Moore's Budget Veto Ambush
On the 18
th
anniversary of 9/11, Legislative Leadership held a surprise ambush vote, sidestepping democracy to override Governor Roy Cooper’s budget veto while the Governor attended a 9/11 memorial ceremony.
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Let me be very clear, the purpose of this underhanded trick is to deny healthcare for half a million North Carolinians. It is to prevent our teachers from earning the pay they deserve. It withholds raises from 73% of our state employees, and it funnels billions of our tax dollars into a slush fund instead of a forward-thinking, voter-approved bond.
How it Happened
After session adjourned on September 10 at nearly 5 p.m., Minority Leader Darren Jackson directly asked our House Rules Chairman David Lewis, who was presiding over the House at the time, if there would be votes at 8:30 a.m. the next day.
Chairman Lewis told Leader Jackson that there would be no votes.
The full session would be held later in the day to commemorate first responders and those lost on 9/11. Any votes for the day would be held then. Chairman Lewis reiterated that there would be no votes to WRAL reporter Laura Leslie via text message at 6:53 p.m.
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Text message from Chairman Lewis to WRAL's Laura Leslie at 6:53 p.m. on September 10.
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Based on his discussion with Chairman Lewis, Leader Jackson informed his members by email that there would be no votes at the 8:30 a.m. session. The voting session would be at 1:30 p.m.
Speaker Moore used this as a veil to hold a surprise ambush vote,
allowing them to override the state budget while most of the Legislative Democrats were absent at 8:30 a.m.
Unbelievably, the Republicans got text messages from their whips to be in their seats because they thought Democrats were up to something, so they showed up.
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Email from Todd Barlow, Leader Jackson's Legislative Council, informing Democratic Members of the day's schedule.
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Speaker of the House Tim Moore told reporters that he had been waiting for the right combination of representatives on the floor to hold the veto override.
In my opinion,
the right combination of representatives to hold the vote means every elected representative, duly notified.
We are an elected representative body, and every single vote should count. Sadly, my colleagues across the aisle decided to break that trust and push through their agenda with lies and trickery.
They could have negotiated in good faith
any time for the past two months.
We have all been present in full force, but Speaker Moore refused to hold a vote he could not legitimately win. Instead, he would rather throw democracy aside to get his way through deception. Every Democrat was in their seat at 1:30 when they understood the day’s voting session was to be held.
This is the lowest point I’ve seen this great institution sink since my first election in 2002.
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Representative Deb Butler, surrounded by a handful of other Democrats protecting her as she speaks truth to power. Click to experience the pandemonium.
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Where do we go from here?
The veto override must still pass through the NC Senate to pass into law.
Senate Democrats have announced that they are committed to holding fast,
and they have assured the public that they are on the lookout for any similar tricks from Senate leadership.
In spite of Speaker Moore’s embarrassing actions,
I will continue to work hard for the people of Western North Carolina.
With the Senate Democrats holding strong, we are solidly committed to holding good-faith negotiations for a budget that will work for all North Carolinians.
That’s our priority, and in spite of this week's shenanigans, it has not changed at all. In fact, we are more determined than ever.
This coming week
in the House, my hope is that Speaker Moore will keep his word and allow Carolina Cares, the House Republican version of Medicaid Expansion, to come to the floor for a vote so it can pass over to the Senate. Additionally, I hope that the Fiber NC Act for better broadband access will be allowed to come to the floor for a vote. This bill has 70 co-sponsors, including myself, so if it comes up for a vote we can pass on over to the Senate as well.
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I joined a crowd of concerned citizens from across the state, including Haywood County's own Chelsea Hoglen with Down Home NC, for a protest the morning after this despicable vote. Thank you Chelsea and everyone who traveled hours to make sure your voice was heard!
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I enjoyed the opportunity to meet with fellow advocates for the fifth annual Recovery Rally on Saturday at Lake Junaluska. September is National Recovery Month, and this show of support is so incredibly important for those suffering from addiction, as well as their families and friends.
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I joined Dr. Donald Buckner, his daughter Rachel Furlough, and his granddaughter Graylynn at the Recovery Rally this past Saturday at Lake Junaluska. Dr. Buckner is the CEO of Meridian, a great health program focused on the path to recovery.
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I was proud to join good friends for the North Shore Reunion at the Deep Creek Picnic Shelter this past weekend. It is always great to see so many generations gather together to celebrate their mountain heritage!
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It was great to join Verna Kirkland with a four generation showing of her beautiful family!
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Setting Aside the "Tim Moore Side Show"
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Due to the egregious gerrymandering cited above, the court tasked the General Assembly with drawing new House District Maps for 28 of 100 counties and new Senate District Maps for 21 of 100 counties.
As a part of the Redistricting Committee I have worked all week in good faith to try and draw new maps in a fair, balanced, and open process. Unfortunately, now it appears that our efforts were fundamentally flawed from the start.
It seems that, when it comes to working with the leadership of this Republican Majority, if they can take partisan advantage they will. They just can't help themselves.
In a democracy, the people should choose who they elect to office. Elected officials should not hand-pick their voters.
In spite of the absence of a public comment period, the House pressed a vote through, largely along partisan lines, to approve the remedial maps we were tasked with drawing. The vote took place even though we knew that at least one, possibly two, of the 14 county clusters we were tasked with re-drawing were still verifiably gerrymandered. Additionally, we caught wind of suspicious district lines in the Cumberland County grouping.
I voted against these new maps.
Our suspicions were correct.
On Saturday, Princeton University's Gerrymandering Project found that our new maps still contain between 1/2 and 2/3 of the partisan skew as the original maps thrown out by the court.
This is incredibly concerning,
and it just goes to show that the true answer to our gerrymandering problem is an independent, non-partisan redistricting commission.
The best way to guarantee that legislators won't manipulate districts is to ensure that legislators don't have a role in drawing their own districts.
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The new maps still have to pass one final review from the court, which has appointed Stanford Law Professor Nathaniel Persily to act as the referee. If Professor Persily and the three-judge panel that oversaw this case determine that the maps are still illegally gerrymandered,
they will step in and re-draw the maps themselves.
We will know soon how the end of this process will play out. Arguably, the NC House just passed maps that are more fair than they were in 2018,
but this is not a very high bar.
They can still be more fair, and I hope that next week I can report to all of you that we have truly achieved a non-partisan, fair, balanced re-draw that will ensure that everyone's vote has equal value.
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P.S. check out our legislative web page at
www.joesamqueennc.com
. You can find all of my previous newsletters and more!
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