Here’s what happened when Democrats tested new powers of secretive Gov Ops

North Carolina Democratic lawmakers on a secretive legislative committee are questioning why they are being blocked on trying to investigate crisis pregnancy centers and private schools receiving money from the tuition voucher program.

Senate Minority Leader Dan Blue, who serves on the General Assembly’s Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations, known as Gov Ops, told reporters on Wednesday that Democratic members and staff on the committee, which is chaired by the two most powerful Republicans in the state, are having their requests denied by a lawyer.

Sen. Gladys Robinson, a Guilford County Democrat on Gov Ops, sent letters to several pregnancy centers that are part of the Carolina Pregnancy Care Fellowship, also known as Life Link Carolina, requesting records on behalf of Gov Ops. She asked for information about contracts, expenditures, medical equipment, services, marketing materials and job applications.

However, the request came from her as a member of Gov Ops, not Gov Ops staff, leadership or the commission as a whole.

Republican leaders gave Gov Ops more power in the 2023 budget, which was criticized by Democrats in both chambers during floor debate. Robinson’s letter tests one of the new powers, citing in her request that anyone who “conceals, falsifies, or refuses to provide” information requested by Gov Ops with the intent to “mislead, impede or interfere” is guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor.

Lawyers deny request because not from entire Gov Ops

Robinson received a letter from Carolina Pregnancy Care Fellowship’s lawyer, Paul “Skip” Stam, a former Republican House member, denying the request based on it coming from members of the commission rather than Gov Ops as a whole. Stam wrote that he advised his clients not to respond to Robinson because “no individual member of the Commission has the right to demand anything from anyone, before or after the 2023 amendments to the statute.”

He also took the opportunity to criticize Robinson’s “threat of criminal penalties for those not responding,” saying that while she has some immunity as a senator, “I object to it.”

Separately, an attorney for another pregnancy center group, Human Coalition, responded to Robinson with a similar argument. Attorney Barry Moerschell wrote that “because the commission has not issued this request, Human Coalition respectfully declines to provide the requested records.”

Democratic Sen. Michael Garrett of Guilford County sent letters to private schools asking for records about the Opportunity Scholarship program, which gives taxpayer-funded vouchers to private schools. Stam, also an attorney for 16 private schools, sent a similar letter back to Garrett that he did to Robinson. And an attorney for another private school, Trinity Christian School in Fayetteville, wrote that they would only comply with requests “that the commission, acting through its co-chairs or subcommittees jointly appointed by the co-chairs is entitled to receive documents and information” according to state law.

Gov Ops gave itself more power

Rep. John Torbett, a Gaston County Republican on Gov Ops, told The News & Observer that he has not made any requests by himself on behalf of the commission.

“I haven’t initiated a request. I’ve had some ideas, but I’ve never really pushed the ball on it. But I’m guessing perhaps just the leadership of that committee are the ones that actually are trying to wade through, as well as their team, clerical staff,” Torbett said.

Torbett said that “no matter which side of the political aisle you’re on, you have to be somewhat cognizant of what’s the gist the request. Is it political in nature or is it actually fact-finding in nature.”

Gov Ops House Majority Staff Director Joe Coletti told The N&O on Wednesday that he does not know of any House members on Gov Ops who have made requests individually, and that the letters from Robinson and Garrett are the first ones that he knows of.

Robinson said the requests they made as Gov Ops members were because of increasing funding of pregnancy centers and the “tremendous amount of funding we are providing to private schools via vouchers. North Carolina’s on track to spend $5 billion of taxpayer money on private vouchers by 2032. This is a staggering amount of money that were given to private businesses taxed with educating children.” She went on to describe several ways that private schools receiving taxpayer money have no government oversight compared to public schools.

Blue called the funding of the crisis pregnancy centers and private schools “a staggering amount of public dollars, with little oversight and little accountability. Without better oversight of how these public dollars are being used, we are violating our constitutional obligation to oversee how the taxpayer’s money is being spent.”

Blue also told reporters that all documents related to Gov Ops investigations — which were exempted from the public records law in 2023 — should be made public.

Gov Ops power expanded in 2023

Gov Ops is a partisan committee led by the majority party, which has the power to hold oversight hearings on anything ranging from hurricane relief to the state’s high school athletic association. It replaced the nonpartisan Program Evaluation Division.

Given even more power in the 2023 budget bill, which included policy changes, some Democrats were critical, including Sen. Graig Meyer describing it as “dark government” and Rep. Allison Dahle as a “secret police.”

Moore said last year that the idea of secret police powers was “just ridiculous.”

“I mean, there’s no basis,” Moore said. “There’s no arrest powers. I mean, there’s nothing like that.”

Berger noted last year that Democrats have members on the commission, even though Republicans have more members and staff than they do.

“It is something that is designed to assist the General Assembly, and all members of the General Assembly, in carrying out our constitutional obligations to oversee the money that’s being spent and the policies that are being carried out by the executive branch and by other branches,” Berger said then.

Moore and Berger, sometimes with recommendations from Republican staff, decide who will be the subject of investigations and hearings. Republicans have said that’s simply because they hold the majority in the General Assembly.

Blue said Senate Democrats are “going to keep pursuing this. I’m saying that if it takes a broader effort to get the full committee, or commission, involved, then we will pursue that.”

“But we do think that when you starting to spend hundreds of millions or billions of taxpayer dollars, we need transparency and we need to know what the results are: Where it’s going, why it’s going there, what are they doing with it?”

NC Reality Check is an N&O series holding those in power accountable and shining a light on public issues that affect the Triangle or North Carolina. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email realitycheck@newsobserver.com