NORTH CAROLINA: Email From McCrory Insider Claims Governor Tried To Stop Passage Of Anti-LGBT Law

The Charlotte Observer reports:

Three days after Gov. Pat McCrory signed House Bill 2, his general counsel told a former legal colleague that the governor battled the legislature over the bill that limited protections for LGBT individuals, according to emails obtained by the Observer.

“Bob, here are the facts: We fought against this bill,” Bob Stephens said in a March 26 email to Bob Turner, a lawyer in Charlotte. “You have no idea how hard the Governor worked to limit it. He told the legislature that it went too far. We lobbied against it and even drafted our own version of the bill but it was not accepted.”

Stephens’ comments contrast with McCrory’s defense of the measure in recent months, even in the face of major sports boycotts of the state. In his email, Stephens said the governor’s office talked to a “large number of legislators,” but they passed the bill anyway.

“And don’t tell me the Governor should have vetoed the bill,” Stephens wrote. “His veto would have been overridden in a matter of days and we’d be right where we are now. If you have other ideas about what the Governor should have done, let me know.”

McCrory signed the bill on the very day it was passed. If he hated it so much, we doubt that would have happened.