Proposed state aid bill is an insult
The number is $53.6 billion. That’s the estimate from the N.C. Office of State Budget and Management for the damage Helene inflicted on Western North Carolina. Those are just dollars; in the bigger picture, lives have been lost, transformed and forever changed.
But that money is needed to start rebuilding some of those lives and to continue the forward momentum with what will be a years-long recovery. Most of the money will come from the federal government, but the state must also do its part.
And that’s the problem right now. We need relief money. We also need our state legislature to act responsibly. So far, the current leadership in Raleigh has failed Western North Carolina on both counts. It seems legislative leaders are more interested in playing politics by including relief money in a bill that also strips power from their adversaries. Can we just once, just once, get a clean vote, no encumbrances and no political jousting, on a bill to help those who need it the most.
Helene hit hard, damn hard. We who call WNC home are still living with the damage. Some of us just lost power and water, or perhaps our business or job went south for a while; others, a lot of others, lost everything — family members, homes, all possessions, businesses, roads and bridges to remote communities, a way of life.
So, what do our legislative leaders do? In early October the state passed a bill with $273 million for storm relief efforts. Later that month, it passed another bill with $604 million for relief. Sounds like a lot of money, but remember, total damage sits at an estimated $53 billion.
Then the Legislature reconvened in November and passed a third bill, this a 131-page measure with all kinds of political retribution built into it, and a one-paragraph mention of an additional $227 million from the Rainy Day Fund for WNC. That fund, by the way, contained $4.4 billion before Helene struck.
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On the first reading of that final bill, three state representatives representing our region — Rep. Karl Gillespie (R-Franklin), Rep. Mike Clampitt (R-Bryson City), and Rep. Mark Pless (R-Haywood) — all voted no, the only Republicans who stood up for the people of WNC. Pless said the bill “appears to do nothing for Western NC.”
Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers had this to say about the measure and the support from our three GOP lawmakers: “What you saw was fundamental, principled leadership and doing right by the people of Western North Carolina. That was not a hurricane relief bill; it was a bill that was trying to be marketed as one. Even when talking about the money, it just shifts money. It doesn’t allocate where it goes. It was a bill that was done behind closed doors, very quickly and not involving even the Republicans, even our own legislators. This is a bill that should not have been passed and should not exist and should be vetoed. And if it was Democrats doing it, I would say the same thing.”
The bill contains all kinds of political retribution. Here’s what our political reporter Cory Vaillancourt wrote in last week’s Smoky Mountain News about it: “Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson in the gubernatorial race by more than 14 points, so the bill stripped Stein of the power to appoint members to the State Board of Elections and to appoint chairs of the county boards of elections, giving those powers instead to newly-elected Republican Auditor Dave Boliek. The bill also limits the power of the governor to appoint appellate court judges and appoint a majority of members to the State Utilities Commission, halts the automatic appeal of utility monopoly Duke Energy’s rate hikes and prevents the governor from increasing the state’s paltry weekly unemployment benefits, which Gov. Roy Cooper did in the aftermath of Helene.”
Gov. Cooper subsequently vetoed the bill because of its lack of funding for WNC and the political implications. On Monday, Dec. 2, the GOP-led Senate overrode the governor’s veto on a strict party-line vote. The House will vote next week, and I certainly hope those WNC Republicans who voted no last time can withstand the browbeating they’re sure to take from the GOP-led House leadership. If they vote no again, the governor’s veto should stand.
And then, perhaps, legislative leaders will do what is needed for our region and quit holding onto money that was squirreled away specifically for this purpose: it’s the state’s Rainy Day Fund, and by god, we had a rainy day on Sept. 26-27, a rainy day for the ages.
(Scott McLeod can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)
