Polygraph or not, no one's buying the GOP story on the General Assembly's veto override - The Progressive Pulse

Polygraph or not, no one's buying the GOP story on the General Assembly's veto override - The Progressive Pulse

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Polygraph or not, no one's buying the GOP story on the General Assembly's veto override - The Progressive Pulse Posted: 23 Sep 2019 12:43 PM PDT N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore If, perhaps, you listened to Speaker Tim Moore's recent telling of the events of Sept. 11, 2019, and mistakenly believed that it was Republicans — and not the minority party Democrats — bushwhacked by that morning's veto override vote, you could be forgiven. Both parties have attempted, in the dismal hours and days after Republicans made off with their budget plunder, to provide a compelling narrative. Of course, this is what politicians do. And, of course, House Democratic Leader Darren Jackson's polygraph challenge to Moore Monday is a sideshow, but it's a sideshow to the circus Moore oversaw on Sept. 11. In that circus, Moore is the carnival barker. From Joe Killian's report Monday on Jackson and Moore's dueling monologues: "House Republican leadership lied about the session on the morning of September 11," Jackson said Monday. "They have continued to lie about it since. This dishonesty not only impacts the state budget, which obviously is a big deal, but it has impacted how the entire institution of our state House functions." Since the surprise vote to override Gov. Roy Cooper's budget veto in the state House on September 11, Republicans and Democrats have fought continuously over the narrative of that morning. Democratic leadership says they were told there would be no votes that morning. Republican leaders say they made no such promise. Democrats say Republicans planned a "sneak attack" to override Gov. Roy Cooper. Republicans said they were surprised few Democrats were present at the Sept. 11 session and simply took advantage of it when they realized they had enough votes to win an override vote they had postponed for months. Jackson said he recently took a polygraph test — commonly known as a lie detector test — to establish that his version of events is true. Jackson maintains he was told by Republican leadership there would be no vote that morning, something Rep. David Lewis also communicated to WRAL reporter Laura Leslie. … "I think people want to believe in their government," Jackson said. "They want to believe their representatives don't lie." Jackson provided his own polygraph results to reporters Monday. At a reply press conference shortly after Jackson's, Moore dismissed the idea of a polygraph test as "theatrics." "Look, this isn't the Maury Povich show," Moore said. "This is state government." Moore said he and Jackson are both attorneys and know that while used in investigations, polygraphs aren't admissible in court. "I don't plan to get in the gutter with Rep. Jackson and play silly games," Moore said. House Democratic Leader Darren Jackson If this was, in fact, Maury Povich's daytime talk show, often associated with paternity test melodrama, we'll have to borrow Maury's line: Speaker Moore and the Republican majority, you are NOT the fairly elected majority. Because, gerrymandering. Whoever's story you're buying — and there are compelling reasons to approach the GOP chain of events with extraordinary skepticism — take time first to consider the truly injured party instead. It's not the Democrats or the Republicans. It's not the lobbyists. It's not the bureaucrats. It's not the media. And it's certainly not Speaker Moore. It is the North Carolina public, which might not expect professionalism in the N.C. General Assembly, but deserves it nonetheless. It is the North Carolina public, which will be deeply impacted by the budget conflicts over education and health care that this month's override in the state House so casually papered over. It is the North Carolina public, which should, at the minimum, trust its government, but has little reason to do so.

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