NC Democrat Candidate Is Killing Jobs In His Own State To Win The HB2 War
As if the political divide between the left and right in America wasn’t big enough, elected Democrats are working to make it even wider – at the expense of tax revenue, businesses, and jobs in their own states.
Let’s start with North Carolina. It was revealed last week in a behind-the-paywall piece at the Wall Street Journal that state Attorney General Roy Cooper – also the Democrat nominee in the governor’s race against current governor Pat McCrory – solicited advice from Salesforce’s CEO/left wing social justice warrior Marc Benioff over the state’s controversial HB2 law:
[…]North Carolina’s Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper called Salesforce to discuss the law, which had drawn lawsuits against the state. Mr. Cooper “looked to Salesforce because he wanted them to know that this is not who North Carolina is, and that we are fighting against this discriminatory law,” says Megan Jacobs, deputy campaign manager for Mr. Cooper, who is challenging Gov. McCrory for the governorship.
Mr. Cooper on March 29 refused to defend the state law, saying in a news conference that it “will set North Carolina’s economy back.”
It worked:
In an early-April business meeting with Salesforce customer Deutsche Bank AG, which has a 900-person North Carolina office, Mr. Benioff discussed the law with its co-chief executive, John Cryan.
On April 12, Deutsche Bank announced it would freeze plans to add 250 North Carolina jobs while any of the law stayed intact.
Not only is Cooper abandoning his duty as an elected attorney general to defend state law in court (thankfully McCrory will), but he actively sought out advice from a CEO known for using his position of power to pressure fellow CEOs into making threats about business expansion and job growth if states pass laws he doesn’t like.
Isn’t it a little too convenient – not too mention ethically questionable – for Cooper to be using his position to deliberately undermine the economic well-being of his own constituents, especially in an election year when he knows the state’s growing economy and job creation will be one of the top issues up for debate?
We can’t rely on the Big 3 in the North Carolina media to ask him these questions, but the people of North Carolina should.
Democrats trying to kill jobs in their own state is not just happening in North Carolina.
Just last week, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced he would not patronize a soon-to-be-open Chick-fil-A restaurant in Queens, NY, and urged others to follow his lead:
“We look forward to opening our first restaurant in Queens and serving all of our customers delicious food in an environment of genuine hospitality,” a Chick-fil-A spokesperson said.
But de Blasio says Chick fil-A supports groups that promote discrimination against gay people.
“What the ownership of Chick-fil-A has said is wrong,” de Blasio said. “I’m certainly not going to patronize them, and I wouldn’t urge any other New Yorker to patronize them. But they do have a legal right.”
New York City Councilman Danny Dromm is on the same page. Dromm, who is gay, has even gone so far as to suggest the Queens Center mall reverse their lease agreement with the popular chicken sandwich chain:
“I hope that the Queens Center mall will reconsider giving a company so deeply involved in anti-gay discrimination a lease on their property,” he said.
Chick-fil-A’s crime, of course, is that they don’t support gay marriage, even though they serve gay customers and employ gay workers. For Dromm and de Blasio, it’s all about pandering to a hypocritical voting bloc even if it means folks lose their jobs and the city and state loses business and revenue.
Remember a few years ago how the rallying cry from left wing activist gay marriage proponents was how “gay marriage won’t affect you!”? Yeah, me, too. I suspect Oregon’s Sweet Cakes by Melissa, Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado, and former Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich all do as well.
It’s high time these posturing politicos be held to account for their encouragement of corporate bullying and the negative and devastating impacts the threats and boycotts they advocate can have on innocent workers and businesses in their respective cities and states.
(I wrote this piece, which was originally published at IJR in May 2016)