Someone in the Cooper Administration stealth edited a press release to restore a link to an HB2 related document last week.

In the course of looking up information regarding the repeal of HB2 for an article I was writing on Netflix trying to revive that subject,  I discovered that a link to a related document was missing from one of Governor Cooper’s press releases.

A March 31, 2017 press release at one time had a link to a document called the “HB2 repeal fact sheet.”

I had downloaded that fact sheet at the time the press release came out, but when I went back earlier this month to look at the related press release, the document was no longer linked.

The HB2 repeal document was still available on the Governor’s site –  if one searched the whole site for it.

The Wayback Machine narrowed down when the link when missing. At some point after the initial release of March 31 and before August 16, 2017, the link was removed by someone with access to the website.

August 8, 2017

I tweeted to Ford Porter and the Governor and, per usual, received no response. I also emailed my question and again, no response.

Last week, after tweeting daily about the missing link, it was magically restored with no explanation.

January 17, 2019

That’s called stealth editing and this is a public record. Someone in the Cooper administration needs to explain themselves.

While they are explaining how they altered a public document, they can explain how they repeatedly ignore my formal requests for comment and blew off my public records requests for almost a year.

I don’t know how other freelance reporters or citizens are handled by this administration, but Cooper’s office has never responded to any email inquiries, phone call or tweet I’ve sent to them.  Not one.

This is open communication and transparency from the former Attorney General who helped pen the “North Carolina Guide To Open and Public Records?”

This kind of non-responsiveness would be headline news had it been a Republican. I guess the Coop-o-meter squad is too busy navel-gazing than to check out the governor’s staff stealth editing a public record.

Since this document went missing once already from Roy Cooper’s website, I’ve archived a copy and also placed it in my Scribd account: