My favorite phrase by legislators when I was working in the Alabama Legislature was, “All this bill does is change existing law.” That usually was said in an attempt to cover up a major change that, if understood by the public, would never have support. Durham’s Rep. Paul Luebke used a variant of that yesterday to minimize concern over a change in the law that would overturn nearly 200 years of tradition. Asked about the bill that would apportion North Carolina’s electoral votes by congressional district rather than in the current (since 1816) statewide winner-take-all manner, Luebke airily responded in an Associated Press interview:
If it changes again this year, added Rep. Paul Luebke, D-Durham, “The republic will survive.”
Forget 191 years of things working pretty well. Ignore the fact that this change is being foisted on North Carolinians by Democrats to help Democrats in the next presidential election. It’s no big deal, says Luebke. All this bill does is change existing law.
P.S. I love the way the AP reporter uses the word “again” to reinforce the notion that this is an unremarkable change. Lovely.
