The Bastards in Raleigh

 

The elections which Republicans did not win in North Carolina -- governor, lieutenant gov, attorney gen'l, superintendent of public instruction -- have hardly been settled, including the one that broke the Republican veto-override super majority in the NC House, when Phil Berger & Co. realized they only had a month to pass a new law limiting what newly elected Democrats can do in office. They cleverly called the bill "Hurricane Relief," but those provisions aimed at recovering Western NC amount to less than 20 pages, while the bulk of the 130-page bill is blatant and unashamed power-grabs.

The most egregious of the power grabs applies to the governor's power to appoint the State Board of Elections, the agency which the GOP has been trying to take full control of for years. The new law, which passed the House last night and now goes to the Senate today -- fast-tracked, you betcha! -- takes the appointment power away from Governor Josh Stein and gives it to the newly elected Republican Auditor Dave Boliek, who's all too eager to carry partisan water for the bosses.

The new law also makes a project of dismantling the independence of our new Attorney General Jeff Jackson:

Republican lawmakers want to prevent the attorney general, an office that the GOP hasn’t won in an election for more than a century, from taking positions on state laws being challenged in court that are different from the position maintained by GOP legislative leaders. 

The bill also specifies that the attorney general can’t take positions in court that would lead to a state law being struck down. 

This proposal comes as outgoing Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein, who voters chose to serve as the state’s next governor in this month’s election, has recused himself or refused to defend the state against a number of high-profile political lawsuits involving abortion, elections, gerrymandering and other issues. 

Stein, who has served two terms as attorney general, has defended his decisions to refuse to defend laws passed by the Republican-controlled legislature that he believes are unconstitutional. 

GOP leaders have criticized Stein in those instances, and accused him of refusing “to do his job.” They have frequently intervened in lawsuits challenging the laws they’ve passed, and defended them in court. 

Liz Barber, the director of policy and advocacy at the ACLU of North Carolina, said in an interview Tuesday morning that the changes were an “unconstitutional, undemocratic power grab.” [NewsObserver]

In what crazy universe is it all right for the Republicans to be doing this? Reducing the dimensions of a public office only after they fail to win an election to that office?

Let the lawsuits fly.