Opinion Roundup: Opposing Thomas Farr, election board limbo, ACA signups lagging and more

Friday, Nov. 30, 2018 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: GOP Sen. Scott to oppose Trump court pick, NC Democrats call for full hearing in 9th Congressional district, immigrant deported after seeking refuge in Durham church, Honeywell expected to announce HQ move to Charlotte, addressing the leaks along the education-to-work pipeline and more.

JOHN WAGNER & SEUNG MIN KIM: Sen. Tim Scott says he will oppose Trump’s nominee for N.C. judgeship (Washington Post reports) -- Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) announced that he would oppose the confirmation of Thomas A. Farr, President Trump’s nominee for a U.S. district court seat, ending a bitter confirmation fight centered on questions about how much Farr knew about a decades-old effort to disenfranchise black voters in N.C. The decision from Scott, the Senate’s sole black Republican, came after the publication of a Justice Department memo in The Washington Post that Scott said raised concerns about Farr’s involvement in a controversial “ballot security” campaign.

CATIE EDMONDSON: S.C. Sen. Tim Scott Sinks Farr’s Judicial Nomination Amid Racial Controversy (New York Times reports) -- Tim Scott of South Carolina, the lone black Republican senator, said on Thursday that he would oppose the judicial nomination of Thomas A. Farr, a lawyer who defended a North Carolina voter identification law and a partisan gerrymander that a federal court said was drafted to suppress black votes “with surgical precision.”

BRENT KENDALL & JOSHUA JAMERSON: GOP Sen. Scott to Oppose Trump Court Pick, Blocking Nomination (Wall Street Journal reports) -- South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott said he would vote against the nomination of Thomas Farr, President Trump’s controversial nominee to fill what is the longest-open vacancy in the federal judiciary.

KEVIN FREKING: GOP senator's opposition likely sinks Trump judicial nominee (AP reports) -- A second Republican senator, Tim Scott of South Carolina, has said he will vote against President Donald Trump's nominee to serve as a district judge in North Carolina, likely dooming the prospects of Thomas Farr filling the nation's longest court vacancy.

TED BARRETT: Republican senator effectively sinks nomination of controversial NC judicial pick (CNN reports) -- Republican U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina announced he would oppose President Donald Trump's nominee to be a U.S. district judge in North Carolina, effectively ending the nomination that had been plagued with accusations that Thomas Farr supported measures that disenfranchised African-American voters.

EMMA DUMAIN & BRIAN MURPHY: Scott to oppose Farr nomination to federal bench in NC, ending chances of confirmation (McClartchy D.C. reports) -- Republican Sens. Tim Scott and Jeff Flake said they would not support Raleigh attorney Thomas Farr’s nomination to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of N.C., enough to stop his confirmation.

KIMBERLEY STRASSEL: The ABA strikes back (Wall Street Journal column) -- Democrats voted in lockstep against Thomas Farr and Jonathan Kobes and continue their character assassinations of Trump nominees, egged on by outside groups. The NAACP led the opposition to Mr. Farr, accusing him of voter suppression when he worked for Sen. Jesse Helms in 1984 and 1990 and later when he crafted and defended a state voter-identification law. The objective was to sway South Carolina’s Sen. Tim Scott—and the effort succeeded. Mr. Scott voted for cloture but said Thursday afternoon he would oppose confirmation. That leaves Mr. Farr short of a majority, at least in this Congress.

LAUREN HORSCH: Election Board limbo (The Insider reports) -- It's still unclear what will happen next week at the North Carolina Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement, but Republican lawmakers are preparing for "chaos." The NCSBE, as it's currently constructed, is a nine-member board, but in October a three-judge panel ruled the board unconstitutional. A stay in the ruling allows the board to operate as is until 11:59 p.m. on Monday. Lawmakers are now angling for a new stay -- without or without Gov. Roy Cooper's approval. An opinion letter from the N.C. Department of Justice, sent out by Gov. Roy Cooper's press office outlines reverting back to the five-member board, with nominees appointed by Cooper from a list of individuals supplied by the state Republican and Democratic parties.

Aha! NC voter fraud does exist -Just not the kind you think (Charlotte Observer) -- 9th District irregularities in Bladen County prompt defense of photo ID bill. Why that’s wrong.

AMY GARDNER & KIRK ROSS: Certification in limbo in N.C. House race as fraud investigation continues (Washington Post reports) -- Mounting evidence of voter fraud in N.C.’s 9th Congressional District could indefinitely delay the certification of a winner, as state election officials investigate whether hundreds of absentee ballots were illegally cast or destroyed. The North Carolina State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement has no plans to certify Republican Mark Harris’s 905-vote victory over Democrat Dan McCready, according to an agenda of a board meeting scheduled for Friday morning.

TRAVIS FAIN: NC Democrats call for full hearing, maybe a new election, in 9th Congressional (WRAL-TV reports) -- With a focus on Bladen County absentee ballots, affidavits suggest mischief.

STEVE HARRISON: NC Democratic Party Submits Affidavits Of Bladen County Voters Who Claim Wrongdoing (WFAE-FM reports) -- The state Democratic Party said "people's faith in democracy is at stake" in a letter to the N.C. Board of Elections, asking for an investigation and submitting affidavits from voters and officials who said there were improprieties in Bladen County leading up to the Nov. 6 election.

JIM MORRILL: ‘Tangled web’ in Bladen County has questions swirling about votes in the 9th District (Charlotte Observer reports) -- Allegations of voting irregularities in and around Bladen County swirled on Thursday, with the North Carolina Democratic Party calling for an official hearing and a flurry of affidavits surfacing involving absentee ballots. The allegations are apparently behind this week’s decision by the State Board of Elections and Ethics Reform to not certify the results of the congressional race in the 9th District.

Elections board back to weigh Congress race (AP reports) -- A congressional race result still hasn't been finalized as elections officials examine potential absentee ballot irregularities.

MAGGIE ASTOR & K.K. REBECCA LAI: What’s Stronger Than a Blue Wave? Gerrymandered Districts (New York Times reports) -- It wasn’t a wave everywhere. In North Carolina and other states, gerrymandered congressional maps played a big role in keeping down Democratic gains.

TYLER DUKES: Presumption of Fear Part 5: Laid Bare (WRAL-TV reports) -- In the aftermath of Christian Griggs' death, his family's questions have mounted about how the Harnett County Sheriff's Office and district attorney conducted the investigation

JONATHAN DREW: Immigrant deported after seeking refuge in N.C. church (AP reports) -- A Mexican immigrant who sought refuge in a Durham church for nearly a year was deported Thursday, federal authorities said.

MATTHEW BURNS: Two expansions to bring 129 jobs to Halifax County (WRAL-TV reports) -- Halifax County will see 129 new jobs and $14 million in private investment from expansions at two manufacturing companies.

JESSICA PATRICK: Some automatic payments accidentally drafted twice from NC taxpayers' bank accounts (WRAL-TV reports) -- Some people who owe taxes and pay monthly through an automatic bank draft may have been charged twice, according to the N.C. Department of Revenue.

Man accused of trying to help militants to stay in prison (AP reports) -- A NC man among the first Americans arrested in an FBI effort to find those eager to join militant fighters in Syria was sentenced to another two years in federal prison.

KATE MARTIN: Key staff resigns amid widening NC probe of alleged jail inmate abuse (Carolina Public Press reports) -- Officer who was initially named the new jail administrator says he quit after sheriff rescinded the promotion, then asked him to accept a demotion.

ANNE GORDON: We need to make it easier to vote (Durham-Herald Sun column) — Quite simply, it is still too hard to vote in our state. On election day I spent eight and a half hours poll monitoring outside the Chavis Community Center in Raleigh. At least 75 percent of the people who went in to vote came out without having voted. Most were African-American.

ELIZABETH WEMLINGER: My female students don’t want to run for office. That needs to change (Durham-Herald Sun column) — The massive interest in the 2018 midterm elections has caused a renewed interest in the role of women in politics. The question of what difference “the woman voter” or “the woman candidate” makes to American democracy has captured our attention.

MATTHEW BURNS: Lawmakers OK richer incentives as NJ company plans HQ move to Charlotte (WRAL-TV reports) -- A New Jersey company is expected to announce Friday that it will move its headquarters to Charlotte, bringing about 750 high-paying executive jobs.

EMERY DALESIO: Honeywell expected to announce HQ move to Charlotte (AP reports) -- Industrial conglomerate Honeywell International Inc. is expected to announce that it is moving its headquarters from New Jersey to Charlotte.

MATTHEW BURNS: Senate gives final approval to voter ID rules (WRAL-TV reports) -- The Senate gave final approval to legislation setting the rules for the recently approved constitutional amendment requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls.

MARK TOSCZAK: Plan to Peg State Employee Health Plan Prices to Medicare Rates May Face Legislative Opposition (NC Health News reports) — Republican members of the state House of Representatives are floating a bill that would prevent the State Health Plan from making any changes to how it reimburses doctors and hospitals until 2022.

CANDACE SWEAT: 'It was challenging:' Business owners still struggling to recover from Hurricane Florence (WRAL-TV reports) – State lawmakers unanimously approved nearly $300 million in additional state spending to aid in Hurricane Florence recovery as local business owners asses what it will take for things to return to normal.

Legislature finalizes how to spend $300M in hurricane relief (AP reports) — Nearly $300 million in additional state spending to address North Carolina's recovery from Hurricane Florence has received quick and unanimous approval from the legislature.

EDUCATION

BRYAN MIMS: High school Holocaust exhibit shines light on dark history (WRAL-TV reports) -- The darkness in the media center at Western Harnett High School is a metaphor for the darkness that radiated across Europe during the 1940s.

DAVE DEWITT: UNC-CH Trustee Weighing Silent Sam Once Worked For South African Government During Apartheid (WUNC-FM reports) -- A current member of the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees is bringing a unique perspective to his deliberations on Silent Sam, the Confederate monument torn down by protesters in August. William Keyes once worked as a paid political operative for the government of South Africa during apartheid. Keyes worked with the South African government in the mid-to-late 1980s.

FERREL GUILLORY: A Christmas Carol - Education for our times (EdNC column) -- A Christmas Carol was published in December 1843, in early Victorian Britain, a period in which sons of wealthy, but not poor, families had opportunity for school-education, while girls were educated at home if at all. Six years earlier in the United States, Horace Mann had launched the common school movement that gave rise to public education across the nation. Of course — and thankfully — Americans do not face the depth of want and ignorance that Dickens observed in 1840s London. And yet, a tight linkage remains between schooling and the poverty of today’s America. The modern economy makes some education beyond high school — in a community college or a university — an increasing imperative for attaining a middle-class standard of living.

ROBERT KINLAW: Sampson Community College teaches a village to raise a hog (EdNC reports) — Even if you’ve never set foot in Sampson County, you might have depended on it for a hot meal. A look at North Carolina’s agricultural statistics paints a pretty clear picture: Sampson County is the number one farming county in the state. 

MARK SORRELLS: Addressing the leaks along the education-to-work pipeline (EdNC columns) — Recently, a lot of attention in education policy has been focused on educational attainment and the loss points that occur along the education-to-work continuum. The economic development community has also been vocal in framing the challenge employers face in trying to fill open positions in a tight labor market.

ANN DOSS HELMS: CMS lists its most crowded schools. What comes next matters to kids and taxpayers (Charlotte Observer reports) — Tensions over school crowding and boundaries have threatened to split Mecklenburg County and reshape public education across the state. The Municipal Education Advisory Committee, which will hold its first meeting Tuesday, arose from CMS leaders’ dismay over a new state law that allows four suburban towns to create municipal charter schools.

MATTHEW BURNS: Affordable Care Act signups lagging in NC (WRAL-TV reports) -- With a little more than two weeks left in the open enrollment period, signups for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act are down 14 percent this year.

SAAD B. OMER: Why small groups of vaccine refusers can make large groups of people sick (Fayetteville Observer column) -- Infectious diseases such as chickenpox and measles — once a rite of passage for American children — have been made uncommon because of vaccines. However, in recent years, an increasing number of parents are refusing vaccines, resulting in outbreaks.

VAUGHN HAGERTY: River Watch says its involvement ensured record NC fine for chemical maker (Carolina Public Press reports) -- Through litigation, River Watch gained a seat at the negotiating table as state regulators and a chemical company discussed penalties.

Missing pieces in Chemours agreement? (Fayetteville Observer) -- Just a week ago, the proposed pollution settlement between the state Department of Environmental Quality and Chemours appeared to be a good deal. It may still be. But this week some caution lights began flashing, suggesting there may be more issues to clear up before anyone can feel safe again. The alarm was sounded by the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority, which has questioned how the settlement would apply.

TRISTA TALTON: Corps’ Rule Could Dash Town’s Sand Plan (Coastal Review Online reports) — Sand that Holden Beach has received for years to re-nourish its east-end oceanfront may instead go to a neighboring island, a prospect that caught town officials by surprise and questioning why the sudden change.

MARK PRICE: Nation’s biting fire ant invasion expands north again through heart of North Carolina (Charlotte Observer reports) — The plague of invasive, aggressive fire ants in North Carolina has shifted farther north and west, prompting the state to add three more counties to the official “fire ant quarantine” area.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Anderson (News & Observer obit) -- Franklin Delano Roosevelt Anderson, a beloved pioneer and community leader, passed away on Saturday in his home in Chapel Hill, surrounded by family and friends. Professionally, Franklin was a trailblazer. He developed Custom Molders, Inc, where he was President and CEO for almost two decades. As a University Trustee, a government Commissioner, and a fund Director, he made a profound impact and earned respect. He was named Entrepreneur of the Year, and Small Business Person of the Year. His awards and distinctions are too numerous to list but include the Order of the Longleaf Pine, an Honorary Doctorate of Laws, and the Robert J Brown Trailblazer in Business award.