The HB2 “trust” canard

This is a case of false equivalence. Republicans say it and reporters buy it, but Democrats should reject it. The canard – a big lie, really – is that the failed HB2 repeal has led to a regrettable lack of trust between Democrats and Republicans in Raleigh. And, by extension, that both sides are equally…

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Coop’s Coup

Last week Republican legislators stripped Governor-elect Roy Cooper of power. This week Cooper showed he still has the power to beat them. Cooper’s strategy was simple and elegant: If the Republicans repealed HB2, he won. If they didn’t, he won bigger. They didn’t. He won. Big time. The Republicans had said – over and over…

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The Christmas Coup D’état

My old boss Governor Hunt should be proud. Forty years after he first took office and 16 years after he last left, he still drives Republicans nuts. Governor-elect Roy Cooper should be proud. He hasn’t even taken office and he’s driving them nuts. All Democrats should grab the Christmas gift the GOP has given us.…

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Helping storm victims – or politicians?

Will next week’s legislative session be about hurricane and fire relief – or political relief? Will the legislature help people who lost loved ones, homes and property – or help Republicans who lost elections? And will Republicans give Roy Cooper a nuclear weapon to use against them in 2017, one that dwarfs HB2? Senate Republicans are…

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Roy’s bully pulpit

Republicans may have supermajorities in the legislature, but Governor Cooper will have a superpower: the biggest microphone in the state. Or, in today’s world, the biggest smartphone. Forty years ago, Stephanie Bass and I were setting up Governor-elect Jim Hunt’s first press office. And we had a theory. We had come out of the capital…

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Governor Roy Cooper

After 16 years of mediocrity, North Carolina will get to see excellence again in the Executive Mansion. I know something about excellent Governors. I worked for Jim Hunt for four terms. Cooper reminds me of Governor Hunt. Not so much the young, ambitious Hunt I and II of 1976-1984. But the seasoned, focused and farsighted…

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Elections 2017?

This ball game may have just changed big-league, as Trump would say. The referees in federal court threw the penalty flag on the Republican legislature for unconstitutional gerrymandering. This means loss of down, possible loss of possession and maybe a replay in just 12 months. No doubt candidates and contributors, still exhausted from this year,…

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Depressed – and deploring Trump

Happy Thanksgiving? Bah, humbug, say a lot of Democrats. Two weeks after a loss they didn’t see coming, they’re still sorting through four of the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining and depression. The fifth and final stage, acceptance, is a ways off. So let’s pause and calmly assess the situation. Here’s some advice…

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Therapy for Democrats

My Facebook page looks like a mass therapy session for Democrats cycling through the various stages of grief. They not only vent their anger at Trump and his angry voters, they also lash out at other Democrats and lecture them on how they should feel and what they should do. No. You should feel how…

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A Republican coup d’état?

Is it possible that Pat McCrory and Republican legislative leaders are so arrogant, corrupt, crooked and power-crazed that they would try to overrule the people’s decision for Governor? Gerrymandering was one thing. Voter-suppression was another. Setting aside the clear outcome of the election, without even a fig leaf of legitimacy, to keep McCrory in office…

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