South Triangle News

Tensions continue to escalate between North Carolina Senate election law leader Ralph Hise (R-Mitchell) and Gov. Roy Cooper.

The Carolina Journal reported on Aug. 28 that Cooper's most recent lawsuit in a series of many called Cooper v. Berger, which questions how a state body oversees government rules, has sparked agitation from the Republican senator.

"It's another power grab, plain and simple," Hise said in a news release, the Carolina Journal reported. 

The governor's lawsuit points at the Rules Review Commission, whose 10 members are appointed by the General Assembly, which Hise co-chairs. 

"The current makeup of the RRC allows the Legislature to interfere with and undermine the executive branch's authority to establish policy through rulemaking," the Carolina Journal reported from a memo from the governor's office. "This authority is used to make important rules that protect the environment, safeguard public safety, and preserve public and individual health."

Cooper's memo reportedly also said that the commission's setup could hinder the executive branch from quickly responding to COVID-19 pandemic issues.

"In recent years, the RRC has been particularly active in second-guessing the policy judgments of the Department of Health [and] Human Services," the memo said, the Carolina Journal reported. 

Hise defended the commission, saying it has been operating as-is since 1986.

"Governor Cooper, who is a candidate for office this year, successfully sued to gain full partisan control of the formerly bipartisan Board of Elections," Hise said in his release, the Carolina Journal reported. "The candidate for North Carolina's top office controls the administration of his own election."

The Republican lawmaker alleged that through the lawsuit, the governor is trying to take over the Rules Review Commission, the similar strategy he said Cooper employed to change the Board of Elections. 

"His answer for getting caught trying to illegally consolidate power over his own election is to sue to undo a check on executive authority that's existed for 34 years," Hise said, the Carolina Journal reported.