Editorial: 'The people' are the last folks legislators seem to care about

CBC Editorial: Thursday, May 4, 2023; editorial #8845

The following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company

Judging from issues occupying the members of the General Assembly these days, legislative leaders are making a mockery of North Carolina’s Supreme Court. Just who are the “people” that Chief Justice Paul Newby declared these legislators are “closest” to?

The hyper-partisan Newby and his four Republican colleagues on the state’s high court recently declared they wouldn’t intervene on the gerrymandering of North Carolina’s election districts.

“The state constitution declares that all political power resides in the people. N.C. Const. art. I, § 2. The people exercise that power through the legislative branch, which is closest to the people and most accountable through the most frequent elections.”

That’s what the hyper-partisan chief justice says. It is NOT what the North Carolina constitution says. You can look it up.

If Newby is suggesting that those people are the voters or residents of North Carolina, given the behavior of the legislative leadership, he is way off the mark.

The focus of the legislature has been on distracting so-called “cultural agenda” matters that occupy legislators’ time and attention while more serious matters – assuring every child has access to a quality education, protecting women’s health, appropriate spending on the state’s most fundamental needs – get little public attention or discussion.

Are “the people” clamoring for the raft of bills limiting healthcare for young people and their parents as they seek to deal with concerns about gender identity matters?

Not really. And, when tearful parents and youth go to legislators seeking to be heard, House Health Committee Chair Erin Pare of Wake County tells them there’s no time for questions or comments from the people. “You’re killing my kid,” a woman pleaded to the ignoring legislators.

On issues of public concern, legislators spend months in secret discussions and debate only to make late evening announcements of a deal to ban most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy and rushing the deal to a vote, with little legislative debate and even less public input. The folks who DO know about these issues, such as the state Medical Society, say the legislation “interferes in the doctor patient relationship” and is “administratively burdensome” with “a complex set of regulations that are not evidence-based.”

The fact is the people don’t want a change to current state law, which allows abortions up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Do most people in North Carolina want to do away with state requirements for background checks to purchase a firearm or getting a permit to carry a concealed weapon? Do the people of North Carolina want to spend billions of their tax dollars on private schools that can discriminate in admissions and that aren’t required to show students are learning – or even attending class?

Are the people clamoring to make it a violation of the law for people of one gender to impersonate those of another in theatrical performances?

Much of the so-called cultural, social, firearms agenda taking up the time and attention of the legislature comes from interest outside the state seeking to distract away from unpopular actions, such as huge corporate tax breaks, tax cuts for the wealthiest individuals while neglecting public education and other the most basic needs of the state.

If Chief Justice Newby took a better look down the street from the state Supreme Court chambers he’d notice that are far from the “closest to the people” as much as they are cozying up to the big-dollar outside special interests that bankroll their campaigns so they can gerrymander election districts and keep their partisan power in perpetuity.

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