McCrory at best in hurricane response

Published October 21, 2016

Editorial by Wilmington Star-News, October 21, 2016.

By what we’ve read and learned from talking with people who were in areas hit especially hard by Hurricane Matthew, the state response has been top-notch.

Gov. Pat McCrory, his staff, agencies and thousands of state workers deserve credit for a job well done. It would be easy to say that they were only doing their jobs, but dealing with an unpredictable natural disaster is not routine work.

When a serious storm is threatening, it is essential that the governor and the agencies he directs start taking action well before it is expected to hit. We were impressed that Gov. McCrory and his staff put emergency procedures into motion as soon as forecasters determined we likely were in harm’s way.

Unfortunately, we’ve experienced just how deadly and destructive hurricanes and even tropical storms can be. If Matthew had turned out to sea well before it caused so much trouble here, so be it. Better safe than sorry.

(Of course, not all people heeded warnings. We hope that cars washed off roads and people found dead in submerged automobiles make people more cautious).

Gov. McCrory ensured the state got ahead of the storm and stayed there, supporting rescue and relief efforts. Now we move to recovery.

On Wednesday, McCrory announced he is forming a recovery committee to help families and businesses rebuild. He also has signed an executive order asking legislators to provide flexibility on the calendar for schools that had to close.

The governor has taken plenty of criticism this past year. We’ve dished out our share on these pages. When he was elected, McCrory had the reputation of a practical, get-the-job-done politician.

We have been especially critical of how he handled HB-2. Interestingly, recently released e-mails suggest that the governor’s practical side recognized that HB-2 was an overreaction, and it needed to be scaled back. That idea was shot down in the legislature.

The ideologically driven General Assembly has not been kind to “practical” McCrory, overriding several vetoes that he had correctly identified as bad legislation.

Once his re-election battle heated up, “practical” McCrory seems to have dug in with the legislature on HB-2 -- the ultimate piece of non-practical legislation, since it basically is unenforceable.

McCrory has plenty of accomplishments to campaign on -- an improved economy and wiping out unemployment-benefit debt are two big ones. His response to Hurricane Matthew may have showed the governor at his very best. The political storm known as HB-2, however, has yet to pass.

For our money, we like the McCrory we’ve seen at work the past few weeks, leading from the front and working with people of all stripes to help solve problems.

That is the McCrory, we believe, many people voted for.

http://www.starnewsonline.com/opinion/20161021/editorial-oct-21-mccrory-at-best-in-hurricane-response