title:  Petty North Carolina GOP Governor Signs Bills Crippling Power Of His Democratic Successor
text: This is the kind of power grab that justifies armed rebellion.The North Carolina gubernatorial race was a close win for Democrat Roy Cooper but a win nonetheless even though his Republican opponent Pat McCrory challenged the results in every way possible to hang onto power.And because Cooper won, Republicans in the state legislature called a special session in order to pass a bunch of petty bills designed to cripple his administration before it has even begun.Senate Bill 4 is designed to merge the ethics and elections boards into one body and would change the overall makeup of the combined board so that Republicans control the whole thing. Current law gives Democrats the majority because Cooper is going to be governor, and the governor is able to make the majority of the appointments to the board. McCrory had this power himself, but he signed SB 4 to strip it away from Cooper.Furthermore, Republicans also passed House Bill 17 requiring state Senate approval for Cooper s cabinet picks, which means the state of North Carolina will likely be denied leadership in various state agencies because Republicans will more than likely refuse to approve of anyone Cooper picks. McCrory has yet to make a decision about that piece of legislation.Republicans also gave McCrory the power to appoint a member of the Industrial Commission to a six-year term instead of his appointment only being allowed to fill the remaining term of a commissioner who resigned due to health issues. And he picked the wife of his chief-of-staff to fill the seat. The commission hears appeals of worker compensation cases, so McCrory s pick serves as a  f*ck you  to workers across the state.Furthermore, another bill would slash Cooper s staff from 1,500 employees to 300, a move that would cripple the governor s office.Protesters stormed the statehouse over the last two days to voice opposition to the power grab, which is basically a coup. But as usual, Republicans ignored the protests and passed the bills anyway because they are petty losers. You can bet that had McCrory won the race Republicans would not be passing or even proposing any of these bills. They are only doing it to sabotage Cooper.These petty moves by Republicans are unconstitutional and should be declared null and void by the courts. The people of North Carolina should be enraged by what has happened here, and if these new laws are allowed to stand Republicans had better prepare themselves for the retribution that will occur when Democrats retake the legislature. Because turnabout is fair play.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images