Opinion Roundup: Cooper vetoes 'technical corrections' bill, opposition to offshore drilling, Affordable Care Act enrollment and more

Saturday, Dec. 22, 2018 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: N.C. asked feds to open vote fraud case last year, Columbus sheriff dispute has ties to 9th District investigation, Cooper vetoes 'technical corrections' bill, unemployment rate unchanged in November, leaders move to reinforce opposition to offshore drilling and more.

AMY GARDNER & BETH REINHARD: N.C. election board’s warnings to prosecutors about alleged election fraud drew little action (Washington Post reports) -- Nearly two years before election fraud allegations roiled a N.C. congressional race this fall, state election officials warned prosecutors they had evidence of efforts to manipulate the absentee ballot vote in rural Bladen County and sought their action. But frustrated state officials said their alerts about what occurred in the 2016 election — including a formal referral letter sent to the U.S. attorney in January 2017 and later meetings with state and federal investigators — yielded little movement by the local district attorney or the U.S. attorney’s office to probe the allegations.

MICHAEL BIESECKER & GARY ROBERTSON: N.C. asked feds to open vote fraud case last year (AP reports) -- North Carolina's top elections official issued an urgent plea nearly two years ago for the Trump administration to file criminal charges against the man now at the center of ballot fraud allegations that have thrown a 2018 congressional race into turmoil.

TRAVIS FAIN: State pointed US Justice Department to 'efforts to manipulate election results' in early 2017 (WRAL-reports) — The State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement warned the U.S. Department of Justice in early 2017 that "efforts to manipulate election results" in Bladen County would likely continue and asked the local U.S. attorney to get involved.

LAURA LESLIE: Columbus sheriff dispute has ties to 9th District investigation (WRAL-TV reports) -- Suspicions of absentee ballot fraud that have prompted a state investigation in the 9th Congressional District election have cropped up in the Columbus County sheriff's race as well.

GARY ROBERTSON: Cooper vetoes bill expanding possible US House election redo (AP reports) – Gov. Roy Cooper followed through on his plans to veto legislation that would require a complete election redo in a disputed U.S. House race should new balloting be deemed necessary due to fraud.

MATTHEW BURNS: Cooper vetoes 'technical corrections' bill in addition to elections board overhaul (WRAL reports) — Gov. Cooper on Friday followed through with his threat to veto legislation revamping the state board of elections, and for good measure, he vetoed a second bill as well. Senate Bill 469, commonly referred to as the "technical corrections" bill for the session, is a 20-page grab-bag of changes. Some are truly technical fixes of earlier legislation, but lawmakers frequently stuff policy changes into such measures.

LESLEY CLARK: With no budget fix in sight, partial federal shutdown begins (Charlotte Observer) — A host of government agencies shut down at midnight, sidelining hundreds of thousands of federal workers as Congress and the White House remained deadlocked over President Trump’s desire to build a wall with Mexico. House and Senate lawmakers left the Capitol Friday night without an agreement to keep nine Cabinet departments and several smaller agencies running. Both the House and Senate plan to return at noon Saturday, but no voters were scheduled.

ANN DOSS HELMS: Governor cites ‘taxpayer-funded resegregation’ of Meck schools in veto of NC bill (Charlotte Observer reports) -- Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed a bill that moves municipal charter schools in Mecklenburg County a step closer to reality, among many other things. Lawmakers are expected to convene next week to override the veto.

BRAD JOHANSEN: After hurricanes and legislative battles, Cooper glad to put 2018 behind him (WRAL-TV reports) -- For Cooper, 2018 was marked by natural disasters, including two major hurricanes, incessant battles with a Republican-controlled legislature and high-profile failures on the economic development front. "I think it has been a year of opportunity mixed with hardship for North Carolina," he said Friday in a year-end interview. "We've been rocked by two hurricanes, and a lot of people are hurting,"

KAREN COX: How North Carolina lost its cool (New York Times column) -- In recent days, folks from outside North Carolina have been asking me what, exactly, is wrong with my state. After a vicious governor’s race in which the Democrat, Roy Cooper, squeaked past the incumbent Republican, Pat McCrory, the state General Assembly drew up and passed a series of bills that greatly restrict the power of our incoming chief executive — bills that Mr. McCrory has signed. This is only the latest in a series of fierce political fights in our state. Earlier this year, it was around H.B. 2, the so-called bathroom bill; before that, it was over efforts by state Republicans to restrict voting rights. All of this in a state long regarded as a paragon of Southern moderation. But rather than being an outlier, North Carolina is the distillation of nationwide trends. Our cities are solidly blue, while our rural regions, which thanks to gerrymandering have an outsize power, are reactionary red, and their representatives are bent on breaking every rule to keep a hold on power. It wasn’t always this way.

NC unemployment rate unchanged in November (AP reports) — The NC Department of Commerce announced Friday that the unemployment rate decreased .9 of a percentage point from the same month a year ago. The national rate remained unchanged at 3.7 percent.

GARY ROBERTSON: N.C.’s top court rules legislators can confirm Cabinet (AP reports) -- North Carolina's highest court upheld a law subjecting the governor's choices to run his top agencies to confirmation votes by the state Senate, providing a legal victory to Republican legislators. The state Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of GOP legislative leaders who passed the confirmation requirement for Cabinet secretaries just before Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper took office in early 2017.

State regulators limit Aqua NC rate increase (WRAL-TV reports) -- Homeowners tired of brown drinking water were celebrating after learning that the N.C. Commission denied Aqua's request for an 8 percent increase in rates.

COLIN CAMPBELL: Two months, one new law – and legislators got paid $500,000 (Charlotte Observer reports) -- The legislature’s weeks of mostly no-vote sessions in January and February cost taxpayers about $500,000 in per diem payments to lawmakers.

THOMASI MCDONALD: ‘Tired of burying young people.’ A Durham funeral home serves the city’s murder victims (Durham-Herald Sun reports) — Franklin O. Hanes sat in his office at Hanes Funeral Service, propped his elbows on his desk, rested his chin in his hands and let out a deep sigh. “I had two funerals Saturday,” he said during an interview last month. “One was 26. The other was 28.”

N.C. high court rules Counties not responsible for school underfunding (AP reports) -- North Carolina's top court says the state is responsible, not the counties, when schools are so underfunded that some children don't get the constitutionally required sound basic education.

KATIE MGONGOLWA: View from a Lockdown: Teaching in 2018 (Durham-Herald Sun column) — “Be gentle with yourselves today.” These were the words I sent with my third-period students today as class ended. We’d been through a lot together. A little over an hour earlier, as second period dismissed for break — a quick 15-minutes when students can get a snack, go outside for some fresh air, or hang out in the student lounge — the lockdown alarm sounded.

ANDREW CARTER: 25 years before the protests over Silent Sam, UNC athletes united over another cause (Durham-Herald reports) — More than 25 years ago, in the fall of 1992, four football players at UNC-Chapel Hill began a movement that has recently awakened. They fought then, through actions and words, for the construction of a free-standing black cultural center on campus. In the process, they laid a foundation for athlete-driven activism, one on which hundreds now stand in protest of Silent Sam.

ADAM WAGNER: N.C. leaders move to reinforce opposition to offshore drilling (Wilmington Star-News reports) -- Less than a month after the federal government took an important step toward issuing seismic testing permits, N.C. leaders have reiterated the state’s opposition to seismic and any other steps that could ultimately lead toward offshore drilling. Late last month approvals were issued to five companies seeking seismic permits to conduct tests between Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Cape May, New Jersey. The agency gave the companies permission to harass, but not kill, marine mammals and other species. Thursday, Gov. Roy Cooper joined a bipartisan group of East Coast governors stating strong opposition to both offshore drilling and seismic testing, as Atty. Gen. Josh Stein joined a group of attorneys general intervening in a lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service.

With late surge, Affordable Care Act enrollment in NC closes in on last year’s total (Charlotte Observer reports) -- More than 500,000 people enrolled in Affordable Care Act plans for 2019, and the federal government is still counting people who signed up. Big rate cuts by Blue Cross helped push up enrollment totals.