John Lewis, a Republican recently named to the Bipartisan State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement, says the eight-member board — set to hold its first meeting at 8 a.m. Wednesday — should have more time before recommending its ninth member. And he’d like to give the public time to participate in that decision. House...
House Minority Leader Darren Jackson, D-Wake, says Gov. Roy Cooper was within his constitutional authority to create a $57.8 million side deal to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. But he thinks the relevant public records should be released to show precisely how it came about. Jackson, flanked by state Reps. Garland Pierce, D-Scotland, and Bobbie Richardson,...
The state Republican Party has asked for a federal investigation of the side deal struck between the Cooper administration and the utilities that will operate the $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline. At a Tuesday press conference at the federal courthouse in Raleigh, NCGOP Chairman Robin Hayes and Executive Director Dallas Woodhouse announced the complaint against...
State Rep. Dean Arp, R-Union, said Gov. Roy Cooper created a slush fund 10 times larger than actual mitigation costs by preying on vulnerable energy utilities seeking approval of a state permit to build the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. The secret $57.8 million escrow account Cooper negotiated has poisoned the process, and the companies should not...
The most recent response from Gov. Roy Cooper to legislative leaders about a questionable $57.8 million funding arrangement with the operators of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline might lead to formal demands for information from the Cooper administration. A release issued Tuesday, Feb. 20, from Sen. Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick, and Rep. David Lewis, R-Harnett, who lead...
The exchange of letters between legislative leaders and Gov. Roy Cooper over the Atlantic Coast Pipeline continued Friday as lawmakers expressed exasperation with a response provided a day earlier by the governor’s chief of staff. Rep. David Lewis, R-Harnett, and Sen. Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick, chairmen of the House and Senate rules committees, respectively, resubmitted questions...
Constitutional questions persist about the murky $57.8 million deal between Atlantic Coast Pipeline operators and Gov. Roy Cooper. “Laws are presumed to be constitutional,” Gerry Cohen, former general counsel for the General Assembly, told Carolina Journal on Thursday, Feb. 15. “So this law the legislature’s passed … is on its face constitutional. But it doesn’t...
Gov. Roy Cooper insisted $57.8 million from energy companies building the Atlantic Coast Pipeline was a voluntary contribution, but said at a news conference he doesn’t know whose idea it was originally to seek the money he planned to distribute. During a 20-minute meeting with reporters Wednesday, Feb. 14, Cooper accused the General Assembly of...
The House passed House Bill 90 on Tuesday, Feb. 13, commandeering a controversial $58 million discretionary fund Gov. Roy Cooper created with developers of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and redirecting the money to education. Republicans praised the legislation because it incorporates several key education provisions the House has backed with strong bipartisan support. Democrats complained...
Senate Republicans suggested the state could approach a constitutional crisis if it enables a governor to control money outside the normal budgetary process. Some suggested Democrats’ loyalty to Gov. Roy Cooper surpassed their commitment to public education, if not the constitution itself. Senators spent more than 90 minutes Friday, Feb. 9, debating House Bill 90...
