These elected Republicans are siding with Gov. Cooper on takeout cocktails

While the Republican-controlled legislature opted earlier this year against allowing takeout cocktails at struggling bars and restaurants, the majority of Republicans on the Council of State voted in support of Gov. Roy Cooper’s executive order this week allowing for the temporary change in alcohol regulations.

According to emails obtained through a public records request, Cooper’s attorney emailed the Council of State members at 8:39 a.m. Monday morning, asking for an emailed response by noon on whether they’d concur with the order. Cooper has sought concurrence on some — but not all — of his COVID-19 executive orders affecting business operations this year, and there’s been some disagreement over which actions require support from the group of statewide elected officials, which has a Republican majority.

Cooper issued the executive order later Monday, noting that he’d gotten concurrence from the Council of State. Asked about their votes Wednesday, spokespeople for Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler, Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry, Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey, Attorney General Josh Stein, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and State Auditor Beth Wood said they’d voted yes. A spokesman for Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson could not be reached Wednesday.

But State Treasurer Dale Folwell said he chose not to respond to the Cooper administration’s email. He’s critical of how Cooper has handled the Council of State’s involvement this year, and he wants to discuss proposed executive orders in a meeting — not over email with only a few hours to reply.

“These executive orders need to be developed more comprehensively, more transparently, and we have to be able to do that in a forum where we can challenge assumptions,” Folwell said.

He argues that the state needs to do more to help restaurants and bars, many of which are likely to go out of business. “It seems that the governor thinks that the ability to order a cocktail to go is going to fix these problems, and the sad fact is that he’s wrong,” Folwell said.

The Cooper administration’s email to the Council of State includes a letter from State Health Director Elizabeth Cuervo Tilson making the case that cocktails-to-go could help the state’s fight against COVID-19.

“In light of the risks of transmission presented by the sustained, mask-less interactions inherent in indoor dining and drinking at restaurants, bars, and similar establishments, encouraging delivery (and carry-out) as an alternative to indoor dining and drinking to the greatest extent possible can reduce the risk of viral spread,” she wrote. “From a risk-of-viral-spread and control-of-the-pandemic point of view, it makes sense to increase the types of goods and services that can be delivered to one’s home.”

But the N.C. Sheriffs’ Association and others are raising questions about whether the governor has the power to temporarily change alcohol regulations. Back in March, a spokesman for Cooper told the NC Insider that only the legislature had the power to make the change. Asked during Tuesday’s news conference why the executive order wasn’t issued sooner, Cooper said “there was an attempt to do this in the state legislature and the state legislature did not act. ... We worked very hard to make sure we stayed within the legal boundaries.”

However, a memo to sheriffs from the N.C. Sheriffs’ Association said that it remains illegal to transport liquor beverages in the passenger areas of a vehicle in anything other than the original manufacturer’s container. The memo says the governor and ABC Commission don’t have the power to change that, so take-out cocktails would need to be transported in the trunk of a car, not the passenger area.

Cooper’s office told ABC11 that the executive order was vetted by the N.C. Department of Justice.

Folwell said he shares the sheriffs’ concerns. He worries that law enforcement officers could have difficulty determining how to handle a driver found with a cocktail in their cup holder.

“Laws need to be written so that a law enforcement officer at 3 a.m. on a two-lane road can interpret it,” he said. “I can’t answer as to whether it’s enforceable, it just doesn’t seem feasible.”

This story was originally published December 24, 2020 at 12:08 PM with the headline "These elected Republicans are siding with Gov. Cooper on takeout cocktails."