Why Can't North Carolina Be More Like North Dakota?

Roy Cooper

Good God! When the Republican governor of North Dakota displays statesmanlike leadership to the view of the whole world, as well as a suddenly all-too-relevant comparison to our own enfeebled, feckless, and spooked Governor Squishy -- no wonder people are saying the Republican Party is collapsing from inside.

Governor Dennis Daugaard of North Dakota just vetoed a Republican-sponsored "show us your genitals" law that would have prohibited bathroom access for transgender youth in public schools, the same law essentially that Gov. McCrory has already announced he would be all too happy to sign and which Speaker of the NC House Tim Moore wanted to call a special session of the General Assembly to quickly pass (at a cost of $42,000 per day). (NC Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger said he wasn't for calling a special session, and so that ended the all-fired rush. But they still intend to take action in April.)

Why a "show us your genitals" law in North Carolina? Because the city of Charlotte passed a non-discrimination policy that included transgendered citizens and their access to public restrooms. The conservatives went hoarse with braying.

Back in North Dakota, Governor Daugaard issued a veto statement that could be a model for how a human being might react to such nonsense, let alone a governor. The proposed law, said Daugaard, does “not address any pressing issue” facing the state.  Does not address any pressing issue facing the state. That one sentence presents the starkest contrast to our own enfeebled, feckless, and spooked governor, whose time in office is very short now and who has nothing much to run on for reelection.

Does McCrory see himself riding in on the Conservative White Steed to plant himself in the restroom door and thunder, "Thou shalt not pass!" What a joke of a chief executive!

In addressing the hysteria among some conservatives that wholesale sexual molestation will follow transgendered rights, Daugaard also said, “If and when these rare situations arise, I believe local school officials are best positioned to address them. Instead of encouraging local solutions, this bill broadly regulates in a manner that invites conflict and litigation, diverting energy and resources from the education of the children of this state.”

Such logic and calm reasoning are incredibly rare these days in the party of Pat McCrory. Not rare, thankfully, for the strongest Democratic candidate running in the primary to take on Squishy. This was NC Attorney General Roy Cooper yesterday:

Cooper ... said he thinks state lawmakers should deal with more important matters than the controversy in Charlotte over a new ordinance that will allow transgender people to use the bathrooms of their choice.

He said attorneys in his office have concluded that there are already sufficient criminal laws to address the issue.

“We’ve got 4,500 people who have lost jobs since Jan. 1,” Cooper said. “We have teachers leaving the state of North Carolina. We have about $400 million in taxes that has just been put on North Carolina middle-class families. And this is the issue that the governor wants to talk about in bringing before the General Assembly? I don’t think so.

Could November get here faster?