Why hello there.
Fancy meeting you here.
Campaign Action
I’m guessing that you, like me, are looking for something … special.
Something different.
Outside the mainstream.
Something without Democratic presidential primary debate coverage.
Yeah, I thought you’d like that.
But things could take a little bit of a … a turn from here.
Because I’m here with the action.
The statehouse action.
And this week, like so many others, the action is … unsexy.
Something something 9/11: Wednesday of this week marked the 18th anniversary of one of the greatest tragedies ever to befall our nation.
For many, that morning was a time of quiet reflection.
For North Carolina Republicans, that morning was an opportunity to give Democrats the proverbial middle finger—and undermine the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of residents of the Tar Heel State while they were at it.
Allow me to set the scene for you. Maybe lower the lighting. Put on some music.
Ahem.
- Way back on June 27, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the state budget passed and sent to him by the GOP-controlled state House and Senate.
- Cooper rejected this $24 billion budget for several reasons, chief among them:
- It failed to include the governor’s proposal of expanding Medicaid access to over 500,000 North Carolinians, and
- It provided insufficient pay raises to the state’s teachers.
- Cooper returned a compromise budget proposal to the legislature.
- Instead of considering the compromise, Republicans turned right around and scheduled a vote to override the governor’s veto of their own lousy budget.
- But for the first time since Cooper’s election in 2016, Republicans no longer have veto-proof supermajorities in either legislative chamber.
- Despite the GOP’s extreme gerrymandering, Democrats grew their ranks sufficiently in 2018 to uphold the governor’s vetoes.
- On July 9, North Carolina House Republicans placed a veto override vote on the legislative calendar—giving them the power to bring it up pretty much whenever the mood struck them.
- … which is to say, whenever enough Democrats were absent to give Republicans the required three-fifths votes of members actually present in the chamber they need to override that veto.
- Democrats fought for months to ensure they’d always have the necessary number of caucus members present whenever the House was in session to sustain this veto (in the full 120-member chamber, Republicans need seven Democrats to not vote against them to override a veto).
- This meant Democrats missed work (the North Carolina legislature is part-time) and life events.
- One member reportedly even curtailed her recovery from cancer treatment to be present as often as necessary, because Democrats just couldn’t be sure when Republicans might decide to hold that veto override vote.
All this brings us to Wednesday.
The anniversary of 9/11.
- Session gaveled in.
- Republicans had told Democrats no votes would be held that day until 1 PM.
- Republicans, naturally, claim otherwise, but the available evidence indicates that they did, indeed, assure Democrats that the morning session was—as was typical—a formality, held for procedural reasons, and would be vote-free.
- About five minutes after gaveling in, Republicans had apparently completed their head count of Democrats present and realized they had (barely) sufficient numbers for a quorum (almost half of House members were absent) and enough Republicans to override that pesky veto.
- And so, despite the fact that Republicans had:
- Promised Democrats no votes would be held that morning
- Gave no effective warning that the veto override vote would actually be held that day (remember, Republicans had technically kept it on the calendar every single day since July 9), and
- At least one Democratic lawmaker was actually attending a 9/11 memorial ceremony,
- the GOP called the vote and overrode the governor’s veto of the budget—taking a crucial step toward denying half a million North Carolinians access to health insurance coverage via Medicaid expansion.
- Democrats, of course, protested strenuously, both during and after the vote.
- Republican House leaders reportedly cut off their microphones.
- One especially odious Republican—who happens to be the guy who actually moved to call for that veto override vote—wrote to a local reporter that he was “appalled that anyone in our country would stop going about their normal business on this day,” further averring that “when we stop being a beacon of freedom, hope and democracy, then the terrorists win.”
Yes, okay, so attending a 9/11 observance is letting the terrorists win. Got it.
Anyway, North Carolina Republicans know all about not being “beacons of democracy.”
Was this move by the Tar Heel GOP shitty as hell? Yes.
Was it legal? Also likely yes.
- But while Democrats lost a major battle in this budget fight, the war is not yet over.
- Republicans in the state Senate also have to override the governor’s veto for their crappy budget to become law.
- But Democrats have basically no margin for error there.
- The GOP only has to peel off one Democrat to win that vote.
- However, internal and public accounts indicate that, as of this writing, the Senate Democratic caucus is united in the face of House Republicans’ Wednesday antics and plans to stand together against overriding the governor’s budget veto.
Those of you who have been reading this for the past couple of years are probably not super shocked by Republicans’ general disregard for decency and democratic principles.
I mean, even if you’re new … voters stripped the GOP of their veto-proof majorities—they had to resort to outright trickery to override the governor.
And even if you haven’t been tracking North Carolina GOP lawmakers’ extensive history of awfulness ...
(I mean, bathroom bill, anyone? One of the worst voter-suppression measures in the country? Blatant, repeated, and unrepentant attempts to usurp their Democratic governor’s power?)
you have only to refer to last week’s statehouse update for a refresher on how these Republicans gerrymandered themselves into artificial majorities to hold on to power (remember, Republicans kept their majority in the House in 2018 despite winning fewer votes statewide)—a feat rejected by a state court just in time for the very last election before the 2021 round of redistricting.
- And that’s why we cannot expect shame from North Carolina Republicans.
- They will continue to pull stunts like this—and worse, if they can.
- Their only limit (courts notwithstanding) is their own imaginations.
Remember, a state court has tasked the GOP with producing new, fairer House and Senate maps.
- And fairer maps could mean that Democrats oust Republicans from their House and/or Senate majorities in 2020.
- And a Democratic majority in even one chamber means that Republicans wouldn’t have full control over the next round of redistricting.
- And with a Democratic-majority state Supreme Court that won’t support extreme GOP gerrymanders, Republicans might have to actually run on fair maps at the state and congressional levels over the course of the next decade.
- … which is, apparently, nightmare fuel for the GOP.
Speaking of Republicans fearing electoral fairness …
Jet Fuel Can’t Melt Ballot Boxes: A while back, I wrote in this space about a deeply anti-democratic bill Republicans were pushing in Tennessee.
- This garbage measure—which of course was passed by the GOP-controlled legislature and signed into law by the GOP governor—established a creative new way to discourage voting: specifically, by discouraging the very act of registering folks to vote.
- The new law was set to take effect in October and would fine community groups conducting voter registration drives that turn in incomplete applications.
- The fine, a civil penalty, would be levied against groups who file 100 or more so-called “deficient” voter registration forms, starting at $150 in each county where a “violation” occurred.
- A person or group filing more than 500 incomplete applications could be fined up to $10,000.
- According to a group opposing the legislation, this measure would create the “most aggressive” voter registration penalties in the country.
- Tennessee already ranks 44th out of 50 states in terms of its voter registration rate, and it has one of the lowest voter turnout rates in the country, so suppressing registration even further seems pretty bonkers.
- That is until you remember that Tennessee is run by Republicans and that Republicans really can’t stand things like “expanding the electorate” and “more people voting.”
- Well, there’s some good news here: A federal judge has temporarily blocked this obvious voter suppression measure.
- The judge also rejected a motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed by several voting rights groups challenging the new law.
Canceling the Recallpocalypse: I mentioned earlier this summer (YES, IT’S STILL SUMMER) that recalls had become all the rage in blue states as Republicans attempt to trigger low-turnout do-over elections for seats/offices they can’t seem to win the old-fashioned way.
Well, it turns out the Colorado GOP is just as good at recall elections these days as it is at getting members of its own party elected.
Which is to say, not good. Not good at all.
- Colorado Republicans announced this week that they’re giving up on attempts to recall state Sens. Pete Lee and Brittany Petterson.
- These are GOP fails two and three in the Colorado recall quest this year.
- One GOP recall effort remains ongoing in the Centennial State, however.
- The effort to oust Democratic Senate President Leroy Garcia has until Oct. 18 to gather 13,506 signatures. Stay tuned!
Welp, that’s all for this week. Everyone’s all focused on and/or exhausted from that three-hour Democratic primary debate anyway, so why don’t you just go ahead and call it a week? Knock off early, get a head start on your leisure time, whatever. Just print this out and show it to your boss, I’m sure she won’t mind.