North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper is attempting to capitalize on opposition to the Voter Photo ID law in an overreaching campaign advertisement. The ad links to the “Volunteer” page of Cooper’s campaign website.
Governor McCrory has now signed the Voter Photo ID law, House Bill 589 into law.
Cooper had made his opposition to the bill clear, and even urged Governor McCrory to veto it. Now Cooper has gone a step farther by attempting to turn his position on the issue into campaign capital. Presumably, Cooper (the strongest among a weak current crop of Democrat candidates) is looking ahead to a run against McCrory for the Governor’s Office.
As North Carolina Attorney General, Roy Cooper is the attorney for the State. When the State or its agencies are sued, his office typically defends them. The State and its agencies do not enjoy the same attorney-client privilege that private citizens do when they hire an attorney. The news media can obtain written communications between Mr. Cooper’s office and the legislature.
Nonetheless, the Governor and the Legislature ought to be able to depend on the Attorney General. The level of trust between the Democrat Cooper and the Republican Governor and Legislature appears to be very poor. As of today, at least two court cases have been filed contesting its constitutionality. It is almost certain that the taxpayers will have to bear the cost of hiring a private law firm to defend the law.
Whatever the issues with the Voter Photo ID law may be, Mr. Cooper, as our attorney, owed our State more than to use a legal issue he should have handled as a political token.