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Pat McCrory pointed to right and said “the women’s restrooms are over here,” then pointed to his left “and the men’s restrooms are over here.”
The crowd of about 200 gathered Saturday at Vineyard Golf Course at White Lake applauded and cheered loudly. “It sounds like most Bladen County people agree with me on that,” North Carolina’s 74th governor said.
McCrory stopped by the Bladen County Law Enforcement Officers Association golf tournament before attending a private fundraising event Saturday at the Cape Fear Farmers Market in Elizabethtown. McCrory hit a few shots on the Bill Augustine-owned course, spoke briefly, then ate lunch.
McCrory’s line about restroom locations works well on the campaign trail as he seeks a second term as governor. The Republican from Charlotte is facing opposition from North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, a Democrat, in November’s election.
It’s in reference to House Bill 2, the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, also known as “the bathroom law,” which, according to legislation passed in March, provides for single-sex multiple occupancy bathroom and changing facilities in schools and public agencies and to create statewide consistency in regulation of employment and public accommodations. Tha law has brought national attention to North Carolina and to McCrory for his continued support. Critics contend the law is discriminatory.
“I’m not surprised (by the attention) because I knew it was all planted from a national group coming to North Carolina,” McCrory said in an interview with Bladen Online. “They wanted to make North Carolina the epicenter of this restroom, shower, bathroom argument that no one in my party had ever talked about.
“What surprises me is how quick the President jumped into it from a national standpoint. I’m shocked that he inserted the Justice Department, the Education Department and the Labor Department in this issue that does not respect privacy for girls and boys in our high schools and middle schools. And, I’m also quite surprised that the Attorney General is not willing to defend North Carolina in this. It’s not only a state issue, but now it’s a national issue. I’m proud of the 11 other states that have since joined us.”
The governor believes the issue will eventually be decided by the Supreme Court and says that Congress will need to act at some point.
“I think Congress, sooner or later, has got to deal with this,” McCrory said, “by defining the term sex in the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Because if Congress and the courts continue to let Obama and his administration define it, we’re going to see a major change in our basic cultural norms for the rest of our lives.”
As McCrory nears the end of his first term and is hopeful of four more years in the Executive Mansion in Raleigh, he’s campaigning on four major issues: Continued economic progress, improving education, addressing mental health care and addiction improvements, and more funding for infrastructure.
“We want to continue the economic progress, which we can’t take for granted,” McCrory said. “We’ve had a tremendous economic turnaround in most of the state, although we still have pockets where we need vast improvements, and I’m going to work on those pockets.”
On education: “I want to continue to help in education, to help our teachers, help with our K-12 schools. We’re going to be spending new bond money on our universities and community colleges. I want to make sure the money is spent the right way toward areas where we have actual job openings.”
On mental health and addiction care: “It’s not talked about enough, but we’ve got drugs and alcohol killing families and individuals, and if our country and our state doesn’t stand up to it, deal with it, our Sheriff’s offices and our state prisons aren’t going to be able to deal with it. The jails and prisons are the ones dealing with it right now, and the emergency rooms.”
On infrastructure: “This state is going to continue to grow and we better prepare for that growth as opposed to react to that growth.”
During his speech, McCrory praised law enforcement officers and applauded the way they stood up for each other. He recalled learning moments before his first State of the State speech in 2013 that state Trooper Mike Potts had been shot during a traffic stop in Durham.
“As soon as I finished that speech we went immediately to the hospital in Durham,” McCrory said. “What I saw was the fraternity and soriety of law enforcement people standing with (Trooper Potts) and his family. Whether it’s a Sheriff’s deputy, a Highway Patrol officer, city or town police officer, you are part of the same team. And I want to make sure we treat you as the same team because we’re all in this for the same reason. The number one responsibility of government is to protect the public.”
McCrory said his administration will continue to try to get pay raises for law enforcement members, especially entry level troopers and prison guards.
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