Reporting on the battle lines of North Carolina

I for one wasn’t expecting a 2013 N.C. General Assembly session that pulsed on for the entire summer, outlasting my tenure as The Daily Tar Heel’s State & National Editor.

It certainly gave me — and a number of national news outlets — quite a lot to write about. But it wasn’t press coverage to be proud of.

There were the three competing budgets and unresolved tax reforms. There was the flurry of controversial bills emerging from the depths of committees at the last minute (guns and abortion, anyone?).

And there arose a little civil disobedience that has swelled to national prominence under the label “Moral Mondays.”

Catching wind of a protest happening at the legislature one mid-May evening, I drove to Raleigh curious, a notepad and camera in hand. About two dozen people were wandering around Jones Street at 5:30 p.m., clutching signs but looking confused.

“How does this work?” people asked each other. “Where do we go?”

As a reporter well-disguised in street clothes, I positioned myself near the fountain between the House and Senate chambers — now a landmark of sorts, where more than 900 arrests have occurred since April 29.

I stood so close to the chanting crowd, I was almost mistaken by police for a protestor when arrests began.

Fast forward two months. Now there is a designated indoor media area, roped off yards away from hundreds of roaring protestors. Thousands of others flood Halifax Mall.

There is a stage, a list of speakers. There are signs of every color, chants of every kind.

I often find myself flanked by MSNBC and ABC News. It’s a thrilling feeling, in a sense. Celebrity journalists are working alongside me, covering my North Carolina —my state.

And in a flash I am saddened, for I know full well this state has graced headlines for the wrong reasons.

I’m not taking sides here. I’m talking about extreme polarization, on both sides, at its partisan finest.

I can’t speak to what the legislature’s atmosphere looked like 10 years ago, when a long-dominant Democratic Party enjoyed unrestrained control of the General Assembly and governor’s mansion.

But I can speak to what I’m seeing now, as a reporter trying to craft an accurate portrayal of the scene.

It’s Republicans, emboldened by their majority status, pursuing conservative policies to revamp North Carolina after decades of lying dormant. It’s Democrats, decrying the opposition’s sweeping efforts to turn back years of what they champion as true legislative progress.

Moral Monday demonstrators have joined the latter party en masse, railing against newly proposed voting restrictions and education cuts, pulling further left in retaliation as the General Assembly continues to pull right.

No matter that legislative productivity is at a decent level. I have witnessed a dearth of reasonable compromise.

Fresh on my mind is the recent fire sparked by a pair of abortion bills. Legislators argued over them largely with emotional appeals, not with facts.

Actually, the House floor exchange two weeks ago couldn’t be called debate. It was attack.

“This is a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” asserted Rep. Jean Farmer-Butterfield.

“There is not a war on women,” retorted Rep. Sarah Stevens.

“What. Are. We. Doing?” implored Rep. Becky Carney.

“People are dying at abortion clinics!” Rep. Ruth Samuelson exclaimed.

And the pointed debate was pointless. The vote was nearly along party lines. A decision on Senate Bill 353 was likely set in stone before legislators had even entered the chamber.

This no-man’s-land between the two political parties has given me plenty to write about over the last three months, but far less to celebrate. I do not want to see North Carolina leaders give the national media an excuse to ridicule this state any longer.

When legislators return for the short session in May, I’m challenging them to get us back on track for newspaper headlines that will enhance the state’s respect nationwide.

I’ll have my pen at the ready.