NC Republicans slide further into secrecy, and we’re seeing the ugly results | Opinion

It’s not yet official, but Republican state lawmakers are committed to a new state motto. Instead of “To be, rather than to seem,” they’re going with: “We’d rather be unseen.”

That’s the principle driving a series of actions and disclosures that highlight GOP lawmakers’ growing taste for secrecy.

It started with a brazen campaign finance insertion into a ridiculous bill banning mask-wearing in public. The addition will effectively allow state candidates to benefit from contributions to state parties from anonymous out-of-state donors such as corporations and unions.

Next came a News & Observer report exposing a provision in last year’s state budget that sealed from public review a settlement involving a history of sexual abuse at the North Carolina School of the Arts.

This unfolded as The News & Observer reported that a provision in the state budget two years ago gave $6 million to a biotech company, EmitBio, whose parent company had paid House Speaker Tim Moore, who is also an active lawyer, $40,000 for legal work over four months in 2017. Lawmakers have ignored public records requests for how EmitBio was chosen and how it has spent the $6 million and a subsequent grant of $20 million.

All this comes amid a deepening culture of legislative secrecy. Last year, a provision tucked into the state budget allowed state lawmakers to ignore public records requests for their email or documents related to the passage of legislation. It exempts from review almost everything else lawmakers do. A second provision made secret their correspondence and drafting materials for redistricting, which conveniently prevents the disclosure of their motives when election maps are challenged in court.

The North Carolina legislature, like all state legislatures, always has had a secretive side. But disregard for the public’s right to know has grown steadily during 13 years of Republican control.

Burying a major policy change in the budget or stuffing it into an unrelated bill are the most extreme examples. But even in small matters, this legislature limits the public’s access and influence.

Longtime public interest advocates say public hearings – when they’re held – occur in rooms with low capacity and tight restrictions on how long those who come to be heard can speak. Groups that will be affected by legislation and experts who could flag flaws in proposed bills are often not consulted.

Bob Phillips, the executive director of Common Cause North Carolina who has advocated at the legislature for 25 years, said the growing secrecy is a step backward. He said, “North Carolina once had a better reputation than most states for transparency and open records, but today it’s far different.”

Democratic lawmakers have proposed a constitutional amendment that would reopen legislative records to the public. But with this legislative majority, the proposal has no chance of even being brought to the floor for debate.

Sen. Graig Meyer, a Democrat representing Orange, Person and Caswell counties, said the proposed amendment would counter the legislature’s slide into secrecy.

“This is terrible governance. And people, when they hear about it, are really upset about it,” he said.

Republican lawmakers will say that a degree of confidentiality is necessary for them to discuss legislation freely among themselves and move it efficiently. Ultimately, they say, they are accountable because they must face the voters every two years. But gerrymandering – done with a secrecy that shields it from judicial review – has largely removed elections as a check on the majority. Republican lawmakers have shaped the results before anyone goes to the polls.

At some point, enough voters may get as angry as they should be about the legislature’s disdain for their opinion and their interests. Then perhaps an election will break through the walls of gerrymandering and pull the making of laws back into the sunlight of democracy.

Associate opinion editor Ned Barnett can be reached at 919-404-7583, or nbarnett@ newsobserver.com