Liz Smith: Destructive governing

The Sept. 25 news article “N.C. Senate votes to ban immigrant ‘sanctuary cities’ ” is rich with irony.

The “sanctuary cities ban” will penalize local governments for noncompliance with the Senate ban. Sen. Jerry Tillman said, “We need to punish them. If I could, I’d take their charters.”

Are these the same elected officials who defy the U.S. Supreme Court with the religious freedom law? North Carolina allows magistrates to “opt out” of duties they don’t like. What can we call this behavior? Selective governing? Cherry-picking law? Government with blinders on? I call it destructive governing.

This story was originally published September 27, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Liz Smith: Destructive governing."