An audit of the petitions delivered to the North Carolina governor’s mansion in April, in protest of the HB2 “bathroom bill” shows that there were more than 185,000 signatures. It would seem the bill is very unpopular, and it is…

In California.

According to North State Journal:

“In an audit of the petitions against House Bill 2 delivered to the N.C. governor’s mansion on April 25, Californians submitted more than five times the number of opposing petitions than North Carolinians did on the North Carolina law. The audit was obtained by North State Journal through a public records request and shows that the West Coast state delivered more opponents to House Bill 2 than the next 10 states combined.”

Those backing the petition drive are the usual progressive suspects: The Human Rights Campaign, the Campaign for Southern Equality, and the ACLU of North Carolina.

Having outside states – in this case, a failing socialist state on the opposite coast – reach all the way over to North Carolina to try and tell us how to live is both laughable and infuriating. It is those same outside, special interests that are pouring money into the campaign coffers of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper.

“The petition audit comes the same week Gov. Pat McCrory’s campaign called on Attorney General Roy Cooper to resign, calling his refusal to defend the state in the lawsuits over H.B. 2 ‘gross negligence.’ The call comes after Cooper filed a notice in federal court saying he plans to defend the state, and then publicly said he did not. He quickly qualified the filing saying he only submitted it to buy the state enough time to file a federal complaint on the issue. Cooper has repeatedly said he would not defend the state because he disagreed with the law. Last week he filed a request for an extension on the time allotted to the state to respond to a federal lawsuit. However the 30-day window was not expiring, leading some to speculate about his motives.

‘It is at least a tacit admission that the attorney general has a duty to defend the state of North Carolina,’ said Sen. Buck Newton (R-Wilson), who is the Republican nominee for attorney general for the November election. ‘I believe the real reason is that he rightfully is being criticized for not doing his job, and he is trying to deflect attention away from the fact that he is not.’”

Whatever the reason behind Cooper’s sudden sense of duty, it’s never a good thing when the majority of those you get to support you are those who aren’t from your home state and are not entirely vested in your state’s well-being.