North Carolina Open Thread: Meadows in so deep, Dobbs, NC GOP vs Voting, Slow Matthew recovery

Among the matters discussed at the ongoing congressional hearings into Donald Trump's supporters' attack on the U.S. Capitol and the presidential election certification process on Jan. 6. 2021, is how the former president's campaign used what it knew to be false claims of fraud to raise money — lots of money.

As Amanda Wick, a senior investigative counsel for the Jan. 6 committee, testified in a video, after election night Trump began to "barrage" small-dollar donors with emails containing disinformation, "sometimes as many as 25 a day," and continued to do so until 30 minutes before the Capitol breach. The emails asked for contributions to something called an Official Election Defense Fund, but the committee revealed that such a fund did not exist. Instead, most of the $250 million Trump raised from his false claims went to an entity he created in November 2020 called the "Save America PAC," which in turn paid millions of dollars to Trump-connected organizations.

"Not only was there the Big Lie, there was the Big Ripoff," said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat and member of the bipartisan select committee investigating the Capitol attack, during the second hearing held on June 13.

The Jan. 6 committee showed that the Save America PAC sent $5 million to Event Strategies, the company that organized the rally preceding the Capitol riot. It paid $204,857 to Trump's hotel business. And it donated $1 million each to the America First Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank led in part by former Trump economic advisor Larry Kudlow and former Small Business Administration head Linda McMahon, and the Washington, D.C.-based Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI).

NOW IT'S THE VOTERS' TURN ON THE STATUS OF ABORTION

BlueNC/WRAL, 6/26/2022

Those in power in North Carolina’s legislature pledge to do the opposite of what the people they represent want. State Senate Leader Phil Berger said the legislature will take “immediate action” to further restrict the state’s current abortion laws. Those current laws include requirements that patients undergo an ultrasound examination and receive information designed to discourage abortions and a 72-hour waiting period before a woman can have an abortion.

House Speaker Tim Moore explicitly promised further abortion restrictions. “Pro-life protections to be a top priority of the legislature when we return to our normal legislative session in January,” Moore said. It is no exaggeration to say that “Roe is on the ballot.” North Carolina voters will elect members of the state legislature, U.S. House of Representatives and a U.S. senator along with key judges on the state Court of Appeals and Supreme Court. 

We need to make sure that when January rolls around, BergerMoore simply won't have any viable options to further restrict abortions in North Carolina. That means paying close attention to the 170 General Assembly seats in play, as well as the appellate court seats being fought over. I have not forgotten the Federal races; I just wanted to make sure readers don't forget how critical our state races are. Now more than ever. https://www.wral.com/editorial-now-it-s-voters-turn-on-the-status-of-abortion/20346881/

Be Ready, North Carolina. SCOTUS is coming for more than abortion

BlueNC/News&Observer, 6/26/2022

But the most chilling line in the ruling spoke to new steps the court might take on other rights that no longer appear to be safe, either. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his concurring opinion that the court should now revisit other decisions that, like Roe v. Wade, are rooted in the Fourteenth Amendment. He explicitly referenced Griswold v. Connecticut, Lawrence v. Texas and Obergefell v. Hodges, which confer the right to contraception, same-sex sexual activity and same-sex marriage, respectively. Overruling these decisions, he said, would “correct the error” that was made in establishing such precedent. The court’s liberal justices, who co-authored a sorrowful dissent, issued a similar warning, writing that the decision not only robs Americans of their reproductive freedom, but also “places in jeopardy other rights, from contraception to same-sex intimacy and marriage.”

Abortion is also still legal in North Carolina — for now. Unlike other states, North Carolina doesn’t have a “trigger law” that automatically bans abortion once Roe is overturned. There are still a barriers to access for many people — it’s expensive, clinics are scarce, there’s a lot of red tape — but it will still be possible to legally obtain an abortion in our state. There is, as the court has signaled, a larger battle ahead. It’s one to preserve an even larger group of rights — fundamental ones like the right to privacy, and the right to live and love how we please. State elections will be more important than ever, as the court has declared states the arbiters of abortion and perhaps so much more. That’s what will be on the ballot this November. That’s what North Carolina voters will decide.

Looking at the broad canvas, NC citizens have relied on several factors to keep our GOP majority in line. Democratic Governor, Liberal state Supreme Court, and a relatively moderate U.S. Supreme Court, up until a few years ago. Much of what they forced through when they had a Supermajority was enjoined by the courts, including Amendment One that banned same-sex marriage here in NC. But a large portion of that canvas has been splattered with blood, and it won't wash off. Vote like your freedom depends on it, because it surely does. https://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/article262854653.html

Progressive officials in Southern cities vow to protect abortion access

Facing South, Elisha Brown, 6/24/2022

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday, striking down nearly 50 years of precedent that secured a constitutional right to abortion. The long-awaited ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case that challenged the constitutionality of Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban, was authored by Justice Samuel Alito, who called Roe "egregiously wrong from the start" and said it's time to "return the issue of abortion to the people's elected representatives."

The decision makes accessing safe abortion — already difficult in most Southern states — much harder. But some local officials in the region are taking steps to do what they can to protect people's ability to end unwanted pregnancies.

Minutes after the high court handed down its decision, Austin City Council members announced they would call a special meeting to decriminalize abortion in the Texas capital. Austin City Councilors José "Chito" Vela and Vanessa Fuentes will introduce The GRACE Act (Guarding the Right to Abortion Care for Everyone) the week of July 18. The proposal directs the police department to make criminal enforcement related to abortion its lowest priority and restricts city funds and staff from being used to investigate, catalog, or report suspected abortions, Vela's office said in a statement. The ordinance now has a total of five sponsors on the 11-member council, including Mayor Steve Adler.

The NC GOP’s copycat crusade against voting rights continues

NC Policy Watch, Rob Schofield, 6/26/2022

It’s a familiar childhood scene – perhaps even from your own. A group of cool, older kids engages in some kind of rebellious action or expresses a shared opinion on an issue of perceived import and soon thereafter, a younger sibling or friend, trying hard to keep up, attempts to mimic their behavior or statements.

The younger kid never gets it quite right, or often, even fully grasps the substance of the subject matter, and their behavior will likely be barely acknowledged by the older ones, but the exercise nonetheless makes them feel as if they are at least nominally a part of the gang and helps reenforce household/neighborhood attitudes and pecking orders.

For a modern, adult world example of this phenomenon in action, check out the ongoing efforts of North Carolina Republicans in the field of voting rights and “election security.”

For several years now, GOP politicians and their conservative allies in North Carolina have been banging a drum regarding the supposed desperate need to enact tougher rules governing access to the ballot.

Gov. Cooper orders NCORR to expedite Hurricane Matthew recovery, but homeowners’ woes continue

NC Policy Watch, Lisa Sorg, 6/24/2022

Artis is entering his second summer in a Goldsboro motel, waiting to move into his new modular home in Pikeville. But his contractor, Rescue Construction, has made no progress on the home.  “A motel is not a home,” Artis said. “It’s just a place to go when you’re on vacation.”

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Artis is among thousands of homeowners enrolled in the NC Office of Recovery and Resiliency’s Hurricane Matthew disaster recovery program. He is also among hundreds and hundreds still displaced after the historic 2016 storm.

Worse yet, his wife suffered a stroke and is paralyzed on one side of her body. “She can’t walk. She can’t see,”Artis said. He asked motel management to allow a hospital bed and a lift to be placed in their room so the couple could stay together and she could receive therapy with him by her side. The management denied his request. 

Artis lives in the motel, but had to place his wife in a long-term care facility. “And they’re calling me about a bill,” Artis said. It’s wrong,” Artis said of the delays. “We’re suffering.” “At home you’re relaxed,” he went on. “I’m not relaxed. A home is a place of love and compassion. You can rest better. You’re sure. You feel good. You can sleep.”

As a result of Policy Watch’s earlier reporting, Gov. Roy Cooper “has ordered the NC Office of Recovery and Resilience and the Department of Public Safety to undergo a thorough review of all areas where the process can be streamlined and customer service improved,” said Jordan Monaghan, the governor’s press secretary, in an email. “They have identified a robust plan of action to get people back into their homes faster. The governor expects that NCORR will focus on delivering results faster while staying in close touch with those being assisted.”

Unnatural disaster: A special PW series on North Carolina’s struggles to aid homeowners displaced by Hurricane Matthew

NC Policy Watch, Lisa Sorg, 5/13/2022

• PW investigation: State recovery office awarded troubled construction company $80 million in homebuildingcontracts while thousands of Hurricane Matthew survivors remained displaced  (5/09/2022)
• Here are the documents: The state’s failure, after five years, to help Hurricane Matthew survivors
• State must act ASAP to address facts uncovered in Policy Watch hurricane recovery investigation (Commentary by Rob Schofield 5/10/2022)
• NCORR disputes PW’s coverage of its Hurricane Matthew recovery work: their complaints, our responses (5/16/2022)
• “No one tells me what to do”: Meeting notes reveal favored contractors, animosity toward others in Hurricane Matthew recovery (5/17/2022)
• Governor’s office must do much better on hurricane recovery (Commentary by Rob Schofield 5/24/2022)
• Roverta and Franklin survived Hurricane Matthew, only to be ignored by the state’s RebuildNC program (5/25/2022)
• Living in his car, then a one-star motel, Goldsboro man who survived Hurricane Matthew gets little relief from state (6/1/2022)
• Podcast: NC Policy Watch investigative reporter Lisa Sorg on how and why the state of North Carolina is allowing hundreds of families displaced by Hurricane Matthew to remain homeless five and a half years later (originally broadcast 6/05/2022)

Thanks for reading and contributing. I hope you have a safe week.