Protesters Shake Up North Carolina Legislature with Moral Monday Demonstrations | Common Dreams
"In 2010, Republicans took control of the state house and senate for the first time since Reconstruction. With their firm majority, the GOP redrew district lines for state senate and house seats, securing an even more solid majority in the 2012 election. Voters also elected a Republican governor, the former mayor of Charlotte, Pat McCrory. Many assumed that his big-city background would make him a moderate, but McCrory quickly appointed Art Pope, the money behind many of the state’s Tea Party candidates, as budget director, and the legislature went to work."
