Spox For Gov. Roy Cooper “Own Goals” Himself In Factcheck Attempt

Facts, Gov. Roy Cooper
Dear Gov. Roy Cooper: Just the facts, please.

Gov. Roy Cooper’s spokesman Ford Porter landed in a bit of hot water Monday after he “own goaled” himself while in a war of words with Raleigh N&O journo/NC Insider editor Colin Campbell.

Campbell’s recent column was about the Governor’s (so far) losing battle in the courts on the issue of cabinet secretary confirmations. At issue specifically was how Campbell characterized Cooper’s remarks on the respective compositions of North Carolina’s Court of Appeals and the NC Supreme Court (bolded emphasis added):

The N.C. Court of Appeals sided with the legislature in early November — upholding a lower court ruling — and now the matter heads to the state Supreme Court. Cooper told reporters he “fully expected” to lose at the Court of Appeals, citing the all-Republican panel of judges assigned to the case, and indicated he expects to win in the Supreme Court.

Given that the Supreme Court has four Democrats and three Republicans, the governor has an incredibly cynical view of the state’s judiciary — if the judges are in his political party, he’ll win. If not, he’ll lose. He’s suggesting that judges will blindly follow their party regardless of what the laws, constitution and legal precedent say.

After publication of the column, Campbell tweeted that Porter called to give him a piece of his mind:

In response to Campbell’s tweet, Porter attempted to correct what he felt was an error on Campbell’s part, but it went rather badly:

In essence, Porter confirmed Campbell’s characterization of Gov. Cooper’s answers. The governor talked about the “makeup” of the NC Court of Appeals, saying he and his staff “fully” expected the results, and said he ultimately expects to win at the State Supreme Court level.

Campbell went on to give a quick lecture to Porter on civility:

We here at American Lens have had issues with Campbell’s (and the N&O‘s) characterizations in the past, but on this one with Porter we find that Campbell is right on the mark.

Hey Ford, don’t quit your day job, buddy. ;-)

(Originally published at American Lens)

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Based in North Carolina, Sister Toldjah is a 15+ year veteran of blogging with an emphasis on mainstream media bias and the culture wars.