Values group dings McCrory over constitutional claims

A group of social conservatives blasted Republican Gov. Pat McCrory on Friday, contrasting his efforts to preserve his office's constitutional prerogatives against earlier "inaction" related to defending North Carolina's ban on same-sex marriage. 

"Where was the Governor's concern for the defense of our Constitution when a rogue judge enjoined the Marriage Amendment that 61 percent of NC voters passed?" Tami Fitzgerald, director of the North Carolina Values Coalition, said in a news release.

It is unusual to see a key conservative interest group openly critical a sitting Republican governor, particularly one who has sided with them on issues such as abortion, and could be a troubling sign for McCrory in advance of the 2016 gubernatorial campaign.  

McCrory filed suit Thursday, asking the courts to strike down as unconstitutional appointments by lawmakers to boards and commissions that carry out executive functions. For example, McCrory said that a newly created coal ash panel impinges on his ability to oversee environmental issues in the state.

"It's not personal. It's a bipartisan issue in our constitutional system that happens in federal and state government," McCrory said last week. "I'm going to continue to fight for the parts of the constitution that will protect not only this governor but governors in future generations and future decades."

In a joint statement Thursday, state House Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, both Republicans, dismissed the lawsuit as "costly and time-consuming" and said that such commissions had long been held to be constitutional. 

In October, when federal judges struck down the state's 2-year-old constitutional ban on same-sex marriages, McCrory said he would accept the results and direct state agencies to abide by the rulings.

"The administration is moving forward with the execution of the court's ruling and will continue to do so unless otherwise notified by the courts," McCrory said.

While many saw McCrory's move as the right one, saving the state costly litigation against steep odds, Fitzgerald suggested that the two episodes show McCrory was more interested in defending his own power rather than the state constitution overall. 

"It is a shame when our Governor is more interested in expanding his executive power than he is in actually protecting and defending a real threat to our Constitution – the overreach of power by a federal judge who enjoined the Marriage Amendment and forced same-sex marriage on our State," she said. 

Already at odds with prominent legislative leaders, one of whom just won a hard-fought statewide campaign, Fitzgerald's missive represents another crack between McCrory and key GOP constituencies he might draw on during a 2016 re-election campaign.

During the 2014 U.S. Senate election, Fitzgerald was the North Carolina point-person for Women Speak Out, a national group opposed to abortion. Her organizations helped with get-out-the-vote efforts and aired ads on behalf of Tillis, who beat Democratic U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan. 

Berger and Tillis have also taken a different stand on the marriage issue from McCrory, ordering lawyers working on behalf of the General Assembly to make a last-ditch stand against the federal court order. 

"Governor McCrory’s response to the federal government’s oppressive intrusion into a matter of state sovereignty as important as defining marriage was inaction. It was President Pro Tempore Phil Berger and Speaker Thom Tillis who stepped forward to defend marriage in our state when neither Governor McCrory nor Attorney General Roy Cooper would," Fitzgerald said.