Sounds like somebody’s getting a little fussy …

 

 

 

 

 

Boy, you ought to hear the Raleigh press corps — whining like a bunch of babies.  The mean old Republicans in charge of things in the NC legislature have scheduled business for Monday, and WON’T guarantee that something newsworthy like VETO OVERRIDES might happen.  Take WRAL’s Laura Leslie, for instance:

If the House takes up any veto overrides Monday, Speaker Thom Tillis will have a whole lot of explaining to do.

Republican leaders have been saying for weeks Monday’s session would be purely administrative, focused on passing an adjournment resolution that would let them come back at the end of this month for a more substantial session.

But Friday’s release of the House calendar for Monday set some nerves jangling on Jones St.  The calendar, available here, lists five veto overrides for consideration. Insiders, lobbyists, and some media outlets were quick to speculate that Monday might be more than administrative, at least in the House.

Just last week, Tillis told reporters that wouldn’t be the case.

“We’ll be notifying the members that it will be a skeleton session,” Tillis said after a committee meeting October 27th.

He said he would try to send out the adjournment resolution to the members in advance so they could decide whether or not they should plan to attend.

“For the most part, I would suggest that they not come, unless they have committee meetings or other reasons to be here.”

“And there will clearly not be any veto overrides or anything,” Tillis added. “I want to assure them that this is just purely an administrative meeting to satisfy our constitutional requirements.”

…

When the Monday calendar came out, I contacted Tillis’s spokesman Jordan Shaw to ask whether something had changed.

“The veto overrides, I believe, are always listed on the calendar, given the fact that they are always in our “veto garage” and eligible to come up anytime we are in session,” Shaw responded. “But I don’t know of any plans that differ from what the Speaker told you earlier. To my knowledge, the plan remains to take up technical corrections to the redistricting bill and get out of town.”

“But again,” he added, “veto overrides are always eligible, as you know.”

Tillis has said more than once that he might bring up an override any day several Democrats are absent, lowering the threshold for a three-fifths vote. “I think what it says is, you better show up for work,” he said in March.

But bringing up an override vote after assuring minority members they didn’t need to attend would raise legislative dirty tricks to a whole new level.

Guess we’ll find out Monday.

(I’d like to have Monday off too, Laura.)   I cannot recall ANY press coverage, during the eons that the Dems ran the show, showing concern about the potential for “dirty tricks” that might hurt the minority party’s feelings.  No, Jim Black and Mark Basnight and Tony Rand ALWAYS worked hand in glove with their Republican colleagues.  And if you believe that …

Question for Laura: What is so “dirty” about scheduling business and setting an agenda of potential discussion items?  The speaker and his rep said they know of no plans to bring up the veto overrides at this time. They do mention that the overrides are “eligible” to be brought up.  I take that to mean someone could bring them up for discussion on the House floor at any time.

I know it must seem like harsh tactics to MAKE these people actually SHOW UP for the job they are PAID TO DO and were ELECTED TO DO.  This session is not exactly a waste of taxpayer money.  The one earlier this year was one of the shortest sessions in history — much shorter than when the capitol press corps’s favorite party ran the show.

Instead of whining about this — why not ask Boss Bev and her henchmen on Jones Street EXACTLY what is so bad about requiring voters to prove they are who they say they are when they show up to  vote?

Enough with the whining and sycophancy.  DO YOUR JOB !!!!