A Call for an Immediate Investigation

Followup to the special session disaster: I am writing reporters who covered the story BEFORE this week to call for an investigation into the NCGOP's illegal and immoral lack of transparency. Here is my message to reporters:

As a North Carolina citizen who follows the legislature closely, I am concerned and dismayed about the lack of transparency the NCGA displayed when enacting its agenda during the recent special session.

You recently wrote about the possibility of court packing, which as we now know did not come to pass. In your piece, you mention the rumor and speculation about the court packing scheme. When I and other activists attempted to confront GOP representatives, they threw the idea that the rumors were “media driven” back in our faces. The only public mention of the scheme was by MItch Kokai of the John Locke Foundation, who coyly posited that while the idea was allowed under the state constitution, it was politically unlikely.

Given the scope and depth of the new laws passed, clearly someone knew what was coming, albeit not court packing. My questions are:

What was your source for the court packing rumor? In piece after piece in various outlets I can find very little attribution. It had to have come from somewhere.

Can you think of anyone who is interested in finding out who knew what and when in regards to the recent set of bills? Was the court packing idea unrelated? Was it a deliberate bait and switch?

Given that McCrory’s proclamation announcing the special session deliberately left the door open for the chamber to address unspecified “other business,” what was the governor’s role in all of this?

According to North Carolina statute, the business of all governmental bodies in the state must be conducted openly. There is no ambiguity on this point. It is clear to me that the state GOP has flouted both the letter and the spirit of the law by writing law is secret, and foisting it upon an unsuspecting public. I ask what is left of the free and fair press to immediately investigate.

Peter Wilbur

Winston-Salem, NC

NCGS § 143-318.9. Public policy.
Article 33C. Meetings of Public Bodies.
Whereas the public bodies that administer the legislative, policy-making, quasi-judicial, administrative, and advisory functions of North Carolina and its political subdivisions exist solely to conduct the people's business, it is the public policy of North Carolina that the hearings, deliberations, and actions of these bodies be conducted openly.

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