Stop What Your're Doing: Susan Ladd: Burr's Naked Opportunism on HB2

Press Release

A recent Greensboro News & Record Op-Ed condemned incumbent Senator Richard Burr's sudden change of tune on HB2, saying, "after months of equivocating, avoiding and halfway defending HB 2, his sudden change of heart doesn't exactly make him a hero. It makes him more like a naked opportunist."

Senator Burr's change of heart comes immediately after the most recent Public Policy Polling Survey showed the law "is very unpopular" and could negatively impact his election chances.

Burr had previously been anything but an advocate for North Carolina's interests on this issue. He had previously said the bill does not discriminate, that it wasn't a federal issue, and insisted that it would not hurt the state's economy.

ICYMI: Greensboro News & Record: Susan Ladd: Burr's Naked Opportunism on HB2

Forgive me if I don't immediately leap to my feet to applaud U.S. Sen. Richard Burr for his recent criticism of House Bill 2.

It comes two months late and more than a few million dollars short.

Burr told the Huffington Post this week that the General Assembly "went too far" in passing the law.

"The legislature botched what they were trying to do," Burr said Tuesday. "It was far too expansive."

If Burr's criticism had come immediately after the March 23 passage of HB 2 -- which was introduced, passed and signed in less than 9 hours -- Burr could have been commended for courage and leadership.

But after months of equivocating, avoiding and halfway defending HB 2, his sudden change of heart doesn't exactly make him a hero.

It makes him more like a naked opportunist.

Consider his remarks the past few months.

March 28: Burr says House Bill 2 is "out of his reach" as a state issue. "We try to leave those issues that are up to the state up to the state."

March 29: Burr tells WTVD (ABC 11) that he would leave it to the courts to decide the fate of HB 2, but he didn't consider the bill discriminatory.

April 5: Burr tells Buzzfeed: "There's no federal jurisdiction in this."

Protection against discrimination is outlined in the Constitution, enforced by the Justice Department and litigated in the Supreme Court. Seems like a federal matter to me.

April 8: Burr defers comment on HB 2 because "it's a state issue" and says he doesn't think it will deter companies from coming to the state.

This was three days after PayPal withdrew its plans for a 400-job, $3.6 million expansion in Charlotte.

May 10: A spokesman for Burr says that because the matter is now before the courts, "the Senator cannot comment on ongoing litigation."

Since when? He and his colleagues had plenty to say during legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act.

May 18: Burr says that he still hopes the city of Charlotte and the North Carolina General Assembly can come to a reasonable solution on the issue, and he doesn't agree with the federal government's intervening on what he views as a states' rights issue.

States' rights? Isn't that the same justification Southern states cited for defending slavery, Jim Crow laws and the governmental display of the Confederate flag? As the courts found in case after case, the state does not have the right to discriminate.

Why Burr's sudden change of heart? Polls out this week put him in a statistical dead heat with Democratic challenger Deborah Ross, who has been gaining on him steadily in a race in which he once had a double-digit lead over both Democratic opponents.

A former state director of the American Civil Liberties Union and former representative to the N.C. House, Ross was quick to condemn HB 2 and started a repeal petition on her campaign website.

On the campaign trail, Ross has hammered Burr for his refusal to consider President Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court and for his stance -- or lack thereof -- on HB 2.

Both stances are deeply unpopular with North Carolina residents, according to recent polls. Public Policy Polling released a survey this week showing that 50 percent of state voters would like to see HB 2 repealed, and only 38 percent want it to stand.

Fifty-eight percent of voters in the state think Merrick Garland deserves confirmation hearings for his nomination to the Supreme Court.

PPP's most recent election poll, which has a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points, found Burr leading Ross by 3 points, 39-36. Burr has an anemic approval rate of 28 percent and high rate of disapproval at 40 percent. In addition to blocking Garland's confirmation, Burr has blocked other lower-court appointments and voted against the confirmation of Greensboro native Loretta Lynch as U.S. Attorney General.

Changing his stance on the Supreme Court nominee would bring down the wrath of his Republican colleagues in the Senate. But changing his tune on HB 2 doesn't cost him a thing. He has no direct power to change the bill, so he can criticize it without having to actually do anything but wink and nod to his GOP cohorts in the N.C. General Assembly, who understand political expediency very well.

Burr declined to say exactly how the legislature had "botched" the law or in what way it was "too expansive." The law is expansive, indeed, as it not only restricts people to using the bathroom corresponding to their gender at birth but prevents local governments from expanding protection against discrimination, takes away the rights of North Carolinians to sue in state court for any claim of discrimination and prevents municipalities from increasing the minimum wage.

Burr didn't mention any of this in his first criticism of HB 2. Nor did he cite the loss in revenue and jobs, the irreparable damage to the state's reputation, nor the harm to the state's vulnerable LGBT community.

That's likely because his only real problem with the bill is that supporting it is hurting him in the polls.

Anyone who believes that Burr has had an actual change of heart about HB 2 should contact me immediately about some valuable real estate in Florida.

Burr's behavior shows the difference between having convictions and taking positions.

One comes from the heart and holds steady. The other changes with shifting winds and prevailing polls.

Doing the right thing rings hollow if you're doing it for the wrong reasons.

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