Latest news with #McCrory
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Pat McCrory deserves better from North Carolina
Governors typically don't just ride off into the sunset. After they leave office, they move on — to board seats, fellowships, maybe even national office. They're senior statesmen, working to cement their legacy. They're celebrated, consulted, and remembered, if not always revered. Former Gov. Pat McCrory doesn't have any of that. Eight years after leaving the executive mansion, North Carolina's only Republican governor in two generations is still without a true second act. He's dabbled in radio, flirted with a third-party movement and picked up a few small business advising roles. He eschewed a winnable U.S. House race for a Senate run that turned into a humiliating implosion. He's now hosting a Friday night show on PBS Charlotte. There's no institute named for McCrory, like governors Jim Hunt and Jim Martin each have. No Harvard fellowship, like governors Roy Cooper and Bev Perdue. Instead, McCrory's after-office chapter has been a slow, sad fade from relevance. He's the only former North Carolina governor in living memory to be so publicly adrift. Much of that is his own doing. McCrory came to Raleigh from Charlotte unprepared for state-level politics. After years of being beloved Mayor Pat, the brighter lights of the capital exposed a paper-thin skin and a reflexive insecurity that kept him from capitalizing on his 2012 mandate. He picked the wrong fights, ignored the right ones and aired his grievances in the press instead of behind closed doors. Most damaging of all, he failed to build the political relationships needed to succeed in a state where the governor is constitutionally weak. Along the way, he managed to alienate nearly every bloc — left, right and center. Now he's a governor without a political home, isolated at 'Lake Jimmy,' as he calls it on the radio, starting every other sentence with 'When I was governor . . . ' and ending with a complaint about getting screwed. But McCrory's marginalization isn't just about his mistakes. It reflects something deeper and more troubling in today's politics: the way a party discards anyone who no longer fits its mold. This is a man who helped lead Charlotte's rise into a major metro across seven terms. Much of the city's current vibrancy traces back to him. And as governor, he had real wins. McCrory wasn't the architect of the conservative revolution in North Carolina, but he was its public face. He implemented tax reform, slashed corporate rates, overhauled unemployment insurance, embraced regulatory rollback and expanded school choice. When he took office, North Carolina had one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. By the time he left, it had one of the best economic rebounds. He also excelled in areas that require an executive's touch. During Hurricane Matthew, he led with calm and competence: daily briefings, real-time decisions and visible leadership. It was textbook crisis management that's been sorely lacking since then. And at the DMV, McCrory cut wait times and modernized operations. His reforms worked. Current Gov. Josh Stein, by contrast, is watching that progress unravel while offering no clear plan to fix it. Yet despite all that, McCrory has never been allowed, or able, to fully own the era he governed. That's the real tragedy, on both sides. Instead of transitioning into legacy mode, McCrory kept chasing relevance. He clung to the microphone when he should have changed his tone. It's not just sad, it's maddening. Listening to him now, whether on air or in interviews, the tone is still defensive. His skin is still thin. The old grievances are louder than the real accomplishments. His message is getting lost in the noise of pride. Punditry is beneath the dignity of a former governor, and hosting a public TV show is something you do in your eighties, when the work is finished. McCrory still had time to build a legacy, mentor future leaders and put the past in perspective. Instead, he grasped for the relevance he once had. The party hasn't helped. Former governors should be assets, especially in a fast-growing, closely divided state like North Carolina. They should guide, not disappear. Instead, McCrory's been left to drift while the GOP chases louder voices with thinner résumés. If the Republican Party wants to lead again — not just win elections, but actually govern — it should look harder at what McCrory got right. Put aside the hard feelings. Bring him back into the fold. Not to crown him, but to use his example. A few months ago, McCrory returned to the governor's mansion for the first time since his defeat, joining Martin, Perdue, Cooper and Mike Easley for a private gathering of former governors at Stein's invitation. 'It was fun being part of the old gang,' McCrory recounted on WBT radio in Charlotte. He'd driven up to Raleigh with Martin, swapping stories during the ride. The two arrived into town early and stopped by the old Capitol building, where the governor keeps his office — only to be frisked at security and told to check their phones. No one recognized them. 'You're forgotten very quickly,' McCrory said. For North Carolina, that would be a mistake. It might be too late for McCrory to script a second act. But we'd be fools not to learn from the first one. Andrew Dunn is a contributing columnist to The Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer. of Raleigh. He is a conservative political analyst and the publisher of Longleaf Politics , a newsletter dedicated to weighing in on the big issues in North Carolina government and politics.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Yahoo
Man missing for 10 years wanted for domestic assault in Pearl
PEARL, Miss. (WJTV) – Pearl police are searching for a man who has been missing for 10 years. According to police, Patrick McCrory, 44, was last seen on May 20, 2015, in the Sweet Home Church area, and he was bleeding. Pike County homicide suspect arrested in Texas Investigators said McCrory is wanted in connection to a domestic assault that occurred in the area. Officers were told McCrory was trying to hit a woman, who was able to get away. Investigators said McCrory would not come out of a home when he was asked, and he ran out of the back door. Police searched the area with a K9, and they found his clothes and shoes covered with blood. McCrory is 5'10' and weighs 180 pounds. Police said he has multiple tattoos, including: Left arm – 'WILDCHILD' Left arm – Ying Yang symbol Left finger – soul Left hand – 5150 Right arm – stars Right finger – lost Right forearm – cross Anyone with information on his whereabouts can contact the Pearl Police Department at 601-939-7000. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Years after questioning his own loss, Pat McCrory has strong words for Jefferson Griffin
Not many prominent Republicans have been critical of Jefferson Griffin's quest to overturn the outcome of the North Carolina Supreme Court race he lost. But one of the few who have is former Gov. Pat McCrory. He hasn't shied away from his opposition to Griffin's effort, including by speaking out about it on his TV show, 'Unspun.' McCrory is no stranger to close elections — he lost reelection to Roy Cooper by a thin margin in 2016. In the immediate aftermath of the election, McCrory, his supporters and the North Carolina Republican Party raised questions about the election results and suggested they might have been tainted by fraud. Nearly a month after Election Day, McCrory conceded the race. In doing so, he admitted he still had 'continued questions' about the voting process, but believed that 'the majority of our citizens have spoken.' Raising questions is one thing, McCrory said. But he believes Griffin has taken it to another level by seeking to retroactively change the rules of an election. And even as a Republican who voted for Griffin, it's something he just can't agree with. 'If they think they need to change the rules for future elections, I have no problem with that, but you can't change the rules after the election is over,' McCrory told me. 'It's like changing the rules of the Super Bowl after the game is over and declaring a different winner. You can't do that.' McCrory's initial questioning of his loss in 2016 felt like a new political low then, and it thrust North Carolina into the national spotlight. It was wrong in almost every sense: protests filed by McCrory's supporters made flimsy claims maligning innocent voters, and his campaign suggested something nefarious had happened with some people's absentee ballots. Nearly every accusation was thrown out by local elections boards, which at the time were controlled by Republicans. In subsequent years, some would hold up McCrory as an early adopter of election denialism that eventually became rampant among Republicans. When Donald Trump began propagating lies of a 'stolen election' in 2020, media outlets pointed to McCrory as someone who tried to 'overturn an election' first, with one expert labeling him the 'amateur Trump.' But in accepting defeat, McCrory did something that Griffin and Trump have not. He readily admits that he lost the election fair and square. That feels almost gracious by today's standards, given the intransigence we see from so many Republicans today. McCrory maintains that his campaign's actions in 2016 were proper. He was following a process that was outlined by state law, he says. But after a certain point, he knew that the best thing to do was concede, despite calls from his supporters to 'keep fighting,' he told me. 'I understand statistics, and the statistics showed me that it was time to move on, regardless of how much more fight we were willing to give,' McCrory said. 'And I should note, I could not find sufficient fraud which would overcome my deficit. It was tough, but it was the right thing to do.' It was wrong of McCrory's campaign to claim there was fraud without proof. It hurt the voters who were falsely accused of wrongdoing, and it sowed seeds of distrust in what was clearly a legitimate election. But McCrory is right to say that Griffin has taken it to another level. Like McCrory, Griffin was well within his rights to request a recount, but unlike McCrory, he did not respect its outcome. State law allows Griffin to file protests with election officials, but he did not respect their decisions. McCrory, for his part, has made it a goal to boost voter confidence in elections. Last year, he helped launch the North Carolina chapter of RightCount, an organization whose goal is to educate people about the election process so that they can trust the results. RightCount has run television ads criticizing Griffin's 'attack on our elections.' 'It's tough to criticize my own party, because there are people who will be upset,' McCrory said. 'But we've got to have the courage to speak out, on both sides of the aisle, even when the outcome doesn't fall our way.'
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ad calls on Judge Griffin to concede November election, former NC Governor McCrory speaks out
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — More calls are circling for Republican Judge Jefferson Griffin to concede the race for a Supreme Court seat nearly six months after the November election. RightCount Action is broadcasting an ad across North Carolina saying it's time for Griffin to accept his loss. Former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory is piggybacking off the ad, echoing the sentiments. 'I voted for the judge, the Republican candidate, and I wanted him to win as his philosophy is more aligned with mine,' former Governor McCrory said. 'However, he lost a very close election.' Right now, the challenge is making its way through the court system. Most recently, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that around seven thousand votes could potentially be thrown out, many of them including overseas military members. 'They were given rules to follow when they voted overseas, they followed those rules, those rules were approved by both Republicans and Democrats and therefore the results should be valid,' former Governor McCrory said. Democratic Associate Justice Allison Riggs, who Griffin lost the election to, appealed that decision to a federal appeals court that is considering the case now. Democrats say Judge Griffin has dragged it on long enough. 'North Carolinians are pissed, they're angry that it's taking 6 months for an election to be certified in North Carolina, as they should be,' Anderson Clayton, Chair of the North Carolina Democratic party, said. North Carolina GOP representatives weren't available for an interview but in a statement said in part, 'If Democrats were honest, they'd simply admit they don't actually care about honest elections and are only interested in partisan outcomes.' But both Republicans and Democrats calling for Griffin to concede say the most important outcome is election integrity. 'In the long run, the system has to win, and confidence in democracy has to win, and that's my goal,' former Governor McCrory said. 'Justice Riggs will tell you, any voter that's disenfranchised from this fight is one vote too many,' Clayton said. Democrats say they're still reaching out to voters who have been impacted and they'll spend the next few weeks mobilizing to make sure voters are prepared to prove their eligibility if needed. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Yahoo
Paedophile with baby abuse pictures sentenced
A paedophile who collected thousands of child abuse images including those of babies, which he then shared with others, has been sentenced. Craig McCrory, 33 and from Houghton-le-Spring, County Durham, had more than 3,000 sexual videos and pictures of children aged between one and 17 on his phone and laptop, Newcastle Crown Court heard. McCrory was jailed for two years, suspended for two years, after he admitted distributing and making indecent images of children. Judge Carolyn Scott said he had been assessed as posing a medium risk to children but there was a "realistic prospect of rehabilitation". Police seized two phones and a laptop when they raided McCrory's home on 17 September 2022, prosecutors said. They found conversations he had had on WhatsApp and Kik from May 2022 in which he had shared three category A images - the most serious level - and 37 category C ones, the court heard. Officers discovered he had a total of 120 category A images, 59 in category B and 2,993 category C on his phone and laptop, including some he had saved in a hidden folder, the court heard. In mitigation, Susannah Proctor said McCrory, of Buttsfield Terrace, had had a long-standing addiction to pornography, which "strayed" into illegal images of children. She said he was "wholly disgusted" with his behaviour and had made no attempts to contact children for sex. McCrory must also complete 150 hours unpaid work, sign the sex offender register for 10 years and comply with a sexual harm prevention order for a decade. Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram. Send your story ideas here. HM Courts and Tribunals Service
