Is the NC Senate Trying To Drive a Stake Through Thom Tillis?

The unannounced appearance of major anti-abortion legislation in the NC Senate, tacked on to a NC House law prohibiting Sharia law, and done so on the eve of a national holiday when Thom Tillis's House is out of town sipping beverages and relaxing, gives one pause to reflect.

Does Senate President Doug Berger hate Thom Tillis, or what?

And, Tillis, bless his heart, is trying to run as some sort of mythical North Carolina Republican moderate for the U.S. Senate, against a female senator, no less, who just might decide to rally the women of the state against what can be billed as "Mr. Tillis's abortion law," if he decides to go along with the Senate.

Tillis is on the spot with this. So's Squishy McCrory, who said back during the campaign of 2012 that he would not sign any further restrictions on abortion in North Carolina. Of course, he will, should it get to his desk, but the real question today is What Will Tillis Do?

Strip Tease

The Charlotte Observer, in a series of investigative reports last year, found that NC Commissioner of Labor Cherie Berry was NOT enforcing workplace safety laws, preferring rather to be "cooperative" with big business, meaning, she preferred to cover both eyes with her hands while simultaneously pinching her nose closed.

Sen. Doug Berger has introduced a bill that would strip Berry of her (unused) authority to enforce workplace safety. Berger's bill would transfer that power instead to the Employment Security Commission.

We applaud that proposed law. Anything that removes that particular hairball from the state's plumbing would be welcome.