STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR 01-10-19
2019 NC GENERAL ASSEMBLY LONG SESSION BEGINS
[RALEIGH] As of Wednesday, the days of the Republican supermajority in the NC General Assembly are over. Thank to impressive gins during the 2018 midterm elections, while Republicans still have a majority in both the state House and Senate, they no longer have veto-proof majorities, meaning that if they pass legislation Gov. Cooper doesn’t like, he can stop it with a stroke of his pen. Thus, expect Democrats – who’ve been virtually ignored in the legislature since 2011 because they didn’t have the members to truly challenge anything – to now speak with more authority now that they can uphold Gov. Cooper’s vetoes. Senate Pro-tem Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore were re-elected to lead the Republican majority.
FEDERAL SHUTDOWN AFFECTING NORTH CAROLINA FARMERS, HURRICANE RELIEF EFFORTS
[RALEIGH] Thanks to the three-week old partial federal shutdown that has forced 800,000 federal employees to go without a paycheck, hurricane relief money that was supposed to go to farmers from the state who lost property and livestock during storms can’t get anything, state officials say. Lawmakers had earmarked $240 million to go to farmers and fishermen impacted. They were also supposed to get a special form to fill out, but thanks to the shutdown county Farm Services agency offices are closed. Nothing can be down, officials say, until the shutdown ends.
NCNAACP ANNOUNCES 13THANNUAL HK ON J PEOPLE’S ASSEMBLY AND MORAL MARCH
[RALEIGH] The NC NAACP announced Wednesday the kickoff of its 13thannual Historic Thousands on Jones Street/Moral March and People’s Assembly for Saturday, Feb. 9th, in downtown Raleigh. More than 125 NCNAACP local branches, along with members of over 200 coalition partners from other social justice organizations, are expected to bring their concerns for voter empowerment and other issues to the state legislature by the tens of thousands from across state. More details about this year’s gathering are forthcoming.
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GOP COULD STOP NEW 9THDISTRICT ELECTIONS WITH MINORITY VOTE
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
As if the controversial Ninth Congressional District 2018 elections, currently being investigated for alleged absentee ballot fraud, couldn’t get messier, comes this heretofore unrealized factor – one Republican would be needed to join the three-Democrat majority on the new five-member State Board of Elections (SBOE) if it voted to have a new election when it convenes Jan. 31st.
If both SBOE Republican members stick together in that instance, voting against a new Ninth District election, there will be no election.
According to Congressman G. K. Butterfield (D-NC-1), and confirmed by Patrick Gannon, spokesman for the SBOE, the new SBOE board, appointed by Gov. Cooper, will consist of three Democrats and two Republicans. But one of those Republican board members has to vote with the Democratic majority, if the majority decides that based on the evidence, the Ninth Congressional District race between Republican Mark Harris and Democrat Dan McCready was skewed because of alleged illegal handling of hundreds of absentee ballots in both Bladen and Robeson counties, and requires a new election.
The two Republicans to the new SBOE will be recommended by NC Republican Party Chair Robin Hayes, but ultimately appointed by Gov. Cooper. Given how Hayes and the state GOP have dragged their feet in helping with the SBOE investigation, and demanded that Harris be officially certified for the Ninth District seat, it is entirely plausible that both Republican appointees will not vote with the Democratic SBOE majority if they decide to order a new election.
Though the SBOE has not released its findings yet into the controversy, published reports indicate that people connected with a local Bladen County political consultant, MacCrae Dowless, allegedly took unsealed absentee ballots from voters, many of whom were black and elderly, promising to deliver them to the local board of elections during the 2018 midterm elections.
It is illegal in the state of North Carolina for anyone, other than the voter or a close relative, to handle a voter’s absentee ballot. Published reports many of those ballots collected by Dowless’ paid staffers were lost.
Republican Harris defeated Democrat McCready by 905 votes in their contest. There are reports that over 1,000 absentee ballots between Robeson and Bladen County are missing.
As a result, the previous SBOE refused twice to certify Harris’ victory, thus denying him the Ninth District seat on Congress. Harris has now asked a court to intercede and certify the race, saying that as long as his lead stands, then any alleged fraud did not affect the outcome of his race.
The SBOE originally scheduled a hearing on the matter for Dec. 21stwhen it was originally constituted with nine members. That board, scheduled to phase out after being ruled unconstitutional, asked a judge for more time, which was granted, but when it couldn’t meet the new deadline, the court unexpectedly declared the SBOE dissolved, ruling that the new five-member board will convene on Jan. 31st.
That meant the new hearing originally scheduled for Jan. 11thhas been canceled, and no interim SBOE can be appointed because the NC Republican Party has refused to appoint anyone to it.
So now, while SBOE staff continue to probe the matter, there is no board, interim or otherwise, that can render a final judgement on the fate of the Ninth Congressional District election, and whether there can be another one.
Ironically, it is an old state statute that governs the outcome here.
Before the NC General Assembly originally created the nine-member NC Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement before it was recently dissolved, NC statute 163-183.13 mandated that the SBOE may order new elections “upon agreement of at least four of its members….”
Even more ironically, this is the only statutory mandate, ordering a new election, that requires four SBOE member votes. All other matters only require the simple majority, three.
Now, as of Jan. 31st, the five-member SBOE is back in force, and so is the original statute.
Apparently, even the SBOE wasn’t sure, however. SBOE spokesman Gannon had to look the statute up, and then confirm with a staff attorney before confirming Congressman Butterfield’s assertion.
So now, based on how compelling the evidence is that corruption was indeed at hand in Harris’ victory, will determine whether the new SBOE will call for a new election at all.
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BUTTERFIELD ON GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN:
WE SHOULD ALL CARE
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Now that Democrats have regained the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives for the 116thCongress, NC Rep. G. K. Butterfield (D-NC-1) says, they have to study how they first lost it back in 2010, and make sure that that doesn’t happen again.
One way is to make sure that they address the pressing needs of the American people, and right now, ending the three-week long (partial) government shutdown and getting 800,000 federal workers back on the job”…has to be number one on our agenda.”
380,000 are considered “essential” federal workers, required to work without a pay check, while 420,000 have been furloughed to remain home, also without a paycheck on January 11th.
Many of the workers are black. Approximately 7,000 federal workers in North Carolina are affected.
“We should all care,” insisted Cong. Butterfield, who is beginning his eigth term in Congress. “These are people with families. They are breadwinners, they have obligations,” he said, noting that beyond the workers, people needing food stamps are now having to go without as a result.
With Pres. Trump insisting that he get $5.7 billion to build a steel wall at the U.S. border with Mexico to keep immigrant families out, and Congressional Democrats, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowing that they will not appropriate any money for a wall, but only $1.6 billion for needed technological upgrades to maintain border security, divided government in Washington is now the new reality.
“With the Senate in Republican control, and the House in Democratic control, and at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue - the man is right-wing Republican who is out of step with the mainstream of American citizens, we have to deal with the lineup as we have it,” Rep. Butterfield says.
“The question is, “Do we surrender to Pres. Trump? And the answer is “No,” Butterfield maintains. Thus far negotiations with Trump’s senior staff have gotten nowhere, with the White House maintaining that without the wall, the stalemate good go on for weeks, months or years. There are reports that Congressional Republicans, fearing voter backlash, are beginning to buckle under the pressure.
“It is not who we are as a country,” Butterfield maintained. “We do not erect walls, especially to stop people fleeing from tyranny and corruption.”
Beyond solving the shutdown, Rep. Butterfield is happy about the fact that for the first time in its history, the Congressional Black Caucus – of which he is a former chairman - has 55 members, giving the panel more power and leverage in the new Congress than ever before.
“We’re essentially 22 percent of the House Democratic Caucus, …and we plan to use our leverage,” Butterfield said, adding that all of the new young members are bright and energetic.
Butterfield says the new CBC now has a “massive” agenda, with top priorities being saving the Affordable Act from further erosion (a Texas judge found it “unconstitutional” just before Christmas), and pushing for renewal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which the former Republican majority put on the backburner during its eight-year dominance.
He also is hopeful that Congress and Trump can see eye-to-eye on funding much needed trillion dollar infrastructure across the country to fix crumbling roads and bridges. Butterfield says the black community benefits from such funding with needed jobs and infrastructure improvements where they live.
“Let’s hope there will be some bipartisanship,” Rep. Butterfield said when reminded that the Republican-majority Senate could stop much of what the Democratic controlled House passes.
“As the popularity of Donald Trump goes down, and the Republicans see that Trump is bringing down their brand and viability, I think that you will see Republicans disregarding Pres. Trump, and dealing directly with Democrats in passing legislation.”
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