Sanford School public policy professor Pope “Mac” McCorkle joins a panel of political observers to debate the governor’s job performance in his first 100 days. “Gov. Cooper is facing an unprecedented situation for a Democrat in North Carolina, and I think he’s actually done amazingly well given the situation being that there’s Republican super majorities in both chambers” of the General Assembly, McCorkle says. (17:26 mark)
Watch on Spectrum’s ‘Capital Tonight’Tag: Pope “Mac” McCorkle
North Carolina’s HB142: Repeal? Compromise? What Does it all Mean?
Once North Carolinians saw the economic impact of HB2 and realized it put the state out of step with federal and most state laws, “people just saw this as unnecessary, unforced error,” says Pope “Mac” McCorkle, a former Democratic consultant said. North Carolina’s bill also left other Southern states — such as South Carolina, which rejected a bathroom bill, and Georgia, whose governor vetoed a religious freedom bill, last year — looking “more progressive, reasonable, sensible,” he says.
Is Repeal of Bathroom Bill a Good Deal for Anyone?
The NCAA’s deadline was “the symbolic hammer that finally worked,” says public policy professor Pope “Mac” McCorkle, a former lawyer who has worked as a policy consultant for North Carolina’s representatives. He says the deal worked out Thursday looks more like “a plea bargain. “The NCAA isn’t liberal or conservative (by nature) so it became kind of the default judge in this case.”
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Bathroom Law Repeal Leaves Few Pleased in North Carolina
Public policy professor Pope “Mac” McCorkle called the deal an “awkward compromise.” He says it would ultimately be judged by how many of the sports events, entertainers and businesses who had turned on the state would eventually change their minds. Law professor Jane Wettach says that beyond schools, few institutions had ever policed people’s bathroom choices. “Which is what made the law sort of symbolic,” she says, referring to House Bill 2.
Read More in The New York Times
NC’s Love of College Sports Spurred Move to Repeal Bathroom Law
“I think the N.C.A.A’s view had become a barometer for people judging the economic development impact,” says Pope “Mac” McCorkle, a former state Democratic consultant who is now a professor of public policy at Duke. “It locked in people’s view that this is a mess, and the way we would know the mess had cleared up is the N.C.A.A.”
Read More in The New York Times
Cooper Aims To Steer NC On A New Course In State Of The State Address
Cooper can use the platform to advance his message that the state can reclaim its progressive sheen after four years of Republican control, says public policy professor Pope “Mac” McCorkle, who worked for former Democratic governors in North Carolina. “When (Gov.) Easley did it in 2001, it was to raise the red flag about our fiscal situation, given the dot-com bust recession.” (Gov.) McCrory in 2013 talked about how much things will change. “With Roy, I think, there is a new governor in town and he’s setting the agenda for what North Carolina can and should do.”
Read More in The News & Observer
NC Lawmakers, Governor Ready for Showdown
“I’m not optimistic, at least at first,” says Pope “Mac” McCorkle, a professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy. “It seems like a very poisonous atmosphere. … Neither side can withstand for too long a growing perception that Raleigh’s just one big mess.”
Read More in The New York Times
When One Party Has the Governor’s Mansion and the Other Has the Statehouse
Sanford School professor Pope “Mac” McCorkle says that if North Carolina Republicans “keep on sending people a message they are right-wingers,” newly elected Democratic governor Roy Cooper will have an advantage in the “outside game” of appealing to voters who think the state has veered too far from its moderate political tradition.
Roy Cooper is Next NC Governor. Now What?
“We’re moving into uncharted territory here,” says Mac McCorkle, a professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy and veteran Democratic strategist. “I can’t think of a situation in North Carolina where you’ve had a governor of one party having the other party with super-majorities in the legislature.”
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