North Carolina Democrats Botch Response To Charlotte Light Rail Murder
The recent release of the video ignited a national conversation about the tragic murder on the Charlotte light rail, forcing North Carolina Democrats to issue statements on the incident. The appropriate response is rather simple. Simply console the family and commit to holding the criminal accountable.
But across the board North Carolina Democrats have tried to insert their political agenda and duck responsibility for the policy failings that led to this tragedy.
Governor Josh Stein, who was previously the North Carolina Attorney General, responded by posting, “I am heartbroken for the family of Iryna Zarutska, who lost their loved one to this senseless act of violence, and I am appalled by the footage of her murder. We need more cops on the beat to keep people safe. That’s why my budget calls for more funding to hire more well-trained police officers. I call upon the legislature to pass my law enforcement recruitment and retention package to address vacancies in our state and local agencies so they can stop these horrific crimes and hold violent criminals accountable.”
This response was immediately panned by the internet, with over 13K replying to his terrible take. Instead of acknowledging that the current system failed, Stein returned his usual partisan talking points about the budget, trying to pass the blame to the legislature. Not great.
However, Stein’s mentor could not even be bothered to respond. Senate candidate former Governor Roy Cooper has not even issued a statement himself but rather deployed a spokesperson. Across national media outlet, Cooper’s spokesperson Kate Smart, who previously worked for NYC Mayor Eric Adams doomed campaign, issued a holding statement saying, “Roy Cooper knows North Carolinians need to be safe in their communities; he spent his career prosecuting violent criminals and drug dealers, increasing the penalties for violence against law enforcement, and keeping thousands of criminals off the street and behind bars.”
While Smart is used to the New York City that just prints whatever Democrats claim, the entirety of her statements is simply divorced from reality. For example, in North Carolina, district attorneys prosecute the vast majority of crimes, the Attorney General plays a limited role in the appeals process, and in certain big cases. It would be amazing if the Cooper campaign could point to a time when Cooper appeared in court to prosecute a case or point to any significant number of cases where Cooper was the deciding attorney to press for prosecution. That’s what district attorneys do; it's wrong for Cooper’s campaign to take credit for their hard work.
First, it’s true that when Cooper was tough on crime in the 1990s and 2000s, it was popular. But then he flip-flopped. Following the lead of liberal elites, Cooper enacted a dangerous soft-on-crime agenda. Rather than keep thousands of criminals in jail, Cooper colluded with liberal allies to provide early release for over 3,500 criminals, including violent offenders. And Cooper established the Racial Justice Task Force, which, among other things, pushed for bail policy changes. The same policies that led to Decarlos Brown’s early release despite his criminal history and deep concerns about his mental status.
Charlotte leaders across the board have struggled to effectively respond to the light rail murder. The worst is Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, who has now tried to respond to the tragedy three different times.
In her first response, Lyles spent more time making excuses for the murder than acknowledging the victim.
In her second response, Lyles thanks the media partners for not showing the video.
In her most recent response, Lyles shifted blame to the courts for releasing him and announced plans for more security. Again, no commitment to ensure the offender is prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Democrats' inability to call for accountability both for the individual who committed the crime and the policy failure may be because Democrats are terrified to offend their biggest donors.
For example, the MacArthur Foundation has given Mecklenburg County Criminal Justice programs over $3.8 million since 2015, for vague projects to promote the so-called SJC Network. According to the website for this program, “The Safety and Justice Challenge is reimagining and rebuilding local criminal justice systems — reducing jail incarceration and increasing equity for all.” The goal of this program is to reduce jail populations, which means that Mecklenburg County had a financial incentive provided by liberal elites to release people like Decarlos Brown Jr. instead of holding them in jail.
According to the watchdog organization, Influence Watch, the MacArthur Foundation has provided over $200 million a year from 2000 to 2017 supporting a large number of left-wing causes, including Planned Parenthood, Population Council, Environmental Defense Fund, and Climate Works. The foundation has over $8 billion in assets, was originally staffed by Republican leaning individuals, but was eventually captured by liberal board members.
Tim’s Take: This is one example of many left-leaning groups offering financial incentives to municipalities to prioritize their donors' agendas over public safety. North Carolinians deserve answers about what other liberal groups are providing incentives to local officials to compromise public safety. North Carolina State Auditor Dave Boliek and the North Carolina General Assembly Government Oversight Committee already announced plans to investigate this incident. A good place to start would be to examine the financial incentives provided by left-leaning dark money groups to ignore the law and undermine public safety.
