Thanks, Mark Robinson: Connecticut to ask NC businesses: Are you ready to leave? | Opinion

Connecticut, “the land of steady habits,” would seem an unlikely source of official pranks, but legislative leaders there couldn’t resist poking North Carolina’s Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the GOP’s gubernatorial candidate.

Three Connecticut state Senate leaders have asked their economic development department to recruit North Carolina businesses that are uneasy about “Mr. Robinson’s history of making inflammatory and divisive comments” about women, LGBTQ+ people, Jewish people and the Civil Rights Movement, as well as his support for using an AR-15 against the government if it “gets too big for its britches.”

In a letter to the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, the Democratic leaders said Robinson’s remarks should “raise significant concerns about the business environment and social climate in North Carolina under potential leadership that condones or ignores such divisive rhetoric.”

Connecticut Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney, Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff and Commerce Committee Chair Joan Hartley concluded, “By proactively reaching out to businesses in North Carolina, we can showcase the opportunities and advantages of investing in Connecticut while sending a clear message that our state stands firmly against bigotry and discrimination in all its forms.”

It’s unlikely that major businesses will move to Connecticut because of Robinson’s inflammatory statements. But if he becomes governor, the Connecticut leaders’ perspective may be shared by businesses that will avoid coming to North Carolina.

Boycotts protesting North Carolina’s HB2 “bathroom bill” that discriminated against transgender people showed the economic damage that comes from such legislation. A Robinson governorship could have a similar effect by discouraging companies and their employees from moving here.

Most North Carolinians, and many North Carolina Republicans, hope that Robinson will take a softer tone as he seeks the state’s highest office. But that apparently will not happen, judging by his campaign’s response to the Connecticut leaders.

“Who cares what these northeastern liberals have to say?” Robinson’s campaign said in a statement. “Since they took control of Connecticut, Democrats raised taxes and spending, creating a parade of jobs and businesses packing up and leaving their state. They should stop with silly PR stunts like this and take a page from North Carolina conservatives’ book — cut taxes on families and businesses, reduce burdensome regulations, and stop wasteful government spending.”

North Carolina should care what “northeastern liberals have to say.” A lot of them have moved and will move to North Carolina, and some will bring their businesses with them. Deriding parts of the nation isn’t a recruiting tool.

Robinson’s campaign repeats the hollow claim that the Republican-controlled legislature’s relentless tax cutting and dismantling of regulations that protect the environment and prevent pollution are enhancing North Carolina’s business climate.

Businesses are coming to North Carolina in large part because of the investments previous generations of leaders made in the state’s schools, universities, infrastructure and environmental protections.

Republican lawmakers are living off the fruits of those investments while starving the future by failing to support public schools, state services and the state’s natural resources. That Republican leaders now support the likes of Robinson for an office once held by Terry Sanford, Jim Hunt, Jim Martin and now Roy Cooper, speaks to the decline in their esteem for the state and for its image in the nation’s eyes.

I spoke with Connecticut’s Senate leader Looney on Thursday. He said he prefers to leave states to their own affairs, but he felt compelled to respond to Robinson out of “concern about the incendiary comments from somebody who now has a major party’s nomination.”

That this is happening in North Carolina surprises Looney. He thinks of North Carolina as the home to great universities and Research Triangle Park. “It’s not a backward state,” he said.

Looney said his state will present incentive packages to North Carolina businesses “that may be willing to listen to an offer from Connecticut.”

Although in this case, it’s Robinson who’s offering them the strongest incentive to leave.

Associate opinion editor Ned Barnett can be reached at 919-594-8902, or nbarnett@newsobserver.com