Republican power grab masked as relief bill should enrage those hurting in WNC | Opinion

Governor Cooper asked for $3.9 billion in hurricane relief. Republicans answered with $454 million in a bill that has little to do with relief but a lot to do with rules changes facilitating a Republican power grab.

With regard to the rule change to take the governor’s power to appoint state election board members, soon-to-be Speaker Destin Hall (R-Caldwell) said, “What we’re doing now, very clearly, is not working.” The only thing that didn’t work here is his party’s candidates weren’t elected. Instead of looking inside their own party for answers, such as picking better candidates, they pull this political stunt.

What an embarrassment for our state, for the Republican Party and mostly for the people of Western North Carolina, who should be enraged.

Brad Bradshaw, Raleigh

Voucher madness

We need $5 billion to repair roads after Hurricane Helene and the Republicans have spent millions on letting rich people send their kids to private schools with few standards. All while starving the public schools. It’s madness.

Laura Toler, Durham

Do your job, Sen. Tillis

Sen. Thom Tillis must do his job as a member of a co-equal branch of government. While a president should be allowed to choose cabinet members aligned with their vision and priorities, they should never be given free reign to turn the process into a big joke.

I hope I represent a constituency where character still matters and putting a security risk in charge of our nation’s intelligence services and a threat to public safety in charge of health care is beyond the pale, where we expect more of a justice department leader than someone investigated for sexual misconduct, and in a world threatened on multiple fronts by Russia, China and North Korea, we demand more of our defense secretary than weekend culture war punditry.

While I have no hope that Sen. Ted Budd will ever do the right thing for our country, Tillis seems to have shown signs that he can put the integrity of our nation’s institutions above partisan politics. I hope I’m right about that.

Leo Sadovy, Wake Forest

Spiteful Republicans

The override of Gov. Cooper’s veto by Republican legislators, taking money for more vouchers and anti-immigrant requirements for local law enforcement, indicates to me that there are some mean and spiteful members. Republicans legislators, you could choose to actually care about the people of the state, the teachers, students, displaced people after a hurricane and our immigrant workers. You could be a help and act out of compassion, why do you not?

Ellen Canavan, Cary

Removed art

This week, Chapel Hill Town Manager Chris Blue removed an image of a woman in a hijab and wearing a keffiyeh, a Palestinian symbol, from Peace and Justice Plaza, saying the image was evoking “strong feelings” by pro-Israel residents. Advocating for the removal of the image of the woman with a keffiyeh is an attempt to erase Palestinian culture from our community.

If a group of white residents objected to an image of a Black person, insisting the photo evoked strong feelings, would Mr. Brown immediately remove said image and send out an email about how it was causing harm? Or is anti-Palestinian racism the only acceptable form of racism in Chapel Hill? The town of Chapel Hill has contributed to the ongoing erasure of Palestinians, both symbolically and literally.

Nizar Wattad, Chapel Hill

Let Stein lead

I should not have been surprised by yet another ploy by Republican legislators to hide partisan language in a totally unrelated bill. This time it’s to block Governor-Elect Josh Stein from making appointments to the State Board of Elections hidden within a bill for disaster relief.

Stein was elected by a resounding majority. Let’s let Stein do his job and appoint election board members. The legislature should be focused on helping the people of Western NC, not playing politics. Our lame-duck Republican super majority should take a high school civics lesson and preserve the will of the people.

Cindy Jackson DiLiberti, Hillsborough