Roy Cooper sworn in as North Carolina governor

[Sunriser13]

Source: WTVD

RALEIGH --
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper took his oath of office minutes after midnight Sunday morning, getting an early start on his duties amid bitter partisan politics in the state.

Joined by a small group of family, friends and colleagues, the Democrat was sworn inside the old House chamber of the 1840 Capitol building nearly a week before his public inauguration ceremony.

North Carolina Chief Justice Mark Martin administered the oath to Cooper at the pared-down ceremony a block away from where Republican lawmakers recently enacted laws to limit Cooper's power before he even took office.

A Cooper aide has said the state's 75th governor wants to get started on gubernatorial duties following a transition period shortened by a protracted debate over vote-counting in his close race with outgoing Republican Gov. Pat McCrory.

Cooper has already begun ushering out stalwarts of the McCrory administration. Dismissal notices were given in the past week to a few dozen McCrory political appointees, Cooper spokeswoman Megan Jacobs said.

Turnover among those positions isn't uncommon, but the swiftness of the dismissals carries extra weight in light of the recent legislation that limits Cooper's number of political appointees to 425. That's less than a third of the number McCrory was allowed to have.

Read more: http://abc11.com/politics/roy-cooper-sworn-in-as-north-carolina-governor/1680582/

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And it begins! I am so excited to see what our friend Roy will do in the first few days and weeks of his term. He's already given several dozen pink slips to McCrory cronies...

It could have been a big mistake to screw around with an entering Governor that was your last Attorney General. I do believe he's beginning his tenure with a bang!

You Go, Roy!!!!!

[appal_jack]

1. Massive k&r, nt.

[msongs]

2. the long road back starts with one step. yay nt

[Sunriser13]

3. Drain the Swamp!!!!!

Man, I just can't wait to see what's gonna' go down!

[paleotn]

13. First off...

...he's going to test the legality of the General Assembly's recent mischief.

[Sunriser13]

17. Yep!!

Kinda' handy being fully cognizant of not only state procedure as former Atty. General, but having the experience (and dare I say, the tener cojones) to fight it using the same legal system the GOP is abusing.

[Yavin4]

4. Warren/Cooper 2020

Let's do this.

[Cha]

5. I like your enthusiasm for Gov Cooper, Sunriser!

Makes my heart sing! lol

Keep us posted!

[Sunriser13]

6. I'll try!

I'm always trying to concentrate on some of the more local politics, as they're so ignored by so very many.

Locally is where true change that affects us deeply has to begin. Maybe we should start turning out in droves for the so-called little election days and start a revolution from the bottom up...

It's ridiculous that some pretty darn important offices are decided by just a couple of hundred voters that bothered to show up!

Our man Roy squeaked by McCrory by only about 10,000 votes over the entire state, after all.

[Ford_Prefect]

8. It would have been more but the GOP shredded registrations of minority Democrats and did not

reinstate them in time for the election despite a federal court order. The DMV office in Charlotte was also active in reducing motor-voter registration. That's something on the order of 340,000 to 450,000 Democratic voters who could not vote on election day. Those numbers would have secured Roy's job nicely along with putting Hillary and Deborah K. Ross over the top.

[Sunriser13]

9. I agree wholeheartedly.

Disenfranchisement and outright election tampering and fraud was (and still is) the GOP agenda.

Folks who care have been watching this crap pretty closely - in hopes of the whole Republican power base in many states not pulling the same sort of thing.

But what the GOP has done here is just so ... out there. Constitutions be damned!

[paleotn]

14. That's damn right!!

[raccoon]

7. May the Force be with you, Roy! nt

[mnhtnbb]

10. A bright spot in the election of 2016.

So happy to see Roy replace McBigot.

We went to one of his first fundraisers over a year ago here in Chapel Hill. When he arrived, we were standing on the edge of the crowd and he stopped and talked to me and my husband like we were old friends (never met him). He's very down to earth. Very unpretentious. And very smart.

Looking forward to our special elections of 2017 with new districts and hopefully, we can give the new governor a Legislature with whom he can work to
correct some of the awful crap foisted on the state by the Republicans in the last four years.

[Sunriser13]

11. Yes, I like Roy very much.

I've not had the pleasure of meeting him, but just listening and watching him, he seems like "just plain folk", so to speak. But he is indeed brilliant, and has many, many years of experience.

What's more, he just gives one a feeling of trust. He wants to do the right thing, which isn't always the most popular thing. There's something to be said for standing up for what's right. It takes a lot of strength to have to sometimes fight windmills.

The hardest thing I see with the 2017 elections is motivating people to get off their butts and vote!

[paleotn]

12. I cannot Rec this enough...

ding dong McDumbass is gone!!!!

[Fast Walker 52]

15. let's hope he can restore some semblance of democracy to NC!

[Sunriser13]

18. Heavens Yes!

We've been a national laughingstock ever since McCrory took office. The GOP barrelled in here and "balanced the budget" on the backs of the poor, the sick, the unemployed - they cut so many benefits that were already minimal...

[steventh]

16. Watch and celebrate now...

and celebrate again at the "public inaugural ceremony on January 7, followed by a traditional downtown parade and nighttime ball." (from the story linked on the OP).

[Tatiana]

20. One of the bright spots in this dismal election year.

His wife looked very close to tears. What an emotional moment!

I'm so glad he's a former AG -- he will be able to use his legal background to challenge some of the right-wing power grabs.

[CrispyQ]

19. I'll be watching NC!

Good luck reining the cra-cra in!

[4Tone]

21. I wish Roy Cooper nothing but luck.

He's still got a GOP supermajority to deal with, after all.

[steventh]

22. If all goes well

the gop legislators can be voted out after court ordered re-districting to occur by March 15, 2017, and the election later this year as ordered by a three judge panel of North Carolina's federal Middle District Court.

See, e.g., http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141627438

The case apparently has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. So my fingers are crossed that we have the opportunity to vote and that vote puts some more dems in the NC legislature.

[4Tone]

23. Fingers crossed then.

A 8-split SCOTUS or a Trump-influnced 9-panel could throw a wrench in things, unfortunately.

[steventh]

24. That's my concern also.

SCOTUS could dismantle everything we hold dear. But if I remember my readings from long long ago, we have cause for hope. Eisenhower appointed William Brennan to the Supreme Court. Brennan was expected to vote for conservative positions. Instead, surprise, he turned out to be quite a liberal judge. I love that he said (if I recall correctly) that we ought to be too civilized by now to have a death penalty.

Anyway, if all goes well, anyone that not-my-president-elect gets on the court will follow in J. Brennan's footsteps.

[Norbert]

25. Hoping President Obama makes a recess appointment of Garland

for Supreme Court Justice as Robert Reich suggested. We would be up to nine and to our advantage for a year which would cut down on the funny business for a little while. If Coopers power limitations via the vindictive governor gets to the high court they will act accordingly.

[mvd]

26. There's some good news in this national mess

How progressive is he? If reasonably so, maybe he could be a VP consideration in 2020 if his term goes well. NC would be a nice state to get again.