Your Public Square Disclosing what is True, what is Real
NC General Assembly Republicans Seize the Opportunity to Make Good on the Promises Made in the State Budget
But then, as Kidwell recalls, the door opened and 4 more Republicans walked in and 6 more Democrats. That brought the total to 55 Republicans and 15 Democrats, which totaled 70 representatives and a quorum.
At this point, Republicans consulted House Speaker Moore about taking the override vote. The truth is that Republicans had always been looking for an opportunity to pass an override vote when Democrats let their guard down. That opportunity just happened to present itself on September 11th, while Democrats were off doing things they either weren't permitted to do or otherwise shouldn't have been doing.
Now, if Democrats were truly enraged and concerned about the override vote, there were two possible courses of action that could have been taken:
(1) The Democrats could have left the house floor, except for 1 member. This way, there would have only been 56 representatives and certainly not enough to conduct official business. The lone Democrat would be left to challenge any vote that the speaker attempted to take ("No Quorum !!")
(2) Democrats could have coordinated their action and each rose to debate the bill ("I rise to debate the bill"), being allowed 5 minutes each. They could have continued with stalling tactics, all the while desperately attempting to wrangle more fellow Democrats to the house chambers. [As it turns out, as explained later, there were many Democrats in the building, in a session violating a court order, and they knew they could easily be reached and could easily be rounded up].
Instead, as Pittman explains, Rep. Deb Butler chose to begin a very disorderly temper tantrum at acting Speaker David Lewis, contrary to all rules of decency and decorum. Other Democrats went around the chamber, turning on microphone lights of numerous other members who were not there, videoing Rep. Butler, and even joining in with her childish display of yelling at Speaker Lewis so that we could not hear all that he was saying in the attempt to restore order. In the midst of her shouting, Rep. Butler revealed that many of the Democrats (those on the House Redistricting Committee, as it turned out) were together "downstairs right now trying to redraw partisan heavy maps." So, in effect, Rep. Butler was trying to say that it was unfair of Republicans to take a perfectly legal vote, which was within the rules, while her Democrat colleagues were downstairs violating the court order about redistricting, which clearly prohibited anyone from drawing maps anywhere but on the committee floor, in public view, where that committee was dealing with that matter. In all the commotion, only nine of the Democrats voted, NO of course, and the other six were too busy throwing a hissy fit to vote. Those six were allowed to be recorded as voting "Nay" later on, during the afternoon session.
Rep. Pittman commented similarly on Rep. Butler's behavior and accusations: "So I guess it was unfair for us to take a vote while they were breaking the law."
Despite the video coverage of Rep. Butler screaming and admitting that Democrats, in fact, were in a meeting in direct violation of the court order, Democrats had the audacity to try backtracking and to try to cover up her admission. They began spreading the story that house Democrats had been at a 9/11 memorial service, and how dare the Speaker hold a vote when it should have been observing the date out of respect. As it was later revealed, only one Democrat member was actually at a memorial service at that time. To make matters worse for Democrats, House Minority Leader Jackson had confirmed in a press conference that in fact Democrats had been in a redistricting committee meeting planned that morning.
The failure of Democrats to show up at the 8:30 am session was likely the fault of House Minority Leader Darren Jackson. Misinterpreting what Speaker Lewis said the day before about delaying the votes of S.118 and S.429, Rep. Jackson told fellow Democrats that they didn't need to be at the 8:30 am session. Rep. Jackson later admitted this to Rep. Larry Pittman. He said he felt the debacle was really his fault.
So, as Rep. Pittman explains it: "There you have it. The Democrats have no one to blame but themselves for losing a 55-15 vote to override the Governor's veto of the budget. Furthermore, there were a number of them who wanted to vote with us who were not there."
The truth is that there were likely several Democrats who would have voted with Republicans to override Governor Cooper's veto. After all, pay increases are a great way to earn loyalty from their voters. But as we all know, Cooper has been playing hardball with his Democratic legislators, much the same way that President Obama did in DC with his Affordable Care Act. Cooper had been putting a lot of pressure on them to vote as he demanded. We saw that with the Born Alive Survivors of Abortion Protection Act, where he coerced Democrats to vote against the bill and to uphold his veto. To pressure Democrats into voting his way, Cooper would invite them to the Governor's Mansion and introduce them to individuals who he said he would endorse and support as their primary opponents. It is not a far stretch to imagine that several Democrats are secretly happy that the over-ride vote went down as it did. They could claim that it was all a mistake (blaming Rep. Jackson), avoid making a very unpopular vote, and still take comfort in the fact that their districts will get the benefits coming to them in the budget.
In the end, Republicans stayed the course, kept their eye on the prize, remained committed to their promises, and were able to override the despicable veto of an outstanding state budget.
House Republicans, we thank you. You make us proud and remind us that we did the right thing by voting for you and sending you to Raleigh to represent us and our values.
References:
Dennis Van Berwyn - An Overview of the Override Vote
House Bill 966 (HB966), the "2019 Appropriations Act," Lexology - https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=d10fff97-5727-492d-969c-5afe1ade9d87
House Bill 966 (HB966), the "2019 Appropriations Act," ncleg.net - https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2019/h966 and https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2019/Bills/House/PDF/H966v7.pdf (bill text)
"Conflicts Between Gov. Roy Cooper and the General Assembly of North Carolina," Ballotpedia - https://ballotpedia.org/Conflicts_between_Gov._Roy_Cooper_and_the_General_Assembly_of_North_Carolina
NC General Assembly website - www.ncleg.net
North Carolina State House, Ballotpedia - https://ballotpedia.org/North_Carolina_House_of_Representatives
North Carolina State Senate, Ballotpedia - https://ballotpedia.org/North_Carolina_State_Senate
APPENDIX I: (The NC General Assembly)
A. Make-Up of the General Assembly
The North Carolina House of Representatives is comprised of 120 members. Currently, Republicans hold a majority, 65-55. They lost 10 seats in the 2018 election. In the 2017-2018 session, Republicans held a supermajority - 75-45. The House Speaker is Rep. Tim Moore.
The North Carolina Senate is comprised of 50 members, of which Republicans hold the majority - 29-21. They lost 6 seats in the 2018 election. The Senate Pro Tempore is Senator Phil Berger.
The Governor has the power to veto any bill that comes to his deck for a signature. If the legislature feels strongly about the bill and is strongly opposed to the reasons the Governor provided to support his veto, both chambers can vote to override the veto. A vote equivalent to 3/5 of those in attendance in the chamber at the time of the vote (provided a quorum is met) is required by each chamber to override the veto.
If the General Assembly does not pass a budget or if the budget bill is vetoed by the Governor (without an override), there is a provision in North Carolina law that allows the previous budget to remain on in place until a new budget is approved. In other words, this stop-gap measure allows the state to run with a budget at all times. This "autopilot" law was enacted in 2016, inspired by a lengthy 2015 standoff between legislative leaders and then-Gov. Pat McCrory. The law creates an automatic continuation budget (ie, the prior budget remains in effect) such that spending remains at current levels.
B, Background
With the 2018 election, Republicans lost their supermajority in the chamber. Democrats gained 10 seats, reducing the Republican majority from 75-45 to 65-55. [A Republican supermajority simply means that as long as Republicans vote strictly along party lines, they are always able to automatically over-ride a Governor's veto]. The requirement for over-riding a veto is that a 3/5 majority in each chamber is needed.
North Carolina has a divided government, meaning that government power is shared, by a separation of powers and a system of checks and balances, between the Governor and the executive Council of State (executive branch), the General Assembly (legislative branch), and the state court system (the judicial branch). Sometimes a political party is able to hold a state government "trifecta" which means that the party controls the Governor's office and a majority of the Council of State positions, a majority in the state house, and a majority in the state senate. Currently, no political party holds a state government trifecta. (The Republican Party held such a trifecta with the 2016 election - Pat McCrory as a Republican Governor and Republican majorities in both chambers of the legislature). As of September 17, 2019, there are 22 Republican trifectas, 14 Democratic trifectas, and 14 divided governments where neither party holds trifecta control. In the 2018 election, Democrats had a net gain of six trifectas and Republicans had a net loss of four trifectas. Prior to that election, there were 26 Republican trifectas (of which North Carolina was one), eight Democratic trifectas, and 16 divided governments.
APPENDIX II: (Promises to NC Teachers)
(1) The pay increases included in the 2019-2021 state budget (HB966) represent the 8th and 9th consecutive pay increases to public school teachers by REPUBLICANS in the NC General Assembly.
(2) When Democrats held control of the NC General Assembly, teachers hardly ever received a pay increase. Even for five years prior to the historic political shake-up in the NC GA (when Republicans gained the majority), teachers never saw a pay increase; their pay remained stagnant.
(3) The average teacher pay in 2017-2018, thanks to the Republicans, was $53,975.00.
(4) Since Republicans have held the majority in the General Assembly, North Carolina has enjoyed the third fastest-rising teacher pay in the country.
(5) North Carolina boasts the second highest teacher pay in the southeast.
(6) The average teacher pay increase since 2013 has been $8,600. The average percentage increase of teacher pay since 2013 has been 19%.
(6) The percentage pay increase for teachers that Governor Cooper vetoed on June 28 (HB966) was 9.5%.
APPENDIX III: (NC Council of State)
There are 10 members of the NC Council of State, 6 of whom are Republican and 4 of whom are Democratic:
Governor - Roy Cooper (Dem)
Lieutenant Governor - Dan Forest (Rep)
Secretary of State - Elaine Marshall (Dem)
Auditor - Beth Wood (Dem)
Treasurer - Dale Folwell (Rep)
Superintendent of Public Instruction - Mark Johnson (Rep)
Attorney General - Josh Stein (Dem)
Commissioner of Agriculture - Steve Troxler (Rep)
Commissioner of Labor - Cherie Berry (Rep)
Commissioner of Insurance - Mike Causey (Rep)
North Carolina retains a unique system of divided executive power. The term "Council of State" harks back to a colonial era provincial council, which was essentially the upper house of the legislature, and then to a Council of State during the American Revolution, which was appointed by the legislature and curtailed the Governor's power. The North Carolina Constitution of 1776 required "that the Senate and House of Commons, jointly, at their first meeting after each annual election, shall by ballot elect seven persons to be a Council of State for one year, who shall advise the Governor in the execution of his office." When a new Constitution was adopted in 1868, the name and some of the powers or duties of the Council were retained, but instead of being appointed by the legislature, the members were now executive officers who were elected statewide, serving ex officio on the Council. At first, only the Secretary of State, State Auditor, State Treasurer, Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Superintendent of Public Works (an office which only existed briefly and was abolished in 1873) were on the Council of State. The revised state Constitution of 1971, which is currently in effect, provides that the Council of State consists of all the officers established by Article III of the document.
Go Back
At this point, Republicans consulted House Speaker Moore about taking the override vote. The truth is that Republicans had always been looking for an opportunity to pass an override vote when Democrats let their guard down. That opportunity just happened to present itself on September 11th, while Democrats were off doing things they either weren't permitted to do or otherwise shouldn't have been doing.
Now, if Democrats were truly enraged and concerned about the override vote, there were two possible courses of action that could have been taken:
(1) The Democrats could have left the house floor, except for 1 member. This way, there would have only been 56 representatives and certainly not enough to conduct official business. The lone Democrat would be left to challenge any vote that the speaker attempted to take ("No Quorum !!")
(2) Democrats could have coordinated their action and each rose to debate the bill ("I rise to debate the bill"), being allowed 5 minutes each. They could have continued with stalling tactics, all the while desperately attempting to wrangle more fellow Democrats to the house chambers. [As it turns out, as explained later, there were many Democrats in the building, in a session violating a court order, and they knew they could easily be reached and could easily be rounded up].
Instead, as Pittman explains, Rep. Deb Butler chose to begin a very disorderly temper tantrum at acting Speaker David Lewis, contrary to all rules of decency and decorum. Other Democrats went around the chamber, turning on microphone lights of numerous other members who were not there, videoing Rep. Butler, and even joining in with her childish display of yelling at Speaker Lewis so that we could not hear all that he was saying in the attempt to restore order. In the midst of her shouting, Rep. Butler revealed that many of the Democrats (those on the House Redistricting Committee, as it turned out) were together "downstairs right now trying to redraw partisan heavy maps." So, in effect, Rep. Butler was trying to say that it was unfair of Republicans to take a perfectly legal vote, which was within the rules, while her Democrat colleagues were downstairs violating the court order about redistricting, which clearly prohibited anyone from drawing maps anywhere but on the committee floor, in public view, where that committee was dealing with that matter. In all the commotion, only nine of the Democrats voted, NO of course, and the other six were too busy throwing a hissy fit to vote. Those six were allowed to be recorded as voting "Nay" later on, during the afternoon session.
Rep. Pittman commented similarly on Rep. Butler's behavior and accusations: "So I guess it was unfair for us to take a vote while they were breaking the law."
Despite the video coverage of Rep. Butler screaming and admitting that Democrats, in fact, were in a meeting in direct violation of the court order, Democrats had the audacity to try backtracking and to try to cover up her admission. They began spreading the story that house Democrats had been at a 9/11 memorial service, and how dare the Speaker hold a vote when it should have been observing the date out of respect. As it was later revealed, only one Democrat member was actually at a memorial service at that time. To make matters worse for Democrats, House Minority Leader Jackson had confirmed in a press conference that in fact Democrats had been in a redistricting committee meeting planned that morning.
The failure of Democrats to show up at the 8:30 am session was likely the fault of House Minority Leader Darren Jackson. Misinterpreting what Speaker Lewis said the day before about delaying the votes of S.118 and S.429, Rep. Jackson told fellow Democrats that they didn't need to be at the 8:30 am session. Rep. Jackson later admitted this to Rep. Larry Pittman. He said he felt the debacle was really his fault.
So, as Rep. Pittman explains it: "There you have it. The Democrats have no one to blame but themselves for losing a 55-15 vote to override the Governor's veto of the budget. Furthermore, there were a number of them who wanted to vote with us who were not there."
The truth is that there were likely several Democrats who would have voted with Republicans to override Governor Cooper's veto. After all, pay increases are a great way to earn loyalty from their voters. But as we all know, Cooper has been playing hardball with his Democratic legislators, much the same way that President Obama did in DC with his Affordable Care Act. Cooper had been putting a lot of pressure on them to vote as he demanded. We saw that with the Born Alive Survivors of Abortion Protection Act, where he coerced Democrats to vote against the bill and to uphold his veto. To pressure Democrats into voting his way, Cooper would invite them to the Governor's Mansion and introduce them to individuals who he said he would endorse and support as their primary opponents. It is not a far stretch to imagine that several Democrats are secretly happy that the over-ride vote went down as it did. They could claim that it was all a mistake (blaming Rep. Jackson), avoid making a very unpopular vote, and still take comfort in the fact that their districts will get the benefits coming to them in the budget.
In the end, Republicans stayed the course, kept their eye on the prize, remained committed to their promises, and were able to override the despicable veto of an outstanding state budget.
House Republicans, we thank you. You make us proud and remind us that we did the right thing by voting for you and sending you to Raleigh to represent us and our values.
References:
Dennis Van Berwyn - An Overview of the Override Vote
House Bill 966 (HB966), the "2019 Appropriations Act," Lexology - https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=d10fff97-5727-492d-969c-5afe1ade9d87
House Bill 966 (HB966), the "2019 Appropriations Act," ncleg.net - https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2019/h966 and https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2019/Bills/House/PDF/H966v7.pdf (bill text)
"Conflicts Between Gov. Roy Cooper and the General Assembly of North Carolina," Ballotpedia - https://ballotpedia.org/Conflicts_between_Gov._Roy_Cooper_and_the_General_Assembly_of_North_Carolina
NC General Assembly website - www.ncleg.net
North Carolina State House, Ballotpedia - https://ballotpedia.org/North_Carolina_House_of_Representatives
North Carolina State Senate, Ballotpedia - https://ballotpedia.org/North_Carolina_State_Senate
APPENDIX I: (The NC General Assembly)
A. Make-Up of the General Assembly
The North Carolina House of Representatives is comprised of 120 members. Currently, Republicans hold a majority, 65-55. They lost 10 seats in the 2018 election. In the 2017-2018 session, Republicans held a supermajority - 75-45. The House Speaker is Rep. Tim Moore.
The North Carolina Senate is comprised of 50 members, of which Republicans hold the majority - 29-21. They lost 6 seats in the 2018 election. The Senate Pro Tempore is Senator Phil Berger.
The Governor has the power to veto any bill that comes to his deck for a signature. If the legislature feels strongly about the bill and is strongly opposed to the reasons the Governor provided to support his veto, both chambers can vote to override the veto. A vote equivalent to 3/5 of those in attendance in the chamber at the time of the vote (provided a quorum is met) is required by each chamber to override the veto.
If the General Assembly does not pass a budget or if the budget bill is vetoed by the Governor (without an override), there is a provision in North Carolina law that allows the previous budget to remain on in place until a new budget is approved. In other words, this stop-gap measure allows the state to run with a budget at all times. This "autopilot" law was enacted in 2016, inspired by a lengthy 2015 standoff between legislative leaders and then-Gov. Pat McCrory. The law creates an automatic continuation budget (ie, the prior budget remains in effect) such that spending remains at current levels.
B, Background
With the 2018 election, Republicans lost their supermajority in the chamber. Democrats gained 10 seats, reducing the Republican majority from 75-45 to 65-55. [A Republican supermajority simply means that as long as Republicans vote strictly along party lines, they are always able to automatically over-ride a Governor's veto]. The requirement for over-riding a veto is that a 3/5 majority in each chamber is needed.
North Carolina has a divided government, meaning that government power is shared, by a separation of powers and a system of checks and balances, between the Governor and the executive Council of State (executive branch), the General Assembly (legislative branch), and the state court system (the judicial branch). Sometimes a political party is able to hold a state government "trifecta" which means that the party controls the Governor's office and a majority of the Council of State positions, a majority in the state house, and a majority in the state senate. Currently, no political party holds a state government trifecta. (The Republican Party held such a trifecta with the 2016 election - Pat McCrory as a Republican Governor and Republican majorities in both chambers of the legislature). As of September 17, 2019, there are 22 Republican trifectas, 14 Democratic trifectas, and 14 divided governments where neither party holds trifecta control. In the 2018 election, Democrats had a net gain of six trifectas and Republicans had a net loss of four trifectas. Prior to that election, there were 26 Republican trifectas (of which North Carolina was one), eight Democratic trifectas, and 16 divided governments.
APPENDIX II: (Promises to NC Teachers)
(1) The pay increases included in the 2019-2021 state budget (HB966) represent the 8th and 9th consecutive pay increases to public school teachers by REPUBLICANS in the NC General Assembly.
(2) When Democrats held control of the NC General Assembly, teachers hardly ever received a pay increase. Even for five years prior to the historic political shake-up in the NC GA (when Republicans gained the majority), teachers never saw a pay increase; their pay remained stagnant.
(3) The average teacher pay in 2017-2018, thanks to the Republicans, was $53,975.00.
(4) Since Republicans have held the majority in the General Assembly, North Carolina has enjoyed the third fastest-rising teacher pay in the country.
(5) North Carolina boasts the second highest teacher pay in the southeast.
(6) The average teacher pay increase since 2013 has been $8,600. The average percentage increase of teacher pay since 2013 has been 19%.
(6) The percentage pay increase for teachers that Governor Cooper vetoed on June 28 (HB966) was 9.5%.
APPENDIX III: (NC Council of State)
There are 10 members of the NC Council of State, 6 of whom are Republican and 4 of whom are Democratic:
Governor - Roy Cooper (Dem)
Lieutenant Governor - Dan Forest (Rep)
Secretary of State - Elaine Marshall (Dem)
Auditor - Beth Wood (Dem)
Treasurer - Dale Folwell (Rep)
Superintendent of Public Instruction - Mark Johnson (Rep)
Attorney General - Josh Stein (Dem)
Commissioner of Agriculture - Steve Troxler (Rep)
Commissioner of Labor - Cherie Berry (Rep)
Commissioner of Insurance - Mike Causey (Rep)
North Carolina retains a unique system of divided executive power. The term "Council of State" harks back to a colonial era provincial council, which was essentially the upper house of the legislature, and then to a Council of State during the American Revolution, which was appointed by the legislature and curtailed the Governor's power. The North Carolina Constitution of 1776 required "that the Senate and House of Commons, jointly, at their first meeting after each annual election, shall by ballot elect seven persons to be a Council of State for one year, who shall advise the Governor in the execution of his office." When a new Constitution was adopted in 1868, the name and some of the powers or duties of the Council were retained, but instead of being appointed by the legislature, the members were now executive officers who were elected statewide, serving ex officio on the Council. At first, only the Secretary of State, State Auditor, State Treasurer, Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Superintendent of Public Works (an office which only existed briefly and was abolished in 1873) were on the Council of State. The revised state Constitution of 1971, which is currently in effect, provides that the Council of State consists of all the officers established by Article III of the document.
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