North Carolina Republican lawmakers have been threatening lobbyists with retribution if the businesses they represent speak out against the state’s new controversial anti-LGBT law, according to a report from Raleigh television station WRAL.
WRAL interviewed 11 lobbyists who said they have been warned by lawmakers or staff members about the potential for legislation targeting their clients or attempts to block legislation that lobbyists have been pushing. None of the lobbyists spoke on the record.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” one unnamed lobbyist told WRAL about the pressure seen from lawmakers.
Republican leaders in the North Carolina legislature denied that they have been threatening lobbyists with outspoken clients.
“No, don’t know anything about it,” Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger (R) told WRAL when asked about lobbyists’ claims.
“Retribution politics is not a practice we engage in,” House Speaker Tim Moore (R) said.
WRAL noted that just after Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signed the bill prohibiting local non-discrimination measures protecting LGBT people, House Majority Leader Mike Hager sent a tweet to a lobbyist noting that lobbyists have to work with the legislature.
@LisaMartinNC Wow, 1 would think from all your negative posts about HB2 that u weren’t a lobbyist and didn’t have to work with the majority.
— Mike Hager (@RepMikeHager) March 27, 2016
Hager told WRAL that the tweet was “not a threat.”
“We want people that’ll work with us. We don’t want people that’ll go out there and bash us on Twitter and bash us on Facebook,” he said.
He also defended his support for legislation to remove tax breaks that help certain companies, like American Airlines, that have spoken out against HB2 and said it was a coincidence.
“There are businesses that take a certain stance, and there’s a lot of lobbyists that represent businesses, you know, (that) have taken a certain negative stance on HB2,” Hager told WRAL. “None of those, I don’t think, have had any negative retribution at all.”
