Editorial: Can legislators resuscitate their lost trust and tattered integrity?

Nine will remember exactly where they were – in the House chamber. Forty-six will remember where they weren’t.

It will be the darkest of memories -- permanent presence they may learn to live with but never will be erased.

Speaker Tim Moore will be the personification of that memory – a person who led them to trust his word. But he deceived them. He took advantage of misinformation provided to Democrats to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of the state budget bill.

Moore is the poster child for the unsurpassed excesses and abuses of power by those who have led the General Assembly since 2011. That is saying something. Don’t look for that plaque on his office wall.

Until last week legislators who needed life-saving health treatments or other critical obligations – while at the same time keeping faith with their constituents to be present for ALL House votes – could schedule last-minute appointments knowing they wouldn’t be derelict in their legislative duties.

What kind of place of public service is the House of Representatives now under Tim Moore’s leadership? It defines deception, lack of mutual respect and backroom scheming.

Moore is the one official in the House elected to serve the ENTIRE body. He is the Speaker of the House, not the speaker of the Republicans.

Now, 46 percent of the people he is supposed to lead won’t trust a word he says. Collegiality -- the glue that holds the diverse regional, social, economic and political members of the House loosely together – has dissolved away. It is a rare feat that will be the hallmark of Moore’s speakership.

What he immediately needs to do is acknowledge that he acted precipitously and unfairly. He needs to acknowledge that his lieutenant, Rules Committee Chair David Lewis was wrong and misled fellow legislators and the news media by telling them there wouldn’t be any votes at the 8:30 a.m. House session on Sept. 11.

Winning is important. But this win comes at a very high price to Moore. He needs to get the override bill back from the Senate and rescind the earlier vote.

He needs to schedule and announce a specific date and time for a debate and vote on the override. Give it an open and fair vote.

Moore’s failure to do anything else will be tantamount to a confession that it was all a set up and he won’t tell the truth about it.

He’ll be a confessed cheater and should resign.

The Senate can, at least a little bit, resuscitate some manner of legislative integrity. Senators – specifically Republican John Alexander who represents Wake County, along with Jim Burgin, Rick Horner and Brent Jackson who represent portions of Johnston County – need to vote to send the veto override back to the House.

There is a cloud over the legislature. This issue is not going away. Moore needs to fix it now.