NOT gonna do it! (unless it benefits ME!)

 

North Carolina Democrats have done a great job saddling us with bumps-on-a-log in the state attorney general’s office.  They’ve gifted us TWO in a row now.  The first seat-filler bumbled his way, with the help of a compliant, just-as-lazy drive-by media, into the governor’s mansion.  The second one is trying oh-so-hard to replicate his predecessor’s, um, success.

Before we get started, let’s look at the job description for the NC Attorney General posted on the NCDOJ website:

[…]The Attorney General:

• Represents all state government departments, agencies and commissions in legal matters
• Provides legal opinions to the General Assembly, the Governor, or any other public official when requested
• Consults with and advises judges, district attorneys, magistrates and municipal and county attorneys when they request assistance and when permitted under the Rules of Professional Conduct
• May intervene in proceedings before any courts, regulatory officers, agencies or bodies, either state or federal, on behalf of the State
• May institute court proceeding on behalf of the State, its agencies or its citizens in any and all public interest matters
• Handles all criminal appeals from state trial courts

The Office does not:

• Have the authority to prosecute specific crimes unless requested to do so by the local district attorney
• Have authority over local district attorneys, local law enforcement, or courts
• In most instances, cannot provide legal advice to individuals or private organizations […]

The word “may” at bullet-points four and five above may provide just enough wiggle room *”may”* provide just enough wiggle room to allow Cooper & Stein to get away with not doing the jobs they were elected to do.  Wouldn’t it be great if all of our job descriptions read something like: “[…] may show up for work Monday through Friday at 8AM.” So, one could infer that showing up every day at 8 is optional.  (*This hypothetical job description also does not make clear if the 8AM start time is Pacific or Eastern time.*)

Roy Cooper is term-limited in 2024. So, he is done at Blount Street.  Josh Stein would very much like to replace his hero and role model in the governor’s mansion. The election is two years away, but lil’ Josh is already on the move.  He had a press conference announcing tough action on untested rape kits.  Funny, though.  Those same kits were untested during the Cooper era at DOJ, as well.  It’s been at least ten years we’ve been talking about this.  So, I’m not holding my breath.

The DOJ’s crime lab has been so screwed up and backed up that many localities throughout the state are having to contract with private labs to do their crime scene forensics.

We all know that Roe v. Wade, a true legal travesty, got overturned.  North Carolina had passed a ban, via its duly elected legislature,  on abortions after 20 weeks.  A court overturned the law, citing Roe.  Well, now that Roe was found unconstitutional, North Carolina’s 20-week law gets a second chance at life.  It’s only obstacle to enactment was Roe, but that is now unconstitutional and gone.  One would think our state’s lawyer would step forward and represent the interests of the state by getting the 20-week law out of legal limbo.

Nope.  Lil’ Josh has decided to forego his legal responsibilities and revert back to his days as state senator and throw one of those ideological temper tantrums / hissy-fits that liberals do so well — with a lot of babbling about “choice” and non-existent “rights.”

Well, it looks like karma has come around to slap Lil’ Josh right in his smarmy face.  His 2020 reelection campaign has run afoul of state campaign finance law:

Attorney General Josh Stein’s 2020 campaign is facing a criminal investigation — but the law it’s based on is outdated and unconstitutional, he argued Thursday in court filings as well as in an interview with The News & Observer. Stein said the law in question, which governs the content of political ads, is nearly a century old and yet no one had been prosecuted under it. That is, until his 2020 opponent for the attorney general’s office, Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill, cited it to request the investigation. The criminal investigation has not been publicly reported before; The N&O had reported that O’Neill had requested an investigation. Stein said he was making it public Thursday and filing a lawsuit because he’s confident that the investigation is based on an unconstitutional law but that O’Neill “refuses to give it up.” […]

Wait one.  The block on the 20-week abortion ban is now based on a Supreme Court precedent that has been found unconstitutional. Lil’ Josh won’t touch that one.  But when something comes around that might take money out of his pocket — hold the phone.

He’s making an argument against the campaign law that could be used in the abortion case.  In the campaign case, Josh is claiming stuff shouldn’t apply to him because it is “unconstitutional.”  In the abortion case, it could be argued that the court’s block on the 20-week ban was based on something now unconstitutional.  If the campaign law can’t be used because it is unconstitutional, then the abortion ruling is also null and void.  It, too, was based on something unconstitutional.  To be consistent, if one would throw out the campaign law, then one would also have to seek the lifting of the block on the 20-week ban.

Josh has decided to take the weasel route on the abortion law.  He’s running around criticizing it like he’s back on Jones Street.  He says he’s leaving abortion stuff to his staff while he’s out running his mouth on the subject.  *Yeah, that sounds like what the people (not ME) voted for.*

But we’re not talking real world common sense. We’re talking politics.

If you’ve enjoyed the last six years, you’ll LOVE eight more of Lil’ Josh.