Stuart Egan teaches in North Carolina and blogs about the state’s politics. North Carolina has a Democratic Governor, Roy Cooper, but Republicans control both houses of the General Assembly. In the State Senate, they were one vote shy of a super-majority. And then—BOOM—a Democratic legislator switched parties, giving Republicans a super-majority, meaning they can override any vetoes by Governor Cooper.
Egan writes about the defector, Tricia Cotham, here and here.
Cotham was a teacher of the year. Her family was long involved in Democratic politics. She campaigned as a Democrat. She said she supported abortion rights. She said she was a strong supporter of public schools.
Yet now she has joined a party that is determined to ban abortion. That has spent the past dozen years attacking public schools, demonizing teachers, and introducing charter schools and vouchers.
Egan wrote in his open letter to Cotham:
Five previous terms in the NC General Assembly before running on a 2022 platform of pro-public education, pro-choice, and protections for all North Carolinians that got you elected in a heavily blue district and you…sold out.
And before you talk about that “well I had to go with my heart and my convictions” excuse, the very things you said you would champion on your campaign website just months ago seem not to be important any longer.
Many of us remember what you said on that campaign website. You seem to want to forget about it. In fact, just today that same website which talked about your “priorities” after five previous terms terms was gone. Erased.
Just like your integrity.
In an interview concerning the switch with abc11.com, you stated:
“The party wants to villainize anyone who has free thought, free judgement, has solutions and wants to get to work to better our state. Not just sit in a meeting and have a workshop after a workshop, but really work with individuals to get things done. Because that is what real public servants do. If you don’t do exactly what the Democrats want you to do they will try to bully you. They will try to cast you aside.”
Did you see whom you were standing with when you made your switch from those “bullies” to the NCGOP?
Ma’am, you just went to a party that is run by two people who happen to be right next to you: Sen. Phil Berger and Rep. Tim Moore. If you do not do what those two expect of you, then you don’t remain in Raleigh.
And you know that. You’ve been in the NC General Assembly long enough to know that you must “toe the line” with that party to remain in that party. You know exactly what is expected of you now.
You now become the vote that almost ensures that another 1.5 billion dollars goes to unproven school choice “reforms” that take more money away from traditional public schools. Remember your tenure as an educator in public schools? Sure you do. It was on your website before you erased it.
Tricia Cotham has betrayed her voters and her profession. She should be ashamed of herself.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Who is buying her off? Start digging….
Good question
My first thought was what did she do, or someone she loves and wants to protect, that gave the fascists the dirt they could use to blackmail her. still, sometimes there is no dirt so they fake it and make it look like there is dirt with a threat to release that fake dirt to the media (For instance: CRT, Democrats are all pedophiles, Obama’s place of birth, Hunter Biden’s laptop, and Hillary Clinton’s emails — all fake dirt the media jumped on.)
“Everyone has a price, the important thing is to find out what it is.” — Pablo Escobar
In case you may not know who Escobar was:
“Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was a Colombian drug lord, narcoterrorist, and a politician, who was the founder and sole leader of the Medellín Cartel.”
Bingo