Tim Moore (North Carolina politician)

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For other people named Tim Moore, see Tim Moore (disambiguation).
Tim Moore
Tim Moore 2017 portrait.jpg
Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 14, 2015
Preceded byThom Tillis
Member of the North Carolina House of Representatives
from the 111th district
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 29, 2003
Preceded byAndy Dedmon
Personal details
Born (1970-10-02) October 2, 1970 (age 50)
Kings Mountain, North Carolina, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
EducationCampbell University
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (BA)
Oklahoma City University (JD)

Timothy Keith Moore (born October 2, 1970)[1] is an American attorney and politician who has been the speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives since 2015.[2] A Republican, Moore represents the 111th State House District, which includes Cleveland County. Moore was first elected to the state House in 2002.

Early life and education[]

Moore was born on October 2, 1970, in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, in the western part of the state.[1] As a teenager, Moore worked at the state General Assembly as a page, later interning for a state senator.[2]

Moore first attended Campbell College, where he joined the College Republicans. After two years he transferred to University of North Carolina, where he completed a B.A. in 1992. He was active in the student government at both colleges. He took a fight to the UNC student Supreme Court in an effort to add more members to the Student Congress.[2] In 1995, Moore graduated from the Oklahoma City University School of Law.[2]

Legal and business career[]

In 1995, Moore joined a law firm in the Cleveland County, North Carolina town of Shelby. He opened his own law practice in Kings Mountain in 2009, representing business and individual clients.[2]

In 2015, Moore was hired by the Cleveland County Commission as an attorney for the county, serving in this role simultaneously with his position as speaker of the state House.[3]

Moore co-owns 67 Motors, a Forsyth County metal recycling business.[1]

Early political career[]

Moore's 2013 portrait

When Moore was 26, he was elected chair of the Cleveland County Republican Party in 1997. That same year, he was also appointed to the UNC Board of Governors; he was the youngest person to be appointed to that position.[2]

North Carolina House of Representatives[]

Moore was first elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives in 2002,[2] after defeating the incumbent House Majority Whip, Democratic Representative Andy Dedmon.[1] A staunch conservative Republican, Moore spent his first four terms in office in the minority party, as Democrats then controlled the House.[2] In 2010, the Republicans won control of the House, and Speaker Thom Tillis appointed Moore to the powerful post of chairman of the Rules Committee, where he became known for abruptly cutting off many floor debates.[2]

As part of the Republican leadership team in the House, Moore helped pass "sweeping legislation to lower taxes on business, tighten rules on abortion and voting, and decline to extend Medicaid coverage to 500,000 uninsured North Carolinians."[2] Moore opposes same-sex marriage, supported a state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in 2012, and joined legal efforts to defend the ban.[2] However, in 2017, when a group of the state House's most conservative Republicans proposed legislation that would declare "null and void" the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) (which held that there is a constitutional right to same-sex marriage), Moore blocked the bill from advancing in the state House.[4]

In 2014 Moore was one of the state House's biggest campaign fundraisers.[2] His skill at fundraising for the Republican Party contributed to his election as speaker of the North Carolina House in 2015.[2]

Moore and State Senator Harry Brown were the top two North Carolina lawmakers to gain substantial earmarked funding for their districts in the 2015 state budget, securing a collective total of $19 million. Moore defended his use of earmarks for projects in his district.[5]

Speaker of the House[]

Moore was a sponsor in 2016 of House Bill 2,[6] a controversial "bathroom bill" barring transgender individuals from using bathrooms that conform to their gender identity. After the U.S. Department of Justice said that the legislation violated federal anti-discrimination law and demanded that the state cease implemention,[7] Moore rejected the DOJ's position and accused the Obama administration of "bullying," saying, "The deadline will come and go. We will take no action."[8]

Moore has opposed curbs on gerrymandering in North Carolina. In a legal suit against partisan gerrymandering in the state, Moore and his state Senate counterpart (Republican Phil Berger) urged the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower court's ruling that the partisan gerrymandering of North Carolina's congressional districts was unconstitutional.[9][10]

In 2018, Moore won a third term as speaker of the House.[11]

In 2018, following a mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Moore established a North Carolina House Select Committee on School Safety.[12][13] Moore rejected Democratic proposals to discuss changes to gun laws,[14] and the committee never took up gun control proposals.[13] Moore instead proposed the use of volunteer officers to guard schools.[14]

In 2019, a controversy took place after emails came to light, showing that in 2016, a high-ranking aide to Moore had corresponded the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) about a Siler City chicken processing plant co-owned by Moore that was being offered for sale.[15][16] At the aide's request, DEQ approved the plant's participation in a state subsidy program that provided $22,000 for the repair of a leaking underground storage tank at the factory,[16] which may have aided in the sale of the plant.[15] The revelation prompted the Campaign for Accountability to file a complaint with the North Carolina State Ethics Commission.[15][16] Moore denied knowledge of the emails.[15][16] A previous complaint against Moore regarding the Siler City chicken plant was dismissed in 2018.[17]

In 2019, Democratic Governor Roy Cooper vetoed the state budget. On the morning of September 11, 2019 during a calendared legislative session Moore called a vote to override the veto of the state budget. The override passed on a vote of 55-9. Nearly half of members were absent during the vote, most of the absent members were Democrats.[18] Democrats in the state House were greatly angered by the Republicans' move, saying that Moore and other House Republican leaders had made assurances that no votes would be called during the morning session. Moore defended the vote and said that he had made no pledges that no vote would take place.[18] NC House Speaker Moore defends vote to override budget veto, WTVD (September 11, 2019).

Personal life[]

Moore is divorced, and has two sons.[1]

Corruption investigations[]

Moore has been the subject of numerous investigations for corruption and misuse of his office for personal gain. In 2015, the FBI opened an inquiry into mysterious unitemized charges on his campaign finance reports.[19] In 2019, Moore's aides improperly intervened with the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to benefit a property Moore owned.[20] Moore and his business partners soon sold that very property to Mountaire Farms, an Arkansas-based poultry conglomerate that is a major donor to North Carolina Republicans, for a 650% profit.[21]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Gary D. Robertson, Likely NC speaker talks honesty, bipartisanship, Associated Press (January 2, 2015).
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m Jim Morrill, Tim Moore set to jump from small town to big stage of N.C. House speaker, News & Observer (January 10, 2015).
  3. ^ Jim Morrill, NC House Speaker Tim Moore hired as Cleveland County attorney, Charlotte Observer (July 11, 2015).
  4. ^ Colin Campbell, Proposed gay marriage ban is dead in NC House, speaker says, News & Observer (April 13, 2017).
  5. ^ Colin Campbell, "NC House speaker, Senate budget writer send money home", Charlotte Observer, 25 October 2015, accessed 17 May 2016
  6. ^ "House Bill 2 / S.L. 2016-3". NCGA. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  7. ^ Colin Campbell (May 5, 2016). "NC leaders divided on whether they'll meet Obama administration's deadline on House Bill 2". Charlotte Observer.
  8. ^ Helmore, Edward. "North Carolina defiant over 'bathroom bill' deadline: 'We will take no action'". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  9. ^ Will Doran, NC legislative leaders to ask Supreme Court to halt judges' order to redraw districts, Charlotte Observer (August 29, 2018).
  10. ^ Tom Bullock, Speaker Moore Calls NC 'Model' For Redistricting, WFAE (January 17, 2018).
  11. ^ Moore Is Republicans' Choice For Another Speaker Term, WUNC (December 13, 2018).
  12. ^ Moore to create school safety committee, WRAL (February 16, 2018).
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b Lindsay Marchello, Democratic lawmakers urge conversation on gun-control legislation, Carolina Journal (August 6, 2018).
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b Lynn Bonner & Jordan Schrader, Dismissing gun law changes, a top lawmaker wants volunteer officers guarding NC schools, News & Observer (February 22, 2018).
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Dana Terry & Frank Stasio, NC House Speaker's Ethics Challenged Again After The Discovery Of Emails To DEQ, WUNC January 10, 2019.
  16. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Dan Kane & Will Doran, The state was reviewing Speaker Tim Moore's chicken plant. Then Moore's aide got involved., News & Observer (January 9, 2019).
  17. ^ Will Doran & Dan Kane, Moore denies knowledge of aide’s contacts with state; earlier ethics complaint dismissed, The Herald (January 10, 2019).
  18. ^ Jump up to: a b Dawn Baumgartner Vaughen, Lauren Horsche & Paul A. Specht, House overrides budget veto in surprise vote with almost half of lawmakers absent, News & Observer (September 11, 2019).
  19. ^ FBI to probe top House Republicans after WBTV investigation
  20. ^ Watchdog Again Calls for Investigation of House Speaker Tim Moore for Seeking Preferential Treatment from State Agency
  21. ^ Chickens in Raleigh
North Carolina House of Representatives
Preceded by
Andy Dedmon 		Member of the North Carolina House of Representatives from the 111th district
2003-present 		Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Thom Tillis 		Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives
2015–present 		Incumbent
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