There’s some serious political drama in North Carolina right now.

Washington Post Article
A ‘coup’? A ‘power grab’? There’s some serious political drama in North Carolina right now.

In the waning hours of Republicans' hold on government in North Carolina, they are proposing bills aimed at significantly curbing Democratic Gov.-elect Roy Cooper's power. In a last-last-minute special session, Republicans introduced a series of bills late Wednesday that would:

— Require the governor's Cabinet appointments to be approved by the state Senate.

— Limit the number of members the governor can appoint to powerful board of trustees at the University of North Carolina school system and the state Board of Education.

— Significantly cut the number of positions who work directly for the governor, from 1,500 (a number Republicans approved when they had a Republican governor) to 300.

— Divide members of the Board of Elections, typically appointed by the governor, between parties in a way that gives Republicans control during election years.

Two bills also aim to change the state courts' partisan makeup. They would:

— Make North Carolina just the sixth state in the nation with a partisan state Supreme Court elections, as opposed to a nonpartisan one. (The last state to make its top court elections partisan was Pennsylvania in 1921.)

— Add an extra layer to appeals cases so that all cases have to go through the full court of appeals, which is controlled by Republicans.

Obviously, Cooper won't be there to veto all this; the man he defeated, Gov. Pat McCrory (R), is still governor for a few more weeks.

Looks like GOP in NC is trying to do as much damage to the Executive branch as they can before the DEM gets in the Governorship. They also the formed the special session under the guise of passing hurricane relief bills but have been using it to try to pass bills to weaken the office of the Governor.

Hopefully this doesn't spread to other parts of the country. But I know that is just wishful thinking. In Indiana Pence gutted the State School Superintend's power because the elected official had a D next to her name.

a reply to: Pyle

North Carolina is known for its dirty politics. The KKK is still quite alive and active there.

In other words, business as usual. Now let's talk about gerrymandering, a tool used throughout the US to ensure more Dems are elected to office by stacking the decks in forming legislative districts to ensure a Democratic majority.

What is the makeup of the new NC legislature when the new governor takes office ?

They got tired of bathroom politics and decided to give back to those who were so kind to them in the past. I think it's a final "kiss my ass" from McCrory. If it's illegal, I'm sure it will be pointed out.

a reply to: schuyler

"This is disgusting but partisan allegiance won't allow me to admit it so here's an unsubstantiated claim about the other guys."

Reps don't gerrymander? Yeah, right.

originally posted by: Justso
a reply to: Pyle

North Carolina is known for its dirty politics. The KKK is still quite alive and active there.

They can be as active as they want. Not against the law. Not my cup of tea but they have a right to exist and thrive anywhere in the US.

Data scientists used a formula to determine the compactness and "squiggliness" of every Texas district. They learned “the districts in gerrymandered states are less compact (more squiggly) than those in non-gerrymandered states.”

Some states let bipartisan committees take care of redistricting. But that’s not case in Texas, where the ruling Republican party last rewrote the map in 2012. The result? The Lone Star State has some of the craziest looking districts in the country. Those districts are efficient at creating an advantage for conservative politicians in the state. The study says that gerrymandering gives Texas Republicans an extra two seats in the House (and of course this effect adds up at the national level).

Each Texas district has an estimated population of 698,488 people. However through a strategy called “packing-and-cracking,” redistricting packs Democratic voters into a few districts and dilutes the rest, leaving the GOP with a comfortable majority in the remaining areas.

Buzzfeed and the Washington Post have dubbed Congressional District 35 – which packs together the liberal parts of San Antonio and Austin – one of the worst gerrymandered areas in the country, but this analysis sees a more egregious example in Texas. Congressional District 33 – which connects liberal parts of Fort Worth and Texas – is “squigglier” than 98.6 percent of districts in the United States.

www.chron.com...

originally posted by: roadgravel
Reps don't gerrymander? Yeah, right.

The Republicans are known for gerrymandering. Last month the Wisconsin SC ruled that the Republican's push to redistrict that was passed in 2012 was unconstitutional.

Despite having a majority of the votes, Democrats were only able to snag much less than half the state seats, while Republicans had less votes and picked up almost twice as many seats.

originally posted by: schuyler
In other words, business as usual. Now let's talk about gerrymandering, a tool used throughout the US to ensure more Dems are elected to office by stacking the decks in forming legislative districts to ensure a Democratic majority.

What's funny about your comment is that a US Appeals Court just told the NC legislature they had to redraw something like 28 congressional districts because of racial gerrymandering. Who came up with the districts currently being used? Republicans.

Heyyyyyy

originally posted by: Pyle
Washington Post Article
A ‘coup’? A ‘power grab’? There’s some serious political drama in North Carolina right now.

In the waning hours of Republicans' hold on government in North Carolina, they are proposing bills aimed at significantly curbing Democratic Gov.-elect Roy Cooper's power. In a last-last-minute special session, Republicans introduced a series of bills late Wednesday that would:

— Require the governor's Cabinet appointments to be approved by the state Senate.

— Limit the number of members the governor can appoint to powerful board of trustees at the University of North Carolina school system and the state Board of Education.

— Significantly cut the number of positions who work directly for the governor, from 1,500 (a number Republicans approved when they had a Republican governor) to 300.

— Divide members of the Board of Elections, typically appointed by the governor, between parties in a way that gives Republicans control during election years.

Two bills also aim to change the state courts' partisan makeup. They would:

— Make North Carolina just the sixth state in the nation with a partisan state Supreme Court elections, as opposed to a nonpartisan one. (The last state to make its top court elections partisan was Pennsylvania in 1921.)

— Add an extra layer to appeals cases so that all cases have to go through the full court of appeals, which is controlled by Republicans.

Obviously, Cooper won't be there to veto all this; the man he defeated, Gov. Pat McCrory (R), is still governor for a few more weeks.

Looks like GOP in NC is trying to do as much damage to the Executive branch as they can before the DEM gets in the Governorship. They also the formed the special session under the guise of passing hurricane relief bills but have been using it to try to pass bills to weaken the office of the Governor.

Hopefully this doesn't spread to other parts of the country. But I know that is just wishful thinking. In Indiana Pence gutted the State School Superintend's power because the elected official had a D next to her name.

The really entertaining part about this is all the local democrats giving interviews talking about "the election is over and went the way it went, republicans need to just accept it."

All while everybody is trying to figure out a way to keep Trump from taking office next month.

originally posted by: theantediluvian
a reply to: schuyler

"This is disgusting but partisan allegiance won't allow me to admit it so here's an unsubstantiated claim about the other guys."

Right? Pretty sure it's the other way around.

a reply to: Justso


The KKK is still quite alive and active


The KKK in the south is priminarly a Democratic institution

More proof that Republican politicians are evil pieces of garbage.

But this has been proven a billion times before and no one cares, certainly no one on this site.

I concur, driving through a freeway named after Strom Thurman says something. I havnt experienced any KKK, but I can say for a fact the south is the most racist place I've ever lived, NC or SC.
If your white, you send your kids to private school, if your black you send your kids to public school, legal segregation.

originally posted by: schuyler
In other words, business as usual. Now let's talk about gerrymandering, a tool used throughout the US to ensure more Dems are elected to office by stacking the decks in forming legislative districts to ensure a Democratic majority.

You have a point there, although ironically NC itself is implicated as a gerrymandering state done by Republicans.
Impartiality sadly seems to be nigh impossible in the gross US two party system, and it's tricky enough elsewhere.

It's not much use in discussing the legal stance where it is clear that gerrymandering is illegal, since everything is whiffed with partisanship.

originally posted by: CB328
More proof that Republican politicians are evil pieces of garbage.

But this has been proven a billion times before and no one cares, certainly no one on this site.

No right-wingers care, anyway. Just like left-wingers don't care any time it's shown what a scumbag somebody on their side of the aisle is.

Convenient, innit?

a reply to: Pyle

The problem with things like this is that eventually you will find yourself in the minority and have to deal with the BS you did while you were the majority.

I think the dems in the Senate are about to find that out. These reps in NC will too eventually.

I love my home state of NC but politically it is seriously flawed. Both sides of the aisle in NC are corrupt. I never liked McCrory and I don't like what is going on in the state legislature. But to be honest Dems and Reps in NC are corrupt. McCrory, a Republican, is definitely IMO corrupt. Unfortunately the Dems are just as bad.