Charlotte has a population just short of one million, but astonishingly, because of Dan Bishop’s [N.C. representative from District 104 currently running for state Senate, District 39, both in Mecklenburg County] handiwork on HB2, it is now illegal for the city to make laws to protect its citizens from discrimination. At the same time, the bill prevents Charlotte elected officials from establishing a minimum wage that’s appropriate for our community.
Bishop wrote House Bill 2 in one day, and the General Assembly passed it without any meaningful discussion or debate, and Gov. Pat McCrory signed it into law. The result has been a disastrous backlash from corporations that have canceled their plans to locate in North Carolina, and from major events, concerts and conventions that bring much-needed revenue to local businesses.
PayPal, a large corporation that handles electronic payments, had planned to bring a facility here to Charlotte, promising 400 new jobs at an average salary of $70,000. But after HB2 was made law, PayPal immediately withdrew its plans to locate in North Carolina, because it needs to keep valued employees who are hurt by the law. That’s $28 million that legislators erased from the state’s economy.
Even when we repeal HB2, or the courts rule that HB2 is unconstitutional, it will take us years to recover our national and worldwide reputation as a beacon of the New South. So bringing jobs back to North Carolina will be an uphill battle, and that affects every citizen. But it’s a battle I intend to win.
I am running to keep Dan Bishop out of the Senate, end this hateful Republican-sponsored discrimination and regain North Carolina’s standing as a place where businesses come to succeed.
I need your support and vote to end this hate and discrimination.
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