Cooper’s Record of Incompetence Haunts Political Future
As political insiders across North Carolina anxiously wait for former Governor Cooper’s decision on whether he plans to run for U.S. Senate, the Presidency, or retire from public life, the failures of Cooper’s governorship haunt his ambitions. On paper, Cooper appears to be an attractive candidate, but his failures as governor were not well covered by North Carolina’s legacy media, which means that these issues remain as vulnerabilities for Cooper’s ambitions for higher office.
Here are three crises Cooper mismanaged during his tenure as Governor that plagued North Carolinians.
First, Cooper’s decision to appoint a political crony as North Carolina’s DMV Commissioner. After Wayne Goodwin lost reelection as insurance commissioner in 2016, he answered Cooper’s call to serve as the Chairman of the North Carolina Democrat Party, while working as a consultant for Greg Lindberg. Yup, that Greg Lindberg that the U.S. Department of Justice later indicted for bribery. After Cooper secured re-election in 2020, he appointed Goodwin as DMV Commissioner. A classic example of rewarding a political crony with a cushy state government job.
It is no secret to North Carolinians that the DMV is a mess. As DMV Commissioner Goodwin focused on pushing a woke agenda, not solving problems. As soon as Republican Auditor Dave Boliek announced plans to audit DMV operations, Goodwin decided to leave the job. If Cooper were a Republican instead of a Democrat, every story about problems at the DMV would highlight how Cooper appointed his crony, who ignored the problems.
In 2020, when the pandemic struck, Cooper enacted one of the strictest lockdowns in the nation. Declaring a never-ending state of emergency, with executive orders that threatened the economic security of millions of North Carolinians. While Cooper was exploring new avenues of unchecked executive authority, his administration utterly failed to provide unemployment benefits in a timely manner. He shut down the state economy and then was too incompetent to disburse the federal funds meant to offset the impact of his orders.
Finally, one of the most prolific failures of the Cooper administration was his response to Hurricanes Matthew, Florence, and Helene. The first sign of trouble was with the response to Hurricane Matthew as South Carolina started rebuilding homes, while North Carolinians waited for Cooper. Then came Florence and the problem deteriorated further. Thousands of families have waited years for the Cooper administration to distribute the funds, and now the program risks losing federal money due to the prolonged delay.
Communities across the mountains expressed concern about the slow response from the state and federal governments to Helene, and questions remain about the decisions made by the Biden-Cooper administration in response to the storm. Given the botched recovery from Matthew and Florence, Gov. Stein had to set up an entirely different office in his first week as Governor.
Cooper’s response to all these blunders while in office was to blame anyone else and avoid taking responsibility for finding a solution. North Carolina’s legacy media outlets largely downplayed, ignored, and obfuscated Cooper’s continual crises. But if Cooper runs for higher office, he will attract renewed national media attention, which will provide a fresh opportunity to highlight his shortcomings. It is far from clear if Cooper’s record of incompetence can withstand scrutiny.
