There are some very unhappy people in the North Carolina Democratic Party.
It might sound strange to say so, given recent events on the state’s political scene that have included a conservative Republican becoming a Democrat, a GOP-majority House ending up with a bipartisan leadership team tipped at least slightly towards the Dems, and several Republican members of the state’s congressional delegation going on the defensive after committing racially tinged gaffes.
Remember, though, that it was only three months ago that Democrats experienced historic defeats in the mid-term elections. Bucking the usual trend, the party with a president in the White House gained seats in both houses of Congress and now control the policymaking machinery in Washington. Several legislative chambers around the country, including the N.C. House (albeit briefly), slipped out of the Democrats’ grasp. In local races, Republicans gained control of 10 county commissions in North Carolina previously controlled by Dems (three went the other way, for a high-water mark of 45 GOP counties vs. 55 Democratic ones).
For some North Carolina Democratic politicians and operatives, the recent unpleasantness wasn’t just about Erskine Bowles’ shortcomings, or Elizabeth Dole’s star power, or a national surge towards a popular war-time president. They view the losses as avoidable, and hold Gov. Mike Easley responsible for letting N.C. Democrats down.
Scott Mooneyham of the Associated Press has an interesting piece out today that includes interviews with the governor and his critics. One pol who lost his post in November, former House Whip Andy Dedmon of Shelby, has it right, I think, when he blames Easley for the damaging political fallout from withholding local tax revenues to cities and counties. The amount of money “saved” for the state wasn’t enough to justify either the policy miscue or the political miscalculation here. The move transformed an inside-the-Raleigh-Beltline story about budget deficits into a statewide, front-page news story about the government’s fiscal mismanagement.
More generally, the Democratic rap on Easley is that he doesn’t do enough to build the party’s momentum and prospects. He eschews the barbecue-and-backslapping circuit that predecessor Jim Hunt enjoyed. He hasn’t found a way to transfer his personal likability into political cover for his allies on difficult decisions such as raising taxes.
I think some of this is deserved. Hunt was hyperactive, indeed a bit scary if you ask me, but surely Easley has hidden himself away at the other extreme of the gubernatorial leadership spectrum. Political leaders have certain responsibilities. Whether one enjoys performing them is really beside the point. After all, running for governor, for leader of a state political party, is a voluntary act.
On the other hand, politicians have to take some responsibility for their own actions. No one forced Dedmon or anyone else to go along with poor public policies that were hard to defend back home. Moreover, let’s not downplay the importance of the redistricting process in the legislative gains; even with the tax issue and the Dole tailwind, it is unlikely that GOP candidates would have made the gains they did in General Assembly races had Republican party leaders not taken an unconstitutional district map to court.
(A side note: these Republican plaintiffs significantly did not include newly elected Co-speaker of the House Richard Morgan, who along with former House Speaker Harold Brubaker opposed the GOP constitutional argument and lawsuit. Hmmm…)
Republicans would be wrong to count Easley out in the 2004 gubernatorial elections. Much could happen between now and then. And Democrats are wrong to blame whatever setbacks they have experienced primarily on the governor’s reticence to fill North Carolina’s political space. They should recall that while 2002 was a good year for Republican candidates in our state, 1984 and 1994 were quite a bit better – and both featured a prominent political role on the Democratic side by none other than Gov. Jim Hunt.
Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation and publisher of Carolina Journal.