North Carolina Republicans hit a new low this week – even for a party known for the ways they’ve tried to subvert democracy in the state.
On Wednesday, the state’s House of Representatives overturned Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of Senate Bill 382. The new law moves $227 million into a relief fund while taking power away from the state’s governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and state superintendent – all positions won by Democrats in the 2024 election.
“To use folks’ incredible need for aid as a cloak for their political pettiness is frankly despicable,” Gov.-elect Josh Stein wrote on X.
The North Carolina GOP is known for its antics, but this is heinous. Hurricane Helene was devastating for the western part of the state. The storm led to the deaths of 103 people. Asheville didn’t have clean drinking water for 52 days. Some towns will never fully recover. Using a bill for hurricane relief as a way of restricting Democrats is just shameful.
North Carolina lawmakers swing and miss on helping residents recover
Flood damage is strewn across a bridge in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on Sept. 29, 2024, in Asheville, N.C.
The initial bill wasn’t even about Hurricane Helene. It was about making changes to the way dentistry is practiced in the state. That version of the bill lay dormant for months until just weeks ago − when it was assigned new conferees, gutted and rewritten to more than 100 pages behind closed doors, and voted on by the House.
After it went to the Senate, Cooper vetoed the bill on Nov. 26, calling it a “sham.”
Senate Bill 382 is a smorgasbord of subtle changes that allow Republicans to maintain power in North Carolina, despite them having fewer election night wins than Republicans in other states. That includes giving incoming Republican State Auditor Dave Boliek the power to appoint members to the State Board of Elections, a role that would have fallen on Democratic Gov.-elect Stein otherwise.
It also restricts incoming Attorney General Jeff Jackson from pursuing legal action that goes against the legislature’s wishes and prevents incoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Mo Green from appealing decisions made by the state’s charter school review board.
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Again – this bill should have been focused on getting aid to the people of western North Carolina. The state has only spent about $1 billion on Hurricane Helene relief. It’s just a fraction of the $53 billion needed to make repairs.
Instead, Republicans are using it to hold onto power just as they’re about to lose their supermajority in the North Carolina General Assembly.
This is standard behavior for North Carolina Republicans
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper gives an update on storm recovery efforts on Oct. 15, 2024, in Asheville.
This isn’t even the Republican Party’s first attempt to hold onto power this election cycle. One Republican candidate for Supreme Court lost his election by 734 votes then tried to toss out 60,000 ballots. It was denied by the Board of Elections this week.
It is also not the first time the state GOP has moved to restrict the power of incoming elected officials. In 2016, the Republican-controlled legislature stripped powers from then-incoming Gov. Cooper.
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It’s not even the first time the GOP has supported a bill that purports to do one thing while doing another. In 2013, the state legislature passed a law on motorcycle safety that also restricted abortion access in North Carolina. The discrepancy was so outrageous that opponents of the bill made #motorcyclevagina a meme.
Republicans aren’t the only ones who have done this. Democrats made similar grabs for power in the 1970s and 1980s.
Christopher Cooper, the director of the Haire Institute for Public Policy at Western Carolina University, points out that there are some differences in how the Democrats and Republicans made their plays for power. Namely, he notes that Republicans moved the latest bill through the legislature much more quickly, and with much less transparency.
“It’s a similar playbook, but it’s better executed now, and more ruthlessly executed now,” Cooper says.
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Ultimately it’s the voters who suffer from Republicans’ political games
The Democrats are suing GOP lawmakers. That’s the right move. Still, it’s a move they shouldn’t have to be making, and one that will cost the party resources and energy.
If the Republican Party in North Carolina truly cared about the people who lost everything during Hurricane Helene, they would have the integrity not to turn a relief bill into a political power grab.
Unfortunately, they can’t even manage that much. In the end, the only people who lose out are North Carolina voters.
Follow USA TODAY elections columnist Sara Pequeño on X, formerly Twitter, @sara__pequeno
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NC needs Helene relief. Republicans use it as power grab | Opinion
