With election over, NC statewide elected leaders want more input on COVID-19 response
The election is over, but some things have stayed the same. The coronavirus pandemic is still going strong in North Carolina. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper won reelection and will still issue executive orders about the state’s response. And the Council of State — the other statewide elected officials Cooper meets with monthly — still has Republican members who want more of a say on that COVID-19 response.
In March, Cooper began seeking agreement from the other members of the Council of State for some executive orders but not others.
The Council of State is the 10-person group of statewide elected officials that includes the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, agriculture commissioner, labor commissioner, auditor, insurance commissioner, treasurer and superintendent of public instruction. They meet for about a hour on the first Tuesday of each month.
Now the meetings are held via teleconference. Treasurer Dale Folwell, a Republican who just won reelection, said this week that he wants them to meet in-person again, with safety precautions.
“To be able to challenge assumptions without being called political is something that has to change not just after the first of the year, but needs to change in the next meeting,” Folwell told The News & Observer.
Republican, Democrats on Council of State
Of Republicans on the Council of State, Folwell, Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey and Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler were reelected.
Of Democrats, Cooper, Auditor Beth Wood and Secretary of State Elaine Marshall were reelected.
The attorney general’s race between Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein and Republican challenger Jim O’Neill is close and had not been called as of Thursday afternoon, the final day that absentee ballots are accepted.
Republicans kept the lieutenant governor’s office with Mark Robinson’s win, as well as labor commissioner with Josh Dobson’s win. The labor race was close and just called by the Associated Press this week for Dobson, a former state representative from McDowell County. Republicans also kept the superintendent of public instruction seat, with Catherine Truitt winning her election.
Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, who ran unsuccessfully for governor, challenged Cooper’s decisions on COVID-19 with a lawsuit. A judge ruled that Cooper had the authority to keep issuing coronavirus-related orders even if other political leaders don’t sign off on them, and Forest dropped the lawsuit. Powers during states of emergency are laid out in the N.C. General Statutes 166a.
Orders aside, some council members want more time and information to discuss the state’s coronavirus response.
Folwell, who recovered from COVID-19 earlier this year, arranged to host an in-person, socially distanced meeting for the council in a conference room in July. Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson was the only one to attend. Folwell streamed the meeting via Facebook Live on the treasurer’s Facebook page. Cooper, who presides over the meetings, ended the meeting after an hour as usual but before other elected officials were able to share information reports.
Troxler, who won reelection, told The News & Observer earlier this fall that he would like the rest of the Council of State to have more input.
“At the very least I would like to see more information passed on to the Council of State members before decisions are released to the public,” he said. “Thus far we have had to depend on media reports to ascertain what decisions have been made.”
On Tuesday, Folwell held his monthly “ask me anything” call with reporters just a few hours ahead of Cooper’s televised press briefing. Folwell said he was not given any indication of what Cooper was planning to say. Later that day, Cooper announced that he was extending Phase 3 of the state’s reopening plan to Dec. 4 and reducing the limit on indoor gatherings from 25 people to 10.
In The N&O election voter guide, O’Neill, the Republican candidate for attorney general, said that each Council of State member “should provide advice and counsel to the governor on how executive orders under consideration will impact their area of state government and the citizens and businesses they serve.”
Folwell wants more transparency
Folwell said that if the school systems can figure out how to safely put children on a school bus, the Council of State should be able to safely meet in a room. He said he wants the Council of State to “have vigorous, what I call toothbrush meetings” — ones that last long enough that you need to bring your toothbrush.
He hopes the Council of State can be more transparent as it discusses the state’s coronavirus response and economic impact.
“We have to be willing to challenge assumptions without someone adjourning a meeting, hitting a button,” Folwell said about teleconference meetings.
Cooper spokesperson Ford Porter told The N&O in July that the governor did not want to backtrack like other states that reopened too fast.
“Health officials still strongly recommend working remotely and for the safety of the public, the media and the members, the Council of State will continue its virtual meetings,” Porter said then.
The November Council of State meeting fell on Election Day and was canceled. The next Council of State meeting will be on Dec. 1. It will be a remote meeting.
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This story was originally published November 12, 2020 at 5:07 PM with the headline "With election over, NC statewide elected leaders want more input on COVID-19 response."