Republicans successfully overrode Gov. Bev Perdue’s veto of a fracking bill during a dramatic vote taken just after 11 p.m. Monday. But like the legislation itself, the vote to override was controversial.
Rep. Becky Carney, a Democrat from Mecklenburg County who opposes fracking, pushed the wrong button and accidentally voted with Republicans to override the veto. A maneuver by Wake County Republican Paul “Skip” Stam prevented her from changing her vote, giving the GOP a historic one-vote margin of victory.
“It was a huge mistake,” Carney said afterward. “I take full responsibility.”
“The last temptation is the greatest treason:
To do the right deed for the wrong reason.”
Thomas Becket in “Murder in the Cathedral.”