North Carolina governor signs bill that limits power of his successor, Democrats

RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina legislators wrapped up Friday on a pair of proposals that would deprive the incoming governor of a substantial part of his authority to make appointments and reduce Democrats’ power over election regulation. Gov. Pat McCrory signed into law the bill dealing with elections a short time later.

The special session came to a close two days after the Republican-controlled Legislature ended a special session convened to deal with disaster relief and called itself into the new one over the objections of Democrats.

At least 39 protesters were arrested Friday at the Legislative Building as a group of hundreds chanted slogans blasting a “power grab” by Republican lawmakers. The arrests came in addition to about 17 arrests Thursday, according to General Assembly Police Chief Martin Brock. Those arrested, who accuse the GOP majority of using Hurricane Matthew victims as pawns in a ploy to seize power from Democratic Gov.-elect Roy Cooper, included civic leaders, university staff and faculty, and clergy.

The House approved the elections proposal on a vote of 67-23 on Friday before final approval by the Senate and governor. Senate Bill 4 also provides for political party affiliation to be listed on ballots next to the names of candidates for the state Supreme Court, and gives the majority-Republican state Court of Appeals a role in constitutional challenges to laws.

McCrory, a Republican, has not said whether he will sign another controversial bill, House Bill 17, which would make Cooper’s appointment of Cabinet officials subject to approval by the state Senate and reduce the number of appointees who serve at the pleasure of the governor.

The same measure would move some authority from the State Board of Education to the Republican just elected as state schools superintendent, Mark Johnson. And it would prevent the governor from appointing members of the boards of trustees for University of North Carolina system schools.

Steve Leonard, a UNC-Chapel Hill professor of political science and former chairman of the UNC system Faculty Assembly, wrote to McCrory, warning that the bill could result in “severe sanctions” by the university’s accrediting body, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. He said that’s because the Legislature has “clear and direct intent to insert ‘undue political influence’” in the selection of campus board of trustee members.

Republicans said they were merely reverting appointment of trustees to what is described in the state constitution, which says the General Assembly “shall provide for the selection of trustees.”

Democrats disputed Republican claims that SB 4 would create a bipartisan commission merging the current State Board of Elections, State Ethics Commission and the lobbying-regulation functions of the Secretary of State’s office.

Democrats said it couldn’t be called bipartisan because they weren’t involved in creating the proposal. Republicans call it bipartisan because it would create a state board and county elections boards comprised of members equally split between the parties. It would also deprive the incoming Democratic administration of control of those boards; currently, the administration can appoint three of the five state members and two of the three members on each county board.

Democrats argued the bill is far-reaching and should be discussed in more detail in the long session that starts next month. Republican sponsors said ideas in the bill have been discussed in the Legislature for years, and that this is a good time to make the changes because there is no impending election.

The bill would also give McCrory the authority to make a one-time appointment to fill a vacancy on the state Industrial Commission for a six-year term plus the unexpired portion of the commissioner’s term. Normally, a vacancy replacement only fills out the remainder of a term.

On Friday, Rep. Graig Meyer, a Democrat, called the bill “a blatant political move by a party that must be afraid of voters so they hang on to what power they have.”

Protesters disrupted a House debate about the changes to election law, chanting and prompting House Speaker Tim Moore to order police to clear the public gallery. The gallery remained closed to the public Friday afternoon, meaning those in the general public who wanted to watch the House proceedings could not do so, although the session could be heard on the Legislature’s audio feed. Protesters later entered the Senate gallery, which was closed after disruptions there.

North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Robin Hayes sent out a statement Friday saying he supported the right to free speech but condemned the protesters’ actions, calling them a “small mob.” He called on Cooper to denounce their actions.

“However, when a few hundred people decide to shut down the work of the General Assembly simply because they are against the outcome, we have gone from free speech to mob rule,” Hayes said.

As the day wore on, several House Republicans lashed out at the protesters, while Democrats defended them.

Tensions from the acrimonious debates of the week and the protest disruptions seeped onto the House floor throughout the day. Rep. Nelson Dollar, a Republican, disputed the portrayal by opponents and liberal commentators of GOP strategy to reduce the governor’s authority as a “coup.” He repeated the oft-heard response from Republicans that Democrats used every maneuver they could to keep the minority party under their thumb for decades.

“This isn’t mob rule,” Dollar said. “It’s majority rule. . This is no coup. Every member was elected in a constitutional way.”

Rep. Robert Reives, a Democrat, said he was tired of hearing that Republicans were just doing what Democrats did.

“I do not give a rat’s rear what somebody did 20 years ago that called themselves a Democrat,” Reives said. “Nobody tell me it’s OK for me to do that because some guy 20 years ago did that. Parties change, people change.”