Last week, I had Governor Pat McCrory as a guest on Triad Today. I had also invited Attorney General Roy Cooper to join us, but he declined. During the half-hour program, the Governor and I discussed a number of topics, including education, the economy, and HB2, the law that may threaten McCrory’s chance at a second term. This was the eighth time Governor McCrory has appeared on the show, and as always he was candid, and never dodged any questions, or gave sound bite answers. We taped the show on Wednesday, October 26 as he was winding his way back to Raleigh from Kinston, where he had made yet another tour of Hurricane Matthew’s destruction.
Longworth: Recap for us how you’ve reshaped our economy in your first term.
McCrory: Four years ago, North Carolina had the 5th highest unemployment rate in the country. We were at about 9.4% and were losing jobs left and right. We owed the federal government $2.6 billion dollars that we had borrowed for unemployment benefits, and I didn’t know that until I became governor. I also inherited a $500 million dollar misforecast on Medicaid spending. We had the highest income tax and corporate tax in the southeast, and government was very inefficient. I was an outsider coming in and we had to become change agents, and that meant stepping on toes on both the right and the left. But we’ve made a lot of changes, and the results speak for themselves. We paid off the $2.6 billion dollars in unemployment debt, and as of two weeks ago, I’m proud to report that we have $2 billion dollars in reserve for unemployment, so if we have another recession, we won’t have to tax businesses, we’ll be ready for it. And because of the hurricane, I’m waiving some of the unemployment rules and procedures. And guess what money we do that with? The $2 billion dollar reserve.
Longworth: Over the past three years, the median average income has risen 7% nationally, while under your administration, it’s risen by 21% in North Carolina. Why don’t we ever hear about that?
McCrory: Because Roy Cooper keeps changing the subject, saying, “I’ve talked to some people who say they’re working harder and longer than ever before.” But the fact is they’re WORKING now. They were not working four years ago. I try to talk about the facts, not rhetoric.
Longworth: Mr. Cooper has criticized you for putting so much money in our Rainy Day Fund, but didn’t that help out after the flooding?
McCrory: One week before the hurricane, Roy was in Lumberton (a place that would be hard hit by the storm) and he gave a speech saying that I put too much money in the Rainy Day Fund, and should have spent the money on education. Well, we had the Rainy Day Fund, and it rained. It rained.
Longworth: Roy also criticized you because teacher pay is 41st in the nation. Was there more to this story?
McCrory: (smiles) Yeah, we were 48th when I got elected, and next year we’ll be 33rd or 34th based upon policies we passed in the last three months.
Longworth: Cooper’s ads also say we’re losing teachers to other states.
McCrory: Actually we’ve lost a thousand teachers to other states, but we’ve gained 2,000 teachers from other states.
Longworth: Your opponent says he’s fixed the backlog in the state crime lab.
McCrory: All he did was contract the backlog out, so now the backlog is somewhere else.
Longworth: Speaking of crime, let’s talk about the recent unrest in Charlotte, where you used to be mayor. Their police department practices diversity in hiring, has community policing, and is a model system, yet when a black officer shot a black suspect, Black Lives Matter staged a protest, then riots ensued. BLM has a noble cause, but did they and the media exacerbate the situation?
McCrory: Absolutely. If you talk to anyone outside of the state, you’d think we had 3,000 protestors, but it was only 300. But among those 300, we probably had 50 or 60 anarchists, and it doesn’t take many anarchists to cause trouble.
Longworth: In the aftermath, you came under fire for putting restrictions on the release of body cam footage. Why the restrictions?
McCrory: Because we not only had to protect the public’s right to know, but we had to protect the constitutional rights of the victim, and of the person being investigated for shooting, which could include a police officer. A judge will determine when the footage can be seen, but, meanwhile, the new law lets family members see the video within three to four days of the incident.
Longworth: Your former employer, Duke Energy is responsible for arsenic-laden coal ash leaking into the Dan River and other tributaries. Earlier this year, the state sent a letter to residents telling them the drinking water now meets federal standards and is safe to drink. Did that letter in any way mislead people, and did you allow anyone to drink unsafe water?
McCrory: Absolutely not, in fact they’re the same standards that President Obama promotes in the Triad and all over. This was just another third party PAC creating a controversy. It’s a very sad commentary on how we’re misleading people about the safety of our water.
Our most involved discussion centered on HB 2, the so-called “bathroom bill”, which was triggered by the passage of a local ordinance in Charlotte that purportedly was designed to protect the civil rights of transgender persons. As it turns out, the ordinance was as much political as social and, if left in place, would have jeopardized individual privacy rights as well as the success of local businesses.
Longworth: Recap for us how we got into this mess.
McCrory: It started with a group called HRC, the Human Rights Campaign, a very powerful national group who helped Mayor Roberts get elected, then convinced her to pass a mandate on all private sector entities that have public facilities, restrooms, locker rooms, showers, that they must recognize gender identity. In other words, a man who thinks he’s a woman would be allowed to use the women’s shower. And if you didn’t obey the ordinance, you could get a $500 fine and a 30 day jail sentence.
Longworth: So did you rush to call the General Assembly back into session?
McCrory: No, I begged the Mayor not to pass the ordinance. I wrote her a letter saying, “You’re trying to find a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.”
Longworth: So why didn’t you just refuse to sign HB2 when the legislature brought it to you?
McCrory: Because the Charlotte ordinance was going to go into effect within eight days if I didn’t sign our bill. I’m not going to allow an ordinance threatening a jail sentence to someone who doesn’t recognize gender identity, which is a whole new definition of man and woman, and of boy and girl in our schools. But I did issue an executive order prohibiting any types of discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Longworth: Wasn’t the Charlotte ordinance unconstitutional?
McCrory:The Attorney General should have declared it unconstitutional, and intervened immediately, but he refused to do it because he was in the pocket, doing fundraisers with Mayor Roberts.
Longworth: You can’t legally repeal HB 2, so how does this get resolved?
McCrory: Most likely the Supreme Court will determine the definition of gender. It’s a federal issue. We don’t need every town having their own civil rights act. We have one civil rights act, the 1964 act.
Though I’m not supposed to make endorsements in this column, I can report and comment on facts. And the facts are that Roy Cooper has deliberately misrepresented Pat McCrory’s record of accomplishments, both at debates and in TV ads. Pat brought our state’s economy back from the brink, and managed to grow jobs and salaries while paying off our debts and building surplus and emergency funds. And, as it turns out, it was Roy Cooper who could have prevented the entire HB2 debacle by declaring the Charlotte ordinance illegal. Instead he allowed the controversy to develop, then tossed a grenade into Pat’s lap and waited for it to explode.
I believe Pat McCrory will eventually be vindicated and appreciated for his leadership. The question is, will that happen before or after November 8?
My Conversation with Pat McCrory
Last week, I had Governor Pat McCrory as a guest on Triad Today. I had also invited Attorney General Roy Cooper to join us, but he declined. During the half-hour program, the Governor and I discussed a number of topics, including education, the economy, and HB2, the law that may threaten McCrory’s chance at a second term. This was the eighth time Governor McCrory has appeared on the show, and as always he was candid, and never dodged any questions, or gave sound bite answers. We taped the show on Wednesday, October 26 as he was winding his way back to Raleigh from Kinston, where he had made yet another tour of Hurricane Matthew’s destruction.
Longworth: Recap for us how you’ve reshaped our economy in your first term.
McCrory: Four years ago, North Carolina had the 5th highest unemployment rate in the country. We were at about 9.4% and were losing jobs left and right. We owed the federal government $2.6 billion dollars that we had borrowed for unemployment benefits, and I didn’t know that until I became governor. I also inherited a $500 million dollar misforecast on Medicaid spending. We had the highest income tax and corporate tax in the southeast, and government was very inefficient. I was an outsider coming in and we had to become change agents, and that meant stepping on toes on both the right and the left. But we’ve made a lot of changes, and the results speak for themselves. We paid off the $2.6 billion dollars in unemployment debt, and as of two weeks ago, I’m proud to report that we have $2 billion dollars in reserve for unemployment, so if we have another recession, we won’t have to tax businesses, we’ll be ready for it. And because of the hurricane, I’m waiving some of the unemployment rules and procedures. And guess what money we do that with? The $2 billion dollar reserve.
Longworth: Over the past three years, the median average income has risen 7% nationally, while under your administration, it’s risen by 21% in North Carolina. Why don’t we ever hear about that?
McCrory: Because Roy Cooper keeps changing the subject, saying, “I’ve talked to some people who say they’re working harder and longer than ever before.” But the fact is they’re WORKING now. They were not working four years ago. I try to talk about the facts, not rhetoric.
Longworth: Mr. Cooper has criticized you for putting so much money in our Rainy Day Fund, but didn’t that help out after the flooding?
McCrory: One week before the hurricane, Roy was in Lumberton (a place that would be hard hit by the storm) and he gave a speech saying that I put too much money in the Rainy Day Fund, and should have spent the money on education. Well, we had the Rainy Day Fund, and it rained. It rained.
Longworth: Roy also criticized you because teacher pay is 41st in the nation. Was there more to this story?
McCrory: (smiles) Yeah, we were 48th when I got elected, and next year we’ll be 33rd or 34th based upon policies we passed in the last three months.
Longworth: Cooper’s ads also say we’re losing teachers to other states.
McCrory: Actually we’ve lost a thousand teachers to other states, but we’ve gained 2,000 teachers from other states.
Longworth: Your opponent says he’s fixed the backlog in the state crime lab.
McCrory: All he did was contract the backlog out, so now the backlog is somewhere else.
Longworth: Speaking of crime, let’s talk about the recent unrest in Charlotte, where you used to be mayor. Their police department practices diversity in hiring, has community policing, and is a model system, yet when a black officer shot a black suspect, Black Lives Matter staged a protest, then riots ensued. BLM has a noble cause, but did they and the media exacerbate the situation?
McCrory: Absolutely. If you talk to anyone outside of the state, you’d think we had 3,000 protestors, but it was only 300. But among those 300, we probably had 50 or 60 anarchists, and it doesn’t take many anarchists to cause trouble.
Longworth: In the aftermath, you came under fire for putting restrictions on the release of body cam footage. Why the restrictions?
McCrory: Because we not only had to protect the public’s right to know, but we had to protect the constitutional rights of the victim, and of the person being investigated for shooting, which could include a police officer. A judge will determine when the footage can be seen, but, meanwhile, the new law lets family members see the video within three to four days of the incident.
Longworth: Your former employer, Duke Energy is responsible for arsenic-laden coal ash leaking into the Dan River and other tributaries. Earlier this year, the state sent a letter to residents telling them the drinking water now meets federal standards and is safe to drink. Did that letter in any way mislead people, and did you allow anyone to drink unsafe water?
McCrory: Absolutely not, in fact they’re the same standards that President Obama promotes in the Triad and all over. This was just another third party PAC creating a controversy. It’s a very sad commentary on how we’re misleading people about the safety of our water.
Our most involved discussion centered on HB 2, the so-called “bathroom bill”, which was triggered by the passage of a local ordinance in Charlotte that purportedly was designed to protect the civil rights of transgender persons. As it turns out, the ordinance was as much political as social and, if left in place, would have jeopardized individual privacy rights as well as the success of local businesses.
Longworth: Recap for us how we got into this mess.
McCrory: It started with a group called HRC, the Human Rights Campaign, a very powerful national group who helped Mayor Roberts get elected, then convinced her to pass a mandate on all private sector entities that have public facilities, restrooms, locker rooms, showers, that they must recognize gender identity. In other words, a man who thinks he’s a woman would be allowed to use the women’s shower. And if you didn’t obey the ordinance, you could get a $500 fine and a 30 day jail sentence.
Longworth: So did you rush to call the General Assembly back into session?
McCrory: No, I begged the Mayor not to pass the ordinance. I wrote her a letter saying, “You’re trying to find a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.”
Longworth: So why didn’t you just refuse to sign HB2 when the legislature brought it to you?
McCrory: Because the Charlotte ordinance was going to go into effect within eight days if I didn’t sign our bill. I’m not going to allow an ordinance threatening a jail sentence to someone who doesn’t recognize gender identity, which is a whole new definition of man and woman, and of boy and girl in our schools. But I did issue an executive order prohibiting any types of discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Longworth: Wasn’t the Charlotte ordinance unconstitutional?
McCrory:The Attorney General should have declared it unconstitutional, and intervened immediately, but he refused to do it because he was in the pocket, doing fundraisers with Mayor Roberts.
Longworth: You can’t legally repeal HB 2, so how does this get resolved?
McCrory: Most likely the Supreme Court will determine the definition of gender. It’s a federal issue. We don’t need every town having their own civil rights act. We have one civil rights act, the 1964 act.
Though I’m not supposed to make endorsements in this column, I can report and comment on facts. And the facts are that Roy Cooper has deliberately misrepresented Pat McCrory’s record of accomplishments, both at debates and in TV ads. Pat brought our state’s economy back from the brink, and managed to grow jobs and salaries while paying off our debts and building surplus and emergency funds. And, as it turns out, it was Roy Cooper who could have prevented the entire HB2 debacle by declaring the Charlotte ordinance illegal. Instead he allowed the controversy to develop, then tossed a grenade into Pat’s lap and waited for it to explode.
I believe Pat McCrory will eventually be vindicated and appreciated for his leadership. The question is, will that happen before or after November 8?