McCrory Runs Away From Reporters Asking Questions About HB2

So Governor Pat McCrory thought, apparently, that unveiling a sign along an unfinished Hwy 70 bypass in Wayne County would be safe haven from persistent bad press about the law he signed last Wednesday night, the notorious HB2, which in one fell swoop took away every recourse North Carolina citizens had for being fired because of age, political persuasion, religious fervor, and, yes, sexual orientation.

The Guv was prepared to take questions from the assembled local press, and after two too many questions about HB2, he "swiftly turned and walked back toward his vehicle, ignoring requests for further inquiries regarding his ongoing defense of H.B. 2...."

He's tried several tacks. First, he sent out, and induced every department in his administration to also send out, a wildly misleading “fact check” about HB2 -- which earned the worst possible rating from the fact-checkers at WRAL and was widely criticized by other news outlets such as Indy Week and Chapelboro for its false claims.

Then he blamed the media for blindsiding him with questions about the bill he had signed and obviously never read.

Then he made this howlingly false claim: “Every city has the exact same discrimination policy they had a few weeks ago,” when in fact HB2 overturned local nondiscrimination ordinances in Buncombe, Mecklenburg, and Orange counties, as well as in the cities of Asheville, Charlotte, Boone, Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Greensboro, and Raleigh. The Guv couldn't get any facts straight.

Then the NC Values Coalition leapt to McCrory's defense, producing a suspicious list of 300 "businesses" that supported HB2. Under questioning by the Greensboro News&Record, the Values Coalition eventually admitted that the 300 were individuals, not businesses. The Coalition produced a much shortened list of 17 businesses including Hanesbrand. When Hanesbrand saw what it was being associated with, it asked to be removed and issued a statement saying the company had never supported HB2.

“Either Gov. McCrory didn’t understand HB2 when he rushed to sign it last week, or he’s flat-out lying in a desperate attempt to counter the enormous backlash he caused,” said Gerrick Brenner, executive director of Progress NC Action. “As major employers speak out left and right against HB2, the desperate buffoonery of McCrory’s smoke-and-mirrors campaign would almost be funny if he wasn’t trying to defend bigotry and discrimination."