TODAY’S EDITORIAL
CBC Editorial: Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022; editorial #8792
The following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company
When it comes to upholding the results of elections in North Carolina and the United States – the most recent of which in 2020 for president have been shown to have been fair and free of manipulation – there is no room for equivocation.
Incumbents who want to continue to represent this state in Washington — but who voted to overturn the results of the 2020 elections and still stand with former President Donald Trump’s outlandish and false notion he defeated Joe Biden – do not deserve to return.
Voters should not cast ballots in 2022 for those who continue to refuse to accept the validity of the votes cast in 2020.
Republican Ted Budd, the GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate, grudgingly repudiated his earlier denial of the elections results. On Jan. 6, 2021 Budd voted (along with every other North Carolina Republican member of the U.S. House except Patrick McHenry) to overturn the results of the 2020 election that Democrat Joe Biden clearly won. Budd said on Twitter at the time there were “irregularities (and) constitutional violations in the presidential election.” lHe’s since backtracked.
In a September 2021 interview – three months after he was endorsed by Trump, Budd was asked if Biden won the election “fair and square.” Budd brusquely responded: “He did. He’s the legitimate president.” After being asked if he accepted the fact that Trump got 7 million fewer popular votes, Budd said: ”I do.”Those who continue to stand in the way of affirming the count of the legitimate votes that elected Joe Biden president demonstrate disregard for the rule of law that has sustained this nation. They show a lack of faith in the process as they scheme and plot to manipulate an election’s outcome for mere partisan gain.
That is what, with their votes on Jan. 6 and Jan. 7, 2021, Republicans Dan Bishop, Ted Budd, Virginia Foxx, Richard Hudson, Greg Murphy, David Rouzer and Madison Cawthorn did.
Republican Sens. Richard Burr and Thom Tillis along with Rep. Patrick McHenry stood up to the tremendous pressure from Trump and stood with the American voters. It should not go without note that the state’s Democratic members of the U.S. House Alma Adams, J.K. Butterfield, Kathy Manning, David Price and Deborah Ross all voted to certify the election.
When given a chance on Wednesday to clarify the arcane rules for certifying presidential elections, North Carolina’s Republicans in the U.S. House sided with the deniers and voted against overhauling the 135-year-old Electoral County Act of 1887.
While Republican Sen. Tillis is part of a bipartisan group working in the Senate to pass a version of the bill, in the House Budd voted “no” along with fellow Republicans Bishop, Cawthorn, Foxx, Hudson, McHenry, Murphy, and Rouzer. Democrats Adams, Butterfield, Manning, Price and Ross voted for it.
Even for the 2022 election Budd has yet to unequivocally state he’ll accept the finally tally.
When it comes to pledging loyalty to our nation, Americans don’t swear to monarchs, dictators or deities. The pledge is to uphold protect and defend the Constitution.
Loyalty to a political party or to a politician should NEVER override honesty, Integrity and the rule of law.
Candidates who can’t recognize the legitimacy of the 2020 election don’t deserve support when citizens’ votes are cast in 2022.
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Seth Effron has spent more than 35 years in journalism as a reporter and editor, including founding “The N.C. Insider.” He has also worked in North Carolina government communications, serving in five agencies under three governors. |
