Thom Tillis, that pesky Constitution, and that annoying separation of powers thingie
McClatchy’s John Frank is doing his best to play arbiter and peacemaker among Raleigh Republicans. And we thank him for it. He’s got a piece out about internal bickering among NCGOP leaders in Raleigh that seems to channel spritual leader and Eastern philosopher Rodney King’s famous plea: “Can’t we just all get along?”
John’s article details what a lot of us already know: House leaders and Gov. Pat are going one way, while the Senate Republicans are going another. One interesting tidbit John had was a quote from House speaker Thom Tillis:
Host Henry Hinton, a Republican who supports McCrory and Tillis, said conservatives and Republicans outside Raleigh “are all out here scratching our heads going, ‘Why is the Senate not cooperating with the House and the governor?’?”
In his response, Tillis downplayed the split but suggested the issue is power. “In spite of the fact that we have the power that comes with supermajorities, we need to give a lot that power to the governor so he can do things differently,” he said. “There’s some discomfort in my chamber, but there is certainly some discomfort in the Senate with giving that power away.”
Hmm. Give the governor some power that has been reserved for the legislature. One would THINK that would require a constitutional amendment approved by the people of this great state. (But I don’t hear ol’ Thom talking about that.)
If Speaker Thom makes it to the U.S. Senate, will he favor giving Barry Obama some more power so “he can do things differently”?
Every time Tillis opens his mouth, he gives conservatives another reason not to vote for him.
I think Henry Hinton’s quote is pretty funny as well, considering there are plenty of *actual* conservatives outside Raleigh wondering why this whole Republican supermajority is being squandered on the kind of crony capitalism we had come to expect from Democrats.
Think about where Tillis came from. Tillis was recruited to take out a conservative incumbent by Richard Morgan and Jim Black and mentored in politics by Morgan and Black. Is it surprising that he acts like Morgan and Black when he is iin power?.