Gary Pearce posted on March 08, 2013 11:30
Governor McCrory and Republican legislators were against incentives before they were for them.
McCrory is clearly for them when he can bask in the announcement of 2,600 new jobs by MetLife. (Hello, Snoopy!)
Or maybe he’s for them when they are negotiated by Moore & Van Allen, his old law firm.
But his spokeswoman assures us, “There was a complete firewall and no interaction.”
And a Moore & Van Allen’s spokesman chimes in that the Gov’s old job was “not part in any way, shape or form” with the firm’s economic development team.
Conveniently enough, that spokesman is Brian Nick, identified by the N&O as “a former top McCrory campaign adviser.”
Does that mean the Governor deserves no credit whatsoever for what apparently was an eight-month courtship? He just showed up for the cameras?
Senator Phil Berger, who once questioned the Perdue administration’s $45 million incentive package for Continental Tire, “dismissed questions” about this one, which has an eye-popping price tag of $94 million.
Berger says, “I think it’s a whole different circumstance.”
Like how, exactly?
Give Rep. Skip Stam credit for consistency. He said of the MetLife deal, “I oppose picking one company over another company.”
The N&O noted: “The state GOP platform calls incentives “contrary to the free enterprise system.”
Expect, apparently, when Republicans can claim credit for creating jobs. That’s called incentive.