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What if Gov. Cooper wins the veepstakes?

4The name of Gov. Roy Cooper came up among a handful of state governors as a replacement on the Democratic ticket if President Joe Biden decided not to run, according reports in recent weeks. That situation is no longer hypothetical, in light of Biden’s announcement on July 21 that he would end his re-election efforts.
Carolina Public Press interviewed analysts in early July to understand the likelihood of Gov. Cooper being selected if the president dropped out, and what the succession process for state governor would look like if Cooper were to run a national campaign.
Gov. Cooper was among at least a dozen state governors who joined a meeting with Biden in the days immediately following the debate, amid criticism of the president’s performance.
With Biden stepping out of the race, many experts predicted Vice President Kamala Harris would likely be the party’s pick for a presidential candidate. That was furthered on July 21 as Biden endorsed and many top Democrats nationally voiced support for her to seek the presidency.
Political analysists in North Carolina and nationally have been saying Gov. Cooper stood a high chance of making the shortlist for the party’s vice presidential if Biden stepped down, as he has now done.
“Cooper is a purple-state Democratic governor who, as a matter of fact, in the last election was the only one who was a Democratic governor who won on the same ballot as Trump,” said Christopher Cooper, a professor of political science and public affairs at Western Carolina University.
“He is a bit of a unicorn in American politics and it makes sense that you’d want the unicorn on your side.”
Cooper has also served as an attorney general and has crossed over with Harris, who also served as an attorney general in California during the same time, according to the professor. They have appeared at several campaign events together, including one in Fayetteville on July 18.
Would NC governor be picked for VP?
North Carolina is widely considered a battleground state, but the Democrats have trailed in recently polling and haven’t won a presidential contest here since Barrack Obama eked out a win in 2008.
During the same period, Cooper has repeatedly won statewide contests for governor and attorney general, the only Democrat with that kind of track record in North Carolina.
Other state governors’ names have also been floated as potential replacements on the Democratic ticket in the event that Biden decided to step out of the race. Some of the others being considered were Gretchen Whitmer from Michigan, Gavin Newsom from California, Josh Shapiro from Pennsylvania, Tim Walz from Minnesota and Andy Beshear from Kentucky.
Beshear recently said he would want to finish his second term as governor.
Newsome wouldn’t make much sense for Democrats to double down on California, according to Cooper, the WCU professor. For Beshear to run, Kentucky would need a new governor and “the odds are very good that the Democratic Party would be sacrificing that,” while Gov. Cooper is finishing his last term in North Carolina.
“In terms of the electoral map, Cooper makes more sense,” the professor said. “Whitmer could also make sense as a candidate.”
“But if Biden were to pull out Roy Cooper would almost have to be on that shortlist,” he said.
Steve Greene, a political science professor at North Carolina State University, also said there is a high possibility that Gov. Roy Cooper would be picked to run on the Democratic ticket.
Gov. Cooper’s demographic appeal would balance out the Democratic ticket if Biden were to step out of the race, both Christopher Cooper and Greene said in early July.
“Kamala Harris is a Black woman and because of his presentation, (Gov.) Cooper is a moderate, white Southerner who would send a message that this is not some radical left ticket,” Greene said. “I don’t think Democrats want to take any more chances with anything and demographically Harris is at the top of the ticket.”
“Everything about these candidates is not only vetted, but at least considered, and the demographics here matter,” Christopher Cooper said. “But I don’t think it’s as simple as Roy Cooper picking up Biden voters as much as it is, that that package of Harris and Cooper together picks up most constituencies in the Democratic Party.”
What happens if Cooper joins ticket?
If for any reason, Gov. Cooper had to step down to focus on a national campaign, North Carolina would need a new governor to lead the state until the general election.
If so, the baton would then be passed down to the lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson, to serve for the remainder of the term until a new governor is elected, according to the state Constitution.
But analysts say it is very unlikely that Gov. Cooper would even need to step down to run a national campaign, according to analysts CPP interviewed.
But if for whatever reason, Cooper did step down from his role as governor, based on the state Constitution, Robinson would become the governor, according to Robert Joyce, a professor of public law and government at the UNC School of Government.
Since Robinson is also running to replace Cooper, this scenario would allow the Republican to run as an incumbent, usually a significant advantage. Given the partisan rivalry between Cooper and the Robinson camp, and Cooper’s support for Democratic state Attorney General Josh Stein‘s candidacy for governor, Cooper would not be likely to let that happen.
Gov. Cooper’s term as governor will end on Jan. 1, 2025. If he were to run and be elected to the federal office, his term as vice president would begin Jan. 20, 2025, according to Joyce. If Cooper joined the ticket and finished his term without stepping down, then the November winner in the gubernatorial race would become governor, Joyce said.
“The idea that Gov. Cooper would step down and it would go to the lieutenant governor, there’s no way he would let that happen,” Greene said. “I’m not aware of anything that would say he has to step down if he’s running for national office.”
“There’s no way Democrats would be willing to take the chance of him stepping down and then letting Mark Robinson be in charge,” he added, “I mean the Republican legislature, I would imagine, would just take the opportunity.”
Christopher Cooper also said there’s no way the governor would let such a situation happen.
“If he runs, he would run from his perch as governor,” Cooper said, “and we’ve seen that – Bill Clinton didn’t step down as governor to run for president, Barack Obama didn’t step down from the Senate to run for president.”

On schools and sports: Follow evidence

Having spent most of my career commissioning, editing, or writing about public policy research, I understand its inherent limitations. Still, I cling to a belief, however naïve it may be, that careful study of complex problems can produce at least some clear answers that most policymakers will accept.
In education, for example, there is a wide range of strongly held views about how to improve teacher quality, student learning, and school outcomes. On most issues, you can find plausible arguments, backed up with data, on all sides.
There are exceptions. One is the common practice of paying schoolteachers more if they possess or acquire a graduate degree. Its justification sounds plausible. If undergraduate training in academic subjects or educational practice confers value, surely additional training in graduate school would confer more value.
It’s not true, though. The relationship between graduate study and teacher effectiveness is one of the most frequently studied issues in education policy. You’ll find more than a hundred studies in peer-reviewed scholarly journals. The vast majority (more than 80%) find no connection between graduate degrees and effective teaching.
Nevertheless, most school systems in America provide pay bumps for all graduate degrees. Most North Carolina teachers with such degrees receive higher pay, as well — but only because they’ve been grandfathered. Nearly a decade ago, state lawmakers in Raleigh did something that, as far as I know, no other state legislature in modern times has done. Guided by the evidence, they eliminated pay bumps for new teachers with graduate degrees or existing teachers who go back to school to get them.
North Carolina still differentiates pay on other grounds. The General Assembly retained pay bumps for teachers obtaining national board certification, for example. Lawmakers also authorized schools to pay teachers for demonstrated performance and created pilot programs for advanced teaching roles. These practices have empirical support. Paying for graduate degrees doesn’t.
A success story for evidence-based policymaking? So far, yes.
Unfortunately, the story isn’t over. When the North Carolina House of Representatives released its budget-adjustment bill a couple of weeks ago, it contained a provision to reinstate a 10% salary boost for graduate degrees. While the initial cost is only $8 million, the education-policy group BEST NC estimates that full implementation would add about $280 million in annual expenditure. Previous House budgets have also called for restoring the pay bump.
For every such victory, alas, there are many defeats. Also a couple of weeks ago, the Charlotte City Council voted to spend $650 million to help renovate Bank of America Stadium, the home of the Carolina Panthers. Here’s another clear consensus in empirical research: government funding for professional sports does not confer net benefits on taxpayers. It simply forces them to subsidize billionaire owners, superfans, and other special-interest groups.
In a summary for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, economist Adam Zaretsky wrote that advocates of taxpayer subsidy routinely overestimate the benefits and minimize the opportunity costs. “Regardless of whether the unit of analysis is a local neighborhood, a city, or an entire metropolitan area,” he explained, “the economic benefits of sports facilities are de minimus” and far lower than alternative uses of tax dollars. This is even true for hotel and restaurant taxes — the costs of which are borne partially or mostly (respectively) by locals, not visitors, and ought to be spent on true public services, not sports teams.
I keep clinging to my belief that evidence matters — clinging by my fingertips, that is.

Editors Note: John Hood is a John Locke Foundation board member. His latest books, Mountain Folk and Forest Folk, combine epic fantasy with early American history (FolkloreCycle.com).

Letter to the Publisher: Response to "A Deal is a deal"

Mr Bowman,
When I read your well written article "Response to WFNC's Goldy: A deal is a deal" I was glad this radio host was called out publicly for his criticism of the January 10th article in Up and Coming Weekly that welcomed Bill Murphy to our community. Turns out that Murphy was a fraud who fooled Cumulus Media by using a false resume. I've always listened to WFNC's Goldy with a jaundiced ear.
I grew tired of Goldy bashing Donald Trump at every opportunity. I also would turn the station when he began inserting personal opinion on how the NC Legislature did not pay his wife enough money to teach. But he never mentioned that Gov McCrory gave state teachers a 5% average pay raise and an average 3.5% bonus to teachers and principals in April 2016. He did not mention that Gov Cooper vetoed four consecutive bills that included teacher pay raises so that he could hold out for (unlikely) higher teacher pay increases.
I also turned the dial whenever Mayor Colvin was a guest on the morning show. Goldberg would not ask him about his violation of the Downtown Historic District commission's policy by renovating 229 Hay Street before obtaining Certification of Appropriateness. This severely lowered my confidence in local political leadership or hope of a better town.
One thing Goldberg is credited for is interviewing Rep John Szoka along the way during his terms as State House of Representative, and his runs for other offices including County Commissioner. John Szoka delivered on his campaign promises.
— Rick Bryant

Editor's note: Readers can find the original Publisher's Pen, published on June 19, titled "Up & Coming Weekly's Response to WFNC's Goldy: A deal is a deal" online at https://online.pubhtml5.com/twqv/fwlb/#p=5

Lessons in Vacation: When in Utah, do as the Utes do

6Listen my children, and you shall hear of the difference between a Vacation and a Family Outing. Every other year our extended family picks a different location to spend a week together. Cousins, siblings, second cousins once removed, all pile into the mix. Getting together at biennial Family Outings is more fun than just meeting at family funerals. With our time together limited to a week, the odds of bloodshed and violent disagreements are kept to an acceptable risk.
This year we went to semi-exotic Cedar City, Utah. The house we rented could have starred in the old HBO series “Big Love” about an interesting polygamous Mormon family. From the outside, the house looked like a standard two-story McMansion. Inside was a different story. The listing said it could sleep 30, which turned out to be accurate. We only had nine so there was lots of room. There was one gigantic master bedroom for the Lord of the Manor and his wife of the night. There were 8 other bedrooms suitable for lady sister wives and rooms filled with bunk beds for their multiple offspring. A large room in the basement had been turned into a media room with a giant screen for movie nights. The media room had thick cinder block walls braced by huge iron ceiling beams suitable for surviving the Apocalypse. It had a storage area for keeping a year’s supply of food. Its wooden door could be replaced with an iron door to keep out starving neighbors and other riff raff. It was pretty groovy.
Cedar City is a fine mile high city with about 39,000 people. It sits comfortably near Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks. First up was a trip to Bryce Canyon which is so dramatic that it does not look real. Bryce has hoodoos which are twisted wind and rain-shaped rocks the color of paprika. We had an interesting experience the next day at Zion. Tourists must leave their cars outside to take a bus into the actual park. This results in a long twisting rope line like Disneyworld. When we finally got to the end of the line, the usher told our group to go to the front of the bus to sit in the Old Folks Seats. I did not know whether to be insulted or grateful. I pondered slumping over in my seat and drooling to better fit in with our seating arrangement. After many hours of hiking in the park, on the bus on the way back people got up to give us their seats. We must really look old. At that point, I considered running for President.
When it was my turn to make breakfast, I cooked two pounds of bacon. This decision was jeered at as excessive. But in keeping with an unbroken world record, there was no leftover bacon. There never will be leftover bacon. It does not happen. The concept of leftover bacon is as elusive as Big Foot. Towards the end of the week, we ran out of Must See Sights. Despite our being calendar enhanced, we had to go see one final thing. A lively debate broke out as to how to spend our last afternoon. Finally, the decision was made to go see an abandoned ironworks. The lure of the ironworks by its proponents was that “It was not very far and not very interesting.” It would not take much time. With such a ringing endorsement, who could resist?
After supper the last night, we had the opportunity for one more world-shaking decision. Upon washing the dishes in the dishwasher, should we take all the dishes out and return them to their rightful places in the cupboards or leave them in the dishwasher? The issue was raised because of conflicting instructions in the house rules. One house rules binder said to leave the dishes in the dishwasher. On a separate handout, it said to replace them in their cubbies. A surprising amount of heat and volume ensued in this discussion.
Clearly, this was a more tangled web than bringing peace to the Middle East. Advocates for each side of the dish territorial issue loudly expressed their irrevocable irreconcilable positions. The debate got so colorful and heated that I even came back into the living room as a UN observer to see what would happen next. (Author’s Note: I would go see a 2 headed goat) At this point, the Vacation morphed into a Family Outing. Ultimately the Remain in the Dishwasher position won out through sheer force of will.
The next morning all was forgiven and we scattered like dust in the wind.

(Illustration by Pitt Dickey)

Fight! Fight! Fight!

4Jimmy Jones is a retired Special Forces soldier, a former Fayetteville resident, and American patriot. His perspective on the attempted assassination of Donald Trump and the overall state of our nation is frightfully compelling. There's no denying, God has provided us a not-so-subtle wake-up call to get our country in order. I doubt we will get another.
Thank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly.
— Bill Bowman Publisher

Any political assassination can be a significant tipping point in history. WWI started with a series of events following the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary, resulting in the deaths of 40 million people.
Will Saturday, July 13, 2024, go down as a two minute tipping point in history?
For many, January 6th, 2021, was a tipping point when President Trump said, “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
Since the beginning of the Trump era, Trump supporters have been labeled extremists, terrorists, deplorables, racists, ignorant, bigoted, dumber than hammers, a nihilistic death cult, anti-immigrant, and collectively enablers of harmful politics. Yet, short of a few bad actors on that day, there was no protest, burning of buildings, or significant “extremist” activity of any note by these people.
Since Biden took office, we have discovered that the Biden Administration worked to control free speech during Covid. Hunter Biden’s laptop story was real, and the Steel Dossier story about Trump and Russia collusion was paid for by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee, and Hunter Biden made $6 million for his involvement in Ukraine.
In contrast, Trump was impeached in 2019, for allegedly pressuring Ukrainian President Zelensky to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden. We have approved aid amounts to $175 billion to support Ukraine's war with Russia.
More recently, concerns of both parties (and the world) is President Biden's struggles to form words, which clearly manifested during the Presidential Debate on June 22nd. In the aftermath, his own party has talked about him stepping down. It is reported that during a private call with donors on July 8th, President Biden reportedly said, “I have one job, and that’s to beat Donald Trump. I’m absolutely certain I’m the best person to be able to do that. So, we’re done talking about the debate, it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye”.
I believe that the “bullseye” comment was a metaphor in the context of a political statement, but as Senator Mitch McConnell said about Trump’s speech on January 6th, “words matter,” and Saturday, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks climbed onto a rooftop and pulled the trigger five times killing one and injuring two (including Trump) before being killed by a Secret Service sniper team.
The powers that be will call the Secret Service agents heroes. Their director and that detail had only one job: to protect the person they are to protect. It is reported that the Trump campaign requested additional security, but Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has repeatedly denied the request.
Does that matter? No. Witnesses at the event spotted the shooter with his rifle going up the building and on the roof and notified the police and Secret Service. The NY Post reported that a policeman did climb the building, and Crooks pointed his gun at him, and he retreated. The Secret Service snipers shot Crooks seconds after he first pulled the trigger, which means they already had eyes on him. At either point, radios should have been screaming to get Trump out of there.
In the coming days, we are going to hear that the shooter had mental health issues, he was bullied, weird, and guns are bad. Poppycock. When a man picks a weapon, gets ammo, drives to a location, climbs to a vantage point, sets up a gun, waits, and shoots someone in the head, that takes thought, preparation, training, and determination.
I just described what a Secret Service sniper does each day. What we will not hear about the shooter is how much time he spent on violent video games, where he got his news, who else knew, how he knew where to go, where Trump would be, where he learned to shoot, or why the Secret Service failed to respond.
Presidential fitness (mental and physical) has been a topic for both candidates, but we all know that President Biden is now handicapped and is often escorted off the stage, dazed and confused.
This I can tell you, after being shot, the Secret Service must have walloped Trump so hard that his shoes came off because Trump said, “Come on, let me get my shoes. Let me get my shoes.”
With those 12 words, he put together more cohesive words than Biden did during the debate with a week's worth of prep. Trump came up and raised his hand and said, “Fight, Fight, Fight!” With blood on his face, he was proud to be on that stage in front of people who love him, he proudly walked to his SUV, holding his fist high.
For Trump, his will is strong and vital reminding me more of Muhammad Ali than Lia Thomas. His “will” and “willpower” were not about him but about America. We all saw Trump being Trump as the crowd responded with roars of, “USA! USA! USA!”
Pray for America.

(Photo: Former President and current Presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a rally. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

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