Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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4 UCW NOVEMBER 16 - 22, 2022 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly.com MANAGING EDITOR April Olsen editor@upandcomingweekly.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Hannah Lee assistanteditor@upandcomingweekly. com ART DIRECTOR Courtney Sapp-Scott art@upandcomingweekly.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Isaiah Jones graphics@upandcomingweekly.com STAFF WRITERS Alyson Hansen Ashley Shirley Kathleen Ramsey Jason Brady Chayenne Burns Laura Browne Katrina Wilson Jyl Barlow INTERN R. Elgin Zeiber CONTRIBUTING WRITERS André Béliveau, John Hood, Pitt Dickey, Michael Futch, Rabbi Dov Goldberg COVER Design by Isaiah Jones Photos are file photos MARKETING ASSOCIATE Linda McAlister linda@upandcomingweekly.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER/SALES ADMINISTRATOR Vacant Up & Coming Weekly www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan St. P.O. Box 53461 Fayetteville, NC 28305 PHONE: 910-484-6200- FAX: 910-484-9218 Up & Coming Weekly is a "Quality of Life" publication with local features, news and information on what's happening in and around the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community. Published weekly on Wednesdays, Up & Coming Weekly welcomes manuscripts, photographs and artwork for publication consideration, but assumes no responsibility for them. We cannot accept responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or material. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. The publisher reserves the right to edit or reject copy submitted for publication. Up & Coming Weekly is free of charge and distributed at indoor and outdoor locations throughout Fayetteville, Fort Bragg, Pope Army Airfield, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per person. © 2020 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. Various ads with art graphics designed with elements from: vecteezy.com and freepik.com. Association of Community Publishers Contrary to what North Caro- lina progressives seem to think, the truth is that the Republican- controlled General Assembly now has a governing superma- jority. is dynamic threatens Gov. Roy Cooper's ability to con- tinue building upon his record of having the most vetoes of any state governor. Tuesday's electoral results also put state public policy outcomes in North Carolina into a favor- able position for those who value limited government. e social media politico echo chambers are spiking with analysis after Tuesday's election. Folks on the left and right are giving their thoughts about what the results mean for our politi- cal landscape. Overall, it is fair to conclude that what should have been an environment where Republicans saw a massive red wave across the country turned up short, but here at home, they secured critical victories. e NCGOP took a sweeping victo- ry over the judiciary, gaining the ma- jority on the North Carolina Supreme Court for the foreseeable future. is will positively impact conservatives and those who value constitutionality in how judges interpret the law rather than judicial activism. Likewise, this will potentially impact redistricting, righting the wrongs of previous activ- ist judges. Most notably, Republicans gained a supermajority in the state Sen- ate, bringing them to 30 seats in the upper chamber and a "functional supermajority" in the NC House, coming up short only by one, with 71 seats. Nationally, the GOP did not do as well as many pundits predicted. ere are potentially many rea- sons why that happened. One can speculate that this could be seen as a referendum on Trumpism — that it's time for Republicans to move beyond Donald Trump and that populist rhetoric is not necessarily the catch- all winning strategy for conservatives moving forward. With what we saw in this election cycle in North Carolina with the loss of the three Trump- endorsed congressional candidates (Cawthorn, Hines and Smith), even with a Budd victory, that seems to be a good argument. While the red wave may not have been felt at the national level, and social media rhetoric reflects that sentiment, #NCPOL Twitter is seem- ingly different from the rest of the country, as we did see positive gains for Republicans on the state level and, of course, with Budd's U.S. Sen- ate victory. So, as for the General Assembly, what does a "functioning or govern- ing supermajority" mean for legis- lating and the governor's veto power? Republicans in the General Assembly only need one House Democrat to align with them to override Gov. Cooper's veto. House Republicans have a rich environment of moderate Dem- ocrats to vote with them on a wide variety of policies, especial- ly now that Democrats do not have to worry about the wrath of Cooper's vengeance since his time as governor is coming to a close. Senate Republicans have the votes to override a veto even without Democrat support. On a vote-by-vote basis, and almost every issue imaginable, Republicans in the General Assembly can expect to have practically no problem finding Democrats to effectively caucus with them on votes, thus making Cooper's veto no longer safe. It would be politically savvy for moderate Democrats to deliver on being moderates and work in a bipartisan fashion. Likewise, this also means Republicans will have to moderate, albeit only slightly, on some issues to win the hearts of their colleagues. Overall, this is arguably not bad for a good and balanced government. Editor's Note: André Béliveau is the strategic projects and government affairs manager at the John Locke Foundation. He is an M.A. in govern- ment candidate at Johns Hopkins University and previously served as a policy advisor in the North Carolina Senate. PUBLISHER'S PEN Cooper's veto is no longer safe by ANDRÉ BÉLIVEAU, Carolina Journal Gov. Roy Cooper ANDRE BELIVEAU, John Locke Foundation COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. Letters to the Editor Do YOU have something to say? We want YOU to be heard! We want EVERYONE to be able to voice their opinions on current community events. Let us be a place to start much needed conversations. ALL VOICES WELCOMED! EMAIL: editor@upandcomingweekly.com CALL: 910-484-6200