Dear Judges: Ken Ripley Editor-Publisher Spring Hope Enterprise

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1 Dear Judges: As I went through all my editorials for the year in review for the regular editorial contest, I noticed that more than half of them for the year dealt in some way with the law, usually in the political and law-making process. And, of course, we did editorials on HB2, voter ID, and other mishaps coming out of the legislature. But frequently, I noticed, that despite different subjects, a common thread running through the editorials was a concern for process, openness, and the importance of upholding the rule of law. I selected the following editorials as a but a small sampling of our concerns. Whether or not we win any award, we hope we are contributing to the public not just as an explainer of the law but as an advocate for good law, good law-making, and good law-makers. I hope you enjoy these submissions. Ken Ripley Editor-Publisher Spring Hope Enterprise

2 PAGE 4 SPRING HOPE ENTERPRISE OCTOBER 1, 2015 Deceit in the final days Nothing is more dangerous than legislators trying to pass all their business before they go home because all promises of open government and any pretense of careful deliberation go out of the window, and the last thing any legislature apparently cares about is whether the public good is served. It certainly hasn t been served the last two weeks in North Carolina under the current Republican leadership. Early last week, Senate leaders turned a bill on playgrounds into a piggy bank for charter schools, bypassing committee review and public hearings to take away money from the public schools used for such things as transportation and school lunches and send the funding to charter schools, many of which don t even offer the services public schools are required to provide. At the end of last week, legislative leaders secretly inserted into a bill moving primaries to March a provision that allows legislative leaders of both parties to collect and pass out unlimited campaign funds to their own members, bypassing regular campaign laws and party restrictions. This would allow special interests to pour all the money they want to into the coffers of the legislators without any transparency or accountability to the public pay to play politics at its absolute, shameless worst. And late Monday night, in a meeting of a conference committee appointed to work out the differences between House and Senate versions of a professional counseling bill, legislators added provisions to the bill that would take away the authority of towns, cities, and counties to pass certain types of ordinances and policies regulating employment and housing practices. Neither of the original bills had anything to do with local government powers. None of these last-minute changes benefit the public, but even if they had any merit at all, none of these bills was introduced and voted on after any kind of committee review, public hearing, or even explanations to legislators. They were all tucked into unrelated bills without warning or explanation and adopted on the command of Republican leaders, not through any rational deliberation or debate. This kind of legislative chicanery is a disgusting display of political arrogance. Legislators should be ashamed and voters should be ashamed of them, too.

3 PAGE 4 SPRING HOPE ENTERPRISE MARCH 24, 2016 Legislature sinks even lower If there is any remaining doubt that the Republican party is unfit, intellectually and morally, to run the state government, this week s special session should dispel it. When it seemed impossible that legislators could sink any lower, they sank right through the floor in their alarm at transgender men and women trying to go to the bathroom. The folks in Raleigh have either lost their collective minds or are simply revealing the new facets of their ignorance, bigotry, and arrogance. The special session was first endorsed by Gov. McCrory and later called by Lt. Gov. Dan Forest and House Speaker Tim Moore, and supported by Senate Majority Leader Phil Berger. The session was in response to recent action by the Charlotte City Council to expand protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people, including a provision that would allow transgender people to use the restroom and locker facilities of the gender with which they identify. It was a fairly common sense, and certainly morally proper, action similar to laws passed in hundreds of other communities. But the idea that some poor guy transforming into a woman at some point wants to use the ladies room set the governor and his political allies off enough to call the legislature back into session. The idea that letting transgendered people use the appropriate restroom would affect public safety is itself simply ridiculous. As Chris Fitzsimon points out on this page, there s absolutely no evidence elsewhere that this provision has done any harm. Transgendered people have a biological disorder whose legitimate if rare treatment is to change their sex. They are not predators; they just want to do their business in peace, without harassment or attack. The special session has other big problems. Legislative leaders, against their own rules, are refusing to share their bill with legislators in advance. Advance copies of the proposals that have leaked indicate the legislature is prepared to go far beyond the bathroom provision in yet another attack on the right of local communities to govern their own affairs. But all of it at heart is a gross misuse of legislative power and reflects a mentality unworthy of a civilized and Christian society, a despicable abomination on the eve of Easter.

4 PAGE 4 SPRING HOPE ENTERPRISE APRIL 7, 2016 Put HB2 out of our misery There s only one place for HB2, the so-called bathroom bill passed in less than a day by the Republicandominated legislature, and that s the toilet from which the bigotry, misunderstandings, and cynical manipulation of voter fears created the bill in the first place. North Carolina has become the object of national derision and contempt, facing a terrible backlash of lost jobs and revenues as major businesses and national organizations back away from the ignorance and bigotry contained in HB2. The legislation was the brainchild of Gov. Pat McCrory, Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, Senate Majority Leader Phil Berger, and House Speaker Tim Moore in response to actions by the Charlotte city council adding language protecting transgendered people to the city s otherwise non-controversial non-discrimination laws, allowing them to use public facilities whose gender they identified with. Despite no evidence backing their view, the GOP lawmakers fanned unfair and unrealistic fears that somehow allowing somebody to use a bathroom with which they identified would be a cover for predators and molesters a nonsensical argument devoid of common sense and lacking any form of human compassion. Even worse, the legislation produced by the Republicans, as usual, went far beyond bathrooms. Claiming, falsely, to be a non-discrimination law, the bill made sure that the rights of gays and transgendered people were voided throughout the state; voided community legislation that protected them; and even denied the redress of state courts for anyone fired for discrimination. And this odious bill was introduced, passed, and signed in less than a day without any public scrutiny, expert testimony, or genuine debate a violation of every Republican promise to run an open, transparent, and responsible government. McCrory and his allies blame the gay lobby and the media for the outcry. But it s not their fault; the advocates are defending themselves and the media are describing what s going on. HB2, intended to be hurtful to small segment of the population, has turned out to be hurtful to the entire state. The only way to undo even some of the damage is to repeal the bill. Even then, the damage to North Carolina s reputation as a progressive, intelligent, welcoming state has already been done. Republican leaders and legislators have failed North Carolina again.

5 PAGE 4 SPRING HOPE ENTERPRISE JUNE 9, 2016 Yet another bad bill A little bill designating the state cat of North Carolina is another example of what is wrong with the Republican leadership in the general assembly. It is a symbol not of a legitimate debate but of the sneaky, underhanded, definitely non-transparent way the right-wing chooses to govern rather than offer open debate and transparent accountability the party promised the people of North Carolina when it took control over the legislature in Last year the House passed a bill naming the bobcat as the official state cat, fulfilling a request from an elementary school class. This week the Senate Rules Committee stripped out all mention of cats from the bill and turned it into legislation eliminating Certificates of Need which regulate the placement and expansion of new health care facilities something the Senate wanted to do last year but couldn t get support in the House. The newly redesigned bill now goes to the Senate Health Committee, having bypassed legislative deadlines and pesky public input. The bill itself is controversial and the question of whether and how to regulate expensive health care investments deserves a thorough debate. The problem with the Senate action is that yet again it short-circuits that debate and puts the decision behind closed doors. The use of placeholder bills, empty of all but a title, is a common, bipartisan practice, usually just biding time while a bill is written. But turning one legitimate bill into another is a deceptive maneuver, robbing the original bill of consideration and sneaking another subject into the process. The Senate routinely abuses good government. It transformed a relatively innocuous voter-id bill into a discriminatory assault on voter rights. It took a simple transgender bathroom bill, itself misguided, and tacked on a wish list of discrimination that has had catastrophic effects on North Carolina and its future. Good bills can stand open debate. All bills need it. The process that has transformed the bobcat bill, regardless of the bill s merits, is bad for North Carolina and is another broken promise of good and open government.

6 PAGE 4 SPRING HOPE ENTERPRISE JUNE 30, 2016 A country in peril Independence Day is an important reminder as well as a celebration of how this country was founded and the ideals upon which it was founded in As in years past, Americans will use Monday s holiday to enjoy cookouts, trips to the beach, parades, and fireworks, grateful for a day off. But this year a little somber reflection needs to be included among the festivities. Our country is in trouble, with a government in the hands of the rich and powerful who are determined to stay that way and a population in the mood to send a message of discontent even if it means making self-destructive electoral choices. For the last few decades, the economic reality is that the top one percent of Americans have vastly improved their circumstances and their wealth at the expense of everyone else, particularly the middle class. The Republican leadership in Congress and in the state legislature in Raleigh have done their best to cut government services that help people in need as well as core functions like education while shifting the tax burden from a progressive income tax that taxes most those with the most to consumption-based taxes, like the sales tax, that adversely affect average citizens more. In North Carolina, the income tax refunds have been more than offset by increased sales taxes on more and more services. The right-wing politicians have taken advantage of the lapse of judgment that elected them to pursue a radical social agenda, including the HB2 attacks on gays and transgender citizens, voter suppression, failure to enact reasonable gun control, attacks on existing abortion rights, elimination of help for the poor and unemployed, and an unbelievable assault on public education. In the meantime, the realities of the global economy, the strains caused by immigration, and the misery and violence spreading terrorism throughout the world have created a climate of fear and suspicion overseas and in the United States similar to the mood in the early 1930 s. The unexpected decision of Britain last week to leave the European Union against its own best interest, with economic consequences here in the U.S., was a product of that unhappiness. Many British citizens later said they voted to leave the EU as a protest vote, not expecting it to win, and now regret their vote. The candidacy of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, probably the most unstable and unqualified candidate ever to win a party nomination, is the product of similar frustration. He s seen as a protest vote, a message to the elite. But he would be a disaster as president. America doesn t need protest votes. We need to elect honest, stable leaders with experience. We need some common sense, sound decision-making, and a shared commitment to make our fragile democratic experiment work for everyone. That was true in It is still true now. And the outcome is in doubt.

7 PAGE 4 SPRING HOPE ENTERPRISE AUGUST 4, 2016 Bad leaders, bad laws North Carolina s infamous voter ID law and this year s HB2 bathroom law have three things in common: they both purport to solve problems that don t exist; they both discriminate against people; and they both are unconstitutional. The voter ID bill has already been rejected by the Court of Appeals and, based on federal precedents in other cases, HB2 seems headed for the same, well deserved ash heap. And that s where both laws belong. The voter ID law was passed a couple of years ago by the Republican right-wing in charge of the legislature and cheerfully signed by Gov. Pat McCrory in an effort, they said, to head off voter fraud. The HB2 bill was passed and signed in 13 hours earlier this year supposedly to protect the safety and privacy of North Carolinians from transgender males and females who want to use the bathrooms of their new sex. Both bills, of course, were larded with other provisions that were equally or even more suspect. In a very blunt assessment, the Fourth Circuit shredded key parts of the voter ID bill, finding that North Carolina didn t have enough voter fraud to warrant the law, that the law was ineffective in preventing such fraud if it did exist, and that the law was passed with a clear intent to discriminate against African-American voters. This week a federal judge, already bound by appeals court decisions against transgender discrimination, heard arguments to block HB2 from being implemented while it is being litigated. From his comments and questions, it is likely HB2 will be put on ice, if not iced for good. HB2 is also aimed at a problem that doesn t exist, lacks any way to enforce it if there were a problem, and openly discriminates against LGBT residents. This makes the hundreds of millions of dollars it has cost the state, as well as the state s damaged reputation, all the more frustrating. Legislative leaders and the governor, blinded by right-wing ideology, are wasting thousands of dollars in state money and hurting the state s image continuing to defend what is neither necessary, defensible, nor even moral. They are evidence North Carolina doesn t need more discriminatory laws; it needs new legislators and a new governor.

8 PAGE 4 SPRING HOPE ENTERPRISE AUGUST 11, 2016 Don t short-circuit the law The Spring Hope Board of Commissioners last week took the unusual step of approving a fence not permitted by the town s zoning ordinance, granting permission for a property owner to erect a fence larger than what the law allows. The board s decision was not unreasonable, but it prompts a question that should not have to be asked what s the point of the zoning ordinance if the commissioners can ignore it whenever they choose? The issue was not complicated. Resident Chris Tingler wanted to construct a fourfoot high fence around his property to keep a stubborn coon hound at home, but the zoning ordinance limits fences in residential yards to only three feet high. Tingler said a three-foot fence is not tall enough to prevent his dog from going over it so Town Manager Jae Kim encouraged the commissioners to give Tingler permission to ignore the law. He showed the board pictures of fences in town that are as tall as five feet high and told commissioners they had a right to grant the permit request despite the restrictions. So they did. The problem isn t Tingler s request itself. Owners of big or nimble dogs can sympathize with his plight. A three-feet fence isn t very tall to a determined dog and the town does have an interest in keeping dogs from roaming freely. The rationale for the threefoot limit when the ordinance was updated is not clear and the fact of higher fences already in town doesn t matter whether those fences might have been built before the limit and were grandfathered. But for a town that saw intense controversy over a property owner raising chickens in violation of the zoning law, is it really a good idea for the town board to give residents the idea they can short circuit the law by simply asking? Sometimes things can t wait, but wouldn t it be preferable to consider changing the law through the existing deliberative due process rather than ignoring it? The outcome would likely be the same the planning board and commissioners are all reasonable but the rule of law would be better respected.

9 PAGE 4 SPRING HOPE ENTERPRISE AUGUST 11, 2016 Don t short-circuit the law The Spring Hope Board of Commissioners last week took the unusual step of approving a fence not permitted by the town s zoning ordinance, granting permission for a property owner to erect a fence larger than what the law allows. The board s decision was not unreasonable, but it prompts a question that should not have to be asked what s the point of the zoning ordinance if the commissioners can ignore it whenever they choose? The issue was not complicated. Resident Chris Tingler wanted to construct a fourfoot high fence around his property to keep a stubborn coon hound at home, but the zoning ordinance limits fences in residential yards to only three feet high. Tingler said a three-foot fence is not tall enough to prevent his dog from going over it so Town Manager Jae Kim encouraged the commissioners to give Tingler permission to ignore the law. He showed the board pictures of fences in town that are as tall as five feet high and told commissioners they had a right to grant the permit request despite the restrictions. So they did. The problem isn t Tingler s request itself. Owners of big or nimble dogs can sympathize with his plight. A three-feet fence isn t very tall to a determined dog and the town does have an interest in keeping dogs from roaming freely. The rationale for the threefoot limit when the ordinance was updated is not clear and the fact of higher fences already in town doesn t matter whether those fences might have been built before the limit and were grandfathered. But for a town that saw intense controversy over a property owner raising chickens in violation of the zoning law, is it really a good idea for the town board to give residents the idea they can short circuit the law by simply asking? Sometimes things can t wait, but wouldn t it be preferable to consider changing the law through the existing deliberative due process rather than ignoring it? The outcome would likely be the same the planning board and commissioners are all reasonable but the rule of law would be better respected.

10 PAGE 4 SPRING HOPE ENTERPRISE SEPTEMBER 1, 2016 Reform redistricting process While recent public attention has focused on the Republican efforts to suppress African-American votes through multiple and now exposed provisions in the controversial voter ID law, the even bigger problem which the courts are now trying to resolve is the openly corrupt gerrymandering by Republican legislators during the drawing of congressional and legislative districts. Thanks to their openly admitted manipulations, the Republicans have seized control of 10 of the 13 congressional districts, even though the state s voter registration is more closely divided between the two parties and none of the districts are considered competitive in this fall s elections. That means the November congressional elections will not be true elections but coronations and that s totally, deeply, disturbingly wrong. It s a corrupt and anti-democratic practice to prevent any group of voters for any reason from voting, but it s far worse for a party in power Democrats or Republicans to eliminate any real competition. That s what banana republics and communist countries routinely do, rendering their citizens votes completely meaningless and that s the exact opposite of the established American principle of one person, one vote affirmed by the Supreme Court. The required redistricting after each 10-year census shifting voting lines to adjust the populations within the districts is the tool by which the parties in power try to influence the results, and some partiality has always been expected as simple human nature. Democrats are not innocents. But the current Republican legislature, given its first real opportunity to control the districts, went wild and brazenly diced and sliced counties, towns, and neighborhoods to ensure Republican victories and Democratic defeats. Fortunately, they didn t fool the judges. The only way to make the districts truly fair and competitive is to have them drawn by a third-party, bipartisan panel without any or little regard to race, political affiliations, or even incumbencies. Both parties, out of power, have called for such a commission. In an experiment reported this week, a simulated panel of retired judges, evenly balanced between parties, prepared a sample voting map in which the result was a more reasonable six-four split between the parties with three toss-up districts in other words, competition. So it can be done. A real impartial commission should be formed and new maps fairly drawn. Almost everyone says that voters should select the politicians, not politicians select the voters. Now it s time to do more than talk about it. Demand it.

11 PAGE 4 SPRING HOPE ENTERPRISE SEPTEMBER 15, 2016 Basketball a victim of HB2 The self-inflicted and totally unnecessary economic and social disaster known as HB2, the bathroom bill, has already cost North Carolina millions of dollars in lost economic financial activity caused by cancelled artistic performances and business investments. But the fallout from the nationally embarrassing bill really hit a lot of North Carolina sports fans hard when the NCAA announced on Monday they were pulling seven championship games during the coming year from North Carolina, including early rounds of the popular men s basketball tournament, because of HB2. In a state that so appreciates college basketball, that s one sacred cow too many that is being sacrificed on the altar of right-wing homophobia and power politics by the governor and legislature. Besides costing the state many more millions of dollars in lost revenue from the tournaments, the North Carolina Republican Party has messed up one of the best things culturally about North Carolina in March and added to the perception of the rest of the nation that our state is no longer progressive or even sane. And for what? A bill pushed through the legislature by GOP leaders and signed by Gov. Pat McCrory in only 13 hours without public or even legislative input that pretends to protect the public but actually discriminates harmfully against transgender men and women who have no history of causing any problems in 200 cities where they are allowed to use the bathrooms of their chosen gender. Even worse, other provisions in the bill infringe on local governments and allow discrimination against gays and lesbians as well as transgender individuals. This bill, from its beginning, has been an abomination without purpose. McCrory says it s common sense to protect the privacy and safety of students in bathrooms, but as courts have pointed out, the bill doesn t even do that because it can t be enforced. Laws already cover any crimes they claim might be committed. The only reason for this bill is to attack the LGBT community. As Chris Fitzsimon points out below, Republican politicians, including McCrory, have bizarre views about homosexuality in general and transgender issues in particular. McCrory says the issue is about political correctness. No, it s about blatant discrimination and the deep damage HB2 is causing our state. Basketball is just the latest victim.

12 PAGE 4 SPRING HOPE ENTERPRISE SEPTEMBER 22, 2016 Charlotte not at fault for HB2 A group of Republican leaders, embarrassed by the national reaction to the HB2 bathroom bill and rightly fearful of public backlash, in recent days have been proposing a compromise where the legislature would repeal HB2 if Charlotte would repeal its local ordinance protecting the rights of transgender individuals to use the bathroom of their gender choice. Gov. Pat McCrory, whose dogged defense of the undefensible summarizes his entire administration, has even embraced the idea. The Charlotte City Council and mayor Jennifer Roberts, however, are not willing to back down, nor should they. The city did nothing wrong, joining 200 other cities around the nation with a similar ordinance that has posed absolutely no criminal threat to those using facilities. For Charlotte to repeal its ordinance is to acknowledge that the legislature and governor were right to react the way they did. And they were not. In secrecy and unseemly haste, in 13 hours the legislature passed HB2 overriding all local transgender-protective ordinances with other discriminatory provisions and the governor proudly signed it. They did not deliberate. They did not gather evidence. They did not consult medical experts. They did not ask the public. They did see a wedge issue for the elections and substituted their rigid, unrealistic ideology for common sense. Their action backfired. Major businesses pulled projects and jobs out of North Carolina, and developers say more are shying away. Big entertainers cancelled their shows. Organizations moved conventions away from the state. The NBA moved its All-Star game and last week both the NCAA and the ACC pulled tournament games out of North Carolina cities. And the courts are slowly moving toward striking down the law anyway. The state s citizens have lost scores of millions of dollars and thousands of potential or real jobs, and will eventually have nothing positive to show for it. The law is pure and hateful bigotry. McCrory has blamed everyone Charlotte, all the protesting entities, the courts, the press, even, laughably, Roy Cooper except himself and his GOP cronies in the legislature. Nobody else caused this problem. Nobody else caused the damage. And only the legislators and McCrory need to do something. Repeal HB2 now without conditions, without excuses, and without delay.