From Public SchoolsFirst in NC:

 

“We are desperately trying to get 500 folks here at 430pm – we want to show strength before they close building at 5 pm – come for one hour – they will pass these laws but we can show our anger and we can bear witness- Please folks, I’m begging you, be a witness to this crime on Jones Street, be a witness to the right wing extremist taking over our North Carolina Constitution. Come witness a political coup underway to take away your voice and vote – if you can’t come then be relentless in your phone calling, your emailing, and your tweeting. Don’t stop, don’t get weary, and don’t give up, but a thorn in the side of bigotry. Please share –
WHY YOU ARE NEEDED to show up at 4:30 pm TODAY (and keep showing up and keep emailing and calling when you hear about their final votes!)

Folks we are in the midst of a political coup by the right wing conservative extremists. These are not patriots but powering grabbing white Republicans – they held a Jim Crow caucus consisting of white men (and a few token white women) to draft these bills against the will of the people in secrecy and with intent to take power from the people.
The GOP controlled General Assembly led by Senator Berger and Representative Moore, are using every dirty trick in the book to preserve their privileges since NC voters elected a democrat as their new governor.
In other words, the political elites – mostly Phil Berger, Art Pope, Thom Tillis, Richard Burris and Tim Moore are preserving their grip on power in any way they can, legally (even if undemocratic) and illegally (even if it costs our tax payers) – they are trying to sell this as normal, political business as usual but it is really an ‘overthrow’ of our democracy and our constitution and actually is only intended to preserve authority in the hands of the few.NC General Assembly has gone too far. They came to Raleigh under the pretense of protecting NC hurricane and forest fire victims but have now filed over 20 bills, including unprecedented laws that strip Governor-elect Roy Cooper of executive powers, hurt public education, create gridlock in the state and county boards of elections and circumvent the will of the people, and do further harm to the people of our state. Extremists in the legislature are upset about the outcome of our election and are trying to maintain their control.
HB 17 goes to extraordinary lengths to take away all powers of our Governor-elect, slashing the number exempt positions he can oversee from 1,500 to 300, and eliminating his ability to make appointments to university campus boards of trustees.
Additionally, the bill radically reorganizes governance of North Carolina’s public schools. In almost every possible way, the bill strips power from the State Board of Education to provide more authority to the newly-elected Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction. If the bill becomes law, it will certainly be challenged in court due to constitutional issues. The bill – which was unveiled under a cloud of secrecy last night – is quickly moving through the General Assembly without adequate public input or transparency.
The North Carolina State Constitution clearly gives the State Board of Education the responsibility for running our public school system. The State Board, which consists of 11 members appointed to eight-year terms by the Governor, would be stripped of its powers under HB 17. The new law would unconstitutionally place these powers with the newly-elected Superintendent of Public Schools, Mark Johnson, a lawyer with no experience running a state agency.
HERE IS A PARTIAL LIST:
House Bill 17 makes 1,200 of Pat McCrory’s political appointments permanent state employees, grants the NC Senate unprecedented approval over Governor-elect Cooper’s cabinet picks, and also removes Governor-elect Cooper’s power to appoint trustees to the UNC board and the state board of education.
House Bill 6 needlessly changes the Department of Information Technology from part of the Governor’s cabinet to an “independent” agency whose leadership would be chosen by the Republican Lieutenant Governor.
Senate Bill 4 allows McCrory to appoint the chair of the industrial commission before he leaves office and would drastically change the board of elections by giving the General Assembly the authority to choose half of its members and giving Republicans almost-guaranteed chairpersonship of the board for the foreseeable future.
Senate Bills 5 and 6 grant McCrory the power to appoint two last-second Special Superior Court judges. One of the appointees would be McCrory’s budget director, Andrew Heath, who has limited legal experience.

 

The people of North Carolina will not take these actions against our constitution, our democracy and our vote!. We demand that they respect our vote, end this Session and stop attacking our democracy.
Please join our People’s Assembly at 4:30 pm today at the NC General Assembly in the rotunda.”