Opinion: Is North Carolina’s GOP doing the right thing for the wrong reason?

All right-thinking people — and certainly all Democrats — are outraged by the way North Carolina’s Republican Legislature is trying to reduce the authority of the governor’s office now that a Democrat is about to occupy it.

As the L.A. Times’ Matt Pearce reported:

“North Carolina’s incoming Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, threatened legal action Thursday after Republican lawmakers, in a surprise move, moved to strip power away from political branches and boards about to be taken over by Democrats.

“The GOP move happened Wednesday night, as state legislators gathered for a special session to approve relief funds for victims of Hurricane Matthew. After the funding was approved, Republican lawmakers launched a second special session and introduced bills that would limit the gains made by Democrats in November.”

Boo, hiss. This certainly looks like an unprincipled partisan power play.

But then I came to this explanation of some of the Republicans’ anti-Cooper initiatives:

“One proposal would require Cooper’s Cabinet nominees to be approved by the Republican-dominated state Senate. Another would eliminate the governor’s ability to appoint trustees for the state’s university system.”

Wait, aren’t those fairly common — though not universal — aspects of a system of checks and balances? Lots of states, including California, require Senate confirmation for some important gubernatorial appointments.

Meanwhile, at the national level, Democrats in the U.S. Senate are sharpening their knives as they prepare for confirmation hearings for some of President-elect Donald Trump’s more in-your-face nominees.

Most good-government types — including, I suspect, a lot of Democrats screaming bloody murder about the power play in North Carolina — agree with the Los Angeles Times’ Editorial Board that Senate confirmation of key executive branch appointees is an important safeguard because these officials are not just creatures of the president (or governor).

As we editorialized this week about confirmation hearings for Trump’s nominees:

“[Trump is] entitled to deference from the Senate in forming his administration. But senators must also insist that Cabinet officials are qualified for their positions and that they will enforce laws passed by Congress.”

There is no requirement that state governments perfectly replicate the stricture of the federal government. The Constitution says that “the United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government,” but it doesn’t dictate a particular blueprint. States can have unicameral or bicameral legislatures and relatively strong or weak governors.

Still, I would argue that Senate confirmation for key executive branch officials is a practice the states — including North Carolina — should emulate.

I know: The Republicans in North Carolina have a mean partisan motive for their “reforms” and were perfectly happy to give the governor a wide berth when he was a member of their own party. I’m not defending them.

But perhaps with at least some of their changes, they are guilty of what T.S. Eliot called the “greatest treason — to do the right deed for the wrong reason.”

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