McCrory Gov

=worked for duke 30 yrs, lost, screwed new dem, playbook run in 2018 MI WIct overturned in NC?=proto trump coup big lie BS HVJT liarswapo...But legal experts say that as managing partner of the 13-lawyer firm, Vogel is ultimately responsible for its actions, much as a chief executive is responsible for the activities of a corporation.
Vogel’s firm was at the center of controversy again last fall, right after Gov. Pat McCrory of North Carolina came up short in his reelection bid. HVJT was enlisted to help McCrory, a Republican, who was refusing to concede.
Within weeks, the firm filed protests against 600 voters across the state. It said some voters were dead and others had voted in two states or were felons who had not completed their sentences.
But the state and local elections officials eventually threw out the protests because they were riddled with mistakes — sometimes confusing legitimate voters with ineligible people with similar names, according a study by the nonpartisan Democracy North Carolina.
Voters saw their names appear in newspapers, as suspects in an alleged felony voter fraud conspiracy. Some had to defend themselves before they were cleared by local elections boards.
Pressly M. Millen, a North Carolina attorney for several voters who were falsely accused of voting illegally, said the protest was an attempt to delegitimize the election.
Stephen T. Smith, a prominent Raleigh, N.C., lawyer, filed a grievance with the state bar against four lawyers from Vogel's firm, saying they had violated rules of professional conduct. Bar officials would neither confirm nor deny the existence of a pending complaint. Smith said he believes it remains pending.
In her brief statement to The Washington Post, Vogel said she was “never aware of any such complaint made against my firm.”
The bar complaint is not against the firm per se but against the four lawyers, who did not respond to requests for comment. Vogel was not among the four. But the firm was recently added as a defendant in what could become a class-action lawsuit on behalf of all voters falsely accused of illegal voting. A judge will decide whether Vogel’s firm should be part of the suit.
Chris West, a spokesman for the Vogel campaign, said she was unaware that her firm had been named in a lawsuit.
“Certainly no allegations even link Senator Vogel to any work in North Carolina, nor has any document been cited to name Senator Vogel,” he said in a text message. “All work done in North Carolina by other lawyers in the firm was done under the supervision of North Carolina lawyers. There is no basis to this story at all and none of this has anything to do with Senator Vogel or the Lt. Governor’s race in Virginia.”
Vogel, 47, is a Shenandoah Valley native and the daughter of a longtime Republican donor, Holtzman Oil founder William B. Holtzman. He has donated $1.9 million to her campaigns and those of other Virginia Republicans over the past 10 years, including $611,000 toward Vogel’s current bid.
[Republican Jill Vogel embraces the Trump agenda in her Virginia race]
Vogel was appointed chief counsel to the Republican National Committee in 2004, under her ticketmate Gillespie, who was then chairman.
After establishing her own firm, Vogel made “strategic hires” from the world of politics that helped fuel its rapid growth, Mitchell said.
Vogel’s firm includes her husband, Alex Vogel, former chief counsel to then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.); Tom Josefiak, a former Federal Election Commission chairman and general counsel to President George W. Bush’s 2004 campaign; and Jason Torchinsky, deputy general counsel for that campaign.
Along with super PAC American Crossroads, HVJT has represented its tax-exempt affiliate, Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, which pioneered the use of nonprofits as dark-money political players. Known as 501(c)(4) groups, they are allowed to keep their contributors secret as long as they don’t spend most of their money on politics.=Ex-Gov. Pat McCrory says the lesson from North Carolina election fraud is to ... make voting even harder.The absentee ballot election fraud scandal in North Carolina's 9th Congressional District continues to grow, and it is now all but certain that GOP candidate Mark Harris and his strategist Leslie McCrae Dowless, Jr. sent ballot harvesters to steal hundreds of absentee ballots from elderly black voters in Bladen and Robeson Counties.But according to former GOP Gov. Pat McCrory, the solution is simple: make it harder to vote!

Joe Bruno?@JoeBrunoWSOC9 · Dec 5, 2018Replying to @JoeBrunoWSOC9In an interview with @MarkBeckerWSOC9, former NC Governor Pat McCrory said he raised concerns about fraud in Bladen County in 2016 
"This is a fiasco that could've been prevented." #NC09 #ncpol @wsoctv https://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/former-nc-gov-pat-mccrory-weighs-in-on-us-house-district-9-investigation/883983242 …

Former NC Gov. Pat McCrory weighs in on U.S. House District 9 investigationChannel 9 has spoken with many people in and out of politics, who are stunned about the investigation into possible fraud in the 9th District race.
wsoctv.com
Joe Bruno?@JoeBrunoWSOC9Former NC Governor Pat McCrory says only military members should be allowed to vote absentee
"Frankly I think it ought to be eliminated except for members of the military. There's no need for absentee voting anymore, especially now that we have early voting in North Carolina." pic.twitter.com/TkX7Q5mwty
2424:24 PM - Dec 5, 2018Twitter Ads info and privacyView image on Twitter384 people are talking about thisTwitter Ads info and privacyMcCrory previously signed a sweeping voter ID bill in 2013 that was later found to have targeted African-Americans "with almost surgical precision" by a federal court. That bill actually made it easier to vote by absentee ballot, possibly due to the fact that Republican voters have traditionally liked to vote absentee.
Regardless, McCrory's suggestion that North Carolina should punish voters for fraud that was committed against them by a candidate is irresponsible and cruel. The answer to voters having their votes stolen from them is not to then make it even harder for those people to vote in the first place.=no lnx2016 ELECTIONNorth Carolina's 'Legislative Coup' Is Over, and Republicans WonLegislators passed a slate of bills to sharply reduce the power of the incoming governor, over the heated objections of Democrats and hundreds of protestors.
DAVID A. GRAHAMDEC 16, 2016Protestors demonstrate against the North Carolina General Assembly on Thursday.Protestors demonstrate against the North Carolina General Assembly on Thursday.GERRY BROOME / APIt’s all over but the shouting, and the suing, in Raleigh—though both the shouts and the suits are likely to go on for some time.
The North Carolina General Assembly on Friday wrapped up a special session in which the Republicans who dominate both chambers mounted a brazen and successful effort to strip the incoming Democratic governor of a host of powers afforded to his Republican predecessor and many governors before. Having lost the governor’s seat in November’s election, the GOP legislature opted to simply reduce the governor’s power drastically. The two most prominent bills involve the elections system and the governor’s right to make appointments.Pat McCrory, the outgoing GOP governor, quickly signed the electoral-reform bill into law. He has been presented with the bill reducing the governor’s appointments, but has not yet signed it. McCrory, who narrowly lost to Attorney General Roy Cooper in his quest for reelection, had not made any statement on the takeover bid, and he himself had tangled with the legislature over separation of powers, at one point successfully suing to recover appointment powers.

On the appointments front, the legislature withdrew the governor’s ability to make appointments to the state board of education and the boards of trustees of University of North Carolina-system schools; subjected his cabinet appointees to senate approval; and reduced the number of appointments the governor can make for government jobs. That number dropped to 425, near the level it was before the General Assembly increased that to 1,500 for McCrory. It appears that many of his political appointees could now become permanent employees.
The election reform reworks the state board of elections and combines it with the state ethics commission. Previously, the state board of elections had a 3-2 majority in favor of the governor’s party, while every county board had a 2-1 advantage for the governor’s party. Under the new rules, the state board will have eight members, four of each party, appointed half by the governor and half by the legislature. County boards will have four members. The chairmanship will rotate, but appears to guarantee that Republicans will lead the board during crucial even-numbered election years for the foreseeable future. Supreme Court elections, which have been nonpartisan but handed a majority to Democrat-aligned justices this November, will now be partisan.
It is difficult and perhaps impossible to construe the changes as anything more than naked politics. Leading Republicans even admitted that they might not have pursued the changes if McCrory had won reelection. The timing of the changes was also controversial: Legislators returned to Raleigh for a special session billed as a chance to pass disaster-relief bills for victims of flooding and wildfires. Rumors flew that Republicans would attempt to pack the Supreme Court to restore a conservative majority. That didn’t happen; instead, as soon as the disaster-relief bill had been signed, Republican leaders gaveled the special session to a close, then promptly opened a new special session, with no declared agenda—surprising both the press and Democratic members. House Speaker Tim Moore said the decision to do so had only been made on Wednesday, a claim debunked when documents putting it into motion, dated Monday, were revealed.<div class="published-date-widget" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 16px; font-family: " mcclatchy="McClatchy" sans="Sans" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">2017 08:07 AM</div><div class="dateline-storybody" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: " mcclatchy="McClatchy" sans="Sans" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px"><span class="dateline" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; float: left; display: block; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5; text-transform: uppercase;">RALEIGH <div id="story-target" class="clearfix" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div id="content-body-" class="content-body" style="box-sizing: border-box;">A voter-rights organization hopes to persuade state and federal prosecutors to investigate whether former Gov. Pat McCrory’s campaign and the state Republican Party conspired in late 2016 to falsely accuse hundreds of voters of fraud.The organization, Democracy North Carolina, conducted a five-month investigation into about 600 <a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/election/article116789083.html" target="blank" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: 0px 0px; color: rgb(66, 139, 202); text-decoration-line: none;">protests filed</a> after McCrory lost his bid for re-election to Democrat Roy Cooper.Their findings are included in a 16-page report released Tuesday that Bob Hall, the watchdog group’s executive director, said would be sent to district attorneys in 23 counties and federal prosecutors in North Carolina.<div class="ng_mm_link1" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://media2.newsobserver.com/static/content/media/2017/4/18/DemocracyNCReport.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: 0px 0px; color: rgb(66, 139, 202); text-decoration-line: none;">[Read the Democracy NC report]</a></div></div></div></div></div><table class="infobox vcard" style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); border-spacing: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); margin: 0.5em 0px 0.5em 1em; padding: 0.2em; float: right; clear: right; line-height: 1.5em; width: 22em;"><tbody><tr><th colspan="2" style="vertical-align: top; text-align: center;">Pat McCrory</th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" style="vertical-align: top; text-align: center;">
</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" style="vertical-align: top; text-align: center;" /></tr><tr><th colspan="2" style="vertical-align: top; text-align: center; background: lavender;">74th <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_of_North_Carolina" title="Governor of North Carolina" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Governor of North Carolina</a></th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" style="vertical-align: top; text-align: center; border-bottom: none;">In office
January 5, 2013 – January 1, 2017</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;">Lieutenant</th><td style="vertical-align: top;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Forest" title="Dan Forest" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Dan Forest</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;">Preceded by</th><td style="vertical-align: top;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bev_Perdue" title="Bev Perdue" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Bev Perdue</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;">Succeeded by</th><td style="vertical-align: top;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Cooper" title="Roy Cooper" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Roy Cooper</a></td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" style="vertical-align: top; text-align: center; background: lavender;">53rd <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayor_of_Charlotte,North_Carolina" title="Mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Mayor of Charlotte</a></th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" style="vertical-align: top; text-align: center; border-bottom: none;">In office
December 7, 1995 – December 7, 2009</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;">Preceded by</th><td style="vertical-align: top;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Vinroot" title="Richard Vinroot" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Richard Vinroot</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;">Succeeded by</th><td style="vertical-align: top;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Foxx" title="Anthony Foxx" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Anthony Foxx</a></td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" style="vertical-align: top; text-align: center; background: lavender;">Personal details</th></tr><tr><th scope="row" style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;">Born</th><td style="vertical-align: top;">Patrick Lloyd McCrory
October 17, 1956 (age 61)
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus,Ohio" title="Columbus, Ohio" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Columbus, Ohio</a>, U.S.</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;">Political party</th><td style="vertical-align: top;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party(United_States)" title="Republican Party (United States)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Republican</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;">Spouse(s)</th><td style="vertical-align: top;">Ann Sturgis (<abbr title="married" style="border-bottom: 0px; cursor: help;">m.</abbr> 1988)<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[1]</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;">Education</th><td style="vertical-align: top;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catawba_College" title="Catawba College" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Catawba College</a> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachelor_of_Arts" title="Bachelor of Arts" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">BA</a>)</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;">Website</th><td style="vertical-align: top;"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://patmccrory.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">Official website</a></td></tr></tbody></table>Patrick Lloyd McCrory (born October 17, 1956) is an American businessman and politician who served as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Governors_of_North_Carolina" title="List of Governors of North Carolina" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">74th</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_of_North_Carolina" title="Governor of North Carolina" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Governor of North Carolina</a> from 2013 to 2017. He previously served as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayor_of_Charlotte,North_Carolina" title="Mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">53rd Mayor of Charlotte</a> from 1995 to 2009. He was also appointed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W.Bush" title="George W. Bush" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">George W. Bush</a> to serve on the United States <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeland_Security_Advisory_Council" title="Homeland Security Advisory Council" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Homeland Security Advisory Council</a> (HSAC) from 2002 to 2006.McCrory was the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party(United_States)" title="Republican Party (United States)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Republican</a> nominee for Governor of North Carolina in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_gubernatorial_election,2008" title="North Carolina gubernatorial election, 2008" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2008 general election</a> and was defeated 50% to 46% by Lieutenant Governor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bev_Perdue" title="Bev Perdue" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Bev Perdue</a>, the Democratic nominee.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-govelect-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[2]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-Losing_is_New_for_McCrory-3" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[3]</a> After the 2008 election loss, McCrory returned to the private sector.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-Pat_McCrory_joins_Moore&Van_Allen-4" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[4]</a> On January 31, 2012, he launched his second campaign for North Carolina Governor, winning the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_gubernatorial_election,2012" title="North Carolina gubernatorial election, 2012" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">election</a> later that year.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-5" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[5]</a> While mayors of Charlotte have had trouble winning statewide office,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[6]</a> McCrory became the first Mayor of Charlotte to win the state's highest office, as well as the first Republican North Carolina Governor since 1993.In 2013, McCrory signed a repeal of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_Justice_Act" title="Racial Justice Act" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Racial Justice Act</a> of 2009, which had allowed appeals of death sentences in cases where racial bias had influenced the conviction or sentence. It had been an effort by the legislature to compensate for a history of racial bias that resulted in a significantly higher rate of blacks sentenced to death for murder than for whites convicted of the same crime. In 2016, McCrory came to national attention after signing the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Facilities_Privacy%26_Security_Act" title="Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act</a>. Among other provisions it legislated that in government buildings, individuals may use only the restrooms that correspond to the sex on their birth certificates.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-7" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[7]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-talkingpointsmemo.com-8" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[8]</a> This prevented transgender people who do not alter their birth certificates from using the restroom consistent with their <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_identity" title="Gender identity" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">gender identity</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-talkingpointsmemo.com-8" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[8]</a> The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Justice" title="United States Department of Justice" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">United States Department of Justice</a>, in addition to several citizens, have filed lawsuits against McCrory and the state. The Justice Department said that North Carolina is in violation of federal civil rights laws.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-9" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[9]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-ABC_News-10" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[10]</a> Separately, McCrory has filed suit against the federal government, asking a court to find the state law constitutional.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-Jarvis-11" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[11]</a>In <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_gubernatorial_election,2016" title="North Carolina gubernatorial election, 2016" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2016</a>, McCrory lost his reelection campaign against Democratic North Carolina Attorney General <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Cooper" title="Roy Cooper" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Roy Cooper</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-PPP-Mc-12" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[12]</a> Commentators attributed his loss to the widespread criticism of his support for his signature HB2 legislation.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-DK-Mc-13" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[13]</a> Over 100 corporations voiced their opposition to HB2, notably to the elements that limited protections to LGBT individuals.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-14" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[14]</a> Economists have estimated that HB2 cost the state of North Carolina somewhere between $450 and $630 million dollars, along with over a thousand new jobs.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-15" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[15]</a> On election night, the race was too close to call; McCrory trailed Cooper by about 5000 votes, with tens of thousands of absentee and provisional ballots had not yet been counted.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-nytimes.com-16" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[16]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-17" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[17]</a>The McCrory campaign filed election protests alleging that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_fraud" class="mw-redirect" title="Voter fraud" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">voter fraud</a> helped Cooper in 50 counties,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-18" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[18]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-19" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[19]</a> but no fraud was found. It was not until December 5 that McCrory conceded the race to Cooper. In a later speech at a Republican Party convention in 2017, McCrory went on to blame his loss on "the non-citizen vote"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-20" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[20]</a>. He is the first sitting Governor of North Carolina to lose a bid for reelection since <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Manly" title="Charles Manly" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Charles Manly</a> in 1850.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-21" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[21]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-22" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[22]</a><div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1;"><div class="toctitle" lang="en" dir="ltr" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;"><h2 style="background: none; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border: 0px; display: inline; line-height: 1.3;">Contents</h2>  [<a role="button" tabindex="0" class="togglelink" style="background: none; cursor: pointer;">hide</a>] </div><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0.3em 0px; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#Early_life,education_and_business_career" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1Early life, education and business career</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#Political_career" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2Political career</a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#Charlotte_City_Council,1989%E2%80%931995" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.1Charlotte City Council, 1989–1995</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#Mayor_of_Charlotte,1995%E2%80%932009" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.2Mayor of Charlotte, 1995–2009</a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#Transportation" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.2.1Transportation</a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#Economy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.2.2Economy</a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#National_involvement_and_Homeland_Security" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.2.3National involvement and Homeland Security</a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#NASCAR_Hall_of_Fame" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.2.4NASCAR Hall of Fame</a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-9" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#Awards_and_local_involvement" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.2.5Awards and local involvement</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#Gubernatorial_campaigns" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.3Gubernatorial campaigns</a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-11" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#2008_campaign" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.3.12008 campaign</a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-12" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#2009%E2%80%932012_interim" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.3.22009–2012 interim</a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-13" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#2012_campaign" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.3.32012 campaign</a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-4 tocsection-14" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#Issues" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.3.3.1Issues</a></li><li class="toclevel-4 tocsection-15" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#Campaign_finance" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.3.3.2Campaign finance</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-16" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#2016_campaign" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.3.42016 campaign</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-17" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#Governor_of_North_Carolina" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.4Governor of North Carolina</a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-18" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#Legislation" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.4.1Legislation</a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-4 tocsection-19" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#Vetoes" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.4.1.1Vetoes</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-20" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#Education" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.4.2Education</a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-21" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#%22Moral_Mondays%22_protests" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.4.3"Moral Mondays" protests</a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-22" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#Abortion_access" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.4.4Abortion access</a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-23" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#Duke_Energy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.4.5Duke Energy</a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-24" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#I-77_toll_lane" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.4.6I-77 toll lane</a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-25" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#Public_Facilities_Privacy&Security_Act" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.4.7Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act</a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-26" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#Approval_ratings" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.4.8Approval ratings</a></li></ul></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-27" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#Electoral_history" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3Electoral history</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-28" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#References" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">4References</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-29" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#External_links" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5External links</a></li></ul></div><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); font-family: " linux="Linux" libertine="Libertine" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" serif="serif" line-height="line-height">Early life, education and business career[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pat_McCrory&action=edit&section=1&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Early life, education and business career" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>McCrory was born in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus,Ohio" title="Columbus, Ohio" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Columbus, Ohio</a>, the son of Audrey Mona (née Herzberg) and Rollin John McCrory.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-23" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[23]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-24" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[24]</a> His family moved to North Carolina when he was a child. He was raised Presbyterian and his family attended <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Presbyterian_Church_of_Greensboro" title="First Presbyterian Church of Greensboro" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">First Presbyterian Church of Greensboro</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-25" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[25]</a> He graduated in 1974 from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragsdale_High_School" title="Ragsdale High School" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Ragsdale High School</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamestown,North_Carolina" title="Jamestown, North Carolina" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Jamestown, North Carolina</a>. He attended <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catawba_College" title="Catawba College" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Catawba College</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salisbury,North_Carolina" title="Salisbury, North Carolina" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Salisbury, North Carolina</a>, where he received degrees in Political Science and Education in 1978. McCrory was active in the Student Government Association and was part of a conservative backlash to the growing "hippie" culture at Catawba in the mid-1970s.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-26" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[26]</a>In 2001, McCrory gave the graduation keynote address at his alma mater, Catawba College. The college awarded him an honorary doctorate of legal letters.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-27" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[27]</a> He currently serves as a member of Catawba College's Board of Trustees.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-28" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[28]</a>In January 2008, after 28 years with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Energy" title="Duke Energy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Duke Energy</a>, he retired from the company to run full-time for governor. In January 2009, McCrory was named a partner with Charlotte-based McCrory & Company, a sales consulting firm.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-29" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[29]</a> In January 2010, he was named a Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives for Charlotte-based law firm Moore & Van Allen PLLC.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-Pat_McCrory_joins_Moore&Van_Allen-4" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[4]</a> He is a 2014 Young Leader Alumni member of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Swiss_Foundation" title="American Swiss Foundation" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">American Swiss Foundation</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory#cite_note-30" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[30]</a><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); font-family: " linux="Linux" libertine="Libertine" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" serif="serif" line-height="line-height">Political career</h2><div>...</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="g" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 26px;"><div data-hveid="59" data-ved="0ahUKEwiCn8-rqv7bAhVC5YMKHUf8CzgQFQg7KAEwAQ"><div class="rc" style="position: relative;"><h3 class="r" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article145328789.html" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article145328789.html&ved=0ahUKEwiCn8-rqv7bAhVC5YMKHUf8CzgQFgg8MAE" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">Democracy NC calls for criminal probe of NC GOP, McCrory campaign ...</a></h3><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 18px;"><div class="f hJND5c TbwUpd" style="height: 18px; line-height: 16px; white-space: nowrap;"><cite class="iUh30" style="font-style: normal;">https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state.../article145328789.html</cite></div>Apr 18, 2017 - Democracy NC asks for investigation into 'possible conspiracy by the Pat McCrory re-election committee and the NC Republican Party'</div></div></div></div><div class="g" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 26px;"><div data-hveid="62" data-ved="0ahUKEwiCn8-rqv7bAhVC5YMKHUf8CzgQFQg-KAIwAg"><div class="rc" style="position: relative;"><h3 class="r" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/12/19/north-carolinas-outgoing-gop-governor-just-stuck-it-to-his-democratic-successor/" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/12/19/north-carolinas-outgoing-gop-governor-just-stuck-it-to-his-democratic-successor/&ved=0ahUKEwiCn8-rqv7bAhVC5YMKHUf8CzgQFgg_MAI" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">North Carolina's outgoing GOP governor just stuck it to his Democratic ...</a></h3><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 18px;"><div class="f hJND5c TbwUpd" style="height: 18px; line-height: 16px; white-space: nowrap;"><cite class="iUh30" style="font-style: normal;">https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../north-carolinas-outgoing-gop-governor-just-stuc...</cite><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; position: relative; margin: 1px 3px 0px; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;"><a class="GHDvEf ab_button" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=mccrory+gop+north+carolina&oq=mccrory+gop+north+carolina&aqs=chrome..69i57.10399j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#" id="am-b2" aria-label="Result Options" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="button" jsaction="m.tdd;keydown:m.hbke;keypress:m.mskpe" data-ved="0ahUKEwiCn8-rqv7bAhVC5YMKHUf8CzgQ7B0IQDAC" style="border-radius: 0px; cursor: default; font-weight: bold; height: 12px; line-height: 27px; 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box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 2px 4px; left: 0px; visibility: hidden;"><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><li class="action-menu-item ab_dropdownitem" role="menuitem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; list-style: none; user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=related:https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/12/19/north-carolinas-outgoing-gop-governor-just-stuck-it-to-his-democratic-successor/+mccrory+gop+north+carolina&tbo=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiCn8-rqv7bAhVC5YMKHUf8CzgQHwhCMAI" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /></li></ol></div></div></div><a class="fl" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=related:https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/12/19/north-carolinas-outgoing-gop-governor-just-stuck-it-to-his-democratic-successor/+mccrory+gop+north+carolina&tbo=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiCn8-rqv7bAhVC5YMKHUf8CzgQHwhCMAI" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Dec 19, 2016 - After staying quiet for days about what he'd do, McCrory is signing a bill that even a former Republican North Carolina governor said had ...</a></div></div></div></div><div class="g" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 26px;"><div data-hveid="68" data-ved="0ahUKEwiCn8-rqv7bAhVC5YMKHUf8CzgQFQhEKAMwAw"><div class="rc" style="position: relative;"><h3 class="r" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/12/north-carolinas-republicans-succeed-in-power-grab/510950/" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/12/north-carolinas-republicans-succeed-in-power-grab/510950/&ved=0ahUKEwiCn8-rqv7bAhVC5YMKHUf8CzgQFghFMAM" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">North Carolina's 'Legislative Coup' Is Over, and Republicans Won ...</a></h3><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; 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padding: 0px; border: 0px; list-style: none; user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:e402BJjGILkJ:https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/12/north-carolinas-republicans-succeed-in-power-grab/510950/+&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:e402BJjGILkJ:https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/12/north-carolinas-republicans-succeed-in-power-grab/510950/%2B%26cd%3D4%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=0ahUKEwiCn8-rqv7bAhVC5YMKHUf8CzgQIAhIMAM" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /></li><li class="action-menu-item ab_dropdownitem" role="menuitem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; list-style: none; user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=related:https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/12/north-carolinas-republicans-succeed-in-power-grab/510950/+mccrory+gop+north+carolina&tbo=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiCn8-rqv7bAhVC5YMKHUf8CzgQHwhJMAM" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /></li></ol></div></div></div><a class="fl" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=related:https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/12/north-carolinas-republicans-succeed-in-power-grab/510950/+mccrory+gop+north+carolina&tbo=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiCn8-rqv7bAhVC5YMKHUf8CzgQHwhJMAM" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Dec 16, 2016 - Pat McCrory, the outgoing GOP governor, quickly signed the electoral-reform ... North Carolina Republicans Try to Curtail the New Democratic ...</a></div><div jsl="$t t--ddbPTeIsNI;$x 0;" class="r-iUrgG7B1gXTE" data-ved="0ahUKEwiCn8-rqv7bAhVC5YMKHUf8CzgQ2Z0BCEswAw"><div class="g" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 26px;"><div data-hveid="83" data-ved="0ahUKEwiCn8-rqv7bAhVC5YMKHUf8CzgQFQhTKAQwBA"><div class="rc" style="position: relative;"><h3 class="r" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/12/15/505711907/n-c-republicans-move-to-limit-powers-of-incoming-democratic-governor" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/12/15/505711907/n-c-republicans-move-to-limit-powers-of-incoming-democratic-governor&ved=0ahUKEwiCn8-rqv7bAhVC5YMKHUf8CzgQFghUMAQ" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory Moves To Limit Power Of Successor : The Two ...</a></h3><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 18px;"><div class="f hJND5c TbwUpd" style="height: 18px; line-height: 16px; white-space: nowrap;"><cite class="iUh30" style="font-style: normal;">https://www.npr.org/.../n-c-republicans-move-to-limit-powers-of-incoming-democratic-...</cite></div>Dec 15, 2016 - The Republican-controlled North Carolina Legislature has introduced measures to limit the powers of the incoming Democratic governor.</div></div></div></div><div class="g" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 26px;"><div data-hveid="86" data-ved="0ahUKEwiCn8-rqv7bAhVC5YMKHUf8CzgQFQhWKAUwBQ"><div class="rc" style="position: relative;"><h3 class="r" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/12/16/13971368/republican-power-grab-north-carolina-explained" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/12/16/13971368/republican-power-grab-north-carolina-explained&ved=0ahUKEwiCn8-rqv7bAhVC5YMKHUf8CzgQFghXMAU" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">North Carolina Republicans' shocking power grab, explained - Vox</a></h3><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 18px;"><div class="f hJND5c TbwUpd" style="height: 18px; line-height: 16px; white-space: nowrap;"><cite class="iUh30" style="font-style: normal;">https://www.vox.com/policy-and.../republican-power-grab-north-carolina-explained</cite><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; position: relative; margin: 1px 3px 0px; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;"><a class="GHDvEf ab_button" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=mccrory+gop+north+carolina&oq=mccrory+gop+north+carolina&aqs=chrome..69i57.10399j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#" id="am-b5" aria-label="Result Options" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="button" jsaction="m.tdd;keydown:m.hbke;keypress:m.mskpe" data-ved="0ahUKEwiCn8-rqv7bAhVC5YMKHUf8CzgQ7B0IWDAF" style="border-radius: 0px; cursor: default; font-weight: bold; height: 12px; line-height: 27px; 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cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Dec 16, 2016 - North Carolina Republicans are trying to strip the governor's office of power ... McCrorycalled state legislators back for a special session on ...</a></div></div></div></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:BawhXyIS2wgJ:https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/12/16/13971368/republican-power-grab-north-carolina-explained+&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:BawhXyIS2wgJ:https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/12/16/13971368/republican-power-grab-north-carolina-explained%2B%26cd%3D6%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=0ahUKEwiCn8-rqv7bAhVC5YMKHUf8CzgQIAhaMAU" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:BawhXyIS2wgJ:https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/12/16/13971368/republican-power-grab-north-carolina-explained+&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:BawhXyIS2wgJ:https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/12/16/13971368/republican-power-grab-north-carolina-explained%2B%26cd%3D6%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=0ahUKEwiCn8-rqv7bAhVC5YMKHUf8CzgQIAhaMAU" style="text-decoration-line: none; 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</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:BawhXyIS2wgJ:https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/12/16/13971368/republican-power-grab-north-carolina-explained+&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:BawhXyIS2wgJ:https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/12/16/13971368/republican-power-grab-north-carolina-explained%2B%26cd%3D6%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=0ahUKEwiCn8-rqv7bAhVC5YMKHUf8CzgQIAhaMAU" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"></a><a href="https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/01/25/report-5-4-million-nc-supreme-court-race-nations-most-expensive-2016/1065637001/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/01/25/report-5-4-million-nc-supreme-court-race-nations-most-expensive-2016/1065637001/</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p class="speakable-p-1 p-text" style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 20px; background-color: rgb(250, 250, 250); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 22px;">The 2016 race for a seat on the state Supreme Court that switched the partisan majority on the court was the most expensive of its kind in the country that year — and most of the spending came from groups whose donors can't be traced.<p class="speakable-p-2 p-text" style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 20px; background-color: rgb(250, 250, 250); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 22px;">That's according to a <a data-track-label="story pages|news|inline|intext|n/a" href="https://www.brennancenter.org/publication/politics-judicial-elections" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">recent report</a> from the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law and the National Institute on Money in State Politics.The report says $5.4 million was spent on the race between then-incumbent Republican Robert Edmunds Jr. and Democratic challenger Michael Morgan. Morgan won, giving Democrats their first majority on the court since 1998.Of that $5.4 million, only $672,230 was spent by the candidates' campaigns.The N.C. Chamber of Commerce spent $1.45 million in support of Edmunds, and Fair Judges, a group funded by the Republican State Leadership Committee's Judicial Fairness Initiative, spent $1.18 million backing Edmunds.North Carolina Families First, a group that also supported Democratic legislative candidates, spent more than $1.7 million on television advertising to help Morgan.There is little public information available on who gave the money outside groups like the N.C. Chamber and Families First spent in the race, the report says. So-called "dark money" accounts for more than 60 percent of total spending.Such spending is a concern for some critics of judicial election systems like North Carolina's. They worry judges will feel obligated to rule in favor of those who helped them win an election and that lavish campaign spending is politicizing state courts.<div class="partner-outstream">The report found that $69.3 million was spent on state Supreme Court races for 50 seats around the country in 2015 and 2016. Candidates spent $39.3 million, outside groups $27.8 million and the remaining $2.2 million was either public financing or spending by political parties.The biggest chunk of spending covered in the report was in Pennsylvania in 2015, where $21.4 million was spent on races for three seats. The Supreme Court there was recently in the news for a decision, along party lines, striking down the lines the Pennsylvania legislature drew for U.S. House districts as a partisan gerrymander.North Carolina had a state program that provided public financing for judicial candidates who agreed to spending limits. Legislation passed by the General Assembly and signed by Gov. Pat McCrory in 2013 did away with it. The legislature has also required that judges now run with their party affiliation listed on the ballot.Legislators are now talking about going to a system in which judges are appointed, possibly by the governor from a list of candidates approved by the General Assembly. That would require a constitutional amendment.</div></div>http://wfae.org/post/ncs-state-epidemiologist-resigns-citing-misleading-info-mccrory-administration<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">You normally don’t hear much about North Carolina’s state epidemiologist.But it’s not every day that a scientist sends out a <a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3010359/DaviesResignationPDF10Aug2016.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">scathing letter of resignation</a>.That’s just what Dr. Megan Davies did late Tuesday night, citing what she sees as McCory administration officials misleading the public about whether or not well water near unlined coal ash ponds is safe to drink. Dr. Megan Davies had served as North Carolina’s top epidemiologist for the past seven years, staying out of the spotlight.Then Tuesday, two top McCrory administration officials<a href="http://deq.nc.gov/press-release/despite-mischaracterizations-north-carolina-protecting-drinking-water" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">published an editorial</a> attacking the credibility of state toxicologist Dr. Ken Rudo – and his claims that politics, not science was behind the reversal of a state do-not-drink order for well water near unlined coal ash ponds.The editorial portrayed Rudo as a rogue scientist with questionable findings.Davies told WUNC that just isn’t the case.<div class="wysiwyg-asset-image-wrapper offset-left" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0.9375rem 0.78125rem -110.547px; padding: 0px 0.9375rem 0px 0px; position: relative; width: 331.656px; float: left; clear: left; z-index: 1;"><div class="wysiwyg-asset-image" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">SERVICES</div></div>"What outraged me in that editorial is that two people working in government who I have interacted with extensively, and I know that they know the process we went through, those two people sent out a document that conveyed that a lone scientist was behaving independently on his own whim when people’s health and lives were affected by those recommendations."Her resignation letter was much more biting. “Upon reading the open editorial yesterday evening, I can only conclude that the Department’s leadership is fully aware that this document misinforms the public.” Adding, “I cannot work for a department and an administration that deliberately misleads the public.”Rudo’s claims were made in a sworn deposition, one Duke Energy has tried to keep sealed. He also stated Governor McCrory was directly involved in the reversal of the do-not-drink order, taking part in the meeting over the phone. In return, the McCrory administration has been more than open in its criticism of Rudo.Here’s McCrory’s Chief of Staff, Thomas Stith, in a surprise late night press conference earlier this month."We’re not going to stand by idly while individuals makes false statements and lies under oath."Now it’s relatively easy to attack the views of a single scientist. But adding Dr. Davies resignation to the mix makes it much more difficult for the McCrory administration, especially given her reputation among the top epidemiologists in other states.  "She has an outstanding reputation among her colleagues," says Dr. Jeffery Engel, executive director of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. He also has served as North Carolina’s top epidemiologist. In fact, he's the one who hired Dr. Davies. The original do-not-drink order was issued because of elevated levels of hexavalent chromium, a known carcinogen. It’s a compound that can occur naturally – but is most commonly created by human activity. It is known to be present in coal ash.
"You can't go out in the population and say X number of people have developed cancer because they were ingesting well water with those chemicals in it."But while hexavalent chromium is known to cause cancer, what level of exposure is safe is still in question says Engel.Because the link can be hard to establish. Unlike, say, a salmonella outbreak which could easily be traced back to a restaurant.Still North Carolina scientists – including Dr. Davies, Dr. Rudo and others studied hexavalent chromium exposure and set a state limit. That was the basis of the original do-not-drink order. Dr. Engel say’s that’s normally enough for a state’s health department. They trust their staff.In her resignation letter Dr. Davies says this was not the case. And the level of hexavalent chromium in the effected wells is still the same says Catawba Riverkeeper Sam Perkins."The data has very clearly shown wells near unlined coal ash ponds had orders of magnitude of more hexavalent chromium than what is calculated to be safe under North Carolina law and what is typically seen in municipal treated drinking water utilities."But the standard of exposure deemed safe by the state has changed. The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality has chosen to ignore the state’s own standard and go with a much older and more generous standard established by the federal government. Speaking Thursday afternoon, Governor Pat McCrory defended the move by saying it’s just a disagreement among scientists. This was recorded by WRAL."We’re providing all the information necessary to ensure that we have safe drinking water. And the public knows exactly what the value of that drinking water is, especially as it relates to the federal standard which President Obama supports and his administration supports," McCrory said. It was an odd moment where Governor McCory decided it was best to agree with President Obama.For some, this is just a he-said-she-said story, with both sides accusing the other of twisting science and lying to the public.But for Amy Brown, it’s about much more. "I live next to Duke Energy’s Allen steam station right here in Belmont, North Carolina."She, her husband, and her two young sons live less than 1,000 feet from an unlined Duke Energy coal ash pond. They rely on a well for their water. At least they did until a little over a year ago – when they, their neighbors and hundreds of others in similar situations around the state received a letter from state officials saying the water in their wells was contaminated and was unsafe to drink. Since that time the Browns have been living one bottle of water at a time."As for cooking, every single meal is prepared with a bottle of water. When you brush your teeth you use bottled water," Brown explained. That water is paid for by Duke. Delivered every two weeks. Despite the fact the company and now the state say the well water is perfectly safe. Duke is just a good neighbor a spokeswoman told WFAE.But that bottled water only goes so far says Brown."My four year old son does not know what its like to enjoy a long playful bubble bath. How sad is that?"Bottled water, contaminated taps, distrust of state government, for Amy Brown there’s a simple comparison."We are a Flint, North Carolina. I know there are differences there and I don’t take away from Flint in any way, shape or form, but we do have things that are similar. And the corruption is one of them."Riverkeeper Sam Perkins takes that comparison a step further."Imagine if in Flint, Michigan, we were also hearing that in the process of finding high levels of lead, the process was not just to ignore the problem but to try to find the highest, oldest, lead standard possible and cite that for a reason the water was safe."That’s just what Sam Perkins believes North Carolina officials did.WFAE Reporters Lisa Worf and Michael Tomsic contributed to this report.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.78125rem 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; clear: left; overflow: hidden;">=</div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.78125rem 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; clear: left; overflow: hidden;">ref</div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.78125rem 0px; padding: 0px; clear: left; overflow: hidden;"><div class="field field-name-field-city-location field-type-text field-label-hidden " style="text-transform: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="field-items" id="md5" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="field-item" itemprop="dateline" style="box-sizing: border-box;">RALEIGH</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-release-date field-type-datetime field-label-hidden " style="text-transform: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="field-items" id="md2" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="field-item" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Tuesday, August 9, 2016</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden " style="text-transform: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="field-items" id="md1" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="field-item" style="box-sizing: border-box;">After news reports and editorials inaccurately and unfairly characterized the state’s efforts to protect drinking water, the North Carolina departments of Health and Human Services and Environmental Quality release the following open editorial:Recent media stories and editorials have given support to the questionable and inconsistent scientific conclusions reached by toxicologist Ken Rudo and have created unnecessary fear and confusion among North Carolinians who are concerned about the safety of their drinking water. Scientists do and should continuously question the status quo, and disagreement among them is to be expected. But both media and scientists should also be expected to recognize facts.At issue is how much Chromium 6 and Vanadium, both naturally occurring compounds that can also be found in coal ash, is considered safe in drinking water. Rudo doesn’t just disagree with other scientists on this subject – he has even contradicted himself. The federal safe drinking water standard for Chromium is 100 parts per billion and, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, “assumes that a measurement of total chromium is 100 percent Chromium 6”. Rudo himself recognized this fact in November 2014 when he advised well owners near coal ash ponds that their water was safe to drink because “your well water meets federal drinking water standards”.Just a few months later, Rudo reversed course and advised the same well owners not to drink their water. Rather than relying on the federal standard he said was safe just months before, he used his own threshold, which was 1,400 times lower than the federal standard.We realize that this is a dynamic science and there are differing viewpoints. For example, the original recommended level in well owners’ letters for Vanadium was set 33 times lower than what’s found in daily multivitamins. For hexavalent chromium, Rudo’s analysis is out of step with the federal government and 49 other states. If one followed the threshold he proposes, every state would have to issue “do not drink” orders to hundreds of millions of people. Many cities and states recognize that Chromium 6 represents some risk at levels below the federal drinking water standard, but none issue “do not drink” orders under those circumstances.Despite these inconsistencies, the disagreement among staff at the state environmental and health and human services departments was about how best to advise North Carolinians about the safety of their drinking water. Staff at the state environmental department found untenable that he limited his threshold to only those well owners near the coal ash ponds. He refused to apply the same recommendation to the other 900,000 North Carolina wells or the millions of people who consume well water that may measure above his threshold.When pressed during a deposition, Rudo was not able to explain the inconsistencies in his scientific conclusions. Rudo’s unprofessional approach to this important matter does a disservice to public health and environmental protection in North Carolina. It doesn’t help that political special interest groups perpetuate his exaggerations and fuel alarm among citizens for their own purposes.Tom Reeder Assistant Secretary for the Environment Department of Environmental QualityRandall Williams, MD Deputy Secretary for Health Services Department of Health and Human Services</div></div></div><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; float: none;">dark lord Jimmy BroughtonGovernment Relations Group--Womble Carlyle
Thom TillisU.S. Senator for North Carolina
Brad LangstonConstituent Liaison at Office of Congressman Mark Walker
Catherine L. TruittSenior Education Advisor, Office of the Governor (NC)
Lindsey MortonSpecial Assistant to the Governor, State of North Carolina
Andrew HeathState Budget Director, Office of the Governor, Office of State Management and Budget
Matthew McKillipPolicy Director at Office of the Governor, State of North Carolina
Keith WernerSecretary, North Carolina Department of Information Technology/ North Carolina State Chief Information Officer
Meredith McCullenScheduling Director at Office of the Governor, State of North Carolina
Kasey GinsbergDeputy Policy Director at State of North Carolina, Office of Governor McCrory<div class="g" style="letter-spacing: 0.08px; line-height: 1.2; text-transform: uppercase; word-spacing: 0.4px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 23px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="rc" data-hveid="30" style="position: relative;"><h3 class="r" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/under-the-dome/article94769757.html" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">North Carolina scientist Ken Rudo rebuts McCrory administration on ...</a></h3><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 18px;"><div class="f kv SWb" style="height: 17px; line-height: 16px; white-space: nowrap;"><cite class="Rm" style="font-style: normal;">www.newsobserver.com/news/politics.../article94769757.html</cite><div class="crc" style="display: inline-block; position: relative; margin-left: 4px;"><div class="crl" data-async-context="res:0;ri:;site:newsobserver.com" data-async-trigger="cra-0-filled" jsaction="crd.tglpop" data-ved="0ahUKEwiv65Coi-fOAhVENiYKHXHIAskQ5CsIIDAA" style="display: inline-block; cursor: pointer;">The News & Observer<span class="Bs" style="border-width: 4px 4px 0px; border-style: solid; width: 0px; height: 0px; top: 8.5px; position: absolute; margin-left: 6px; margin-top: -3px; border-color: rgb(170, 170, 170) transparent !important;" /></div></div></div>Aug 10, 2016 - McCrory's chief of staff told reporters Rudo lied under oath. ... [NC scientist says health officials played down risk of coal ash in drinking water] ... Duke Energy has been providing bottled water to about 400 homes for more than a ... The City of Raleigh also has a maximumchromium 6 level of 100 parts per ...</div></div></div><div class="g" style="letter-spacing: 0.08px; line-height: 1.2; text-transform: uppercase; word-spacing: 0.4px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 23px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="rc" data-hveid="34" style="position: relative;"><h3 class="r" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/NC-chiefs-bash-scientist-warning-water-near-Duke-9132810.php" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">NC chiefs bash scientist warning water near Duke pits unsafe - SFGate</a></h3><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 18px;"><div class="f kv SWb" style="height: 17px; line-height: 16px; white-space: nowrap;"><cite class="Rm" style="font-style: normal;">www.sfgate.com/.../NC-chiefs-bash-scientist-warning-water-n...</cite><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; position: relative; margin: 0px 3px; vertical-align: middle; -webkit-user-select: none;"><a class="Fmb ab_button" href="https://www.google.com/#" id="am-b1" aria-label="Result details" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="button" jsaction="m.tdd;keydown:m.hbke;keypress:m.mskpe" data-ved="0ahUKEwiv65Coi-fOAhVENiYKHXHIAskQ7B0IJDAB" style="border-radius: 0px; cursor: default; font-weight: bold; height: 12px; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; transition: none; -webkit-user-select: none; border: 0px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px 0px; filter: none; width: 13px; text-decoration: none; display: inline-block; background-image: none;"><span class="mn-dwn-arw" style="border-color: rgb(0, 102, 33) transparent; border-style: solid; border-width: 5px 4px 0px !important; width: 0px; height: 0px; margin-left: 3px; top: 7.5px; margin-top: -4px; position: absolute; left: 0px;" /></a><div class="action-menu-panel ab_dropdown" role="menu" tabindex="-1" jsaction="keydown:m.hdke;mouseover:m.hdhne;mouseout:m.hdhue" data-ved="0ahUKEwiv65Coi-fOAhVENiYKHXHIAskQqR8IJTAB" style="border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: auto; top: 12px; z-index: 3; transition: opacity 0.218s; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 2px 4px; left: 0px; visibility: hidden; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><li class="action-menu-item ab_dropdownitem" role="menuitem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; list-style: none; -webkit-user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:0yE_Cy9-3_sJ:www.sfgate.com/news/article/NC-chiefs-bash-scientist-warning-water-near-Duke-9132810.php+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /></li></ol></div></div><div class="crc" style="display: inline-block; position: relative; margin-left: 4px;"><div class="crl" data-async-context="res:1;ri:;site:sfgate.com" data-async-trigger="cra-1-filled" jsaction="crd.tglpop" data-ved="0ahUKEwiv65Coi-fOAhVENiYKHXHIAskQ5CsIJzAB" style="display: inline-block; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:0yE_Cy9-3_sJ:www.sfgate.com/news/article/NC-chiefs-bash-scientist-warning-water-near-Duke-9132810.php+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">San Francisco Chronicle<span class="Bs" style="border-width: 4px 4px 0px; border-style: solid; width: 0px; height: 0px; top: 8.5px; position: absolute; margin-left: 6px; margin-top: -3px; border-color: rgb(170, 170, 170) transparent !important;" /></a></div></div></div><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:0yE_Cy9-3_sJ:www.sfgate.com/news/article/NC-chiefs-bash-scientist-warning-water-near-Duke-9132810.php+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Aug 9, 2016 - NC chiefs bash scientist warning water near Duke pits unsafe ... Hexavalent chromium, or chromium 6, can cause lung cancer when inhaled, and the ... Coal ash is the byproduct of burning coal to generate electricity. ... McCrory's chief of staff last week accused Rudo of lying in his deposition when he said ...</a></div></div></div><div class="g" style="letter-spacing: 0.08px; line-height: 1.2; text-transform: uppercase; word-spacing: 0.4px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 23px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="rc" data-hveid="41" style="position: relative;"><h3 class="r" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="http://wfae.org/post/ncs-state-epidemiologist-resigns-citing-misleading-info-mccrory-administration" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">NC's State Epidemiologist Resigns Citing 'Misleading' Info From ...</a></h3><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 18px;"><div class="f kv SWb" style="height: 17px; line-height: 16px; white-space: nowrap;"><cite class="Rm" style="font-style: normal;">wfae.org/.../ncs-state-epidemiologist-resigns-citing-misleading-info-mccrory-a...</cite><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; position: relative; margin: 0px 3px; vertical-align: middle; -webkit-user-select: none;"><a class="Fmb ab_button" href="https://www.google.com/#" id="am-b2" aria-label="Result details" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="button" jsaction="m.tdd;keydown:m.hbke;keypress:m.mskpe" data-ved="0ahUKEwiv65Coi-fOAhVENiYKHXHIAskQ7B0IKzAC" style="border-radius: 0px; cursor: default; font-weight: bold; height: 12px; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; transition: none; -webkit-user-select: none; border: 0px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px 0px; filter: none; width: 13px; text-decoration: none; display: inline-block; background-image: none;"><span class="mn-dwn-arw" style="border-color: rgb(0, 102, 33) transparent; border-style: solid; border-width: 5px 4px 0px !important; width: 0px; height: 0px; margin-left: 3px; top: 7.5px; margin-top: -4px; position: absolute; left: 0px;" /></a><div class="action-menu-panel ab_dropdown" role="menu" tabindex="-1" jsaction="keydown:m.hdke;mouseover:m.hdhne;mouseout:m.hdhue" data-ved="0ahUKEwiv65Coi-fOAhVENiYKHXHIAskQqR8ILDAC" style="border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: auto; top: 12px; z-index: 3; transition: opacity 0.218s; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 2px 4px; left: 0px; visibility: hidden; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><li class="action-menu-item ab_dropdownitem" role="menuitem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; list-style: none; -webkit-user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:BNnoQcpSYjIJ:wfae.org/post/ncs-state-epidemiologist-resigns-citing-misleading-info-mccrory-administration+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /></li></ol></div></div><div class="crc" style="display: inline-block; position: relative; margin-left: 4px;"><div class="crl" data-async-context="res:2;ri:;site:wfae.org" data-async-trigger="cra-2-filled" jsaction="crd.tglpop" data-ved="0ahUKEwiv65Coi-fOAhVENiYKHXHIAskQ5CsILjAC" style="display: inline-block; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:BNnoQcpSYjIJ:wfae.org/post/ncs-state-epidemiologist-resigns-citing-misleading-info-mccrory-administration+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">WFAE<span class="Bs" style="border-width: 4px 4px 0px; border-style: solid; width: 0px; height: 0px; top: 8.5px; position: absolute; margin-left: 6px; margin-top: -3px; border-color: rgb(170, 170, 170) transparent !important;" /></a></div></div></div><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:BNnoQcpSYjIJ:wfae.org/post/ncs-state-epidemiologist-resigns-citing-misleading-info-mccrory-administration+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Aug 11, 2016 - The editorial portrayed Rudo as a rogue scientist with questionable findings. ... Rudo's claims were made in a sworn deposition, one Duke Energy has tried ... Here's McCrory's Chief of Staff, Thomas Stith, in a surprise late night press ... ash ponds had orders of magnitude of more hexavalent chromium than ...</a></div></div></div><div class="g" style="letter-spacing: 0.08px; line-height: 1.2; text-transform: uppercase; word-spacing: 0.4px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 23px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="rc" data-hveid="48" style="position: relative;"><h3 class="r" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="http://www.wral.com/news/state/nccapitol/?t=787" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">@NCCapitol@NCCapitol::Coal Ash - WRAL.com</a></h3><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 18px;"><div class="f kv SWb" style="height: 17px; line-height: 16px; white-space: nowrap;"><cite class="Rm" style="font-style: normal;">www.wral.com/news/state/nccapitol/?t=787</cite><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; position: relative; margin: 0px 3px; vertical-align: middle; -webkit-user-select: none;"><a class="Fmb ab_button" href="https://www.google.com/#" id="am-b3" aria-label="Result details" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="button" jsaction="m.tdd;keydown:m.hbke;keypress:m.mskpe" data-ved="0ahUKEwiv65Coi-fOAhVENiYKHXHIAskQ7B0IMjAD" style="border-radius: 0px; cursor: default; font-weight: bold; height: 12px; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; transition: none; -webkit-user-select: none; border: 0px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px 0px; filter: none; width: 13px; text-decoration: none; display: inline-block; background-image: none;"><span class="mn-dwn-arw" style="border-color: rgb(0, 102, 33) transparent; border-style: solid; border-width: 5px 4px 0px !important; width: 0px; height: 0px; margin-left: 3px; top: 7.5px; margin-top: -4px; position: absolute; left: 0px;" /></a><div class="action-menu-panel ab_dropdown" role="menu" tabindex="-1" jsaction="keydown:m.hdke;mouseover:m.hdhne;mouseout:m.hdhue" data-ved="0ahUKEwiv65Coi-fOAhVENiYKHXHIAskQqR8IMzAD" style="border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: auto; top: 12px; z-index: 3; transition: opacity 0.218s; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 2px 4px; left: 0px; visibility: hidden; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><li class="action-menu-item ab_dropdownitem" role="menuitem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; list-style: none; -webkit-user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:6Ggi_T307YAJ:www.wral.com/news/state/nccapitol/%3Ft%3D787+&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /></li></ol></div></div><div class="crc" style="display: inline-block; position: relative; margin-left: 4px;"><div class="crl" data-async-context="res:3;ri:;site:wral.com" data-async-trigger="cra-3-filled" jsaction="crd.tglpop" data-ved="0ahUKEwiv65Coi-fOAhVENiYKHXHIAskQ5CsINTAD" style="display: inline-block; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:6Ggi_T307YAJ:www.wral.com/news/state/nccapitol/%3Ft%3D787+&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">WRAL‑TV<span class="Bs" style="border-width: 4px 4px 0px; border-style: solid; width: 0px; height: 0px; top: 8.5px; position: absolute; margin-left: 6px; margin-top: -3px; border-color: rgb(170, 170, 170) transparent !important;" /></a></div></div></div><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:6Ggi_T307YAJ:www.wral.com/news/state/nccapitol/%3Ft%3D787+&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">McCrory continues criticism of state scientists over coal ash contamination warnings ... near coal ashpits and had elevated levels of hexavalent chromium in their well water. ... Pat McCrory's chief of staff, held an unusual 9:15 p.m. news conference ... New research by Duke University scientistsindicates that unlined coal ash ...</a></div></div></div><div class="g" style="letter-spacing: 0.08px; line-height: 1.2; text-transform: uppercase; word-spacing: 0.4px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 23px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="rc" data-hveid="54" style="position: relative;"><h3 class="r" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/CoalAshChronicles/posts/1243102149041458" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Coal Ash Chronicles - Timeline | Facebook</a></h3><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 18px;"><div class="f kv SWb" style="height: 17px; line-height: 16px; white-space: nowrap;"><cite class="Rm bc" style="font-style: normal;">www.facebook.com › ... › Broadcasting & Media Production</cite><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; position: relative; margin: 0px 3px; vertical-align: middle; -webkit-user-select: none;"><a class="Fmb ab_button" href="https://www.google.com/#" id="am-b4" aria-label="Result details" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="button" jsaction="m.tdd;keydown:m.hbke;keypress:m.mskpe" data-ved="0ahUKEwiv65Coi-fOAhVENiYKHXHIAskQ7B0IOTAE" style="border-radius: 0px; cursor: default; font-weight: bold; height: 12px; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; transition: none; -webkit-user-select: none; border: 0px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px 0px; filter: none; width: 13px; text-decoration: none; display: inline-block; background-image: none;"><span class="mn-dwn-arw" style="border-color: rgb(0, 102, 33) transparent; border-style: solid; border-width: 5px 4px 0px !important; width: 0px; height: 0px; margin-left: 3px; top: 7.5px; margin-top: -4px; position: absolute; left: 0px;" /></a><div class="action-menu-panel ab_dropdown" role="menu" tabindex="-1" jsaction="keydown:m.hdke;mouseover:m.hdhne;mouseout:m.hdhue" data-ved="0ahUKEwiv65Coi-fOAhVENiYKHXHIAskQqR8IOjAE" style="border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: auto; top: 12px; z-index: 3; transition: opacity 0.218s; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 2px 4px; left: 0px; visibility: hidden; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><li class="action-menu-item ab_dropdownitem" role="menuitem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; list-style: none; -webkit-user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:N0u2JhViAAsJ:https://www.facebook.com/CoalAshChronicles/posts/1243102149041458+&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /></li></ol></div></div></div><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:N0u2JhViAAsJ:https://www.facebook.com/CoalAshChronicles/posts/1243102149041458+&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Silent auction 'Coal Ash Chronicles - Finishing Funds for Film' hosted online .... 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Pat McCrory's chief of staff, Thomas Stith, and his communications director, Josh Ellis. .... presentation will be heard concerning the Duke true-up and coal ash issue.</a></div></div></div><div class="g" style="letter-spacing: 0.08px; line-height: 1.2; text-transform: uppercase; word-spacing: 0.4px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 23px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="rc" data-hveid="60" style="position: relative;"><h3 class="r" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/CoalAshChronicles/?hc_location=ufi" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Coal Ash Chronicles | Facebook</a></h3><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 18px;"><div class="f kv _SWb" style="height: 17px; line-height: 16px; white-space: nowrap;"><cite class="Rm bc" style="font-style: normal;">www.facebook.com › ... › Broadcasting & Media Production</cite><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; position: relative; margin: 0px 3px; vertical-align: middle; -webkit-user-select: none;"><a class="Fmb ab_button" href="https://www.google.com/#" id="am-b5" aria-label="Result details" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="button" jsaction="m.tdd;keydown:m.hbke;keypress:m.mskpe" data-ved="0ahUKEwiv65Coi-fOAhVENiYKHXHIAskQ7B0IPzAF" style="border-radius: 0px; cursor: default; font-weight: bold; height: 12px; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; transition: none; -webkit-user-select: none; border: 0px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px 0px; filter: none; width: 13px; text-decoration: none; display: inline-block; background-image: none;"><span class="mn-dwn-arw" style="border-color: rgb(0, 102, 33) transparent; border-style: solid; border-width: 5px 4px 0px !important; width: 0px; height: 0px; margin-left: 3px; top: 7.5px; margin-top: -4px; position: absolute; left: 0px;" /></a><div class="action-menu-panel ab_dropdown" role="menu" tabindex="-1" jsaction="keydown:m.hdke;mouseover:m.hdhne;mouseout:m.hdhue" data-ved="0ahUKEwiv65Coi-fOAhVENiYKHXHIAskQqR8IQDAF" style="border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: auto; top: 12px; z-index: 3; transition: opacity 0.218s; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 2px 4px; left: 0px; visibility: hidden; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><li class="action-menu-item ab_dropdownitem" role="menuitem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; list-style: none; -webkit-user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:72FRern2bTIJ:https://www.facebook.com/CoalAshChronicles/%3Fhc_location%3Dufi+&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /></li></ol></div></div></div><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:72FRern2bTIJ:https://www.facebook.com/CoalAshChronicles/%3Fhc_location%3Dufi+&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Be sure to place your bids in Coal Ash Chronicles' online silent auction today .... Rudo of rogue science in setting a safety threshold for hexavalent chromium, ... Pat McCrory's chief of staff, Thomas Stith, and his communications director, Josh Ellis .... presentation will be heard concerning theDuke true-up and coal ash issue.</a></div></div></div><div class="g" style="letter-spacing: 0.08px; line-height: 1.2; text-transform: uppercase; word-spacing: 0.4px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 23px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="rc" data-hveid="66" style="position: relative;"><h3 class="r" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="http://grist.org/article/n-c-chief-epidemiologist-resigns-over-water-safety-squabble/" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">N.C. chief epidemiologist resigns over water safety squabble | Grist</a></h3><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 18px;"><div class="f kv _SWb" style="height: 17px; line-height: 16px; white-space: nowrap;"><cite class="Rm" style="font-style: normal;">grist.org/article/n-c-chief-epidemiologist-resigns-over-water-safety-squabble/</cite><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; position: relative; margin: 0px 3px; vertical-align: middle; -webkit-user-select: none;"><a class="Fmb ab_button" href="https://www.google.com/#" id="am-b6" aria-label="Result details" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="button" jsaction="m.tdd;keydown:m.hbke;keypress:m.mskpe" data-ved="0ahUKEwiv65Coi-fOAhVENiYKHXHIAskQ7B0IRDAG" style="border-radius: 0px; cursor: default; font-weight: bold; height: 12px; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; transition: none; -webkit-user-select: none; border: 0px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px 0px; filter: none; width: 13px; text-decoration: none; display: inline-block; background-image: none;"><span class="mn-dwn-arw" style="border-color: rgb(0, 102, 33) transparent; border-style: solid; border-width: 5px 4px 0px !important; width: 0px; height: 0px; margin-left: 3px; top: 7.5px; margin-top: -4px; position: absolute; left: 0px;" /></a><div class="action-menu-panel ab_dropdown" role="menu" tabindex="-1" jsaction="keydown:m.hdke;mouseover:m.hdhne;mouseout:m.hdhue" data-ved="0ahUKEwiv65Coi-fOAhVENiYKHXHIAskQqR8IRTAG" style="border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: auto; top: 12px; z-index: 3; transition: opacity 0.218s; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 2px 4px; left: 0px; visibility: hidden; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><li class="action-menu-item ab_dropdownitem" role="menuitem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; list-style: none; -webkit-user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ScemQiP2XTgJ:grist.org/article/n-c-chief-epidemiologist-resigns-over-water-safety-squabble/+&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /></li></ol></div></div><div class="crc" style="display: inline-block; position: relative; margin-left: 4px;"><div class="crl" data-async-context="res:6;ri:;site:grist.org" data-async-trigger="cra-6-filled" jsaction="crd.tglpop" data-ved="0ahUKEwiv65Coi-fOAhVENiYKHXHIAskQ5CsIRzAG" style="display: inline-block; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ScemQiP2XTgJ:grist.org/article/n-c-chief-epidemiologist-resigns-over-water-safety-squabble/+&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Grist<span class="Bs" style="border-width: 4px 4px 0px; border-style: solid; width: 0px; height: 0px; top: 8.5px; position: absolute; margin-left: 6px; margin-top: -3px; border-color: rgb(170, 170, 170) transparent !important;" /></a></div></div></div><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ScemQiP2XTgJ:grist.org/article/n-c-chief-epidemiologist-resigns-over-water-safety-squabble/+&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Aug 12, 2016 - Megan Davies, North Carolina's chief epidemiologist, resigned this week in the ... water near the coal ash sites still had levels of hexavalent chromium higher than ... McCrory was an employee of Duke Energy for nearly 30 years before ... Rudo as a rogue scientist who doesn't understand water toxicology.</a></div></div></div><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ScemQiP2XTgJ:grist.org/article/n-c-chief-epidemiologist-resigns-over-water-safety-squabble/+&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"></a><div style="letter-spacing: 0.08px; line-height: 17.92px; text-transform: uppercase; word-spacing: 0.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ScemQiP2XTgJ:grist.org/article/n-c-chief-epidemiologist-resigns-over-water-safety-squabble/+&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">http://www.ecowatch.com/erin-brockovich-hexavalent-chromium-1975027666.html</a></div><div style="letter-spacing: 0.08px; line-height: 17.92px; text-transform: uppercase; word-spacing: 0.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ScemQiP2XTgJ:grist.org/article/n-c-chief-epidemiologist-resigns-over-water-safety-squabble/+&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">
</a></div><div style="letter-spacing: 0.08px; line-height: 17.92px; text-transform: uppercase; word-spacing: 0.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ScemQiP2XTgJ:grist.org/article/n-c-chief-epidemiologist-resigns-over-water-safety-squabble/+&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">As news about North Carolina's governor and his administration </a><a href="http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article94899332.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">downplaying the risks</a> of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/drinking-teflon-chemicals-water-1968474975.html" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">drinking water contaminated </a>with hexavalent chromium unfolds, two leading environmental health advocates are pushing the Obama administration to finally set a nationwide standard for the highly toxic chemical.<div class="share-tab-img share-buttons share-trigger" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; position: relative; overflow: hidden;"><div class="share-media-panel"><a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/search/?q=Erin+Brockovich" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Erin Brockovich</a>, a noted environmental health advocate and the Environmental Working Group (EWG) President Ken Cook called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to stop dragging its feet and move quickly to set a tough national standard, known as a Maximum Contaminant Level or MCL, for the ubiquitous carcinogen found in millions of Americans' tap water.
In a <a href="http://cdn.ewg.org/sites/default/files/EPA%20Cr-6%20letter.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">joint letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy</a>, Brockovich and Cook wrote:<blockquote style="margin: 1em 0px; border-left: 10px solid rgb(78, 147, 66); padding-left: 20px;">We write with deep concern about this continued delay. It is clear that the delay is sowing confusion among state and local regulators, utilities and the public about how much hexavalent chromium is safe in drinking water. This confusion is resulting in many Americans' exposure to unregulated levels of hexavalent chromium that federal, state and independent scientists agree pose health hazards.</blockquote>The request comes as a top state health official in North Carolina resigned in protest over meddling by Gov. Pat McCrory and his staff. McCrory sought to retract "do-not-drink" warnings directed at some residents whose tap water comes from wells likely tainted by hexavalent chromium from nearby Duke Energy coal-burning facilities.The situation in North Carolina is, in part, a result of the absence of a stringent nationwide health-protective EPA standard, argued Brockovich and Cook:<blockquote style="margin: 1em 0px; border-left: 10px solid rgb(78, 147, 66); padding-left: 20px;">States like North Carolina, where industrial byproducts like <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/search/?q=coal+ash+" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">coal ash</a> increase the risk of hexavalent chromium contamination, need a federal mandate to set strong, health-protective standards for levels of the contaminant in drinking water. Without it, states will continue to use inconsistent and potentially unsafe guidelines and leave citizens confused about whether their drinking water is safe.</blockquote><a href="http://www.ewg.org/research/chromium6-in-tap-water" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">A report</a> issued by EWG back in December 2010 found hexavalent chromium in tap water from 31 of 35 American cities."It's high time EPA put in place a stringent national standard to protect Americans from drinking water contaminated with hexavalent chromium," Cook said in a separate statement."A lack of a federal standard and the ongoing delay in setting one, are confusing utilities, states and citizens about what level of hexavalent chromium in drinking water is safe. Until EPA acts, we will likely continue to see the situation happening in North Carolina unfold in other states."</div><div></div></div></div><a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2016/02/nc-environmental-officials-too-anti-regulation-eve.html">http://www.southernstudies.org/2016/02/nc-environmental-officials-too-anti-regulation-eve.html</a>sue s<h1 class="title" itemprop="name" style="letter-spacing: 0.08px; line-height: 17.92px; text-transform: uppercase; word-spacing: 0.4px;">NC environmental officials: Too anti-regulation even for Duke Energy?</h1>

    <p style="letter-spacing: 0.08px; line-height: 17.92px; text-transform: uppercase; word-spacing: 0.4px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Just how extreme is the administration of North Carolina Gov. Pat

McCrory (R) when it comes to obstructing efforts to protect the

environment?

So extreme that even Duke Energy — McCrory's former <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2014/02/duke-energys-inside-connections-to-the-mccrory-adm.html">longtime employer</a>, one of his <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2014/04/new-details-emerge-on-gov-mccrorys-duke-energy-mon.html">top political benefactors</a>, and a <a href="https://www.southernenvironment.org/news-and-press/news-feed/duke-energy-pleads-guilty-to-environmental-crimes-in-north-carolina">major polluter</a> in the state — is calling on it to dial back the anti-environmental obstructionism.

Speaking at a Jan. 29 forum on the state's energy future, Mark

McIntire, Duke's director of environmental policy and affairs, urged

North Carolina to take a different approach to the Obama

administration's <a href="http://www.epa.gov/cleanpowerplan/clean-power-plan-existing-power-plants">Clean Power Plan</a> to cut global warming pollution. The plan is being <a href="https://www.edf.org/sites/default/files/content/2016.01.26_wv_et_al._scotus_stay_application.pdf">challenged in court by 29 states</a>, including North Carolina, as well as by corporations and industry groups. The lawsuit is being led by Texas and West Virginia.

McCrory <a href="https://governor.nc.gov/press-release/governor-mccrory-criticizes-overreaching-regulations-will-raise-consumer-power-bills">has charged</a>

that the plan would raise electricity rates and amounts to "federal

intrusion." So his administration submitted a compliance proposal that <a href="http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2015/11/05/advocates-respond-to-mccrory-administrations-assault-on-clean-power-plan/">fell short </a>of

EPA's requirements, with the intention of taking the rejection to court

— an approach that's earned condemnation from environmental advocates

and criticism from Duke Energy.

"Quite frankly, the approach our state is taking is one that is not collaborative," McIntire <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/energy/2016/01/duke-energy-wants-n-c-to-open-up-planning-for-epa.html">told</a>

the N.C. Leadership Forum panel. "We are continuing to encourage the

Department of Environmental Quality to think a little bit larger — let's

bring all the stakeholders in the room."

At the urging of some of those stakeholders, including utilities and industry groups, the McCrory administration did <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/energy/2015/11/n-c-agrees-to-submit-alternate-clean-power-plan.html">agree to develop a backup plan</a> that would comply with EPA requirements in order to avoid having a federal plan imposed on it.

But apparently that was not enough to assuage Duke Energy's concerns

that the administration isn't doing enough to involve affected parties

in shaping a constructive response to federal efforts to curb carbon

emissions.

NC fights rules despite being on track for compliance

The Clean Power Plan experienced a setback this week, when the U.S. Supreme Court <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/10/us/politics/supreme-court-blocks-obama-epa-coal-emissions-regulations.html?smid=fb-share&_r=3&referer">temporarily blocked it</a> as an appeals court considers the expedited challenge to the rule. The Obama administration <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/02/09/press-secretary-josh-earnest-supreme-courts-decision-stay-clean-power">says</a> it's "confident" it will "prevail on the merits." Most Americans <a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2015/11/02/61-percent-of-public-supports-clean-power-plan-in-states-suing-to-stop-it">support the plan</a> — including a majority of North Carolina residents and those in most of the other states suing over the regulations.

First proposed in 2014, the Clean Power Plan sets standards for

power plants and goals for states to cut carbon pollution. States are

supposed to submit compliance plans by September, though they can apply

for a two-year extension. The first deadline for emission cuts comes in

2022, with full compliance required by 2030.

Duke Energy challenged the EPA's ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions through the <a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/jwalke/UARG%20members%20from%202006%20filing%20on%20PM%20standards.pdf%20-%20Adobe%20Acrobat%20Pro.pdf">Utility Air Regulatory Group</a>, a broad alliance of energy companies; the case, which went to the U.S. Supreme Court, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utility_Air_Regulatory_Group_v._Environmental_Protection_Agency">largely upheld the EPA's powers</a>. Duke is <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/energy/2015/10/duke-energy-looks-to-cooperate-with-states-on.html">now working with the six states in which it operates</a>

— the Carolinas, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio — to discuss ways

to comply with the Clean Power Plan. All of those states are parties to

the lawsuit against the plan.

Under the federal rules, North Carolina would have to cut its carbon

emissions 32 percent by 2030. Environmental advocates have pointed out

that the state is already <a href="https://mountainx.com/news/nc-fights-epas-clean-power-plan/">on track to reach the required reductions</a> thanks to existing environmental laws including the Clean Smokestacks Act and the state's renewable energy portfolio standard.

In a <a href="http://wcqs.org/post/sec-van-der-vaart-defends-oft-criticized-deq#stream/0">recent radio interview</a>,

N.C. DEQ Secretary Donald van der Vaart acknowledged that the state

would "probably be able to achieve that mandate naturally." However, he

said, "that doesn't mean that I'm going to sign on to a rule that is

inherently illegal." An engineer and attorney, van der Vaart previously

worked as a North Carolina air quality regulator and in research and

regulatory positions for private-sector energy companies.

But his judgment of the plan's legality is not shared by the 18

states, two dozen power companies, clean-energy associations, and public

health and environmental groups <a href="http://www.nrdc.org/media/2016/160204.asp">supporting the plan</a>. North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, a Democrat who is running for governor, has also <a href="http://www.citizen-times.com/story/elections/2015/08/12/roy-cooper-clean-power-plan/31534109/">called on the state to comply</a>.

"When a politician and his appointees are dragging their feet on

climate action even over the objections of one of America's biggest

corporate owners of coal and nuclear generating plants, you know that

they have gone off the deepest end of the unreasonable scale," according

to an <a href="http://nclcv.org/news/cib/20160208/">analysis by the N.C. League of Conservation Voters</a>.

Is nuclear power really "clean"?

Speaking of North Carolina's renewable energy portfolio standard,

that has also emerged as a point of disagreement between the McCrory

administration and Duke Energy.

Passed into law in 2007 by an <a href="http://ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2007&BillID=s3&submitButton=Go">overwhelming majority </a>of state lawmakers as a way to jumpstart a cleaner energy economy, <a href="http://www.ncuc.commerce.state.nc.us/reps/reps.htm">North Carolina's standard</a>

requires the state's investor-owned utilities to meet 12.5 percent of

their retail sales through energy efficiency or renewable sources by

North Carolina was the first state in the Southeast to adopt such a

standard.

What constitutes a renewable source? Here's <a href="http://www.ncleg.net/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_62/GS_62-133.8.html">what North Carolina's law says</a>:

a solar electric, solar thermal, wind, hydropower, geothermal, or ocean

current or wave energy  resource; a biomass resource, including

agricultural waste, animal waste, wood waste, spent pulping liquors,

combustible residues, combustible liquids, combustible gases, energy

crops, or landfill methane; waste heat derived from a renewable energy

resource and used to produce electricity or useful, measurable thermal

energy at a retail electric customer's facility; or hydrogen derived

from a renewable energy resource.</blockquote>

What doesn't constitute a renewable source? The law is<a href="http://www.ncleg.net/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_62/GS_62-133.8.html"> clear on that, too</a>:

'Renewable energy resource' does not include peat, a fossil fuel, or nuclear energy resource.</blockquote>

But at a recent meeting of the <a href="http://www.geology.enr.state.nc.us/web/lr/energy-policy-council">N.C. Energy Policy Council</a>, a state advisory group, DEQ's van der Vaart <a href="http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/why-is-duke-energy-pushing-to-make-nuclear-clean/Content?oid=4988947">pushed hard</a>

for the group to call on the legislature to amend the law to include

nuclear power on the list of approved energy resources — despite its

serious safety and security risks, radioactive-waste disposal

challenges, and intense water requirements. <a href="http://www.wral.com/nc-environmental-chief-backs-restriction-on-solar-farms-incentives-for-nuclear-plants/15284709/">Describing nuclear energy as "clean,"</a> van der Vaart and said it "needs to be incentivized."

Duke Energy is heavily dependent on nuclear power, which accounts for <a href="https://www.duke-energy.com/north-carolina/nc-rate-case/our-energy-mix.asp">56.8 percent of its generation mix</a> in the Carolinas, and CEO Lynn Good recently <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/energy/2016/01/duke-energy-ceo-we-need-to-talk-about-nuclear.html">discussed its importance</a> in a carbon-restricted energy economy. But even so, it was Duke Energy's representative on the council, Rob Caldwell, who <a href="http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/why-is-duke-energy-pushing-to-make-nuclear-clean/Content?oid=4988947">pushed back against van der Vaart's proposal</a>,

arguing that a "one-off" vote for nuclear power wasn't wise. He also

said the issue was "significantly more complicated" than van der Vaart

described.

In the end, the council delayed its vote on the recommendation. They plan to discuss it again at their next meeting in March.
good guy, wonder why:[spoke too soon, see above:
<p style="letter-spacing: 0.08px; line-height: 1.6; text-transform: uppercase; word-spacing: 0.4px; box-sizing: inherit; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">And now a pair of anticlimactic updates: Last week <a href="http://grist.org/food/a-republican-governor-just-bucked-his-party-to-veto-an-ag-gag-law/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">North Carolina’s Republican governor vetoed</a> a law targeting agricultural whistleblowers, but this week his party<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2015/0604/N.C.-lawmakers-override-ag-gag-bill-veto-Will-law-silence-whistle-blowers" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">overruled that veto</a>.<p style="letter-spacing: 0.08px; line-height: 1.6; text-transform: uppercase; word-spacing: 0.4px; box-sizing: inherit; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">And last month <a href="http://grist.org/food/can-these-shareholders-curb-deforestation/" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">I wrote</a> that Bunge shareholders had the opportunity to push the company to a more aggressive position in ending deforestation. What happened? The <a href="http://biz.yahoo.com/e/150521/bg8-k.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">shareholders said no</a>.<p style="letter-spacing: 0.08px; line-height: 1.6; text-transform: uppercase; word-spacing: 0.4px; box-sizing: inherit; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">---<p style="letter-spacing: 0.08px; line-height: 1.6; text-transform: uppercase; word-spacing: 0.4px; box-sizing: inherit; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">maybe not<p style="letter-spacing: 0.08px; line-height: 1.6; text-transform: uppercase; word-spacing: 0.4px; box-sizing: inherit; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=v8Qie3f1wMs4K7K6KVV3GHqmbEoQlzZA" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1447519798638_12223" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline: none; background: transparent;">NC, VA GOVERNORS PRESS FEDS TO MOVE ON ATLANTIC OIL AND GAS EXPLORATION PERMITS:</a> Despite new data suggesting increased risks to whales, dolphins and porpoises, Govs. Pat McCrory and Terry McAuliffe are urging federal regulators to allow seismic testing from Delaware to Central Florida. (11/10/2015) =A few years ago, as anti-immigrant sentiment roiled the country, Arizona enacted a draconian law, SB 1070, that expanded the role of local police in enforcing federal immigration policies, requiring them to determine someone's immigration status if there was "reasonable suspicion" they were not in the U.S. legally. Several states including Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina soon followed Arizona's lead with laws targeting immigrants. At the end of October, North Carolina joined the ranks of states with harsh immigration policies when Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signed into law <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=T3qluskKDU%2FkK%2FiGjz3PE3qmbEoQlzZA" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline: none; line-height: 21px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">HB 318</a>. The new law expands requirements to verify employees' immigration status and invalidates consular IDs and other alternative forms of identification except in certain situations with law enforcement. It also bans local ordinances limiting police involvement in federal immigration enforcement — what are known as "sanctuary city" or <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=5Hk5joo430QoClhdZ5uSjnqmbEoQlzZA" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1447519798638_12268" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline: none; line-height: 21px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"community trust" policies</a> since they're intended to foster cooperation between local police and immigrants. North Carolina's law was passed amidst a conservative backlash against community trust initiatives nationwide sparked by this summer's murder of Kathryn Steinle in San Francisco by an undocumented immigrant who had been released by local police in accordance with city policies. The news of her death led to the introduction of federal legislation banning such policies, including a version that passed the U.S. House but was blocked last month in the Senate. Steinle's story was also <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=RPtHj8Zg8yBtSj1ldHKzxnqmbEoQlzZA" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1447519798638_12273" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline: none; line-height: 21px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">referenced by North Carolina legislators</a>during their discussion of the local ordinance ban, which was added to the bill in late September a few months after her death. But language in North Carolina's sanctuary city ban predates Steinle's death: It comes from a model bill, titled "No Sanctuary Cities for Illegal Immigrants," crafted in 2009 by the <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=YpIs4ZsGuwO5zYH87Ae7QHqmbEoQlzZA" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1447519798638_12274" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline: none; line-height: 21px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">American Legislative Exchange Council</a>, a nonprofit that brings together corporate representatives and conservative state policymakers to craft model state legislation that member lawmakers then introduce in their home states. While ALEC is officially tax-exempt, its 501c3 status <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=6r%2B3wd8j%2FH0oE2LoutRsYXqmbEoQlzZA" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline: none; line-height: 21px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">has been challenged</a> by good-government advocates who say it operates more like a corporate lobby than a charitable nonprofit.<a href="http://www.alternet.org/environment/activists-urge-north-carolina-gov-mccrory-veto-sweeping-anti-environmental-bill">http://www.alternet.org/environment/activists-urge-north-carolina-gov-mccrory-veto-sweeping-anti-environmental-bill</a>nvironmental advocates in North Carolina are stepping up pressure on Gov. Pat McCrory (R) to veto a bill they say is the most anti-environmental of the 2015 legislative session — and possibly of McCrory's tenure.Dubbed the "Polluter Protection Act" by opponents, <a href="http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2015&BillID=h765&submitButton=Go" style="text-decoration: none;">House Bill 765</a> started out as a <a href="http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2015/Bills/House/PDF/H765v0.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;">one-page technical corrections bill</a> tweaking regulations on highway transport of sand, gravel and rock. But after passing the House, the Regulatory Reform Act of 2015 was transformed in the Senate into a <a href="http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2015/Bills/House/PDF/H765v5.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;">sweeping 61-page wish list</a> for polluting industry — with some of the provisions being added in closed-door conference sessions. Lawmakers passed it in the chaotic last days of the session.During an Oct. 20 press conference about the legislation held by environmental groups, Dr. Jonathan Kotch, a maternal and child health specialist with UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, called it a "paradigm example of special-interest legislation."Among other things, the bill would: Offer immunity and confidentiality for companies that self-report pollution, making it harder for communities to identify potential environmental health threats; Repeal idling restrictions for heavy-duty vehicles, allowing them to emit more health-damaging air pollution; Reduce water-quality regulations on intermittent and small headwater streams, which account for more than 50,000 stream-miles in the state; Allow incomplete cleanup of soil and groundwater contamination; and Reduce the number of air-quality monitors across the state, which people with asthma and other health conditions rely on to help protect themselves from excessive pollution."These provisions were inserted by the Senate into a one-page House bill through a process that minimized opportunities for public involvement," <a href="http://nc.sierraclub.org/sites/nc.sierraclub.org/files/H765-veto-letter.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;">stated a letter</a> sent to McCrory last month by an alliance of 15 environmental advocacy groups. "The provisions drew bipartisan opposition in the legislature; yet, they have arrived at your desk, and now can be stopped only by your veto stamp."...<p style="letter-spacing: 0.08px; line-height: 1.6; text-transform: uppercase; word-spacing: 0.4px; box-sizing: inherit; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="letter-spacing: 0.08px; line-height: 1.6; text-transform: uppercase; word-spacing: 0.4px; box-sizing: inherit; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On Friday, North Carolina’s governor, Pat McCrory, vetoed a bill meant to keep animal-rights activists away from confined animal feeding operations. This probably comes as a surprise to McCrory’s fellow Republicans — the bill passed with strong support from both houses of the state legislature. Indeed, the original votes to approve the bill <a href="http://www.wral.com/mccrory-vetoes-ag-gag-bill/14677429/#RQFG6yijdbBCtyjS.99" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">had enough support to override a veto</a>.<p style="letter-spacing: 0.08px; line-height: 1.6; text-transform: uppercase; word-spacing: 0.4px; box-sizing: inherit; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">McCrory issued a statement explaining that he had just signed another bill to protect whistleblowers in nursing homes and couldn’t very well condemn whistleblowers on farms. He <a href="http://www.governor.state.nc.us/newsroom/press-releases/20150529/governor-mccrory-vetoes-house-bill-405#sthash.0j4gN7Iy.dpuf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">wrote</a>:<blockquote style="letter-spacing: 0.08px; line-height: 1.6; text-transform: uppercase; word-spacing: 0.4px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0.5625rem 1.25rem 0px 1.1875rem; border-left: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">This bill is intended to address a valid concern of our state’s businesses — how to discourage those bad actors who seek employment with the intent to engage in corporate espionage or act as an undercover investigator.  This practice is unethical and unfair to employers, and is a particular problem for our agricultural industry.  It needs to be stopped.While I support the purpose of this bill, I believe it does not adequately protect or give clear guidance to honest employees who uncover criminal activity.  I am concerned that subjecting these employees to potential civil penalties will create an environment that discourages them from reporting illegal activities.</blockquote><p style="letter-spacing: 0.08px; line-height: 1.6; text-transform: uppercase; word-spacing: 0.4px; box-sizing: inherit; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Several states have outlawed onsite photography or research at animal farms when such activities might hurt the business: <a href="http://www.rcfp.org/browse-media-law-resources/news-media-law/news-media-and-law-summer-2013/overview-ag-gag-laws" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Wyoming, South Carolina, and Utah</a> all have what Mark Bittman has called ag-gag laws. Several are being challenged in court, and judges have ruled that several others violate the First Amendment.<p style="letter-spacing: 0.08px; line-height: 1.6; text-transform: uppercase; word-spacing: 0.4px; box-sizing: inherit; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">It’s always great to see a politician standing up for logical consistency! Grist gave McCrory a nod <a href="http://grist.org/article/2010-06-25-planning-politics-how-charlottes-mayor-championed-light-rail/full/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">back in 2010</a> for championing public transit when he was mayor of Charlotte.5/15SPECIAL REPORT - DRIVE TO DRILL: Gov. McCrory goes to bat for Big Energy By Sue Sturgis (The second in a three-part series. To read the first, "Energy lobbyists behind governors' crusade for Atlantic drilling," click <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=iNtaxE3zbCmtcMccHH8zOpfaDhsect7V" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline: none; background: transparent;">here</a>.) When Pat McCrory was elected governor of North Carolina in 2012, the Outer Continental Shelf Governors Coalition wasted no time in recruiting him to join its crusade to expand offshore oil and gas drilling. The Coalition was formed in May 2011 by four Republican governors in coastal states. As a <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=gGU5JOcwMfN7HktbN2naGpfaDhsect7V" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline: none; line-height: 21px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Facing South investigation found</a>, by early 2012 the Coalition had turned over its day-to-day management to the Consumer Energy Alliance, a "dark money" nonprofit whose members include leading energy companies and which is <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=FJpxYnq%2FhC5HPxSMXm6CUZfaDhsect7V" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline: none; line-height: 21px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">closely tied to HBW Resources</a>, a corporate lobbying and public relations firm that represents energy interests. The Governors Coalition was eager to bring McCrory on board as a spokesman for its pro-drilling agenda. As the governor of North Carolina, he represents the state with the second-longest coastline on the U.S. eastern seaboard — second only to Florida, where state leaders have opposed offshore drilling as a threat to tourism. McCrory's voice would be especially valuable given that, under federal law, the views of coastal governors carry significant weight in deciding the future of oil and gas leases in Atlantic waters. For his part, McCrory was equally enthusiastic about joining the Governors Coalition and promoting the cause of offshore drilling. According to internal Coalition emails obtained by Facing South through public records requests, on Jan. 23, 2013 — three weeks after McCrory took office — energy lobbyists and state officials corresponded about North Carolina's possible involvement in the group.   The next day, McCrory's economic advisor at the time, Tony Almeida, emailed contacts of the Governors Coalition, which was then chaired by Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell and based in his office: "Thanks to all. North Carolina is in!"....=

...

But back to North Carolina; why no uproar? McCrory had been collaborating with the Republican legislature <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2011/06/17/247607/north-carolina-republicans-push-back-against-decades-of-environmental-progress/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">to overturn decades of state progress on environmental protection</a>without much seeming political price until Feb. 2, when 80,000 tons of <a href="http://ecowatch.com/search/?q=dan+river" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">coal ash and contaminated water flooded into the Dan River</a> from an improperly maintained <a href="http://ecowatch.com/search/?q=Duke+energy" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">Duke Energy</a>coal ash pond in Eden, North Carolina.

It took Duke Energy, for whom McCrory worked for almost three decades, two months to begin clean up. In early March, a court ruled that Duke had an obligation under North Carolina law to begin to clean up its 33 coal ash ponds because they were polluting the state’s waterways. <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/04/09/3424634/denr-coal-ash-appeal-duke/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">Duke immediately appealed the ruling</a>—and the McCrory Administration promptly joined the appeal, seeking to restore a sweetheart settlement it had entered into the previous year <a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/03/31/3747499/epa-looked-askance-at-denrs-proposed.html?sp=/99/102/110/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">which required no clean-up from Duke at all</a>.

But the politics was changing. Under increasing public scrutiny, <a href="http://www.carolinapublicpress.org/19116/new-coal-ash-bill-mccrorys-budget-proposal-launches-north-carolina-legislative-session" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">both houses of the North Carolina legislature began to move new laws which</a> would crack down on polluting coal ash ponds. The new bills, appearing to be supported by McCrory, dealt with the short term issues: “The bill gives Duke Energy 60 days to come up with closure plans for four critical sites, including the company’s Asheville and Riverbend plants…”

But after this promising start, the bill bogged down in differences between the House and Senate over how to decide which ash ponds required full evacuation and which could be capped—<a href="http://www.news-record.com/news/dan_river/article_e1eb8e9a-19fa-11e4-86e0-001a4bcf6878.html" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">the bill failed to pass</a>.

It was this failure which caused Governor McCrory to announce that he would act without the legislature. But McCrory’s action promised even less relief than existing law (according to the March court ruling) required. It’s a fig leaf. That, and the fact that the Governor has otherwise been, however reluctantly, a Tea Party collaborator, explains why his announcement that would use Executive power in the face of a paralyzed legislature has generated none of the heat that the Tea Party has reserved for Obama’s executive orders....

===

SPECIAL REPORT - NC passes fracking law, seeks taxpayer subsidies for industry

By Sue Sturgis

This week North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signed into law a bill that opens up the state to fracking for natural gas. The <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=%2BO0DN0oLjep%2BxsMn2wyW30r4lth3pSrt" style="line-height: 16.8px; outline: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Energy Modernization Act</a> will allow drilling permits to be issued 61 days after the state Mining and Energy Commission approves final rules for the industry, which is expected to happen by next summer.

The new law <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=djqH%2B39gE%2BEPmqnNYuHRDkr4lth3pSrt" style="line-height: 16.8px; outline: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">breaks a pledge</a> from legislators that they would review and approve the rules before the state's drilling moratorium could be lifted. Environmental advocates also <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=WTmSqe%2BBbf6egVjJo9CtD0r4lth3pSrt" style="line-height: 16.8px; outline: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">criticize the law</a> for failing to adequately address the risks associated with fracking and for weakening safeguards. Supporters claim it will boost North Carolina's economy.

==

<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pat_McCrory">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pat_McCrory</a>  stublet

appoints Pope budget czar

===

3 water incidents, w va and NC; NC gov worked for 28 years

DENR took over 3 lawsuits by waterkeeper orgs

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/11/north-carolina-regulators-coal-ash_n_4766062.html?view=print&comm_ref=false">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/11/north-carolina-regulators-coal-ash_n_4766062.html?view=print&comm_ref=false</a>

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina's environmental agency sought late Monday to delay its own settlement with Duke Energy a week after a busted pipe at one of the company's coal ash dumps spewed enough toxic sludge into the Dan River to fill 73 Olympic-sized pools.

Lawyers for the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources asked a judge to disregard their proposed settlement with the nation's largest electricity provider. Under the deal, Duke would have paid fines of $99,111 over groundwater pollution leaking from two coal dumps like the one that ruptured Feb. 2.

The state's letter came one day after a story by The Associated Press in which environmentalists criticized the arrangement as a sweetheart deal aimed at shielding Duke from far more expensive penalties the $50 billion company might face under the federal Clean Water Act. The settlement would have required Duke to study how to stop the contamination, but included no requirement for the company to actually clean up its dumps near Asheville and Charlotte.

"DENR asks this court to hold in abeyance any further consideration of the proposed consent order while DENR undertakes a comprehensive review of all North Carolina coal ash facilities in view of the recent coal ash release into the Dan River," said the state's letter to Wake County Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway, a copy of which was obtained by the AP. "DENR will advise the court when it has completed this additional review of North Carolina coal ash facilities and the requirements of the proposed consent order."

Drew Elliot, a spokesman for the state environmental agency, said late Monday that he had not yet seen the letter and could not comment.

uke Energy spokeswoman Tammie McGee said it is the company's policy not to comment on pending litigation.

On the afternoon of Feb. 2, a security guard patrolling the grounds of Duke's Dan River Steam Station discovered that a pipe running under a 27-acre toxic waste pond had collapsed. The company reports that up to 82,000 tons of coal ash mixed with 27 million gallons of contaminated water drained out, turning the river gray and cloudy for miles. The accident ranks as the third-largest such coal ash spill in the nation's history.

The public was not told about the breach until the following day and initial reports provided by Duke and DENR did not make clear the massive scale of the disaster. It took six days for the company to finally seal the pipe.

State regulators initially said testing showed levels of arsenic, lead and other toxic contaminates in the river water were at levels low enough to be safe for both fish and humans. On Sunday, however, the state officials admitted they had made an "honest mistake while interpreting the results" and issued an advisory warning people to avoid prolonged contact with the water.

AP reported Sunday that environmental groups have tried three times in the past year to use provisions under the Clean Water Act to sue in federal court to force Duke to clear out leaky coal ash dumps after North Carolina regulators failed to act on evidence of serious groundwater contamination.

Each time, the state agency blocked the citizen lawsuits by intervening at the last minute to assert its own authority under the act to take enforcement action in state court. After negotiating with the company behind closed doors, the state proposed settlements many regard as highly favorable to the company.

Clean water advocates have long complained that state regulators are too cozy with the polluters they regulate. But they say that coordination and cooperation has become even more overt since the January 2013 inauguration of Gov. Pat McCrory, a pro-business Republican who worked at Duke Energy for 28 years.

Since his unsuccessful first campaign for governor in 2008, campaign finance reports show Duke Energy, its political action committee, executives and their immediate families have donated at least $1.1 million to McCrory's campaign and affiliated groups that spent on TV ads, mailings and events to support him.

After winning in 2012, McCrory appointed Raleigh businessman John Skvarla to head the state environmental agency charged with policing his former employer. Skvarla has described his agency's role as being a "partner" to those it regulates, whom he refers to as "customers."

Lawyers for the environmental groups who had tried to sue Duke in federal court were shut out of the negotiations between state regulators and the company that produced the now scuttled settlement proposal. They had hoped to convince the state judge overseeing the case to reject the deal.

Frank Holleman, a senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, worried that Monday's about-face might be just another tactic by the state to help Duke avoid paying for the harm it has done to the North Carolina's rivers and lakes.

"Instead of taking action to clean up coal ash pollution and protect the public, DENR is going back to the drawing board and proposing to delay action for who knows how long," Holleman said. "It is time to act, not to delay."

Peter Gilbert.

When poverty and competition for jobs are intensified during a capitalist economic crisis, one common result is the rise of an extreme right-wing faction in the ruling class.

In the U.S., this phenomenon is seen in the far-right Tea Party faction of the Republican Party. In collaboration with certain key corporations, this faction has taken complete control of the state apparatus in North Carolina.

In 2011, the far-right took control of the state Legislature — the first Republican legislature in North Carolina since Reconstruction. They attempted to pass a number of reactionary measures, including stripping teachers of dues deduction, repealing the Racial Justice Act, a racist voter ID bill, and a bill that would allow hydraulic fracking for natural gas.

Popular pressure forced the former Democratic governor to veto these measures, but that was only a temporary victory. In addition, the Legislature redrew all of the voting districts along racial lines to minimize the voting power of African Americans and secure right-wing control of the state government for the future.

In 2012, the far-right elected Gov. Pat McCrory, a former executive with the North Carolina-based Duke Energy, the largest U.S. utility. The same election saw the passage of Amendment One, which made same-sex marriage unconstitutional in North Carolina.

With McCrory in office, the right-wing takeover was complete. All of the bills that had been vetoed were quickly passed and signed, along with closing abortion clinics, massive cuts to public education, eliminating tenure for teachers, cutting unemployment support to 170,000 North Carolina workers, rejecting federal funding for Medicaid for 500,000 people, and changes to the income tax system that will benefit the rich on the backs of poor and working people.

North Carolina once had a better public education system than many Southern states, and some minimal social welfare programs and some degree of environmental protections. Many of these had been hard won through decades of struggle — so why were they so easily taken away?

Before I answer that question, I want to turn to the dramatic and historic fightback this year — mostly in the form of the Moral Monday movement led by the state NAACP. The first Moral Monday in April led to 17 arrests at the General Assembly, with about 50 protesters. Over the following months, this grew to almost 1,000 arrests and tens of thousands demonstrating at the General Assembly. Thousands more have attended Moral Monday demonstrations around the state.

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