Opinion

Opinion Roundup: Anita Earls to be sworn in, exotic animals ban, schools at the heart of Florence recovery and more

Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: Republicans spurn N.C. board investigating election fraud, what to do about that empty NC chair in Congress, exotic animal ban in North Carolina will take more courage than legislators can muster, changes to dune rules add flexibility and more.

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Anita Earls
Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: Republicans spurn N.C. board investigating election fraud, what to do about that empty NC chair in Congress, exotic animal ban in North Carolina will take more courage than legislators can muster, changes to dune rules add flexibility and more.
REAL ELECTION FRAUD?
MICHAEL STERN: Is there a Vacancy in North Carolina? (Point of Order column) -- There is no vacancy in the N.C. 9th district yet, and there will not be one unless the House of Representatives votes to declare one. The House certainly has the power to do so, but it seems unlikely that it will. The question of whether the seat is vacant is not a relatively straightforward factual question (like whether a member has died or is in a coma from which recovery is unlikely), but a legal judgment that can only be made after reviewing the evidence and determining that: (1) fraud occurred and; (2) either the candidate was complicit or that the fraud was significant enough to have affected the outcome. This is particularly so given House precedent that “[n]othing short of an impossibility of ascertaining for whom the majority of votes were given ought to vacate an election, especially if by such decision the people must . . . necessarily go unrepresented for a long period of time.” CRS Report for Congress, Procedures for Contested Election Cases in the House of Representatives 16-17 (Oct. 18, 2016) (quoting McCloskey and McIntyre, H. Rep. 99-58, at 44 (1985)).
AMY GARDNER: GOP candidate will ask N.C. court to certify his victory as election officials delay hearing (Washington Post reports) -- The still-unresolved race in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District was thrown into further turmoil as state election officials delayed a hearing into election fraud allegations and GOP candidate Mark Harris said he would ask a court to certify him as the victor.
Republicans Spurn N.C. Board Investigating Election Fraud (Reuters reports) - Republicans in North Carolina refused to participate in the creation of an interim elections board, forcing election officials to postpone a hearing in its investigation of election fraud in a congressional contest.
EMERY DALESIO: Hearing into North Carolina ballot fraud claims postponed (AP reports) -- A planned hearing digging into allegations of possible ballot fraud in the country's last undecided congressional race was scrapped with Gov. Roy Cooper blaming N.C. Republicans for not backing his plan to temporarily recreate the disbanded state elections board.
BOBBY BURNS: Ruling effectively dissolves local elections boards (Greenville Daily Reflector reports) -- County elections offices are operating without the oversight of elections boards following a court ruling that dissolved the State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement. A panel of state judges ruled in October that a law reorganizing the board was unconstitutional. The panel stayed the ruling so the board could deliberate on alleged violations that are holding up the Congressional election in North Carolina’s 9th District. The panel on Friday refused to extend the stay further even though an investigation has not been completed.
JIM MORRILL: McCrory rules out 9th District run – but considers two other campaigns (Charlotte Observer reports) -- Former Gov. Pat McCrory ruled out running in the 9th Congressional District -- but not for governor in 2020 or the U.S. Senate in 2022. Speaking on his morning talk show on WBT radio, the Charlotte Republican said he'll make that decision later this year.
What to do about that empty NC chair in Congress (Charlotte Observer) -- Congress convenes today with one empty seat: the one representing North Carolina’s 9th district. The House and Gov. Roy Cooper should take steps to hold a new election, and quickly.
POLICY & POLITICS
New justice Anita Earls to be sworn in on N.C. Supreme Court (AP reports) – Anita Earls, a civil rights attorney elected to N.C.’s highest court, is taking office.
Suit over legislative maps stays in state court (AP reports) -- Litigation challenging N.C. legislative districts on arguments they excessively favor Republicans to the point of violating the state constitution will remain in state court.
TRIP GABRIEL: Voting Issues and Gerrymanders Are Now Key Political Battlegrounds (New York Times reports) -- Voting rights and partisan gerrymandering, traditionally the preoccupation of wonky party strategists and good-government groups, have become major flash points in the debate about the integrity of American elections, signaling high stakes battles over voter suppression and politically engineered districts ahead of the 2020 presidential race.
NC’s first American Indian district attorney to be sworn in (Fayetteville Observer reports) -- Newly elected Robeson County District Attorney Matt Scott — the first American Indian district attorney in North Carolina — will have his swearing-in ceremony on Thursday evening. The event is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in Givens Performing Arts Center at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.
GILBERT BAEZ: Bragg officials defend housing contractor after critical report (WRAL-TV reports) -- In the wake of an investigative report criticizing the contractor that provides housing for soldiers and their families on a number of U.S. military installations, Fort Bragg officials defended the contractor and its operations.
RACHAEL RILEY: Wilkie: VA headed in right direction (Fayetteville Observer reports) — It’s been more than five months since Fayetteville native Robert Wilkie was sworn in as secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs on July 30. During Wilkie’s confirmation hearing in June, Georgia Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson gave Wilkie strict marching orders. “Mr. Wilkie, there are no excuses anymore,” the senator said. “Failure is not an option.”
Pentagon needs seasoned boss (Fayetteville Observer) — At some point in the next few months, President Trump will need to nominate a new secretary of Defense. He needs to find someone more experienced and military-savvy than Patrick Shanahan, the interim Pentagon leader who took over this week from former Secretary Jim Mattis.
MATTHEW BURNS & DEBORAH STRANGE: Brunswick man dies after being shot by Highway Patrol trooper (WRAL reports) -- A Brunswick County man has died after he was shot Tuesday night by a State Highway Patrol trooper during a traffic stop, authorities said.
WESLEY YOUNG: Legality of Confederate statue move could be sticking point (Winston-Salem Journal reports) -- Winston-Salem and the owners of a Confederate statue downtown may be at an impasse over whether moving the statue is legal.
SCOTT SEXTON: Exotic animal ban in North Carolina will take more courage than legislators can muster (Winston-Salem Journal column) -- Three words you’d never expect to see in the same sentence dominated certain corners of the news in recent days.
N.C. court rules Trump campaign not responsible in gun assault claim (AP reports) – The state appeals court says President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign organization isn't responsible for a state director accused of pointing a loaded pistol against another Trump supporter's knee.
COLIN CAMPBELL: Berger aides seek to cash in with new consulting firm (The Insider reports) -- Two key aides to Senate leader Phil Berger are launching a strategic consulting firm. Jim Blaine, Berger’s former chief of staff and Ray Martin, the longtime executive director of Berger’s Senate Republican Caucus, announced that they're starting: Martin & Blaine, The Differentiators.
KARL ROVE: My Predictions Are 2 for 3—Thanks, Oscar (Wall Street Journal column) -- My wrong predictions start with a doozy: Republicans did not keep the House with 220 seats. With a North Carolina seat unfilled amid fraud allegations, they’ll be lucky to get 200. U.S. growth did not exceed 3%; it’s likely to be 2.9%. Nor did Mr. Trump trade a Dreamer fix for more border-security spending.
DEBORAH STRANGE: Cumberland County man wins $10M in lottery (WRAL-TV reports) -- An Eastover man is the first person to win $10 million in the NC Education Lottery's Colossal Cash game after buying one more ticket than usual.
MARK PRICE: ‘Call the paramedics,’ great-grandmother says. She just won $10 million in NC lottery (Charlotte Observer reports) -- A great grandmother in the tiny town of Grover, N.C., won $10 million in the N.C. Education Lottery. She chose the lump sum of cash on Friday and intends to buy a new house.
EDUCATION
Bennett College Needs To Raise $5 Million Or It May Lose Accreditation (NPR reports) -- Noel King talks to Phyllis Worthy Dawkins, president of Bennett College in Greensboro, N.C., about the possibility that the women-only and historically black college, may lose its accreditation.
RUPEN FOFARIA: Schools and children at the heart of Florence recovery (EdNC reports) — Jamie Troche remembers how grateful she felt to find only minor damage to her home when she returned after evacuating ahead of Hurricane Florence’s landfall. “The next morning, we had internet and power,” the math teacher at Wilmington Early College High School said, “and my son was all excited to play Fortnite.”
RICK ARMSTRONG & EMMY VICTOR: 'DARE' program revamped to tackle opioid abuse (WRAL-TV reports) -- Drug education programs in schools used to involve just illegal drugs, but today that list includes legally prescribed but highly addictive opioid medications.
HEALTH
Vaping is an epidemic among teens (Greensboro News & Record) -- The Food and Drug Administration and the surgeon general are calling the use of e-cigarettes, or vapes, among teenagers an “epidemic.” A recent government study shows that use of these nicotine products among high school students jumped a startling 78 percent in the last year.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Are we actively preparing for next hurricane? We should be (Wilmington-Star News reports) — We know that many government entities and other agencies engage in emergency planning year round. From what we’ve experienced in coastal NC over the past several years, we’d suggest that any entities or people potentially in harm’s way need to up their games, not only in preparation, but in building more of the much-talked-about storm resiliency.
JENNIFER ALLEN: CRC: Changes to Dune Rules Add Flexibility (Coastal Review Online reports) — Changes to state sand dune rules adopted in late 2018 and now awaiting final state approval would allow oceanfront land owners greater flexibility to relocate wind- and storm-driven sand on their property.
CANDACE SWEAT: 'Everybody could use a good deal:' Gas prices fall below $1.50 in parts of central NC (WRAL reports) — Drivers in Wayne County waited in long lines Wednesday to fill up with gas for less than $1.50 per gallon. At one point Wednesday evening, the line for gas stretched the length of the parking lot of a Dollar General in Pikeville, where gas was priced at $1.47 per gallon.
Lawmakers must address river pollution problems (Fayetteville Observer) — When the General Assembly returns to a new session next week, there will be some urgent but unfinished business awaiting: The Cape Fear River basin is still awash in dangerous pollutants and lawmakers have done little more than apply cosmetics to the problem. The health and safety of the millions who depend on the river for drinking water are still insufficiently protected.

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