N.C. Democrats watching exodus from Legislature

By Gary D. Robertson

RALEIGH, N.C.

Three years ago, 98 Democrats arrived at the North Carolina General Assembly to begin yet another session in the majority.

Longtime Sen. Marc Basnight and Rep. Joe Hackney again led their respective chambers to continue the party's almost uninterrupted period of control since 1898.

But governing through a rough economy, followed by an election that gave Republicans the gavels of power and pencils to redraw district boundaries for the next decade, mean fewer than half those Democratic lawmakers will be around the Legislative Building in 2013.

A review of election defeats, resignations and retirements shows that of the 30 Democratic senators in early 2009, 19 of them are no longer in the Senate or won't return after this year. In the House, 37 of the 68 Democrats in 2009 either are already gone, announced they won't seek re-election in 2012 or will be at home. Some won't return in 2013 because they'll lose to a fellow incumbent in the May primary. Others may not win in November. The candidate filing period begins Monday.

While redistricting, age and attempts at other elected offices have contributed to a similar number of Republicans deciding not to run for re-election this year, the Democratic exodus since 2009 is more extensive. The changing leadership at the Legislature has required lawmakers to take stock of why they're serving and if they want to continue.

"After you've been in the majority and you're used to having things a certain way, it's much more difficult to be in the minority," said Rep. Deborah Ross, D-Wake. Two years ago, Ross led a powerful judiciary committee. Today she often stands up on the House floor to blast Republican bills that are going to pass regardless of what Democrats argue.

"There's a whole lot more defense than offense," Ross said, adding that "some people only want to serve when in the majority. They're not happy warriors."

Hackney and at least five key allies have announced they're not running again this year. Basnight resigned from the Senate the day before the Republican era officially began in January 2011. Top lieutenants, Sens. Tony Rand and David Hoyle, had already moved on before the November 2010 elections, when at least 17 Democratic incumbents lost.

Republicans say they're not surprised by the Democratic departures, which accelerated recently after judges declined to delay the primary for House and Senate races while redistricting lawsuits are heard. Three incumbent Democrats serving a combined 36 years in the Legislature announced on the same day last week they wouldn't run.

Five-term Sen. Tom Apodaca, R-Henderson, the Senate Rules Committee chairman, said he'd be hard pressed to return to the back row of the Senate floor where the minority-party members sit after being in the majority.

"If you have been in corporate management and you get bumped down to a mid-line manager, you're going to look for a different occupation," Apodaca said.

Many key Democrats have been "double-bunked" — a term to describe two lawmakers being drawn into the same district. It means one must retire or face each other in an election. Ross was double-bunked with Rep. Grier Martin, D-Wake.

Sen. Linda Garrou, D-Forsyth, who served eight years as one of three co-chairs on the Senate budget-writing committee, was drawn into the same district with GOP Sen. Pete Brunstetter. She knew votes would be scarce in the solid Republican district.

"Certainly this has been a difficult year," Garrou said, "but one of the things that I can do is count."

Garrou said she's been disappointed with a Republican majority that she argues has turned its back on public education and has harmed the rights of women through more abortion restrictions and black citizens through new district maps. Democratic women say Republicans double-bunked them because the GOP didn't like their outspokenness, which Republicans deny.

Republicans, meanwhile, are having growing pains as at least 17 House or Senate GOP members aren't running for re-election, or are running for another legislative seat or higher office. The group includes House Speaker Pro Tempore Dale Folwell of Forsyth County and Sen. Richard Stevens of Wake County, another top budget-writer.

Ross suggested the departures of moderate Republicans may be linked to their unhappiness with a forceful governing style. John Hood, president of the conservative-leaning John Locke Foundation, disagrees, attributing the changes to simpler reasons — older Republicans want to step down and others who served in the minority for a long time don't feel obligated to stick around.

On balance, Hood said, the General Assembly turnover is a good thing.

"Whenever you lose lots of longtime legislators, you lose institutional memory. But you also open the possibility of innovative action," Hood said, adding the new lawmakers are "not wedded to how North Carolina government was set up 50 years ago or 10 years ago."

Hood predicts the Republican rise at the Legislature follows the pattern of other Southern states where Democrats have ceded their decades-long control of government. North Carolina Democrats say they're energized and have bounced back before. But they are certainly scrambling after a difficult 2011 and early 2012 marked by Gov. Beverly Perdue's decision not to seek re-election.

"We're in a state of flux right now," Ross said.