Elected statewide leaders criticize Cooper’s handling of COVID-19 lockdown
The Council of State is composed of the ten popularly elected executive branch leaders in North Carolina state government. The group includes: the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, auditor, treasurer, secretary of state, labor commissioner, agriculture commissioner, insurance commissioner, and superintendent of public instruction.
Six of the aforementioned folks signed and released a letter to Governor Roy Cooper today voicing their concerns about the state’s response to the coronavirus:
[…]We are writing today to request that you convene the Council of State as soon as possible to discuss plans for reopening North Carolina’s economy, with the understanding that we will be dealing with COVID-19 for the foreseeable future.
We all understand that shelter-in-place cannot exist forever. With the rest of the Southeast, and the majority of our country, already providing structure and clarity to struggling businesses and workers, North Carolina is lagging in communication. Many of our offices are being flooded with phone calls from businesses that thought they’d be allowed to open after May 1. You are now telling them they have to wait at least another two weeks, with minimal guidance from you. As a majority of the Council, we are asking that you convene the Council of State as soon as possible so that we understand your plan for North Carolina. We also need the ability to provide clarity to businesses across our state that are dangerously close to permanently closing. And we need clarity as to why you aren’t allowing specific industries to open as our neighboring states have done.
To date, over 1 million North Carolinians — many in the restaurant and hospitality industry — have filed for unemployment, and less than 45% of them have received any assistance. It is heartbreaking to hear the unending high volume of phone calls many of us receive daily from hopeless citizens down to their last few dollars. There are numerous ways to protect lives and livelihoods at the same time while allowing healthy North Carolina citizens to return to work and giving them the ability to provide for themselves and their families. We would like to discuss, as a Council, provisions relating to restaurants, salons & barbershops, entertainment small businesses, church and worship services, and hospitals and health care.
We understand that you’ve stated in the past you are using the White House’s guidance for reopening North Carolina. However, it is just that — guidance for the entire country, not a law or a mandate, and it allows maximum flexibility down to the county level. The fact that North Carolina is faring better in cases and deaths on a per-capita level than the rest of the nation, and that the majority of deaths are from government-regulated congregate living centers, proves that our citizens can properly social distance and abide by COVID-19 business regulations. The citizens of North Carolina, especially those in need of protecting their livelihoods, are looking to our state leaders to come together and reopen responsibly as soon as possible.
We look forward to working with you, Secretary Cohen, and the rest of the Council of State on how to safely and strategically reopen North Carolina.
Sincerely,
Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest
Commissioner of Agriculture Steve Troxler
Commissioner of Insurance Mike Causey
Commissioner of Labor Cherie Berry
Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson
Treasurer Dale Folwell
And Cooper and Cohen immediately shot down this letter and request. THEY know best. 494k of 861k have received claims. Can you imagine the mindset and status of the 43% that have received no benefits going on 60 days? Suffice to say, Cooper, Cohen and ANY govt official have been burdened with any abnormalities nor been void of any pay checks or benefits. “It’s a little people thing”….Listening to the pressers, it has become a joke at their attempts ‘to defend’ their actions. Come November, I hope those 494k and many more remember Cooper and Cohen.
The legislature needs to address this situation as the main issue as soon as possible. The ability of the Governor to unilaterally devastate the state needs to be taken away and severely limited…..especially as Doofus has just trashed the law by not consulting with anyone else or taken into account anything other than whatever his Soros designated master has told him to do. There needs to be a law on the books that anything beyond say 14 days must be passed by the legislature first in the future…and possibly by a 2/3 majority. We need to remember this in November…but unfortunately the morons out there seem to be giving their fellow moron good marks on how he is handling this Wuhan virus hysteris.
The “do nothing” response of elected Republicans is the heart of why I am now “unaffiliated.”
Belief in liberty, freedom and Constitutional government demands that
elected officials ACT ON THOSE BELIEFS.
This is a critical issue, and the council of state should not accept the governors behavior.
They have clout, and must use it to save lives in North Carolina.
Unfortunately, this is why I think we have Cooper in the mansion. NC GOP has been reckless and have done little for the conservative cause. I’m Conservative; not a Republican. Today’s Republicans are Democrats of old. Moderate at best. Democrats today are what were once considered communists. There are no Republican Conservatives. Tillis, Burr, Elmers ran as being Conservative and if they are Conservative, I’m a liberal. They have no conservative tendencies. Unsure NC has any Republicans as conservative as I find myself. Last 1 I recall was Jesse Helms.
Ah, Jesse Helms – the reason I’m a Republican. NC GOP is a long way from that. These days every time a ‘Jesse’ appears the party seeks to destroy. In my part of the woods its the yellow sheeters. There’s other names for RINO opposition in other parts of the state that are all about the same thing.
I consider your assessment of the two parties as on the money.
North Carolina Republicans are all talk and no action. I agree with Bob Mason completely.
The Party gets what the Party deserves. They had a chance to elect an action-oriented conservative as State Chairman last summer and instead they rigged the credentialing committee to elect a lobbyist who spends two days a week in Raleigh and the rest of the week pursuing his real business in DC. Between that and the ditzy cow in charge of TrumpNC, I find it hard to believe that NC is the top priority for the Trump campaign that everyone says it is.
No one ever accused Roy Cooper of being a Mensa candidate.
I’m not so sure about that. We think they ain’t so bright but when you look at it, the Dems- and Cooper – are getting exactly what they want while the Republicans stand by and twiddle their thumbs while watching all things Conservative go down the drain.