(The Center Square) – Nine of the 10 executive offices in North Carolina comprising the Council of State are not second-class, the first-term Republican labor commissioner said Thursday.
Nor has a king been crowned.
In a statement responding to a judge’s ruling on Wednesday, Luke Farley said, “Yesterday’s court ruling in Stein v. Hall, Berger, & Boliek would hand the governor exclusive control over the executive branch and demote the rest of the Council of State to second-class status. If this decision is allowed to stand, it will centralize power in a way the framers of our state constitution deliberately rejected.”
In December, the General Assembly used the veto override opportunity to make law Disaster Relief-3/Budget/Various Law Changes, known also as Senate Bill 382. The 132-page proposal was led by 13 pages and $252 million in relief for Hurricane Helene victims, and the rest shifted some executive office authorities including changing appointments for the state and county boards of elections from the governor to the auditor.
On Wednesday a three-judge panel in Wake County Superior Court granted a stay, preventing the planned change next week on Thursday.
“The people of North Carolina did not elect a king,” Farley said. “They elected a governor – and they also elected an independent state auditor, an independent commissioner of labor, and other executive officers, each with their own constitutional executive authority and accountability directly to the people.”
Gov. Josh Stein, the first-term Democrat, spent the previous eight years as state attorney general. He was never against Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s fights with the General Assembly in court. Democrat Jeff Jackson succeeded Stein, turning back Republican challenger Dan Bishop and his campaign promise to support the Legislature.
On social media, Stein wrote, “The North Carolina Constitution puts the governor in charge of executing the law. That’s what the voters elected me to do, so that’s what I’ll do.”
The party of the governor is usually the majority in state and county election boards’ 3-2 makeup.
First-term Republican Dave Boliek was poised to have the appointment authority. On Thursday, he offered a statement saying, “My office remains ready, willing, and able to take on the duties and responsibilities of overseeing board of elections appointments and budget administration. I stand by my arguments and will promptly be appealing this ruling.”
The state election board has been under the jurisdiction of the secretary of state. However, unlike some states, the person in that office is rarely involved in spotlight decisions. North Carolina’s board has an executive director, usually chosen by the party in majority, and legal counsel in addition to the five members. The chairman comes from the governor’s party.
State history has been for decisions, particularly those of the “hot button” variety, to fall along party lines. And the governor’s office has practically belonged to Democrats, even as the party has lost favor. On Jan. 1, 2004, Democrats had 47.6% of the state’s more than 5 million registrations; today it’s 30.8% of more than 7.4 million and second to unaffiliated registrations (37.6%).
The governor’s office – consecutive terms could not be served until the 1977 change in the constitution – has had a Republican only three times since Daniel Lindsay Russell won the 1896 election. James Holshouser couldn’t run for reelection in 1976, Jim Martin won terms in 1984 and ’88, and Pat McCrory lasted only one term when he lost in 2016 to Cooper by 10,277 votes of more than 4.7 million cast.
“Our state constitution entrusts real responsibilities to independently elected executives like me – and it does not allow those powers to be stripped by judicial fiat,” Farley said. “Having practiced law for 14 years, I know a bad decision when I see one – and as far as constitutional law goes, this one is abysmal.
“This decision is wrong and should be reversed – not just for its impact on boards of elections, but for dangerous precedent it sets in undermining the independence of every Council of State office.”
