Opinion Roundup: Disputed N.C. election, partisan gerrymandering, advising on Silent Sam and more

Saturday, Jan. 12, 2019 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: AG Stein pushing for same-sex domestic violence protections, Congress may resolve disputed 9th district election, former Rep. Dollar joins speaker's staff, Corolla wild horses threatened by deadly "swamp cancer," NC county to pay ACLU $285K for prayer lawsuit and more.

BETH REINHARD: Justice officials from Washington were briefed months ago on allegations against McCrae Dowless, operative at center of N.C. election fraud scandal (Washington Post reports) -- Nine months before allegations of absentee ballot fraud tainted a congressional race in N.C., the state elections board gave officials from the Justice Department’s main office evidence that the same political operative had used similar tactics in 2016. On Jan. 31, 2018, the chief of the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, which oversees prosecutions of election crimes, met in Raleigh with state officials and U.S. attorney Robert Higdon, according to an elections board spokesman.

EMERY DALESIO: Congress may resolve disputed N.C. election (AP reports) -- A U.S. House member signaled that Congress may ultimately resolve the nation's last undecided congressional race. The head of the House Administration Committee, Democratic Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren of California, asked N.C. elections officials to preserve all original notes, recordings or documents used in investigating allegations of ballot fraud in the state's 9th District. The U.S. House may also investigate and ultimately determine the rightful winner of the disputed seat, Lofgren wrote to the state elections board's executive director.

BRIAN MURPHY & DAN KANE: NC election violations alleged in 2016 were aired with Justice Department official (Durham Herald-Sun reports) -- State findings of North Carolina election manipulation in 2016 were elevated as far as a top Justice Department official in Washington, D.C., but so far no charges have been filed by prosecutors at any level. The head of the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section met with staff from the North Carolina state board of elections about allegedly improper election activities in Bladen County that occurred during the 2016 elections, according to emails.

CHRISTOPHER HOOKS & MIKE SPIES: Documents show NRA and GOP Senate candidates, including N.C.’s Burr, coordinated ads (Mother Jones reports) -- The National Rifle Association appears to have illegally coordinated its political advertising with Republican candidates in at least three recent high-profile US Senate races, according to Federal Communications Commission records. In Senate races in North Carolina in 2016 and Missouri and Montana in 2018, the gun group’s advertising blitzes on behalf of GOP candidates Richard Burr, Josh Hawley and Matt Rosendale were authorized by the very same media consultant that the candidates themselves used—an apparent violation of laws designed to prevent independent groups from synchronizing their efforts with political campaigns.

TONY PUGH: Will 2019 bring an end to partisan gerrymandering? (N.C. Policy Watch/Newsroom) -- Cases from NC, Virginia and Maryland could provide vehicle for Supreme Court to issue a definitive ruling Three U.S. Supreme Court gerrymandering cases originating in Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina could change control of one state capitol and possibly establish a new standard for how far states can go in drawing partisan political boundaries after the 2020 elections. As statehouses prepare for redistricting, the once-a-decade re-drawing of electoral maps following the 2020 census, lawmakers are turning to the courts for guidance on how to create political districts that benefit the majority party without violating the constitution.

TRAVIS FAIN: Former Rep. Dollar joins speaker's staff (WRAL-TV reports) -- Nelson Dollar, a Wake County Republican, lost his re-election bid in November. He will make $117,000 in his new state government job.

LAURA LESLIE & TRAVIS FAIN: AG Stein pushing for same-sex domestic violence protections (WRAL reports) — NC is the only state in the U.S. that doesn't issue domestic violence restraining orders for victims in same-sex dating relationships. A lawsuit now before the state Court of Appeals could change that, and Attorney General Josh Stein filed a brief on behalf of the state this week, calling on the court to declare this portion of NC's law unconstitutional.

RICHARD CRAVER: N.C. SNAP recipients will receive February benefits early (Winston-Salem Journal reports) – N.C. recipients of federal food and nutrition services (SNAP) benefits will receive their February distributions by Jan. 20 as part of the U.S. Agriculture Department’s response to the federal government shutdown.

NC jail ends solitary confinement for teenagers (AP reports) — A NC county sheriff has ended the jail's practice of holding 16- and 17-year-olds in solitary confinement. Mecklenburg County’s Garry McFadden says the move is intended to bolster relations between young inmates and detention officers. He said the disciplinary detention unit stripped teens of their dignity.

NC county to pay ACLU $285K for prayer lawsuit (AP reports) — The years-long fight over a NC county commission's practice of opening meetings with Christian prayers and inviting audience members to join is over, with commissioners agreeing to pay $285,000 in legal fees.

KATHERINE PERALTA & BRENDAN MARKS: NASCAR lays off dozens of employees, including in Charlotte (Charlotte Observer reports) — NASCAR is cutting dozens of jobs amid a proposed bid to buy International Speedway Corporation, which owns and manages racing facilities that host NASCAR races. Roughly 50 NASCAR employees in a range of positions were let go on Friday, according to multiple news outlets including the Associated Press. That represents about 5 percent of the company’s workforce, the SportsBusiness Journal reported.

It’s past time to shut down the shutdown (Wilmington Star-News) — The government shutdown is dragging into its third week, on its way to becoming the longest in American history. This sort of thing became a fad in the days of Newt Gingrich, when contending sides in Washington began playing chicken with the government budget in an effort to force the other side to cave on some great moral issue or other.

Time’s running out for North Carolina’s atrocious ag-gag law (Wilson Times) -- A federal court ruling in Iowa could signal the unraveling of N.C.’s harsh, punitive and shortsighted anti-whistleblower law. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa struck down that state’s ag-gag law, ruling that making it a crime to gain access to an agricultural production facility under false pretenses violates the First Amendment. Ag-gag laws have spread in an effort to stifle the release of undercover videos showing animal cruelty and inhumane or unsanitary conditions in factory farms. N.C.’s version, enacted in June 2015 after lawmakers overrode then-Gov. Pat McCrory’s veto, sets a penalty of $5,000 per day for anyone who records video or sound on an employer’s property “and uses the recording to breach the person’s duty of loyalty to the employer.”

Marchers protest man’s killing by state trooper (Wilmington Star-News reports) — Chants of “no justice, no peace” filled Shallotte’s Main Street and Mulberry Park on Friday as about 75 marchers protested a N.C. State Highway Patrol trooper’s killing of a local man.

MANDY MITCHELL: With winter whittling away at school days, school districts seek more flexible calendars (WRAL-TV reports) -- North Carolina schools are finding it hard to schedule makeup days after snowstorms and other weather events. They would like to have more flexibility in scheduling.

N.C. school board stops takeover of 2nd failing school (AP reports) — Multiple media report that the State Board of Education will allow Wayne County school leaders a third option beyond shutting down Carver Heights Elementary School next year or turning it over to a private operator.

JANE STANCILL: UNC faculty hopes to advise on Silent Sam, but it’s unclear exactly how much (Durham-Herald Sun reports) — The UNC Faculty Council — the elected faculty body at the Chapel Hill campus — passed a resolution to form a committee that “shall be included by the university administration in all planning” for the ultimate disposition of the statue. It’s unclear whether the faculty advisory panel will have a formal function, or any sway, over what happens, despite the resolution’s insistence.

Corolla wild horses threatened by deadly "swamp cancer” (Norfolk Virginian-Pilot reports) -- The Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company in Virginia euthanized seven ponies with the disease between October and December.

BRUCE HENDERSON: NC banjo master Earl Scruggs reached an audience of millions Friday. Ask Google why (Charlotte Observer reports) — He’s been dead six years years now, but NC-born banjo master Earl Scruggs found a new audience of millions on Friday. Google featured Scruggs as a Google Doodle, the images that regularly mark special occasions on the search engine site. Scruggs would have turned 95 last Sunday, and Friday is the fifth anniversary of the Earl Scruggs Center in Shelby.

JIM MORRILL: Dexter Yager, who converted dreams into a multi-million dollar business, has died (Charlotte Observer reports) — Dexter Yager sold dreams. His dreams of prosperity helped fill up the old Charlotte Coliseum with thousands of fellow dreamers. They made him a player in politics. They helped him acquire millions of dollars along with a fleet of more than 50 cars, including Rolls-Royces and Mercedes, four boats and a private jet.