Audit Spotlights Cooper’s Broken Promises To Hurricane Matthew Victims
In May 2017, Cooper boldly declared in an op-ed to Hurricane Matthew victims, “Finally, to any North Carolinians who feel like they’ve been forgotten since the flood waters receded, please know that I am in your corner. I’m fighting for you. I refuse to leave you behind.” The audit released yesterday simply confirmed that this was a complete lie.
While Cooper claimed that he was “fighting” for hurricane victims. Here is what actually happened under his leadership.
As of April 2025, the Cooper administration received 11,654 applications and 3,522 projects have been completed.
The Cooper administration managed the process with three different systems: North Carolina Financial System, Disaster Recovery Grant Reporting, and Salesforce, leading to significant data issues.
Applicants had to go through eight steps to complete the application process. Each step took an average of at least 100 days. Grant determination took an average of 936 days.
The over 500-page report goes on to detail numerous breakdowns throughout the agency that led to significant delays for storm victims. While it’s shocking, none of it was surprising. Back in 2017, the Republican-led General Assembly first started raising concerns about Matthew, holding several hearings to highlight the complete incompetence. The North Carolina Republican Party highlighted the failure regularly. It was obvious that something was going wrong because South Carolina finished rebuilding, and federal agencies highlighted North Carolina’s slow rate of spending.
Cooper complained about the process but apparently forgot that he was the Governor with the power to people within his administration to do their job. Cooper’s protegee, Governor Stein, is charting a different course on Helene recovery. Stein set up an entirely different office, and they already announced a home rebuilding, which took the Cooper administration over a year and a half to announce.
Cooper did not face political consequences for this crisis of leadership, because North Carolina’s legacy media outlets acted like lap dogs, not watchdogs. McClatchy, WRAL, and other prominent North Carolina outlets downplayed this story ahead of the 2020 election. WRAL only aired its documentary on the failures in 2022, well after the election. The News and Observer currently has a Helene Recovery tab, something they simply declined to have during Matthew and Florence, despite the duty of the Raleigh News and Observer to cover news in its own community.
North Carolina’s legacy media outlets' failure to cover recovery from Hurricanes Matthew and Florence prioritized protecting Democrats over telling the stories of victims. t’s a perfect example of why mass media continued to lose public trust, and their continued financial decline.
If North Carolinians want a Senator who prioritizes politics over people, Cooper has a tracker record for them.
