The Charlotte City Council, controlled by Democrats, didn't like Pat McCrory's committee assignments so they voted to create a bipartisan committee to study how those appointments are made and consider whether to change the process.
Despite their vote, McCrory has flat out refused to appoint the committee. Now the Democrats are responding by threatening to strip him of his appointment power.
This outlined in an editorial in today's Charlotte Observer.
I found this interesting on a couple levels:
1) Refusing to abide by a vote of the City Council? That's pretty remarkable. If he gets elected Governor, is he going to refuse to abide by decisions of the Legislature? Try to personally stifle the decisions of boards and commissions that he doesn't agree with? I think the four year war that would be likely to occur between McCrory and the parts of state government that would continue to be under Democratic control would probably be the Capital Press Corps' dream. Unless he realized that he just could not run the state with the same iron fist with which it seems he has tried to run Charlotte.
2) McCrory has made it clear that he is not going to resign as Mayor while he campaigns for Governor. I think that just enhances the handicap of entering the race with less than four months until the primary even more. Is he going to be willing to be a much less active Mayor and skip a bunch of meetings so that he can go to fundraisers and campaign events across the state? Is he going to be willing to concede a few inches on things like how committee assignments are made so that it does not distract from his campaigning? He's been a very hands on leader but it's hard to see how he can win this four month primary without taking a major step back to focus on the election. And if he does take that step back, will it antagonize Charlotte Republicans who resent his not fully doing a job he was reelected to just two months ago?
I guess we'll find out all the answers soon enough.
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