Roy Cooper

Editorial Summary

(from candidate's website) Attorney General Roy Cooper works hard every day to make North Carolina a safe place to live and raise a family, and his lifetime of service shows it.He was sworn in as Attorney General in 2001 with a promise to fight crime, to advocate for victims and to stop con artists from ripping off our state’s most vulnerable residents and he has kept that promise. He has expanded DNA technology, and opened the first computer forensics lab at the SBI to catch murderers, rapists and child predators. He has provided law enforcement and teacher training to make schools safer and his Address Confidentiality Program is helping to protect victims of domestic violence. Since he has become Attorney General, he has recovered more than $60 million in restitution for consumers and he has stopped scams and frauds throughout North Carolina, saving consumers millions more. Before he became Attorney General, Roy Cooper had already set a high standard by pushing through tough crime laws and consumer protections during his 14 years of service in the state legislature where he was Senate Majority Leader and chairman of the Judiciary and Ethics committees. His work as a state legislator included writing the Crime Victims Bill of Rights to give victims a say in the criminal justice system. He gave North Carolina the nation’s toughest money lending law to protect homeowners from enormous fees and unfair hidden charges. He revamped the juvenile justice system to make sentences tougher and keep troubled kids off the streets. Roy Cooper was born in Nash County, NC in 1957, attended public schools and worked summers cropping tobacco. His mother, Beverly Cooper, worked as a school teacher and his father, Roy Cooper Jr., farmed and practiced law in Nashville, the county seat. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a Morehead Scholar, and after graduating from law school he went back home to practice law with his family law firm. As a result of his performance as a courtroom attorney, Martindale-Hubbell awarded him an AV rating, its highest mark. He has been involved in a full array of church and civic activities. He is a Sunday School teacher and has served as an elder and deacon. He tutors children at a local elementary school and has led fundraising drives for the March of Dimes, Barium Springs Home for Children and the United Way. Roy Cooper and his wife Kristin have three daughters, Hilary, 22, Natalie, 13, and Claire, 11, all of whom attend North Carolina schools.