GOP needs to stop transforming and start governing

Published April 18, 2015

by Thomas Mills, Politics North Carolina, April 17, 2015.

Republicans were caught off guard by the response to the so-called religious freedom bills in Indiana and Arkansas. Businesses, large corporations in particular, rebuked leaders for supporting the thinly-veiled anti-LGBT legislation. In both states, the governors had to walk back their positions. In North Carolina, a similar piece of legislation that was barreling through the General Assembly came to a screeching halt. We’ll see if it shows up again this session.

The shock for Republicans was not that people complained about the laws. The surprise was that corporate America cares about the issue. Republicans thought that the only things that mattered to businesses are taxes and regulations. It never occurred to them that job creators also care about how a state treats their employees. 

In North Carolina, Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst is speaking out against the billand he’s just one of dozens of tech company leaders coming out against such legislation. A petition is circulating among tech companies that discourages states from adopting measures that could be construed as discriminatory toward the LGBT community. The list signers reads like a who’s who of the communications and technology sectors and includes CEOs from Google, AT&T, Verizon, Facebook, Twitter, eBay, Linkdin, Yahoo!, PayPal and Cisco Systems. A state desperately trying to claw its way out of recession should worry more about offending these expanding companies than mollifying a shrinking group of religious conservatives.

The broader lesson the Republicans running North Carolina should take away is that companies look at far more than just taxes and regulations when deciding where to locate. They’ve already effectively killed the film industry and cost the state thousands of jobs by ending an incentive program that worked. Nationally, people are looking at North Carolina and wondering what is going on in a state that they used to see as a leader in education, technology and innovation. 

In addition to lower operating costs, companies looking for a place to locate want stability and continuity, not upheaval and transformation. For almost five years, the GOP has been remaking North Carolina, creating uncertainty and insecurity. The so-called Carolina Comeback has brought low-paying jobs with stagnant wages. We’re one the few states where our median income is still below where it was when the Great Recession hit more than seven years ago.

Republicans need to stop transforming and start governing. Our economic development depends on more than just low taxes, low wages and fewer regulations. The companies of the future want high a quality of life for their employees and aren’t going to tolerate reactionary policies. The GOP has made their changes. Now, make them work.

http://www.politicsnc.com/state-of-uncertainty/

April 18, 2015 at 11:16 am
Richard L Bunce says:

Funny how when the Democratic majority is in place upheaval and transformation is the goal...