When a member of Bladen County’s commissioners has to be replaced, the seat goes to a person of the same political party.
When a member of the General Assembly has to be replaced, the seat goes to a person of the same political party.
When a member of Congress has to be replaced, the seat goes to a person of the same political party.
And when a member of the state Court of Appeals has to be replaced, Gov. Roy Cooper chooses … a member of his party.
In what can be definitively described as a slap in the face to integrity, Cooper on Wednesday of last week decided the best judge to put in place for Phil Berger Jr. — who voters elected to the state Supreme Court — is Darren Jackson. He’s a member of the state House of Representatives, a practicing attorney of 24 years with a Zebulon law firm.
And he’s a Democrat. A friend of Cooper, the Nash County farm boy who became a lawyer and won reelection last fall with judicial candidates from his party unable to ride his coattails.
For all the voters who chose Cooper because he covered his face more than his opponent, Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, here’s one more reason why that was misplaced judgment. Small businesses across the state, and the ones who had to board up during protests all summer in several metropolitan towns without proper law enforcement, can give a few more.
Cooper’s decision is shameful. Not because he chose a friend; that happens all the time in politics.
He chose to put in place a man with zero experience as a judge. And Cooper said an emphatic “No!” to reaching across the aisle for bipartisanship.
The Court of Appeals reviews “the proceedings that occurred in the trial courts for errors of law or legal procedure; it decides only questions of law — not questions of fact. The role of the Court of Appeals is to decide if the trial court correctly applied the law, or if there was prejudicial error in the conduct of the trial.”
“Prejudicial” and Cooper’s choice — quite the mix.
Five of the 15 seats on this panel were available in the November election. Republicans beat Democrats in all five. Coupled with the three state Supreme Court wins by the GOP, our state sent a clear message to everyone, including the most litigious governor this state has ever seen.
It’s not the first brush with subverting the will of the people by Cooper. His veto of voter ID at the polls, when 55 percent said do it, still stings.
The track record is clear. Bipartisanship and fairness are not Cooper’s priorities; he’s about personal power and winning lawsuits.
About a decade ago, we watched Beverly Purdue struggle against the General Assembly and tumble into the abyss of conversation about the state’s worst governors.
Cooper, when all is said and done in 2024, is building his case to beat ’em all.
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