Coopercare

Some 600,000 North Carolinians will get quality, affordable health care now – thanks to the tenacity of one man: Governor Roy Cooper. When Medicaid expansion took effect last week, some headlines called it “bipartisan.” But Republicans had fought it since Obamacare passed in 2010. They supported expansion only after seven years of patient, persistent prodding,…

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Cooper’s Casino Blast

Governor Roy Cooper measures his words carefully, so his tweet Saturday afternoon was striking: “GOP demand for passage of their backroom casino deal in exchange for a state budget and Medicaid expansion is the most brutally dishonest legislative scheme I’ve seen in my 3+ decades. People are right to be suspicious. Something has a grip…

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Cooper Drops the Mic – Twice

Just before we left for a European cruise (more on that later), Governor Roy Cooper held a boisterous Veto Rally that highlighted Republican legislators’ extreme abortion bill. The day we came back, he declared a “State of Emergency for public education” in a five-minute video that highlighted Republican legislators’ extreme anti-education budget. Supermajority-sotted Republicans called…

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Cooper’s Big Win

State Senator Phil Berger and Speaker Tim Moore took a beaming star turn before the cameras when they announced their agreement on expanding Medicaid. They pointedly excluded Governor Roy Cooper. But make no mistake: This is Cooper’s victory. It is a signal accomplishment of his administration. It means 600,000 North Carolinians will get better health…

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Cooper’s fight echoes Terry Sanford’s

Governor Roy Cooper has picked the same fight over North Carolina’s future that Terry Sanford picked more than 60 years ago. The issue is the same. Then, powerful people in Raleigh wanted the legislature to pass corporate tax cuts. Sanford said that was wrong. He said North Carolina needed to invest in education. This year,…

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High Court, Low Politics

It’s one of the great all-time political ironies. Years of Republican legislators’ efforts to pick and pack North Carolina’s judiciary have led to a (wait for it) 6-1 Democratic majority and one of the most progressive Supreme Courts in our history. No wonder Senate Boss Phil Berger was in such a lather about the courts…

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Marc of Honor

Some OBXers don’t like naming the new Oregon Inlet bridge for Marc Basnight. As a part-time resident and lifelong lover of OBX, I say they’re wrong, DOT is right and no one is more deserving of the naming honor than the long-time Senate leader, OBX advocate and education champion. One objection you hear: Basnight was…

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And the Oscar goes to…

If the State of the State was the Oscars, Governor Cooper won Best Performance, Democratic women legislators won Best Costume and Phil Berger was hands-down Best Villain. Once derided as dry and wooden, Cooper has transformed himself into an animated, engaging speaker. He’s got a bit of Andy Griffith in him. Berger was more like…

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Court Politics

Since 2010 Republicans have worked mightily to engineer a Republican Supreme Court in North Carolina. Now they’re shocked, shocked, that a Democratic governor appointed a Democratic Chief Justice. Elections have consequences, as they say.  A longtime court-watcher (a Democrat) told me that while Paul Newby has been on the Supreme Court longer than Cheri Beasley,…

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Cooper Wins Veto. Again

Governor Cooper has won the veto twice now. This year, he broke the Republican supermajority. More than 20 years ago, he helped pass the veto in the first place. Former Governor Jim Hunt reminded me of how that happened. Before 1995, North Carolina was the only one of the 50 states where the governor didn’t…

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