Fighting Back – Day 1 (Morning Thoughts)

It’s 6:20am on Tuesday, April 8th. I’m expected to meet my contact in front of the NC Legislative Building at 8:30am. So, I’m sitting here chilling out and jamming out to a short playlist that I created just for this morning.

My first meeting is at 9:00am with the Representative for my district, then a gap until 11:45am until I meet with the Senator from my district. Between those two meetings, I hope to catch Senator Brad Overcash, who I went to school with, in his office or in the hallway (none of the committees he’s on are meeting today, so hopefully he’ll be around). Otherwise, I’m hoping I can stop by and deliver a message to other friendly representatives.

I’ll be leaving an advance copy of my op-ed, which is still under editing, but can be viewed here. I printed 10 copies, so I hope I have enough. One will be left at Overcash’s office with a personal note, just to let him know I was there and I’m watching him and the bills he introduced very closely. His version of the bathroom bill, S516, has been referred to committee, but they have yet to meet and put it on their schedule. The House version of the bill (which contains identical language), H791, hasn’t even been referred to committee yet. So, we have time. I’m now getting the daily calendar, so I’ll be watching very closely to see when they come up in committee. When they do, I’ll be there to speakout and testify against it during the public debate period.

Honestly, I don’t expect too much out of today. But it’s getting my foot in the door and acquainted with the real political process and what happens behind closed doors. I want to fling those doors wide open. I have a strong feeling that Overcash was strong-armed into introducing S516 by Sen. Phil Berger. I feel this strongly because I know Overcash personally and while he has an insatiable appetite for popularity and clout, I know he’s not full of this kind of hate. He’s a decent guy, I think he’s just being played. If he wanted attention, I’ll help give it to him, but it’s not going to be the kind he wants.

I’m going to try and post updates on Bluesky as the day progresses. When I return home after a long day, I’ll post a “full report” here. I hope to get some photos, maybe even some video or audio. 😁

Alright, back to chilling out for me for another 45 minutes or so…