They say the third time’s the charm, but that axiom fell flat Wednesday afternoon when Rep. Stephen LaRoque, R-Lenoir, failed for a third time to shepherd through a bill strengthening North Carolina’s open-records law.

A divided House Rules Committee torpedoed a scaled-down version of House Bill 87, Sunshine Act, in an 11-10 vote, despite an 11th hour pitch from LaRoque.

“If you support open government, vote for the bill,” the first-term Republican said. “If you don’t support open government, vote against it.”

Three Republicans — House Majority Leader Paul “Skip” Stam of Wake County, Rep. Leo Daughtry of Johnston County, and Rep. Johnathan Rhyne of Lincoln County — joined eight Democrats in voting against the legislation.

The verdict is the culmination of a months-long debate. As written initially, the bill would have called for a constitutional amendment to enshrine North Carolina’s public-records law into the state’s highest governing document. As it stands, those laws are in statute and open to change at legislators’ whim.

After Democrats and some Republicans objected, LaRoque converted the amendment to a statute. After still more objections, LaRoque reintroduced a new version as an amendment, but more limited in scope than the original proposal. The final compromise would have prevented the General Assembly from weakening the open-records law with anything less than a three-fifths majority vote of both chambers.

A handful of Republicans still protested. Because the bill sponsors removed language about public-record requesters being natural born citizens, Osama bin Laden’s heirs “could demand all the records of the state of North Carolina,” Stam said.

“If this were passed, and I wanted to wage economic warfare against the state of North Carolina, I have the instrument,” he said.

Democrats on the committee agreed in their opposition. “It’s just not good public policy to put this in the constitution,” said House Minority Leader Joe Hackney, D-Orange.

Before members took a vote, Charles Broadwell, publisher of the Fayetteville Observer and president of the North Carolina Press Association, urged them to pass it.

“We don’t see this as a press bill. This is about the right of the people and open government,” he said.

David N. Bass is an associate editor of Carolina Journal.