Roy Cooper and Connect NC | Eastern North Carolina Now

News Release:

    Instead of a typical political election night victory speech after overwhelmingly winning the Republican nomination for governor, Governor McCrory stood shoulder to shoulder on Tuesday night with the Connect NC Bond Committee and community college and university leaders, including his former 2012 Democratic gubernatorial opponent Walter Dalton.

    The governor's message was a simple, yet powerful one: at a time when the nation is more divided than ever before, North Carolina bucked the national trend and came together to pass the Connect NC Bond by an overwhelming bi-partisan majority.

    One person that didn't get the message? 30-year Raleigh insider Roy Cooper.

    Since the introduction of the bond, Roy Cooper has done nothing - ZERO - to promote the bond, which benefited higher education, state parks, infrastructure and the national guard. In fact, he refused to stick his neck out on the bond campaign and actually wrote a letter to the bond committee refusing to lend his public support to the bond efforts.

    His lack of leadership on the bond campaign stands in stark contrast to Governor McCrory, who had the courage to lead on this issue from the very beginning - even when members of his own party disagreed with him. But through relentless bipartisan cooperation, working with legislators across West Jones Street, and took every opportunity to educate voters as to the importance of the bond for the future of North Carolina in terms of higher education, state parks, infrastructure and the National Guard.

    Cooper's refusal to join in on the bond campaign not only showed a lack of leadership and political courage, but it demonstrated and encapsulated his entire career as North Carolina's attorney general of avoiding issues, dodging questions and not sticking his neck out for the people of North Carolina when it matters.

    All while Roy Cooper's SuperPAC, ProgressNC, was doing everything they could to undermine the bond committee to stop the effort from passing, including returning to their standard political playbook of filing a frivolous complaints.

    In refusing to join the bond campaign, Roy Cooper lost a huge opportunity to appear bipartisan and show leadership. Instead, he sat in his office making fundraising calls and throwing stones at the governor and bond effort.

    Contact: Chris LaCivita, McCrory Campaign Strategist

       The Pat McCrory Committee

       PO Box 12494  •  Charlotte, NC 28220