Charlie Board: McCrory, GOP did it

There have been several letters blaming the Charlotte City Council for the massive economic damage to our state from House Bill 2. This claim should be pretty easy to test with a look at the timeline.

The Charlotte council passed its common sense “bathroom bill” on Feb. 22. The state legislature rammed its incoherent response through March 23.

One serious evidential problem with the “Charlotte did it” argument is that none of the negative economic impact events occurred in that month in between.

Bruce Springsteen. Pearl Jam. MetLife. Myriad canceled conventions. Letters from dozens of CEOs. Massive dropoffs in economic development interest. The NBA All-Star Game. Etc, etc. None of these events directly followed the Charlotte action. All of them followed the Jones Street debacle.

Of course, the “other” major problem with the Charlotte theory is that Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, MetLife, the CEOS, the NBA and pretty much every other group taking action have actually told us what they are reacting to, and it’s not the Charlotte action.

No, this damaging debacle is fully owned by Gov. Pat McCrory and the GOP legislature. No amount of squirming or finger pointing can absolve them of responsibility for the consequences of their childish temper tantrum.

This story was originally published August 17, 2016 at 4:36 PM with the headline "Charlie Board: McCrory, GOP did it."