Two political junkies struck up a conversation. Jane, a staunch Republican well known in state politics, told me she had enjoyed watching NC SPIN on television for many years.
"I liked the way you had people expressing different opinions without getting ugly or disagreeable," she said.
I thanked her for the compliment, adding that we had only one rule on our show -
"Tom's rule." It said that we were southern ladies and gentlemen, and we were going to act like it. If you couldn't, you wouldn't come back on our show.
We reminisced that people could reside in different parts of the state, from different political parties or have other differences, yet they could still talk and listen to each other and find things upon which they could agree. It was a more civil time.
My dad, a Democrat, served in the General Assembly representing Wilson, Nash and Edgecombe counties. In those days, Democrats running for election had to sign a loyalty pledge they would vote only for other Democrats. When dad's seatmate, Jim Holshouser, ran for governor as a Republican it presented a real challenge for dad.
I was anchoring our radio station's election night returns broadcast in 1972. Hargrove
"Skipper" Bowles, the Democratic nominee, took the early lead, but as the evening wore on the lead narrowed. It was approaching 11 pm and we were taking a commercial break when dad walked into the control room and said,
"Son, I have a confession to make. You know I signed the loyalty pledge to vote only for Democrats, but Jim Holshouser is such a fine man that I broke that pledge and voted for him for governor." I quickly added that he had said such good things about Holshouser I voted for him, too. About that time my yellow-dog Democrat wife walks in saying,
"I voted for Jim, too." Holshouser took the lead and became the first Republican governor in 76 years in North Carolina.
When I first registered to vote there were three Democrats registered for every Republican. The Pitt County Republican Party Chairman quipped he could hold the county party convention in the phone booth on the courthouse grounds. Democrats dominated state politics. I remember the heavy-handed leadership of Speaker Liston Ramsey and that of Marc Basnight in the Senate. Democrats treated Governors Holshouser and Martin poorly. They were in charge but not mean-spirited.
Even in the early 1990s finding consensus was more common. I remember attending legislative receptions after session (before they were discontinued because of campaign contribution concerns). It wasn't uncommon to see a Democrat and a Republican standing side-by-side, eating the jumbo shrimp or ham biscuits and discussing legislative business.
Frequently, one legislator might ask another who had voted against a particular bill what it would take to get his support on the legislation. Often the two engaged in a conversation about how to make the bill better, sometimes reaching a compromise to get a measure passed. A lot of legislation was agreed upon in settings like this.
But today the political climate is so hostile and toxic I'm not sure I could moderate a civil television debate in the Old North State. Democrats and Republicans barely talk with each other. In today's legislature the caucus rules.
Legislators owe their allegiance to their caucus, not to the district that elected them or even to the state. There is little tolerance for members who don't toe the caucus line. Punishment is meted out to violators. It may be a committee chairmanship denied, a sponsored bill that goes nowhere, even a primary challenge.
Today the opposing party is the enemy, evil ones who must be defeated. It's a zero-sum game. There's no win-win. I win when you lose.
No wonder government isn't working well. There's less mystery why citizens have lost faith in the political process.
But this spring we may have seen a crack in this political iceberg.
New House Speaker Destin Hall was able to at least open discussions with House Democrats. 27 of the 47 Democrats present voted in favor of the House Republican Budget Bill. Granted, many voted for the House budget because they believed the Senate version was just so terribly wrong for the state. Even Governor Stein had kind words for the bill. This was a milestone, a first step in trying to restore some bipartisanship to our legislature.
The Senate basically refused to compromise; ironic because Republicans were locked in partisan struggles with other Republicans instead of against Democrats. But this was a step and we applaud Speaker Hall, his caucus and Democrats for making it happen.
The important question is what can be done to expand this bipartisanship and improve our political process? Surely it begins by talking civilly and really listening to each other, exploring things on which we can agree.
We would all benefit it the political process improved.
Tom Campbell is a Hall of Fame North Carolina Broadcaster and columnist who has covered North Carolina public policy issues since 1965. He recently retired from writing, producing and moderating the statewide half-hour TV program NC SPIN that aired 22 ½ years. Contact him at tomcamp@carolinabroadcasting.com.
One of the big differences between now and then is the sea change in the Democratic Party during the intervening years. During the Martin administration, there was still an active conservative wing of the Democratic Party, one whose members, like State Representative Walter Jones, Jr. (D-Pitt), worked regularly with us in helping pass Governor Martin's agenda. The conservative wing of the Democratic Party is now an extinct critter. Democrat legislators now range from full blown "progressives" of the far left to "go along / get along" business Democrats, who tilt liberal, but somewhat less so.
I was sitting in the House gallery with others from our legislative team when a coalition of conservative Democrats and Republicans ousted dictatorial House Speaker Liston Ramsey and replaced him with conservative Democrat Joe Mavretic (D-Edgecombe). I was also there when Democrats stripped most of the Lieutenant Govenror's power from Lt. Gov. Jim Gardner and handed it to Marc Basnight as President Pro Tem of the Senate.
That brings me to the major thing that has led to the problem in functioning of today's legislature. That is the concentration of power in the leadership in both houses, placing great power at the top and emasculating individual legislators. The leadership has far too much power viz-a-viz individual legislators.
For a century, the NC House had a tradition of one term speakers. After serving one term a speaker moved on to something else, like a state cabinet position or a judgeship. They did not stay around in office to build up a political machine but turned over the reins to someone else. This prevented a concentration of power. That tradition was broken when Speaker Carl Stewart decided he wanted to run for statewide office but do so from the perch of House Speaker. Stewart broke tradition by running for and winning a second term. Then his successor, Liston Ramsey, decided he wanted to be Speaker-for-Life and built up a dictatorial power structure within the Speaker's office. Ramsey's running roughshod over individual legislators led to a rebellion from within his own party that led to his ouster and replacement, with Republican help, by conservative Joe Mavretic. Unfortunately, the genie was out of the bottle, and we have never had a voluntary one term speaker since.
In the Senate, power was long divided between the Lieutenant Governor and the president pro tem, which prevented a concentration of power and lieutenant governors changed every four years anyway. Most of the Lieutenant Governor's legislative powers were in Senate rules rather than in the state constitution. When Jim Gardner was elected as lieutenant governor as a Republican in 1988 that changed everything. The Democrat majority in the Senate stripped him of all of his legislative powers that came from Senate rules and gave those to the president pro tem, who at the time was Marc Basnight, concentrating power in that office. It took Basnight a few years to get a firm grip on things but once he did, he was called "the most powerful man in North Carolina."
The real problem in the legislature is the concentration of power in the hands of the legislative leadership, and to solve the problem that needs to be changed. Since no one seems to want to honor traditional voluntary term limits, the best solution is Constitutional term limits for the top leadership positions in both houses to no more than two terms. One term would be even better.