News & Observer: Bob Phillips, Tar Heel of the Year finalist, is a voice for open elections and reform

In a courtroom overlooking downtown Raleigh earlier this summer, Bob Phillips testified about feeling tricked by some of the politicians who were once among his most vocal allies for reforming state government.

Phillips has been the executive director of the North Carolina branch of Common Cause, a national government watchdog group, for the last 18 years. He knows well the powerful lawmakers he was accusing of unfairly rigging the state’s legislative districts.

They included Republican leaders like Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, House Speaker Tim Moore and Rep. David Lewis. In the mid-2000s, when Democrats controlled the legislature, Phillips teamed up with them and other Republicans to advocate for ending partisan gerrymandering.

“To make a reference to Charlie Brown and Lucy, Charlie Brown tries to kick the football, Lucy yanks it away,” Phillips, 62, told the panel of state superior court judges overseeing the lawsuit Common Cause and others brought against the legislature over gerrymandering.

North Carolina redraws its Congressional and legislative districts after each U.S. Census. So when Republicans swept into power in the 2010 elections, they were perfectly poised to use the same lax rules Democrats had used to orchestrate the maps in their own favor. They suddenly lost the appetite for reform.

“I kind of felt like that was how the legislature was yanking away the opportunity for us to pass redistricting reform,” Phillips testified. “So we felt like litigation was a remedy to actually get something done.”

People had told Phillips not to sue — that it might not work, and he would risk destroying his old relationships with Republican leaders. But Phillips turned out to be right.

In a ruling that made national headlines, the three judges unanimously agreed: The state legislature districts had been drawn to give Republicans such a lopsided advantage that they violated the North Carolina Constitution’s guarantee of free elections.

Republican lawmakers did not appeal the ruling. Instead, they went on to conduct what was unquestionably the most transparent redistricting process in state history, drawing new legislative districts with the public allowed to observe. They did it again just weeks later, using similar rules to redraw North Carolina’s 13 Congressional districts.

It was a major win for government reform advocates. The 2020 elections, for both the state legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives, will play out under more equitable maps that were drawn with historic transparency.

For Phillips’ work in bringing about that change, as well as spending the past two decades pushing for government reforms even as both political parties have pushed back, Phillips was a finalist for The News & Observer’s 2019 Tar Heel of the Year. The honor recognizes North Carolina residents who have made lasting and significant contributions in the state and beyond.

“He’s what’s good about politics,” Dennis Wicker told The News & Observer in an interview. Wicker, a Democrat, served as lieutenant governor from 1993 to 2000 and considered Phillips a trusted advisor, then and now.
“He understands public service starts with fair elections and open elections,” Wicker said. “He’s a true believer that great public service is born from a strong and fair democracy.” …

While Phillips worked with Wicker in the ’90s, he spent much of the 2000s working with Republicans — or on his own — trying to convince wary Democratic leaders to pass reforms. It’s that history of bipartisanship, as well as Phillips’ ability to make convincing arguments using facts and logic, instead of emotion, that makes him so good at what he does, said Sanford economic developer Bob Joyce.

Joyce is the former head of the Chamber of Commerce in Lee County, a conservative, blue collar area southwest of Raleigh. Phillips has come to speak with local business leaders multiple times, Joyce said, and is always well-received by people across the political spectrum.

“That skill, of being able to support your position with facts, is the main currency of successful lobbying, and I think Bob was always trusted by people on both sides of the aisle,” Joyce said.