Politics in the Good Old North State

Legislative News by Nelda Holder –

Decisions are still being made that may have strange effects as they come to fruition.

Take, for example, the NC Court of Appeals ruling on the transfer of election administration to the state auditor’s office. Frankly, I’ve scratched my head a number of times over this one, somehow failing to see the connection between the state auditor’s office and our elections.

A nice little reminder was presented mid-September in the WUNC News: “NC Court of Appeals rules against Stein in elections board lawsuit” by Colin Campbell.

This goes back to Gov. Josh Stein’s challenge to a 2024 law that removed the power of the governor of the state to appoint the state’s election board—something that had historically been under the purview of the governor.

The court panel disagreed with Stein’s position 2-to-1, holding that the governor may have been stripped entirely of control, but the General Assembly’s reassignment of duties to another Council of State member did not usurp the executive branch from performing its core constitutional duties.

Judge John Arrowood (a Democrat), the WUNC article elaborates, wrote an eight-page dissent, noting that “Our Constitution charges the governor [emphasis added] with the duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. By entirely removing from the governor’s control the administration and appointment power of the State Board and County Boards, SB 382 prevents the exercise of power expressly reserved to the governor by the constitution.”

A weighty argument. Stein has announced that he plans to appeal the ruling to the NC Supreme Court (which also has a Republican majority).

And There’s a P.S.

It’s easy not to pay much attention to such maneuverings as are involved in the above power shifting. So I’ll add something I found of interest from ProPublica, which bills itself as “Investigative Journalism in the Public Interest.”

It’s a riff on partisan power grabs in this state, in an article entitled “Inside the North Carolina GOP’s Decade-Long Push to Seize Power from the State’s Democratic Governors” (with a cute little computer animation of Gov. Josh Stein shrinking).

The article points out that Stein’s gubernatorial win in 2024 was won by almost 15 percentage points, adding: “His honeymoon didn’t last long, however.” This refers to legislation passed two weeks after his victory by the Republican supermajority in the General Assembly. Portrayed as “a disaster relief measure for victims of Hurricane Helene,” the legislation took aim at stripping powers from the state’s governor, “taking away authority over everything from the highway patrol to the utilities commission.” Remember that?

“Most importantly,” the article goes on, “the bill eliminated the governor’s control over appointments to the state elections board, which sets voting rules and settles disputes in the swing state’s often close elections. It was the culmination, according to ProPublica, of a nearly a decade of Republican-backed laws “shrinking the powers of North Carolina’s chief executive.”

If you’re a political junkie, you’ve likely read this article. If you’re simply a NC citizen with some curiosity about the power games of the state, let me highly recommend it. Maybe because I’m just a sucker for proclamations like this one:

Stein, as well as all of North Carolina’s living former governors—Republicans and Democrats alike—have blasted the legislature’s erosion of gubernatorial authority as a violation of the state’s constitutionally enshrined separation of powers.

“You should not be able to make the laws and then control who enforces them—just ask any fourth grader about the three branches of government, Stein said in a statement to Pro Publica. Lawmakers’ actions “throw the will of the voters into the trash can,” he added.

Think about that a bit. Please. If you haven’t already voted, maybe ask your “intended” where they stand on “the will of the voters.”

But unfortunately there’s more to think/ask about. There is the question of “writing laws that move traditional gubernatorial powers to elected executive branch officials who are Republicans. Since 2023, when the GOP won majorities on the state’s appellate courts, judges have increasingly rejected lawsuits aimed at blocking such legislation.

A Conclusion

Nope. We can’t get by with just “party politics.” We must support values over party. We have individual responsibilities in this game. In this upcoming election:

• Support the idea of a fair and principled government under the control of fair and principled individuals.
• Ask candidates how they plan to strive for consensus that promotes the best for our state and its people.
• Vote for individuals who indicate a willingness to support wide-winged cooperation on behalf of the state and its people and noble environment—not its political colors. And
• Include in the definition of “state” the vast resources we should protect as communal treasure—what the original capitalist Adam Smith called “the commons”: water, air, our forests and wild places, wildlife, principled decisions, care for each other, pride in our sympathy and generosity, support for education and ethics, and an ethical approach to building our future.

Now go VOTE!

Nelda Holder is the author of The Thirteenth Juror – Ferguson: A Personal Look at the Grand Jury Transcripts.