Pitts: Cotham’s move in NC legislature was dishonest

North Carolina Rep. Tricia Cotham shook up state politics Wednesday, to put it mildly.

She switched from Democrat to Republican — handing immense power to a party that opposes almost everything she publicly supported just a few months ago when she was re-elected.

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Her website as of Wednesday still showed the policy positions of Old Cotham, where she said “LGBTQ+ youth are under attack by Republican state legislatures across the country.”

By Thursday, she had taken the site down, in a profile in non-courage.

Meanwhile, New Cotham turned out in brilliant red to stand next to Republican house leaders at a show conference. She explained — or rather did not really explain — her controversial choice.

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Cotham indicated she is switching because her fellow Democrats have been mean to her.

Really.

I would invite her to spend a day or so in my shoes as a Black columnist and editor expressing his opinions in the South. I have heard it all in my career over email, social media and on the phone, from the n-word and everything after, and will probably get a fresh dose of invective after this column.

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We can also think about former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming. I can imagine that the threats and hate she received would put into the shade anything either Cotham or myself have received after Cheney opposed Trump, the No. 1 cardinal sin in the Republican Party.

Cheney stuck with her party though, because her core values did not change.

The simple fact is Cotham’s move was dishonest. People not blinded by partisanship can plainly see this and will admit it to themselves privately if they cannot do so publicly.

I bet many of the ecstatic Republicans praising her in public also privately do not think much of her. I believe that will out eventually — if and when she fails to do what they want. One thing I have found is people will take advantage of weakness but ultimately do not respect it.

Cotham was either being untruthful when she ran as a Democrat or being untruthful now as a newly minted Republican. She cannot logically square Old Cotham and New Cotham. No one can.

If she believes the Democrats have changed so much that she can no longer be affiliated with them, that would have been known in November when she was re-elected.

She should have run as a Republican.

But in the end this is not about her. It is about those North Carolina residents to whom she proved faithless.

They include voters in her navy blue, Charlotte-area district — where she won with nearly 60% of the vote.

She sold out the campaign workers who shed blood, sweat and tears for her and the people who donated to her campaign under false pretenses.

Sadly, the list of people injured by the legislator’s dishonesty is potentially much longer. By handing the GOP the ability to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto in the state House — a power it already had in the Senate — she potentially can steamroll her former allies in the Democratic Party on several issues. These include a dramatic expansion in school vouchers that many Democrats believe will critically harm public schools.

Most significantly Cotham put women’s reproductive rights and their right to make their own health decisions on the chopping block.

This is the most galling aspect, considering her background. Just last year she advocated codifying Roe v. Wade as law and co-signed proposed legislation in January that would do that.

In 2015, she delivered personal and powerful remarks about how she and her husband made the painful decision to terminate a nonviable pregnancy. She spoke directly to her House colleagues in opposition to a 72-hour waiting period proposed by Republicans.

She said her decision was up to herself, her husband and her God, “not up to any of you in this chamber.”

When Cotham crossed the aisle Wednesday she knew she was handing a supermajority to a party that is right now discussing everything from a total ban on abortion to a ban after six or 12 weeks. Some of these measures could end the kind of choice she made, making Cotham an accomplice in denying rights she herself once exercised.

That meets many folks’ definition as the worst kind of politics.

Cotham at her show conference on Wednesday was mum on whether she would sign on to any new abortion restrictions. Abortion in North Carolina is currently illegal after 20 weeks.

In her 2015 speech, which is still on YouTube, Cotham said, “There’s an old saying to mean what you say and say what you mean. We kind of don’t do that in politics too much. We say what we think people want to hear.”

Little did we know at the time she was speaking about herself.

Voters in North Carolina cannot recall state legislators, which Cotham knows. Integrity would demand she resign and allow voters of her Democratic-dominated district to choose a representative who aligns with their views.

But we have seen that integrity may be a bridge too far for New Cotham.

Myron Pitts can be reached at mpitts@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3559.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Pitts: Cotham’s move in NC legislature was dishonest