Attorney General Stein:
Congratulations on your announcement that you are running for Governor of North Carolina. You may be surprised that I think you are the best choice to represent Democrats this cycle. I want to offer you some campaign pointers, as well as a word of caution about your final year in elected office.
I always tell people that you are a “(D)ifferent (D)emocrat.” (Feel free to put that on your bumper sticker.) I still remember when good old boys like Mike Easley and John Edwards hemmed and hawed that they were not like the national Democrats in Washington, D.C. They would not be caught dead on television with Bill Clinton or Ted Kennedy, and they cared a lot more about girlfriends and graft than about any policy or political cause.
You have always been honest about who you are. That is great news for every North Carolina voter. Remember when we served in the Senate? I do not recall a single tax you did not want to raise or a single gun you did not want to take.
In your world, I believe you would prefer for every class in North Carolina to teach Critical Race Theory. I’m betting you may not object to Drag Queen story hour. I’m also betting that you would be a part of the Defund the Police crowd. Those are all winning messages in your upcoming primary. You do not even have to ask. I am available to say that in one of your campaign commercials.
I badly want you to be the Democrats’ nominee for Governor. Unfortunately, I must go ahead and turn down any offer to be your full-time campaign manager…. no… no… don’t cry… I must do my day job… and you do too.
One thing I admired about the “good old boys” was their acting skills. If you followed North Carolina Democrats on the campaign trail in the 1990’s, you would wonder if there was any daylight between them and conservative stalwarts like Jesse Helms and Lauch Faircloth. Governor Roy Cooper is from that generation. It blows my mind that anyone thinks he is a “moderate” in any sense of the word. You aren’t like that at all. You are going to tell us exactly who you are. Me and a lot of other Republicans will also tell people for you.
As the leaves change in 2024, you are going to know why the good old boys were such good actors. A lot of people voted for you and Trump in 2020 because granddaddy “liked Ronald Reagan, but always voted Democrat at the state level.” When they find out who you really are they are going to know that granddaddy would never vote for you. (He would not have voted for you back then either… he didn’t have the internet and Fox News to tell him the truth about Democrats.)
Recently I got a note from a supporter about your plan to use the Concealed Carry Permit process to stop registrations and try to create a back door gun registry here in North Carolina. You are just imitating a cheap stunt that Attorney General Merrick Garland is trying to pull in Washington, D.C.
You know that won’t fly down here. Republicans have legislative supermajorities and a conservative Supreme Court. I will do my job and join with my colleagues in putting a stop to this unconstitutional scheme.
Attorney General Stein, you are free to play the Washington. D.C Liberal on the campaign trail… but I want to caution you not to even think about playing politics with the North Carolina Department of Justice.
Joyce Krawiec
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Joyce Krawiec serves in the North Carolina Senate. She represents Davie County and Forsyth County, NC. Christian, wife, mother, small business owner, and conservative.