Gubernatorial candidates address HB2 while in Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Gov. Pat McCrory and his challenger in the upcoming election, Attorney General Roy Cooper, were back in Charlotte Tuesday.

The candidates spoke at the same time in different parts of the city Tuesday, and both addressed the state’s controversial non-discrimination law.

“Most likely, this is going to be resolved in the Supreme Court,” McCrory said about House Bill 2, which has cost Charlotte and the state of North Carolina hundreds of millions of dollars.

“It’s a very interesting debate. It’s a very complex debate, and that debate deserves to be out of cheap politics, boycotts and economic threats,” McCrory said at a Charlotte Rotary Club luncheon.

After speaking, McCrory dodged reporters for the second week in row and left the room through a back door, surrounded by security.
 
Around the same time, in another part of the city, Cooper encouraged people to keep pressure on the governor and legislative leaders to repeal House Bill 2.
 
"We know that it causes significant economic damage. It's likely not going to stop until we do something about it," Cooper said.
 
Both men talked about their opponent without naming him, and both took questions from the audience. But McCrory is under fire after an editorial published by the Charlotte Observer claimed he answered prepared questions from his own staffers, under the guise that they were reporters at a meeting, last week. Now that those reports have gone national, he addressed it by saying, "80 percent of the questions came straight from the audience."
 
The moderator of the luncheon last week, Kenneth Gill, sent Channel 9 a statement that reads in part:
 
"The campaign was asked to provide sample questions to help me prepare to moderate the discussion and move the Q&A format along if there were no audience questions. I was free to ask any question, as was the audience."

Full statement by Kenneth Gill:

"I moderated an audience Q&A with Governor McCrory last week at the Hood-Hargett luncheon and want to dispel any false information out there. The campaign was asked to provide sample questions to help me prepare to moderate the discussion and move the Q&A format along if there were no audience questions. I was free to ask any question, as was the audience.

In fact, about two-thirds of the questions asked during the event were from the audience, including from one from Taylor Batten at the Charlotte Observer. At no point did the campaign tell me to ask a question or misrepresent the questions. If a question was falsely attributed to the Charlotte Observer it was a mistake. My goal was to ask a variety of tough, relevant questions, and we were happy the governor attended our event." 

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