Roy Cooper will literally take the oath of office to become North Carolina’s next governor in the dark. He has scheduled his swearing-in for just after midnight on January 1, 2017, as allowed by the NC Constitution. The midnight swearing-in ceremony is not the only thing cloaked in darkness as Governor-elect Roy Cooper takes office this weekend.
Cooper has yet to announce any of the cabinet or high level administrative officials needed to run a government. He has announced a handful of senior level advisors including the controversial appointment of Ken Eudy as his senior advisor. Eudy, among other outrageous positions, publicly stated he would not be honoring our service men and women.
Cooper’s lack of transparency as to who will be a part of his new administration is in contrast to every other transition in modern NC history, or any other state, where incoming administrations were open and eager to announce who would be working alongside the incoming governor. We can hardly view Cooper’s refusal to announce appointments with surprise seeing that, as North Carolina Attorney General for 16 years, he only sent a “handful” of emails. Not much transparency here.
The lack of cabinet or other appointees has not slowed Cooper from dismissing state employees. As reported by the Associated Press, letters signed by Cooper’s incoming Chief of Staff Kristi Jones, were delivered this week to a number of state employees. The letter included a sentence from Jones saying “We hope you will continue to serve North Carolina in other ways.” Since there have been no appointee announcements from Cooper it leaves us to wonder who the “we” would be.
But even while the Cooper transition team is staying dark, the Raleigh rumor mill is going strong. So here are a couple of names that have floated to the top.
For budget director Cooper is looking at Beverly Perdue alum and longtime bureaucrat Charlie Perusse. Perusse filled that position in the Perdue administration and we know how well that went, leaving the state with a $3 billion dollar budget deficit. He is currently the COO for the UNC system being hired there by liberal activist Tom Ross.
Perusse’s last stint as the state Budget Director included not only the $3 billion dollar deficit, but the largest tax increase in state history and the start of deficit spending in the state’s unemployment fund eventually running up a $2.6 billion debt to the federal government. For more spending details see a history of spending and taxes in North Carolina.
Perusse is not the only name mentioned. For the important position of Secretary of Transportation the name of long time democratic fundraiser and environmental activist Nina Szlosberg-Landis has been floated. She previously served three terms on the Board of Transportation as an environmental activist appointee. If this rumor turns out to be true it probably means Cooper will be rewarding his environmental supporters at the expense of improving and building roads and highways. It could also mean he will be prioritizing urban mass transit over improving roads across the state.
Szlosberg-Landis has connections not only to environmental activist groups, serving on the boards of the Environmental Defense Fund and the NC League of Conversation voters but also to pro-abortion activists, serving on the board of Lillian’s list here in NC.
Szlosberg-Landis would be in position to reward both Cooper’s environmental supporters and his supporters in the urban areas which helped him narrowly win the election.
The final appointment while not a rumor – would make perfect sense. It appears Laura Leslie of WRAL-TV may be auditioning for the role of Press Secretary. This would put someone in charge of messaging for Cooper who has been hard at work since 2011 to demonize Republicans in the state.
Also part of the rumor mill is that Governor-elect Cooper has acknowledged that two people, up for appointment consideration, have already been dropped from his list because they did not want to go through the new approval process. Those in the know seem to believe that there has actually been as many as a half dozen that have chosen not to be considered in light of a bill passed in the recent special legislative session that makes the governor’s cabinet appointees subject to approval by the State Senate.
If the people Governor-elect Cooper is considering for appointment to high office do not feel they can stand up to scrutiny, what does that say about the administration Cooper is trying to put together to run our state? Maybe, that explains why Cooper is being sworn-in to office in the dark of night.
With just over 24 hours to go before the dark of night swearing in, there is still time for Cooper to name potential cabinet heads, but being New Year’s weekend, not a lot of people will be paying attention. Is this a harbinger of the openness we can expect from a Cooper administration?
Kind of like the lack of transparency that occurred two weeks ago in the Senate…. Speaking of the fear of a Press Secretary who “has been hard at work since 2011 to demonize Republicans in the state” …does NCCivitas ever look in the mirror…takes a fear monger one to know one!
Roy Copper? hahaha
Darn spellcheck! Will probably happen a lot over the next four years.
The sour grapes story from Civitas
Let’s hope he finds more competent people than old Perdue, Easley, and Hunt has-beens.
Hrm. This is pretty much unreadable after the first sentence. And no, Roy Copper will not “literally” take the oath of office in the dark. I doubt Roy Cooper will either. I’m sure there will be fireworks and much celebration.
Thank god the real prince of darkness, McCrory, is in the past now.
Surely you jest. This has got to be a New Year’s eve joke. Because McPantsOnFire did all he could to ensure that Cooper had no run room.
These fake news sites keep getting more and more hilarious!
Happy New Year! Roy Cooper being sworn in is the biggest ray of light NC has had in some time.
Wow. After the last 4 years, and even the last 2 weeks, of secretive and deliberately exclusive behavior by McCrory and the NCGOP, Civitas has the gall to criticize now-Governor Cooper’s lack of “transparency” – seriously? Do you even recognize the hypocrisy?
This piece is as outrageous as your organization is.
Shame shame shame on you Civitas Institute. Not only are you incapable of writing a decent, but you have just proved that you people and the legislature that you colluded with are the real harbingers of destruction when it comes to this state. Go away! Hang your heads in shame and never come back! One day soon we will resume our former glory and we will run you out of our proud state. You can count on that.
Nikki
So when The imperial rulers (progressives) return you will deport all the people you don’t like. So open minded
Civitas, don’t go away mad; just go away! You’re not relevant anymore.
You’ve got to be kidding. Why should he wait one minute past the moment the constitution allows him to become governor? I’ll wait for your answer as long as it takes.
Magnum — quick name who is running the NCDPS or any agency… that’s right you can’t because Cooper refuses to tell us.
What a ridiculous piece. People are getting smarter and seeing through spin pieces like this. ALEC much?
This complaint and whining by a McCrory and repub institute is so funny it is ridiculous. You are a pathetic organization which will lie or cheat or anything for your repubs and against the democrats. Most of us tar heels love the fact that we have a new Governor. Why don’t you take your Koch money and go play somewhere in another state while the rest of us get ready to make this state into the leader it once was.
Thank God! At last a ray of sunshine and truth in the capital!
Cooper is pathetic. He didn’t do his job as attorney general and liberals are excited about him being elected to the governor’s office. McCrory was certainly not perfect- he either had weak advisors or he didn’t listen to them, but he did his best to uphold his oath of office. Cooper taking the office at night is appropriate because North Carolina is about to experience dark days under his “leadership.”
We, who love NC realize it will be 4 long years for Civitas. But , here is how to make it better. Think of your state first, not just your political allegiance. Think of how to make NC better , not based just on your private and personal needs. Think of not demonizing elected and appointed officials…personally, debate the issues instead. Think of how to be a mature and fair-minded critic, not vindictive, complaining faultfinder. We don’t need games, we need knowledgeable vision. Happy New Year.
Everyone is forgetting the extreme corruption surrounding this professional politician, Roy Cooper. The SBI was run like a corrupt joke and Copper was removed. The Slander & Libel case that ran for 14yrs. Then the Independent Foreclosure Review $25B Scam, Cooper covered up an estimated $2T in tax evasion and somehow, magically, failed to notice 2 Million fake consumer accounts at Wells Fargo not to mention allowed BofA and Ally/GMAC to outsource/sell their servicing to Nationsatar and Ocwen to avoid complying with the $25B settlement. Big banks paid pennies on the dollar for the fines aka joke…… Corruption is Cooper’s middle name. Follow the facts and the evidence. North Carolina is in trouble from both political parties. Now, Cooper is in a position to exercise a clemency program…….
Lucia,
Perhaps you could help Civitas by pointing to an example on how they can think of our state first and not demonize elected and appointed officials?
What do you think about suggesting that Civitas gather a mob and show up at the Governor’s mansion when Cooper and his family move in. Maybe they can bang on some pots and pans and use bull horns to get the Governor’s and especially the media’s attention. Do you think this would be an example of behaving as mature and fair-minded critics?
Please help us know how to make it better Lucia.
Thankfully, the Cooper cabinet has zero votes in the NC house & senate.
He’s boxed in by the House & Senate, let’s hope it stays that way, hopefully November 2020 will bring a needed relief.