A Cautious Man and a Joint Committee
For years, whenever Roy Cooper passed on running for Governor, people would smile and say, Ole Roy — he’s just naturally cautious.
The other day when Governor Cooper announced he’d granted the gas pipeline companies the state permit they needed the way he explained it sounded fine: We’d get a pipeline. Plus the companies would pay us $58 million.
But it turned out he’d thrown caution out the window.
Sparks flew.
Because how the Governor’s deal looked to Phil Berger was simple: It looked like ‘pay to play.’ Like the pipeline companies had promised to put $58 million in a fund for the Governor to spend one day and, the next day, the Governor’d given them the permit they wanted. Berger branded the Governor’s $58 million ‘Mitigation Fund’ a slush fund, and, even before the companies paid the first nickel, passed a bill that took the money and gave it to the public schools.
The Civitas Institute then filed an ethics complaint against Cooper. And State Senator Bill Rabon demanded a joint committee be set up, with the power to subpoena documents and call witnesses, to investigate the Governor’s deal with the pipeline companies. And no one will be surprised if Phil Berger and Tim Moore say yes.
Maybe it never occurred to Governor Cooper that Republicans in the General Assembly would see his pipeline deal as pay to play. Or maybe it was all just bad timing. Or coincidence. But the way Republicans see it temptation got the better of a cautious man.
A Cautious Man and a Joint Committee
For years, whenever Roy Cooper passed on running for Governor, people would smile and say, Ole Roy — he’s just naturally cautious.
The other day when Governor Cooper announced he’d granted the gas pipeline companies the state permit they needed the way he explained it sounded fine: We’d get a pipeline. Plus the companies would pay us $58 million.
But it turned out he’d thrown caution out the window.
Sparks flew.
Because how the Governor’s deal looked to Phil Berger was simple: It looked like ‘pay to play.’ Like the pipeline companies had promised to put $58 million in a fund for the Governor to spend one day and, the next day, the Governor’d given them the permit they wanted. Berger branded the Governor’s $58 million ‘Mitigation Fund’ a slush fund, and, even before the companies paid the first nickel, passed a bill that took the money and gave it to the public schools.
The Civitas Institute then filed an ethics complaint against Cooper. And State Senator Bill Rabon demanded a joint committee be set up, with the power to subpoena documents and call witnesses, to investigate the Governor’s deal with the pipeline companies. And no one will be surprised if Phil Berger and Tim Moore say yes.
Maybe it never occurred to Governor Cooper that Republicans in the General Assembly would see his pipeline deal as pay to play. Or maybe it was all just bad timing. Or coincidence. But the way Republicans see it temptation got the better of a cautious man.