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September 11th was to be unabated in the state capital of North Carolina. Instead, it has become a case study in which Republican state legislators are willing to go forward to advance their agenda.
The state legislature was in session Wednesday morning, but Democrats learned that there would be no vote. Some lawmakers then joined Democratic Governor Roy Cooper at a ceremony for the victims of September 11th. Others stayed in their neighborhoods. The representative of the Democratic state, Grier Martin, told me he had taken the time to run.
Only nine Democrats went to the General Assembly. They met 55 Republicans ready to organize what the Democrats now call a political ambush.
Republican leaders scheduled a surprise vote overturning Cooper's budget veto, an unprecedented party game that blinded state democrats. Cooper called it "deception, deception and lies".
North Carolina has a Democratic governor. But the state legislature is controlled by Republicans. Since the end of June, the state has been stuck in a legislative stalemate; Cooper vetoed a two-year budget bill, saying it was underpaid teachers, giving unnecessary gifts to companies and failing to include an extension. of Medicaid. Since then, Republicans have been eager to override his veto, refusing to negotiate health care for low-income North Carolinians.
But from last November, Republicans lost their majorities to the veto in the legislature, when Democrats overturned 16 seats in the legislature and the Senate. On September 11, the Republicans gathered at the General Assembly seized the opportunity offered to them. Half of the room was empty. They voted to cancel Cooper's veto. It now belongs to the state Senate, where Republicans need a democrat to join their ranks and formally cancel the veto.
"Basically, we have to be vigilant," said Democratic Senator Jeff Jackson.
On the one hand, it's a history of political blockage. "We are in a better position with North Korea than with Medicaid," Jackson said of the budget negotiations.
But what happened on Wednesday is the result of a winning mentality that ended up defining the Republican Party of North Carolina in recent years. Last week, the state court of North Carolina declared the map of the state's legislative district unconstitutional; "The extreme partisans of gerrymandering," he said, allowed Republicans to control 29 of the Senate's 50 seats and 65 of the 120 seats in the House of States, although they received less than half of the votes cast. .
"That's what happens when a general assembly is elected by illegal districts," said Democratic State Representative Grier Martin. "They act in a way that is not representative of North Carolina."
A chaotic episode in the politics of the states of North Carolina
The North Carolina General Assembly quickly descended into chaos Wednesday morning when Republicans took advantage of the Democrats' absence to advance their agenda. The few Democrats present tried to speak against the vote, but only saw their microphones closed.
"It's a tragedy. It's a travesty of the process and you know it, "Democratic State Representative Deb Butler told the legislature during the Speaker's vote. Mr. Chairman, how dare you, Mr. Speaker?
Republicans rejected accusations of political ambush, calling them mere misunderstandings.
"I've been clear, I've said here from where I am, everywhere, if I saw an opportunity to override this budget, this veto, I was going to take that vote," said the president of the House of Republicans, Tim. Moore told local reporters. "Under our rules, we voted on the waiver. It was well noted, the procedures well followed and we took the vote. And I think it's a great day for North Carolina because we're finally on the verge of a budget. "
In the week following his veto, Cooper proposed a compromise bill, removing corporate tax cuts, increasing teacher compensation and expanding Medicaid. But the budget negotiations have been irregular. And the Republicans of North Carolina voted to cancel the veto on the calendar every day of this legislative session. That does not mean that it has to be voted on. It simply means that it is possible.
For weeks, state democrats have diligently overseen the public opinions of Republican lawmakers on whether or not the days of the legislature would take place.
Democratic leaders said the Republican chairman of the rules committee had assured him that there would be no vote until Wednesday afternoon. Republicans deny it happened. Vox has asked several Republican members of the state legislature to comment.
"In the end, this place works on trust and at a certain level of integrity, and this has been violated," Martin said.
"They know that they are sacrificing their credibility for the future and that we will never trust them again," Jackson said.
North Carolina wrote the game book about taking power
This episode underlies a long history of partisan plays that has shaken the politics of the states of North Carolina. Democratic legislators will admit that there have been abuses by both Democrats and Republicans in the state. Recently, Republicans have pushed the boundaries.
When the Democrats managed to elect Cooper at the Governor's Palace in 2016 – one of the few positives for Democrats in a year dominated by Donald Trump and the victories of Republicans – their victory was marred by the legislature's the republican state.
Less than 48 hours after Cooper 's victory, the Republican – controlled legislature convened an emergency session under the pretext of providing emergency assistance in the event of a disaster and then adopting a series of emergency projects. a law that prevented Cooper from making key cabinet appointments without his approval, significantly reducing the size of his administration. and modified the election office so that Republicans can control the election years. They assured that the lawsuits had to go through the Republican-controlled court of appeal before the Democratic Supreme Court.
Cooper and the state democrats have been fighting these changes ever since. They have succeeded on some fronts; for example, the decision of the state election council was found to be unconstitutional. But Cooper's administration has been reduced to trying to incite the people of North Carolina to fight against an explicit encroachment on Republican power, while attempting to challenge the GOP-controlled legislature in court. The Democrats thwarted the supermajority of Republicans in 2018, giving Cooper the right to veto.
But the game was rigged against them from the start. Republicans hold power in both houses of the state legislature because of district lines that a state court has deemed unconstitutional and undemocratic.
Recently discovered cases have shown that GOP strategist Tom Hofeller, who died in 2018, drew maps of the North Carolina Republican Party headquarters, specifically using the results of previous elections to "build the boundaries of the district to the north." "Advantage of the Republicans", according to the decision of the court. The new maps must be redrawn by September 18, lawmakers can not use the data to try to gain a partisan advantage and the redrawing process must be public. (In fact, the state legislature has not even negotiated the budget voted by the Republicans this week, they are concerned about this process of redrawing, according to several state legislators.)
This is important for the Democrats of the state who continue to have to deal with naked demonstrations of partisanship. Wednesday's vote is just their last reminder that Republicans in North Carolina have written a book about grabbing supporters of gerrymandered legislatures across the country – like Wisconsin and Michigan.
"They say politics is not a trap, but it's a pretty powerful game of power that does not speak well of Republican lawmakers in North Carolina," Vox said in an email, Rick Hasen, legal expert at the University of California at Irvine.
With little power to change the vote in the Chamber of Deputies, a lawmaker in this state only declared that voters – who would soon vote in the redrawn districts – were watching.
"I think if more people in North Carolina pay special attention to what [is happening the state capitol]", Said the representative of the Democratic State, Chaz Beasley. "It could and will turn against them mainly."
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