(The Center Square) – Doubling down on healthy poll leads in North Carolina, U.S. Senate candidate Roy Cooper on Tuesday released a campaign advertisement touting his record on public safety.
A primary criticism of Cooper is a "soft on crime" record, and the advertisement appears to be a counter measure. A fact check of his statements by The Center Square, however, found multiple issues.
Cooper, the choice of Democrats, is on the Nov. 3 ballot with Republican Michael Whatley and Libertarian Shannon Bray. Absentee ballots go into the mail 10 weeks from Friday; Election Day is just under 19 weeks away.
In the 30-second spot, Cooper says, “Keep your family safe and lock up criminals – that’s what most North Carolinians want. And it’s not too much to ask. As your attorney general, I put drug dealers, rapists and murderers in prison and kept them there. As your governor, I toughened bail laws, went after drug dealers pushing fentanyl and said, ‘no way do we defund the police.’
“I’m Roy Cooper, and I approve this message because you deserve to feel safe. And there’s nothing political about that.”
Cooper was attorney general for 16 years and did send criminals he spoke of to prison. He was governor eight years after that and let out thousands.
Factual history of keeping prisoners in jail, toughening bail laws and standing with police isn't exactly where Cooper has been.
Cooper in February 2021 as governor settled a lawsuit with the North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, Disability Rights North Carolina, the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina Legal Foundation, four prisoners and an inmate’s wife. While saying at the time no violent offenders were among those released, public release of the inmates’ names this year revealed 51 of the 3,500 released came off death row.
It’s an action that has drawn a legislative inquiry that also ensnares now-Gov. Josh Stein, the attorney general at the time. And published reports tracking criminal records of those released indicate 25 North Carolinians have been killed by that group, 99 have been sexually assaulted and more than 600 felonies have been charged.
Added to those groupings are Cooper's commuted sentences of 15 people convicted of killing others.
Cooper has been an advocate of cashless bail. He created the Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice as his first term drew to a close, a group he handpicked to “reimagine public safety” and which among 125 recommendations included elimination of cash bail.
Lawmen attending to violent riots in downtown Raleigh in 2020, during COVID-19 and after the death of George Floyd in Minnesota, have offered different views on Cooper standing with police. The demonstrations after Floyd died at the mercy of a police officer were centered on defunding the police.
Cooper, even amid his executive orders for people to mask and not gather in crowds lest they risk arrest, infamously removed his mask and marched with activists wanting to defund the police. Lawmen called it a political “photo op” that, among other things, risked the safety of his security detail.
Additionally, as it relates to lawmen, he’s on record – via the gubernatorial veto stamp – against North Carolina sheriffs cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Cooper endorsements include multiple labor and workers unions, including the AFL-CIO; a national teachers union; environmental groups; and the National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare PAC.
Whatley has the backing of second-term Republican President Donald Trump, whom he helped get elected when he served as chairman of the Republican National Committee.
