Temper Tantrums Don't Work Well in the Legislature

By Brad Crone, President of Campaign Connections and a regular NC SPIN panelist.

I have been following what’s going on at the North Carolina State Legislature since 1976.  In the summer of 1977, I served as a page for Governor Hunt and really started taking time to pay attention to the legislative maneuvering.

Some of the more memorable moments of my Legislative history highlights include:

• Carl Stewart of Gastonia serving two consecutive terms as Speaker of the House from 1977 to 1981.
• The liquor by the drink debate
• The gubernatorial succession debate
• The four terms served by Speaker Liston Ramsey.
• The Super Budget Committee led by Granville County’s Billy Watkins
• The bulls of the State Senate led by  Jimmy Green, Marshall Rauch, Harold Hardison, Kenneth Royal and Ollie Harris
• The Columbus County Corruption Scandal where Ron Taylor was convicted of corruption and R.C. Soles was not
• The Ron Taylor – Monk Harrington feud (where Taylor was accused of burning down a bulk tobacco barn manufacturing facility owned by Senator Monk Harrington in Bertie County)
• The protests over the Equal Rights Amendment
• The protests over the PCB landfill in Warren County
• Senator Bob Warren passing the seat belt bill and then getting beat by Leo Daughtry
• The overthrow of Liston Ramsey led by Speaker Joe Mavretic
• Dan Blue being elected the first African American Speaker of the House
• The gubernatorial veto debate
• The passage of Smart Start
• The 1994 GOP House takeover led by Speaker Harold Brubaker
• The return of the Democrats to power in 1998 led by Speaker Jim Black
• The Jim Black – Richard Morgan tango and subsequent scandal
• The resignation of Senate powerhouse Tony Rand
• The GOP complete takeover led by Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger

And now the Senator Rucho “Temper Tantrum” meltdown.

I think anyone who has been around the General Assembly any time has to be saying they have truly seen it all.

Senator Rucho had the chance to appear like a true statesman – telling colleagues and citizens that he had worked diligently to promote a new tax plan that would update the state’s revenue collection system. And while he was disappointed that his plan couldn’t get out of his own caucus, that he would continue to advance the cause and promote the need for comprehensive tax reform.

Nah, Rucho didn’t take that approach.

He threw a temper tantrum – naming names and pointing fingers.  Blaming special interest groups who had explicitly warned him about the path he was going down.

Senator Rucho must be tone deaf to the politics of tax reform.  His proposal had multiple problems – mainly and most importantly political ones.

Raising taxes on senior citizens and low-income citizens while giving tax breaks to big business and big industry was a heavy lift.  Taxing groceries, Social Security, medicines and another 170 new taxes on services was another problem. And the mere fact it was out of balance between revenue and expenses to the tune of $1 billion there or about was another stumbling block.

The weight of the enormous tax plan collapsed so Rucho threw a temper tantrum.

In all my years of watching the General Assembly, I have never seen such a display of bad sportsmanship. If he had been playing basketball he would have surely gotten a technical foul.

His fellow members must be shaking their heads and wondering, “what in the world?”

A personal meltdown and a temper tantrum won’t win you any friends or help you influence votes and I doubt that it is a successful strategy for getting things done in the General Assembly.

As the tax reform debate continues perhaps we will finally see some statesmanship from Speaker of the House Thom Tillis.