Profile in Courage: Robinson announces opposition to casinos AFTER they were pulled from budget
Since Jim Gardner captured the lieutenant governor post for the GOP in 1988, the 2nd ranking post in state government has been pretty-well neutered. Since that time, the president pro tem — elected by the state senate majority — has run the show in that chamber.
Basically, all the lieutenant governor has at his or her disposal are some key state committee assignments and the bully pulpit that comes with the second-highest post in state government. Many 
had thought Mark Robinson — with his penchant for fiery campaign speeches — would use that bully pulpit well.
Since taking office, Robinson has had little to say about the important issues of the day being dealt with by the legislature and the governor. You’d occasionally run across a fiery speech about gays that Robinson had delivered to a church congregation or out-of-state fundraiser or conservative gathering.
During the hard-scrabble battle over the state budget that dominated politics from Murphy to Manteo, you heard not much more than crickets from the lieutenant governor’s office. There was plenty of red meat for Robinson to tear into with his great oratorical skills: medical marijuana, laws to protect children, sketchy land grabs, Medicaid expansion, further strengthening and centralization of government power, and casinos among others.
But the silence from Team Robinson was deafening. Could it have had something to do with the thousands of dollars his campaign took from gambling interests? Could it have had something to do with the fact his gubernatorial bid is being financed and run by many of the same people pushing so hard for casinos and that other “red meat” over on Jones Street?
After declining to comment on the proposed casino legislation, North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the Republican frontrunner for governor in 2024, expressed his feelings on the proposal during a radio interview the day after it was removed from the budget.
The gambling proposal had been added to the budget despite pushback from Democrats and some Republicans and was among issues that stalled the passage of the budget for nearly three months
CBS17 reached out to Robinson’s office for comment on his position on the proposal before it was dropped from the budget on Tuesday and he declined to comment. The casino proposal and Medicaid expansion were briefly moved to a separate bill, but Medicaid was put back into the budget and the casino proposal was removed before the budget was passed on Friday.
On Tuesday night, House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger confirmed that the expanded gambling proposal was being dropped from the budget.
On Wednesday, Robinson spoke on the “KC O’Dea Show” and briefly touched on his feelings on the proposal.
“I’m not in favor of gambling at all,” Robinson said in part, elaborating that, although he has been in casinos for conferences, he’s against gambling and would advise any young person who asked him to avoid gambling or playing the lottery. “That is not the type of industry that I’d like to see come to North Carolina. I’m making that perfectly plain, that is, that is what I believe. That’s not what I’m in favor of.”
He also expressed his opposition to Medicaid expansion during the interview, stating “the only thing in the budget that I’m still a little dismayed with that we’ve passed is Medicaid expansion.
Robinson says he isn’t against the Lumbee Tribe putting a casino on tribal lands, but he referred to how residents in the three counties designated for casinos made their voices heard in opposition to the legislation.
“That issue may come up again, and we can have that fight again,” he said.
Other politicians have been public in their feelings about the legislation. One of Robinson’s primary opponents, former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker of Greensboro, has organized community events and Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page, a candidate to replace Robinson, has been a “leading” opponent of the proposal.
On Friday morning, Robinson released a reaction to the passage of the budget, though he did not mention Medicaid or casinos, saying in part that he applauds the Republican lawmakers for passing a “fiscally responsible budget.”
When I voted for Mark Robinson in the 2020 primary and general election, I thought he would be a strong voice for conservative principles in the General Assembly where he presides over the Senate. I was wrong. He has been as quiet as a church mouse on issue after issue, functioning as little more than Berger’s waterboy. Making a fiery speech at a convention, that even then does not really touch on the key issues at the General Assembly, is entertaining but it does not move the needle on important policy issues, and it is only the latter which is really important.
Robinson does have great persuasive abilities when he chooses to use them, but he seems to be afraid of Berger, and fails to do so. That is not what we need as a governor.
One example is the Green New Deal, HB951. Robinson, by statute, chairs a commission on energy planning and should have been a player on this issue. A group of conservative energy experts met with him and went over all the huge downsides of the legislation, and after listening Robinson made an excuse and declined to do or say anything on the bill. He let Berger take us down the far-left Greta Thunberg / Al Gore / John Kerry path withour raising a peep. That was the moment I became certain that Robinson was not the man for governor. He has continued to do the same thing, going AWOL, on issue after issue.
Here’s a good, biblical description of the LtGov…..James 1:8…”.a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways”.
Mark Robinson does not even stand up for his signature issue, gun rights, in the legislature. It was his great speech at the Guilford County Commission on gun rights going viral that launched his political career.
This year, the most important gun rights bill in the legislature was the Constitutional Carry bill being run by Rep. Keith Kidwell, with the very active support of all the NC-based gun rights players, particularly Grassroots North Carolina. The NRA, whose NC lobbyist is actually based in Richmond, Virginia, was kept advised on the bill. Kidwell shepherded the bill through committee and it was set for a vote on the House floor when the NRA lobbyist swept down from RIchmond and convinced Phil Berger to make a statement that the bill would be dead on arrival in the state senate. Apparently some of the bill’s provisions caused the NRA hearburn over its money-making seminars on guns. With Berger calling the bill dead in the Senate, Speaker Moore then pulled it from the House calendar, too. The most important gun rights bill of this session went down the drain. While a majority of states now have Constitutional carry, North Carolina is still not one of them.
The big question is that if Mark Robinson is such a strong supporter of gun rights, why did he not step up and engage with Berger or with senators in general to try to stop Berger killing it? He can have a very loud and powerful voice when he chooses to use it but did not on this important gun rights bill. Granted, it would have been a hard slog to overcome Berger, but we expect a principled leader to at least do all in their power to make the effort, and it just might have worked if Berger was forced to choose between an out-of-state NRA lobbyist and a North Carolina Lieutenant Governor with a powerful voice on gun issues. It might even have worked if Robinson had left Berger alone and instead called out the NRA lobbyist publically or in private threatened to do so. But Mark Robinson made no attempt whatsoever to save this important gun rights legislation
Typical Berger, who talks conservative but governs to the left. I am sure that killing Constitutional Carry in North Carolina pleased Berger’s special interest buddies. Gun Rights voters are another element that could helpl take him out in the primary.
It is not surprising that the NRA was more concerned about its own profit-making gun courses than about the gun rights of NC citizens. If the NRA had such a bee in its bonnet over that, it should have worked with others to try to change the bill on those aspects instead of trying to kill it. I suspect jelousy of Grassroots North Carolina, which has emerged as the main standard bearer for gun rights in our state had more than a little to do with it. The rise of other gun rights groups like Grassroots North Carolina, Gun Owners of America, and the National Association for Gun Rights has happened because the NRA is so compromised over so many things and its endorsements often a joke because it panders to incumbents more than supporting the candidates who most strongly back gun rights.
RINO Senator Jim Perry is supposed to be a close personal friend of a major NRA leader. It would be interesting to uncover what his role was in the killing of the Constitutional Carry bill.
Robinson is an excellent Speaker/Preacher. Talk. Talk. Talk. I’ve gotten zero responses from my many inquiries at Robinson’s office. Zero. Dale Folwell is not an excellent speaker but SO VERY EFFECTIVE. Dale takes the task at hand and find solutions. Dale has no problem going against the grain and doing what is RIGHT. I support more RESULTS, less talk. #DaleYeah
Actions speak louder than words. Folwell has a record of actions.
Who doesn’t believe once Robinson is the nominee, the press/media/libs won’t begin to destroy him with all the info that has been presented on this website. And who knows what else would come forth. There’s enough evidence here to destroy any campaign. Dems would like nothing more than Robinson be the nominee. Not so sure some r’s aren’t in his camp for the same reason.