the bill's branding as Hurricane Helene relief.

North Carolina voters just elected Gov.-elect Josh Stein by an overwhelming margin but the vast majority of them did not vote for Senate leader Phil Berger or House Speaker Tim Moore.

Unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped Berger and Moore from hatching a truly outrageous scheme to grab powers from the governor’s office and other statewide offices to which voters recently elected Democrats.

The power grab came packaged in a secretly written and unamendable 131-page bill that was unveiled and passed in just hours this week. And it sets a new low in a longstanding pattern of irresponsible governance at the General Assembly.

But wait – it gets worse.

Not only was this treacherous assault on the constitution and the will of voters rammed through in a few hours, Republican leaders also made new hurricane relief funding for western North Carolina contingent on its passage.

The bottom line: The past 14 years have produced a long list of cynical and underhanded maneuvers at the state legislature, but this new power grab may just top them all.

For NC Newsline, I’m Rob Schofield.