NC State Employees Association boss resigns, shortly before 2020 legislative session
The head of North Carolina’s main lobbying group for state employees stepped down suddenly Wednesday.
Robert Broome has led the State Employees Association of North Carolina, or SEANC, for the last two years. It’s unclear why he left. SEANC’s announcement of his resignation on Wednesday does not provide a reason, and Broome could not immediately be reached for comment.
Broome was a frequent sight at the state legislature, where the group has pushed for several big changes in recent years.
Some were successful, like new safety reforms for prison workers passed in the wake of a deadly escape attempt at Pasquotank Correctional Institute in 2017 that killed four people. Other issues were unsuccessful, like efforts to change the State Health Plan that would have saved money for taxpayers, but that were strongly opposed by the North Carolina Hospital Association.
Perhaps SEANC’s biggest accomplishment during his tenure came in 2018 when the group convinced state lawmakers to guarantee a $15-per-hour minimum wage for nearly all state employees.
North Carolina became the first state in the country to put that into place for its government workforce. It was particularly notable since the General Assembly is controlled by Republicans, who have opposed raising the statewide minimum wage from its current level of $7.25 per hour. They also have banned any local governments from raising the minimum wage inside their own city or county lines.
SEANC’s longtime lobbyist, Ardis Watkins, will take over as executive director, replacing Broome. She becomes its first-ever female leader, SEANC said in a press release. The group has been around for 73 years, and Watkins has been its lobbyist for the last 20 years.
In a brief interview Wednesday, Watkins said she is also proud of efforts SEANC pushed for a decade — and which were put into place by NC Treasurer Dale Folwell, a Republican elected in 2016 — to cut down on Wall Street fees that had been coming out of the state’s pension plan. North Carolina’s pension plan is typically rated as one of the most stable in the nation.
The legislature is scheduled to come back into session next month, and Watkins said she’ll still be around the legislature pushing for the group’s agenda — just in a new role now.
“She is well-known at the legislature and in the field as a strong voice for state employees and retirees,” the SEANC press release said. “Under her leadership, SEANC lobbied legislators to pass the first-in-the-nation $15 minimum wage for state employees in 2018, and her efforts to secure pay raises and funding for the retirement system and State Health Plan have bettered the lives of many working families in the state.”
Jimmy Davis, a retired probation and parole office from Forest City in western North Carolina, is SEANC’s president, elected by members of the group. He called Watkins “a tireless advocate” and said “no one knows SEANC and our issues better.”
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