NC HB2 – Discrimination As A Campaign Strategy
I’m a North Carolinian and I’ve watched the extremists bend governor McCrory to get whatever they want over and over again. Remember when he said he would not sign any restrictions or changes on abortion during his campaign? Then after he got elected he signed some of the strongest abortion restrictions in the country. That promise didn’t even last a year before he broke it. Then he appointed his biggest campaign contributor Art Pope to state budget director. Which is what Pope wanted in return for all the money he gave to the governor’s campaign. Then the governor said he had no plans on following the other republican governors who passed new voting restrictions as a way to disenfranchise minority voters and college age voters. Not too long after that he signed the most draconian voter restrictions in the entire country.
McCrory’s close relationship with Duke Energy came under investigation for possible ethics violations after news broke that the governor allowed Duke energy to come up with their own fine for their environmental violations, and he even used his position to shield the company from lawsuits after they dumped huge amounts of coal ash into rivers permanently destroying the surrounding ecosystem. It’s no surprise that Duke was also a big campaign contributor for the governor.
This man has no business being governor of any state. Thanks to him our state has been one of the slowest states to recover from the financial crisis brought on by the greed and irresponsible banking practices of Wall Street. The bill McCrory just signed that makes discrimination legal here is only the latest catastrophe in a very long line of catastrophes. Although this one should have been the easiest one to avoid because he got plenty of warnings from many informed credible sources. I’m not sure if it’s incompetence, a feeling of obligation to the wealthy donor class, or an inability to stand up to the far right extremists who control both chambers, but either way he has shown the entire country that he has no idea how to fulfill the job duties he was elected to carryout.
Governor McCrory has been a nightmare to the state of North Carolina. But he still has time to make a few things right. First he needs to completely repeal HB2, (the anti-lgbt bill that legalized discrimination in NC). Then completely repeal all the new voting restrictions and get rid of the new abortion regulations he promised not to sign. Stop the privatization of Medicaid and accept the Medicaid expansion. After that he needs to resign or at least promise not to run for reelection. Our state needs a governor with backbone. Someone who puts the well-being of the state’s citizens above their ideology. A governor who is interested in bringing people together and not using our differences to manufacture fear and mistrust. A governor who would never sign discriminatory legislation and use it as a campaign strategy for his reelection. We know that isn’t you Pat, so please step aside and let our state find that kind of leader.