Bowing to special interests
Regarding the May 27 editorial “Shooting the messenger in N.C.” reprinted from the Charlotte Observer: House Bill 405 is an extremely misguided attempt by the N.C. General Assembly that would shield businesses operating in an illegal or slipshod fashion and with practices that can’t stand the bright light of public scrutiny.
With this bill, our state legislature is bowing to a small set of corporate interests that are ashamed and afraid of average residents knowing how they do business. Instead, employees willing to risk their jobs to expose wrongdoing would be punished for their brave actions.
This legislation is billed as being about property rights, but it is really about silencing whistle-blowers who seek to protect and inform the public.
With his veto, Gov. Pat McCrory stood up for the vast majority of North Carolina business owners who must compete against those who cut corners or worse to maximize their profits. He declared that individual North Carolinians deserve to know what goes on inside poorly run businesses.
He supported the rights of all residents to expose bad behavior.
Harrison Marks
Executive director, Sound Rivers
New Bern
This story was originally published May 29, 2015 at 5:35 PM with the headline "Bowing to special interests."