Earlier this afternoon, we were alerted to video of 8th CD Democratic candidate Lavern Chatman attending North Carolina (Republican) Governor-elect Pat McCrory’s Inaugural Ball on January 17, 2013. On the video, Chatman says the following:
I think Pat McCrory has shown that {when} he was Mayor of Charlotte that he is about the people. He wants to make this a better South. He wants to make this a better state.
If only any of that were the case. In fact, McCrory has been an unmitigated disaster as Governor of North Carolina. Among other things, McCrory has signed draconian voter suppression legislation into effect, and generally helped send North Carolina lurching backwards from where it was before he took office in a wide variety of areas: civil rights, the environment (e.g., see NRDC’s documentation on McCrory’s ties to Duke Energy, now infamous for its coal ash pollution of the Dan River), you name it.
For instance, McCrory signed legislation cutting unemployment benefits for North Carolinians in desperate need of them; refused to accept Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, thus depriving hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians access to life-saving health care coverage; signed a law repealing the state’s Racial Justice Act of 2009 (yikes!); signed legislation requiring NC voters to present government-issued photo identification in order to vote, repealing same-day voter registration and limiting the number of days of early voting; signed legislation restricting women’s reproductive rights and access to women’s health clinics; etc, etc. In short, McCrory has been a disaster in every way – basically, what Ken Cuccinelli would have been if he’d been elected governor of Virginia. In fairness, McCrory seemed like a reasonable, moderate guy when he was Mayor of Charlotte, and it wasn’t totally clear in his 2012 campaign for Governor that he’d turn out as horrendously as he has. In fact, it could be argued that he pulled the wool over North Carolinians’ eyes, big time, in his 2012 campaign for Governor. For whatever reason(s), however, he’s turned into a nightmare…
The reaction to Gov. McCrory’s heinous policies by North Carolinians who have suffered because of them is highly revealing. On that front, I STRONGLY recommend the Story of America video series by filmmakers Annabel Park and Eric Byler on efforts by civil rights leaders and others to fight back, in part via the “Moral Monday” movement (“{Rev. William J. Barber II}, who is president of the North Carolina NAACP and a Disciples of Christ pastor, launched the 2013 demonstrations to protest legislators’ efforts to scale back unemployment benefits and decline Medicaid expansion through the new federal health law. Protesters also criticized voter ID laws, cuts to public schools and tax-reform proposals they said would reduce benefits for the poor.”). It’s an impressive counter-movement to the hard-right-wing turn North Carolina has experienced under Gov. Pat McCrory.
It should be noted that, in addition to speaking positive about McCrory at his Inaugural Ball, Lavern Chatman also donated to his campaign (both individually as well as jointly with her husband). As for the video of her speaking at the inaugural, she links to it from her YouTube channel to this day, which is hard to explain given McCrory’s horrible record since he was elected in November 2012 (I mean, I can understand reading McCrory incorrectly when he was running for Governor, but at this point it’s been obvious since early 2013 just how awful he is). Perhaps Chatman forgot the video was up there? Or perhaps she knew it was up there but didn’t feel the need to take it down? Got me.
Finally, I reached out to Chatman’s campaign for comment, and they responded almost immediately (for which I give them a great deal of credit), sending me the following statement:
I will put my record of being in the trenches supporting Democrats and progressive change up against anyone.
I have been one of President Obama’s strongest and most active supporters in Northern Virginia bundling over $150,000 for the President. Plus, I have raised money for community and nonprofit organizations that went to mentoring programs, to give health care to young girls and women, and to help at-risk kids.
Pat McCrory was a moderate mayor, but has now become a Tea Party governor. The Tea Party agenda that he has advanced is against everything that I stand for and would fight for in Congress.
P.S. A politically astute Democratic friend of mine suggested I add that while McCrory didn’t talk about his desire to suppress the vote,
he DID run for governor on a platform of corporate tax cuts (and tax cuts for the wealthy), fossil fuel deregulation, and fighting against the federal government’s regulation of healthcare. Ugh. In stark contrast, the Democratic candidate – Walter Dalton – was running on a platform of healthcare for all, environmental protection, and public education. In other words, this choice was an easy one: Dalton was infinitely better than McCrory, and one could see that during their campaign if one read their platforms at all.
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