Without enough weight from their own party – or enough support from Democrats – Republicans still managed to override Gov. Bev Perdue’s veto of the controversial fracking bill last night.
How?
In the critical vote – taken at the end of a 12 hour session – Mecklenburg County Democratic Rep. Becky Carney pushed the wrong button, accidentally siding with the GOP. After realizing her gaff, Carney tried to get House Speaker Thom Tillis’ attention, even approaching his bench to request a revocation. Tillis ignored her and called on the majority leader, Wake County Republican Rep. Paul Stam, to move the discussion off the table and away from debate, a standard procedure known as a clincher motion.
But Carney knew her fate had been sealed seconds after pressing the button. Because hers was the deciding vote, procedure dictates that she couldn’t challenge it.
So with just one “vote,” Republicans overrode the veto.
Carney sounds tired when she answers the phone on Tuesday afternoon.
“I’ve been better,” she says to a standard greeting.
While many of her colleagues have been supportive, acknowledging the mistake could have happened to any of them, she admits some of her constituents are livid. Her record shows she’s been against fracking – or at least in favor of looking more deeply into its effects in North Carolina. But none of that mattered on Wednesday.
“Environemtnalists [and] lobbyists knew – the community knew – that I wasn’t a vote they had to worry about, she said. “I was even lobbying a colleague to support the override.”
Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a process that injects water and chemicals into the ground to release gas. Some states use it relatively easily, while others experience earthquakes and groundwater contamination from the fracking liquid. It’s a relatively new concept in North Carolina that hasn’t been researched thoroughly. No one’s really sure how it will affect our land or our water.
Carney is hopeful she can redeem herself next session by working toward adding more precautionary measures to the bill. While she avoided discussing how Tillis’ move will affect polarization in the General Assembly, she did, perhaps inadvertently, point out why the rest of us are so mad.
“It was more about clenching the win than [fairness] and openness.”
This article appears in Jun 27 – Jul 3, 2012.
I would expect nothing less from the underhanded Republicans.
That said, it wouldn’t have mattered if we didn’t elect so many “Conservative Democrats” who always vote with the Republicans.
The Republicans, on the other hand, always vote unanimously. I don’t know why they even bother to show up. They could just give their proxy to their leader.
How do we get some more independents to run for office so we can get rid of this war between the parties and get back to running the country and the state?
WAAAAAAAAAAA !!!!! Liberals are the worst losers in the history of the world. If someone doesn’t agree with them in lockstep, they are idiots, dunces or just plain evil. The fact is Perdue said she would sign the bill. Then at the last minute she changed her mind on this and other bills. I guess she wanted to burn down just one more barn before officially becoming a dead duck governor. Libs had NO problems with Pelosi and the Democrats passing Obama Care behind closed doors in the middle of the night. So I can only advise you Libs to put on your Big Girl Panties and learn to deal with defeat. November is not going to be kind to you in NC.
Behind closed doors in the middle of the night?
I guess you missed the weeks of debate and press releases by both proponents and opponents.
That would explain why you blame Rep. Pelosi. HR3200, the version that passed the House did not become law. The law is the Senate Version. The Republican unanimous intransigence made it impossible to reconcile the two entirely different bills. How do you think they got the nickname “The Party of No”?
You may now make another childish noise in support of your argument.
“A Militia of One”?! Seriously, the chosen screen name tells you more than you need to know about the douchebag’s mentality. A Militia of One – sorry, but that’s one of the most inadvertently funny things I’ve read in a long time. What a fucking idiot.
Anti: You obviously don’t understand the reference but I will save an explanation for perhaps a later date. The rule that does not allow a Rep to change their vote was written sometime during the Democrats 100+ year reign. We can probably agree they wrote it for a reason. No doubt they believed that having such a rule would benefit them more than the other guy since they were the ones in power. So quit bitch*n. The Democrats were bitten by their own rule.