Opinion Roundup: Mark Harris not running in dispute US House race, fixing redistricting, grading scale and more

Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: Well-known Republicans steer clear of disputed US House race, Mark Harris not running in new 9th District election, a sensible Idea to fix redistricting, lawmakers discuss school safety proposal, reaction to keeping same-sex marriage ban draws mixed reaction from local Methodists, Wilson seeks to bridge urban-rural divide and more.

TYLER DUKES: 3 search warrants demand financial, phone records in 9th District probe (WRAL-TV reports) -- Investigators with the State Bureau of Investigation and the Wake County District Attorney's Office have issued three sealed search warrants seeking information related to McCrae Dowless, the man at the center of a election fraud probe that just last week prompted a new race for North Carolina's 9th Congressional District.

THE DAILY: A fraudulent election in N.C. (New York Times reports) -- For months, allegations of fraud have swirled around a congressional race in North Carolina’s Ninth District, but the Republican at the center of the controversy has held on. Why is he giving up now?

PHILIIP BUMP: Mitch McConnell finds a novel villain after N.C.’s fraud-riddled election: Democrats (Washington Post column) -- In-person voter fraud, which has never been found to have happened to any significant degree in recent years. What happened in North Carolina involved absentee ballots and has often been described as election fraud since it wasn’t the voters themselves who are alleged to have broken the law. None of this, though, is how Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell described it in a speech. “Anyone who’s been attentive to the news these past few days has learned about the complete debacle that unfolded in last November’s election for North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District,” McConnell (R-Ky.) said. “Soon after Election Day, allegations of illegal ballot harvesting and vote tampering clouded a close result … The wrongdoing seemed to have benefited the Republican candidate over the Democrat,” he continued. “Just last week we saw the state Board of Elections unanimously call for a new election.” McConnell is not one to misspeak, particularly when reading from prepared remarks. His “seemed to have benefited” here is intentional, an effort not to withhold judgment but to cast doubt.

EMERY DALESIO & GARY ROBERTSON: Well-known Republicans steer clear of disputed US House race (AP reports) -- Three well-known Republicans are staying out of a North Carolina congressional race that had to be re-run because suspicions of ballot fraud tainted the first try, leaving lesser-known candidates to try to maintain the GOP's 50-year hold on the seat.

MATTHEW BURNS & LAURA LESLIE: Mark Harris not running in new 9th District election (WRAL-TV reports) -- Citing ill health, Republican Mark Harris said he won't run in a new election for the 9th Congressional District seat.

ALAN BLINDER: Mark Harris, Tainted by Fraud Allegations, Will Not Run in New Election (New York Times reports) -- Harris cited his health and said he would not run in the new election in the Ninth District. Last year, his campaign funded a rogue voter-turnout effort.

ISAAC STANLEY-BECKER: Gun enthusiast and real-life ‘Boss Hogg’ seizes GOP mantle in congressional race tainted by fraud (Washington Post reports) -- White suit. White hat. Cigar between his teeth. Stony Rushing, a county commissioner in Union County, N.C., is the spitting image of Boss Hogg, the despotic but also bumbling county commissioner in the hit television series “The Dukes of Hazzard.” Most elected officials would spurn the comparison, especially those eyeing a seat in Congress. But not this local politician and gun range owner, who dressed as the grifter for Halloween last year, on the eve of the November election that would solidify his local following and set him up to seek higher office. The 47-year-old Republican has been tipped to take over for Mark Harris, the Republican nominee in a North Carolina congressional contest roiled by revelations that his campaign had financed a scheme to tamper with absentee ballots.

EMERY DALESIO: GOP candidate in disputed US House race not running again (AP reports) -- The Republican candidate whose narrow lead in a North Carolina congressional race was thrown out because of suspicions of ballot fraud announced Tuesday he will not run in the newly ordered do-over election, saying he needs surgery late next month.

FELICIA SONMEZ & AMY GARDNER: Republican in congressional race tainted by ballot fraud says he will not run in new election (Washington Post reports) -- Mark Harris, the Republican nominee in a North Carolina congressional race tainted by ballot fraud, announced Tuesday that he will not run in the new election for the seat. Harris said in a statement that he has decided not to seek the 9th District seat because of health problems.

VALERIE BAUERLEIN: Republican Mark Harris Pulls Out of New North Carolina Congressional Election (Wall Street Journal reports) -- Mark Harris’s decision to drop his run for North Carolina’s ninth congressional district comes less than a week after the state elections board called for a new election.

KATE MARTIN; Judge grants domestic violence protection order against NC lawmaker (Carolina Public Press reports) – State Rep. Cody Henson, R-Transylvania, committed domestic violence against his estranged wife, a judge found during a civil proceeding, awarding her a yearlong domestic violence protection order. After hearing lasting several hours at the Transylvania County courthouse in Brevard, Judge Fritz Mercer ruled in favor of Kelsey Henson, wife of state Cody Henson. Kelsey Henson said she is relieved with the outcome of the hearing, during which she presented copies of harassing text messages and records of phone calls between her and Cody Henson as evidence.

Will state of our state include action? (Fayetteville Observer) -- Gov. Roy Cooper told the members of the General Assembly — and residents across the state who watched on TV Monday evening — that “the state of our state is determined.” Good line. We hope it accurately reflects what those lawmakers are prepared to do in this session. Rather than propose a to-do list of new initiatives, Cooper stuck to some longstanding themes that have been around for years but were held at bay by a powerful Republican majority

A Sensible Idea to Fix Redistricting (Southern Pines Pilot) -- There’s plenty of hypocrisy in state politics to go around, especially when it comes to the matter of redistricting. Republicans were for it before they were against it. And the Democrats were against it before they were for it.

TRAVIS FAIN: Bill filed to stop State Health Plan changes (WRAL-TV reports) -- One of the biggest fights of this young session pits hospitals against state employees.

MATTHEW BURNS: Lawmakers discuss school safety proposal (WRAL-TV reports) -- A state House committee discusses legislation designed to improve safety in North Carolina schools.

JESSICA PATRICK: Bill would keep school performance grades on 15-point scale (WRAL-TV reports) -- The General Assembly is considering a bill that would make permanent the grading scale used in state public schools.

Saying no to a partisan school board (Greensboro News & Record) -- In an encouraging outbreak of good sense, a bipartisan group of Guilford County state legislators is seeking to fix what has been broken.

LIZ BELL: House education committee passes school safety measures (EdNC reports) — A bill with recommendations from the House Select Committee on School Safety — including threat assessment teams for each school and school resource officer training — moved successfully through the House K-12 education committee Tuesday. The school safety committee was established after a mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, left 17 students and staff members dead in February 2018.

EMERY DALESIO: Colleges can't confirm student IDs OK for voting by deadline (AP reports) -- North Carolina colleges can't guarantee that student identifications will meet the state's new legal requirements for voting by mid-March, raising doubts about whether thousands of young adults could be blocked from the ballot box.

AMANDA LAMB: 'It is very uncomfortable': Transgender woman wants out of Harnett male prison (WRAL-TV reports) -- In October 2017, Kanautica Zayre-Brown was sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison for insurance fraud and other crimes. She is now believed to be the state's only post-operative transgender inmate.

Another N.C. sheriff to reject ICE detainees (AP reports) -- A sheriff in Buncombe County says he will no longer honor detainees for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

BRIE HANDGRAAF: Wilson seeks to bridge urban-rural divide (Wilson Times reports) -- When the Institute for Emerging Issues surveyed 31,000 people, 158 issues were identified as “the most important” problems facing the state in the next five years. Eventually the issues were whittled down to one overarching concept: connecting rural and urban communities for a cohesive state. Institute Executive Director Leslie Boney said, during a Wilson Chamber of Commerce Public Policy Series session, that while technology has connected us to the broader world, it has had the opposite affect on our relationships with those near us. Fewer North Carolinas are volunteering, working with neighbors and giving to charity than ever before.

NEEL KELLER: Dare Commissioners hear from Hatteras on bridge naming (Outer Banks Sentinel reports) -- There was another skirmish over the new Oregon Inlet bridge last week as a group of Hatteras Island residents — speaking remotely from the Fessenden Center Annex in Buxton during the Dare Commissioners’ Feb. 19 meeting — registered their displeasure with the effort to name it after former State Sen. Marc Basnight.

Compared to other Republicans, Tillis looks downright brave (Charlotte Observer) — Whether he’s a big believer in the Constitution or just terrified of a President Bernie Sanders with unchecked power, U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis got it right Tuesday on President Trump’s so-called national emergency at the Mexican border.

TEO ARMUS: Mayor Lyles forms a committee in response to ICE fear. Not enough, some say (Charlotte Observer reports) — When it comes to supporting Charlotte’s immigrants, city government officials said their actions will speak louder than words. But immigration advocates wanted words first. In the wake of a wave of mass arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier in February, Mayor Vi Lyles said she has created an ad hoc city council committee that will conduct outreach to the city’s immigrant communities.

TIM FUNK: Reaction to keeping same-sex marriage ban draws mixed reaction from local Methodists (Charlotte Observer reports) — For some Charlotte-area Methodists, their denomination’s decision Tuesday to stick by its ban on LGBTQ clergy and same-sex marriage was a rejection of Jesus’ call for inclusive love. But for others, the delegates’ 438-374 vote to approve what was called the Traditional Plan strongly endorsed core Christian teachings that Methodists have believed since the Protestant denomination was formed.

MARY KATE MURPHY: As Tech’s Role Expands in Moore County Classrooms, Keeping Up Gets Harder (Southern Pines Pilot reports) -- Once the bell rings at Crains Creek Middle and David DeMolet’s sixth grade social studies students trickle in, the offbeat rhythm of heavy book bags hitting the floor never comes.

Police officers could increase school safety (Winston-Salem Journal) -- Placing police officers in more of North Carolina’s public schools could be a positive step toward increasing school safety — if it’s done the right way.

Saying no to a partisan school board (Greensboro News & Record reports) — In an encouraging outbreak of good sense, a bipartisan group of Guilford County state legislators is seeking to fix what has been broken. The identical bills they filed Tuesday in the N.C. House and the N.C. Senate would revert Guilford County school board elections to nonpartisan.

MICHAEL BRAGG: Simington named as interim superintendent of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools (Winston-Salem Journal reports) — Kenneth Simington will serve as the interim superintendent of Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools while the school board searches for its next superintendent. Simington, the district’s deputy superintendent, was confirmed as the interim by the school board Tuesday night during the board meeting. His time as interim takes effect March 1, based on the contract approved by the board.

TAYLOR KNOPF: As mental health needs rise among farmers, experts are reaching out (NC Health News reports) — When Russ Vollmer’s father passed away five years ago, he left his job and went home to become the fifth generation to run his family’s farm in Franklin County.

DENISE LAVOIE: Dominion to ask Supreme Court to hear pipeline appeal (AP reports) -- Dominion Energy said it will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its appeal after a lower court refused to reconsider a ruling tossing out a permit that would have allowed the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to cross two national forests, including parts of the Appalachian Trail.

ADAM WAGNER: Retired general: Climate change is ‘accelerant to instability’ (Wilmington Star-News reports) -- Stephen Cheney, CEO of the American Security Project, spoke at an event on the Battleship North Carolina

NEEL KELLER: BOEM may be coming to the Outer Banks, Drilling opponents prepare for May meeting (Outer Banks Sentinel) -- The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is currently expected to hold an open house meeting regarding the proposed 2019-'24 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program on May 14 at the Ramada Plaza in Kill Devil Hills.

JENNIFER ALLEN: Wildlife Shelter Prepares for Baby Season (Coastal Review reports) -- The official start of baby season for the Outer Banks Wildlife Shelter was Valentine’s Day. “We start seeing baby owls, bunnies, opossums and squirrels around this time, baby ducks and geese at Easter and full-blown baby season is May to September,” said Brooke Breen, OWLS executive director. That means OWLS, a wildlife rehabilitation center in Carteret County, needs lots of extra hands.

Sheriff says mother impersonates daughter in court, then jailed (AP reports) -- Authorities in Chatham County say a woman posed as her daughter at the courthouse before she was jailed on existing warrants.

JEFF HAMPTON: So-called Indian Ridge linked to Lost Colony by local researcher (Norfolk Virginian-Pilot reports) -- "This site is about more than the Lost Colony," said Hatteras native and businessman Mel Covey.

Pender County man wins $1 million lottery prize (Wilmington Star-News reports) -- Gary Sweet of Rocky Point took home $424,502 from N.C. Education Lottery