Throwback Thursday: That Time Attorney General Roy Cooper Voted To Redraw Guilford County Commission Districts in the 90s | Eastern NC Now

News Release:

    Throwback Thursday: That Time Attorney General Roy Cooper Voted To Redraw Guilford County Commission Districts in the 90s

Cooper on Local Redistricting = Hypocrisy?

    "This month, Roy Cooper announced he would not defend the redistricting law passed by the General Assembly, but forgot to remind everyone how he voted for similar legislation when he served in the General Assembly. So, was Roy Cooper wrong in the 90s when he voted for local redistricting legislation, or was he wrong in 2015 when he refused to defend a similar law in court?

    "The truth is Roy Cooper always follows the partisan Democratic agenda rather than act fairly and impartially to defend the laws of the people of North Carolina as attorney general."     - Todd Poole, NCGOP Executive Director

    In July 2015, Attorney General Roy Cooper announced his office would not defend the law recently enacted by the General Assembly to redistrict the Greensboro City Council.

    "N.C. Attorney General will not intervene in Greensboro City Council lawsuit" (Joe Killian, "N.C. Attorney General will not intervene in Greensboro City Council lawsuit," Greensboro News & Record, 7/17/2015)

    But ...

    As a Democratic State Senator in 1991, Roy Cooper voted for the Legislature's plan to redraw and change the number of districts on the Guilford County Commission.

    In 1991, Roy Cooper voted for HB 637, an act to expand and redistrict the Guilford County Board of Commissioners.

    View bill text on ncleg.net

    The public debate in 1991 suggested the redistricting of the Guilford County Commission was an effort by the Democratic Legislative majority in the General Assembly to impose new districts in order to overturn the elected Republican majority on the commission.

         •  "A House committee approved a bill Wednesday aimed at wresting control of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners from a conservative coalition led by Steve Arnold, the board's controversial Republican chairman." (Seth Effron, "Panel Approves Bill To Dilute Arnold's Power," Greensboro News & Record, 4/24/1991)

         •  "The bill, which would expand the commission from seven members to 11, was approved by the House Redistricting Committee on a 17-9 partisan vote. The legislation is sponsored by Rep. Herman Gist, D-Guilford, and co-sponsored by Gist's fellow Guilford Democrats Mary Jarrell and Maggie Jeffus." (Seth Effron, "Panel Approves Bill To Dilute Arnold's Power," Greensboro News & Record, 4/24/1991)

         •  "Under Gist's bill, which is identical to one filed in the Senate by Guilford Democrats Bill Martin and Mary Seymour, there would be nine commissioners elected from districts and two elected at large." (Seth Effron, "Panel Approves Bill To Dilute Arnold's Power," Greensboro News & Record, 4/24/1991)

         •  "'It appears to be a Greensboro-conceived proposition to ensure Greensboro domination of county politics to the exclusion of Guilford County and more specifically, High Point, voters,' said Wood, who is from High Point." (Seth Effron, "Panel Approves Bill To Dilute Arnold's Power," Greensboro News & Record, 4/24/1991)

         •  "But Guilford Republican Bob Shaw, the Senate minority leader, reacted angrily to the bill. He suggested that Martin and Gist are seeking to build a political empire." (Seth Effron, "Panel Approves Bill To Dilute Arnold's Power," Greensboro News & Record, 4/24/1991)

    In 1993, the Democrat-controlled General Assembly also passed HB 865, "An act to clarify that the plan for election of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners enacted by the 1991 General Assembly is the only lawful plan, and to extend the time for action on an act concerning the Sampson County Board of Commissioners."

    View bill text on ncleg.net.

    Contact: Kara Carter
            NCGOP Press Secretary
        kara.carter@ncgop.org