Latest news with #JeffersonGriffin
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill allowing teachers to bring guns to schools in NC is a dangerous proposal
As a retired teacher and a great-aunt of two children in schools, I am concerned about the passing of House Bill 193. This bill allows some teachers and volunteers to carry concealed weapons in private school classrooms. Concealed weapon permit holders are only required to have 8 hours of safety training. School resource officers are required to complete more than 800 hours of basic training, plus at least 40 hours of specialized training. In 2016, a private Christian school teacher in Pennsylvania left a loaded gun in a unisex bathroom. Four children used the restroom and saw the gun. One reported it to his parent who reported it to the school. A similar incident occurred at Faith Christian Academy in Goldsboro in 2024. Fortunately, these situations did not end in the tragedies that they could have. Please allow teachers to do what they are trained to do — teach — and allow law enforcement to handle the rest. Cheryl Block, Cary As a 14-year precinct official, I am appalled at the North Carolina Republican Party and the six judges who supported Jefferson Griffin's attempts to change the outcome of his race against Allison Riggs. Appellate judges Fred Gore and John Tyson as well as State Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby and associate justices Trey Allen, Tamara Barringer, and Phil Berger Jr need a constitutional law refresher class. They've apparently forgotten the U.S. Constitutional guarantees equal protection. Federal District Judge Richard Myers II, appointed by President Donald Trump, reminded his North Carolina counterparts about it in his decision. I assure our state's Republican judges, lawmakers and election officials who believe Trump's fraud claims our state's precinct election workers are required to take thorough training and an oath to support the U.S. Constitution and the North Carolina Constitution provisions 'not inconsistent' with the federal one. As a chief precinct judge I gave that oath to my staff during four elections in 2021 and 2022. Judge Griffin does not deserve 'the appreciation of every North Carolinian' for pointing out 'appalling mismanagement' by N.C. Board of Elections staff as the N.C. GOP claims. Mark Rodin, Morrisville Regarding Duke Energy's proposal to increase rates to cover construction of new power plants, I think the wrong customers are being asked to do this. The article states that the increased demand is coming from data centers, mainly to support new AI-driven capacity. I suggest that Duke Energy add a surcharge to their corporate data center customers to cover these costs. Homeowners tend to do what they can to reduce their power consumption. We should not bear the burden of supporting corporations jumping on the latest computing fad. John Price, Cary Medicaid covers over 40% of births in the U.S. Medicaid covers 15 million Americans with disabilities. Medicaid helps so many school children in need of health services. Do not cut Medicaid. Invest in family health and those with disabilities for a better nation. Deb Levin, Chapel Hill This administration aims to eliminate fraud, abuse and waste within Medicaid. Medicaid is in need of reform. Originally intended to support the poor and those who couldn't obtain insurance, it has gradually evolved into a de facto universal healthcare program. Back in 2000, Medicaid covered around 30 million people. Today, that number has grown to 80 million — about 25% of the U.S. population. This expansion goes far beyond Medicaid's original mission! Mike Howard, Waxhaw Millions of our tax dollars are being spent by the federal government to deport non-criminals to prisons outside the U.S. Their right to due process is being ignored and flagrantly abused. To base these deportations on the tattoos someone has would be laughable, but it's no joke to tear people, including U.S. citizens, away from their families and jobs. These illegal removals must be stopped. Susannah Smith, Chapel Hill
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Jefferson Griffin – it's time to turn in your Army uniform
The U.S. Constitution (iStock via Getty Images Plus photo) After six long months, the day has finally come. Hell has frozen over. Jefferson Griffin has conceded his loss to Allison Riggs in the North Carolina Supreme Court Race. This ends one of the most pathetic and embarrassing chapters for any public servant in the history of our state and country. Seldom before has one man so thoroughly ruined his reputation in the pursuit of power. We can only hope that his humiliation will deter future wannabee autocrats from going down the same dark path that he chose. Because you see, there is nothing more patriotic and small-D democratic than gracefully conceding an election that you lost and willfully participating in the peaceful transfer of power. This is how a strong democracy functions. Indeed, there is no democracy when the loser of a race refuses to concede. I was once a proud member of the Republican party before Donald Trump took complete control of the party. Now sadly the GOP has become the party of election denialism, where candidates are praised for trying to steal an election by any means necessary. It is a damn shame, and they are taking the country down a dark path. What Jefferson Griffin has done the last few months is also a disgrace to anyone that has ever worn the military uniform and fought for this country and its ideals. I believe that some of the greatest and most inspirational political speeches in American history have been concession speeches. John McCain in 2008 comes to mind. But perhaps the best and most American speech of my lifetime was Vice President Al Gore's concession speech after the 2000 election. This was one of the closest and most hotly contested elections in American history, and after the Supreme Court made its final decision, Gore gracefully conceded to George W. Bush. He didn't try and change the rules after the game was played, and he certainly didn't instigate an insurrection at the Capitol, or act like a manchild because he didn't get his way. Instead, he decided to act like a man with honor and a leader with integrity. He put principles over power and country over party and said the following: 'I say to President-elect Bush that what remains of partisan rancor must now be put aside, and may God bless his stewardship of this country. Neither he nor I anticipated this long and difficult road. Certainly, neither of us wanted it to happen. Yet it came, and now it has ended, resolved, as it must be resolved, through the honored institutions of our democracy.' These are the words of a true patriot. It is hard to fathom such words ever coming from such empty and hollow men as Jefferson Griffin and Donald Trump. Let us also not forget that Griffin could have followed the lead of what former Chief Justice Cheri Beasley did after her defeat in the 2020 state Supreme Court election. She lost by an even slimmer margin of 401 votes compared to the 734 votes that Jefferson Griffin lost by. She asked for audits and recounts which was in her right after such a close election. But after the recounts confirmed her loss, she conceded like a person of character would and went about her life serving the public in other ways. She left with her dignity and her head held high and history will remember fondly for that. Jefferson Griffin had that same opportunity but instead chose the path of raw power. He decided to forfeit his dignity and self-respect and now history will remember him as a coward and a fool, if it even remembers him at all. In a world full of Jefferson Griffins, teach your kids to be an Allison Riggs or a Cheri Beasley. All of this leads me to my main point, which is that now that Griffin has finally conceded his election loss, he should also resign his Army commission as an officer in the Army National Guard. As an Army veteran myself, the thing that enraged me so much about all of this is that he has worn and still wears the uniform of an Army Officer. He knows better. The fact that he would willingly try to throw out the votes of thousands of military absentee ballots just because they came from 'blue' districts is unforgiveable. Men and women who wear that uniform are supposed to represent America's best. The uniform represents duty, integrity, and moral courage. And what Jefferson Griffin has done these last six months has brought great shame and dishonor to the uniform. The right to vote is sacred and if men that swear an oath to the Constitution are willing to break it in pursuit of political power, then you should give up that precious uniform so someone that actually loves this country and what it stands for can take your place. Jefferson – if you have even a shred of dignity and decency left, then you will call your commanding officer tomorrow and formally resign your commission. Your unit, your state, and your country deserve so much better than you.
Economist
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Economist
Why a vote dispute in North Carolina should worry Americans
IT WAS almost a normal concession. On May 7th Jefferson Griffin, a Republican candidate for a North Carolina Supreme Court seat, thanked his family for giving 'a lot to this campaign' and said he would pray for his opponent's success. But the timing of the statement was unusual. It came a full six months and two days after election day.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
"Still angry": Voters say they won't forget that the North Carolina GOP tried to trash their ballots
Copland Rudolph is glad that the North Carolina Supreme Court election challenge is finally over. Like tens of thousands of others swept up in the contentious litigation, she spent some six months reeling over whether her vote would count or Republican Appellate Court Judge Jefferson Griffin would succeed and have it thrown out. But even though his effort ultimately failed, she told Salon she isn't feeling too comforted. 'I wish it felt like more of a relief than it does, honestly, because I know it's a temporary relief,' the Asheville resident said in a phone interview, having previously told Salon that her ballot was challenged despite her having a complete voter registration. 'I am still angry [about] the amount of energy, time, money that Jefferson Griffin siphoned from this state, and particularly this community, with his own self-interest centered.' 'I hope he recognizes the other side: that he has fired up women voters in this state — that we're done. We're done with the nonsense,' she added. Earlier this month, the North Carolina Supreme Court election challenge ended with a concession from Griffin, who initially asked the courts to throw out more than 65,000 votes he claimed were invalid over allegedly incomplete voter registrations. He lost the November race to incumbent Justice Allison Riggs, a Democrat, by just 734 points, a margin twice confirmed by recounts. As the litigation proceeded, the number of votes challenged was reduced to about 1,600 North Carolinians, but a federal judge ultimately ruled earlier this month that none of their votes could be discounted. 'Depriving voters of a fundamental right would result in significant hardship,' U.S. District Judge Richard Myers wrote in his ruling. 'Giving effect to the will of the voters would result in no corresponding hardship for Judge Griffin. And there is a tremendous public interest in safeguarding 'the integrity of our electoral processes,' which 'is essential to the functioning of our participatory democracy.'' Griffin's petitions against the North Carolina Board of Elections claimed that the board improperly and unlawfully counted the votes from three groups of people: More than 60,000 votes, he alleged, were cast by voters who did not provide or were not asked to provide identification numbers on their voter registrations; another 5,500 absentee votes came from overseas and military voters who failed to include a photo ID, he argued; while another 200 votes came from people who identified themselves as never having physically resided in North Carolina. The May 5 decision from U.S. District Judge Richard Myers II, an appointee of President Donald Trump, overturned prior rulings from the North Carolina Court of Appeals and the state Supreme Court and ordered the state Elections Board to certify the race. In early April, the appellate court ruled in Griffin's favor, mandating 'cure' periods for voters with allegedly incomplete registrations and overseas voters to provide the missing information, and discounting 'Never Resident' votes. The North Carolina Supreme Court later ruled that the 60,000 'Incomplete Voter Registration' votes could not be thrown out; the court, however, extended the cure period for the 1,400 overseas and military voters that the Board flagged as potentially impacted, while maintaining that 'Never Resident' voters' ballots would not count. In his 68-page ruling, Myers wrote that the invalidation of military and overseas voters after the election violated their substantive due process rights, while the mandated cure process violated their equal protection rights. The lack of any notice or chance for eligible voters to challenge the 'Never Resident' designation also disregarded those voters' procedural due process rights while creating an unconstitutional burden on their right to vote. The court, he said, can't condone the attempt to 'change the rules of the game after it had been played.' 'You establish the rules before the game,' Myers wrote. 'You don't change them after the game is done.' Richard Hasen, the endowed chair in law at UCLA, praised Myers' ruling as an 'important statement' in the face of growing attempts at election subversion. He told Salon that the changes the state courts proposed were rooted in 'a misreading or mangling of election law' and that the remedy they approved would have treated 'similarly situated voters differently based on where they live in the state and how they are likely to vote.' As such, 'the state courts set a dangerous precedent in allowing a candidate to ask for retroactive changing of rules in the hopes of changing the outcome of an election,' he said, adding that he hopes Myers' ruling sets a precedent for federal courts. 'We cannot count on every court to do the right thing these days, especially in an atmosphere where conspiracy theories about voting run rampant on the right,' Hasen said. 'But, hopefully, enough courts will preserve democracy and the rule of law when it matters.' Harvard Law Professor Nicholas Stephanopoulos, whose research includes election and constitutional law, told Salon that Griffin and the North Carolina courts that ruled in his favor 'flouted basic tenets of our electoral system.' While Myers' ruling came as a 'pleasant surprise,' Stephanopoulos said that he doesn't foresee Griffin's effort becoming a playbook for future candidates who seek to subvert an electoral defeat. 'As we just saw, even conservative judges are unlikely to countenance such efforts that fly in the face of basic election law principles,' Stephanopoulos said. But John Paredes, counsel for voting rights watchdog Protect Democracy, which filed an amicus brief in federal court on behalf of North Carolina voters, noted the 'damage' that Griffin and the state courts' rulings did to public trust that the courts will follow the law. 'At the end of the day, this case is not difficult on the facts or on the law. Due process is due process, and equal protection is equal protection, whether you're talking about federal law or North Carolina State law,' he told Salon. It's alarming, he continued, how close the state came to having an election outcome overturned by 'post-election shenanigans.' 'It's troubling that the state courts were willing to go as far as they went,' Paredes said. 'It undermines confidence that they're going to call balls and strikes fairly when there's a partisan election at stake.' Myers paused the enforcement of his ruling for seven days to give Griffin the opportunity to appeal, but the latter would instead concede the race just two days after the ruling dropped. 'While I do not fully agree with the District Court's analysis, I respect the court's holding — just as I have respected every judicial tribunal that has heard this case,' Griffin said in a statement. 'I will not appeal the court's decision.' Riggs was sworn in inside the Capitol building in North Carolina on Tuesday after the Elections Board certified her victory. Though the federal court ultimately ruled in their interest, North Carolina voters have some takeaways of their own from the way the litigation unfolded, including that they need to be more diligent in protecting their votes. Rudolph, the Asheville resident, had verified earlier this year that her voter registration application had contained the needed identification information to ensure it could never be contested again. Going forward, however, she said that she will avoid voting absentee and instead vote in person whenever she can, as well as more diligently document her voting process. 'Coming up against, again, a well-funded, disciplined, well-organized — which began in the 70s and 80s — authoritarian agenda, I think what you realize is 'Wow, while we're in the circular firing squad of what can happen on the left, the right is really on the march,'' the 57-year-old said. Rachel Arnold, a Greensboro resident who previously told Salon her vote was challenged on account of her voter registration application, outlined a similar plan of action. While she also already verified that her voter registration was complete earlier this year, she said that, in the future, she will be checking that the Elections Board accepted her vote after each election and regularly checking the state voter registration record ahead of registration deadlines and upcoming elections to ensure she's not inexplicably removed from the voter rolls. The 51-year-old also said she's updated and acquired all of her identity documentation in the face of progressing federal and state proposals that would require eligible voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote. 'I have to be vigilant in making sure that what I can see is maintained and hope to God that what I can't is also being done,' she said, voicing concern that a challenge like Griffin's will happen again. Unlike Rudolph, however, Arnold said she felt vindicated by the 'surprisingly abrupt ending to the saga.' 'We were right all along that they were trying to change the rules after the fact and [that] it was unfair for the voters of North Carolina,' she said, calling the final determination the 'best possible outcome' for North Carolinians, 'not because of who won but because the rule of law was upheld.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Democrats can thank Jefferson Griffin for boosting their judicial election chances
Judge Jefferson Griffin (Photo: State Court of Appeals) Few initiatives of modern American conservatives have been more successful than the crusade to take control of the courts. From the U.S. Supreme Court on down, big dollars and a commitment to hardball politics have helped give Republicans large majorities on several courts where the partisan divide should be about even. Notably, however, Republican Jefferson Griffin's recent effort to overturn his loss to Justice Allison Riggs in a North Carolina Supreme Court election by tossing thousands of ballots, may have flipped the script. Griffin's sore loser refusal to concede has angered so many people of all stripes that it's greatly altered the environment surrounding state judicial elections. Meanwhile, thanks to her energetic defense of her candidacy and the voting rights of all North Carolinians, Justice Riggs has emerged as a minor political rock star. The bottom line: Things can still change quickly, but for now, Democrats' chances of reversing recent patterns in state judicial elections have brightened considerably. And all those concerned can thank Jefferson Griffin for the shift. For NC Newsline, I'm Rob Schofield.
