For anyone who has been following the ongoing battle between the state of North Carolina and the Obama administration’s Department of (social) Justice over transgender bathroom access, you know the conflict has collided with the state’s gubernatorial race.

Governor Pat McCrory, a Republican, signed House Bill 2 into law in late March. The bill stopped an ordinance voted in by a liberal Charlotte city council, that would have made all city bathrooms gender neutral. This would include bathrooms and locker rooms at city schools.

With HB2 law, bathrooms are kept separated by the sex an individual was born to, and what was listed on their birth certificate. Private businesses are free to set whatever bathroom policies they wanted, however.

Common sense.

Attorney General for North Carolina, Roy Cooper, the Democrat opponent of McCrory in this race for the top seat in Raleigh, publicly sided with liberal groups and Obama’s cadre of social justice warriors, refusing to defend the state against a lawsuit brought by the DOJ in May.

An interesting side note: At the time the conflict began, Cooper held a lead over McCrory in the polls by several points. The latest Civitas Institute poll, however, shows McCrory’s handling of the economy and his firm stance on the HB2 issue has powered him up to a 7-point lead, heading into the month of June.

Maybe AG Cooper had an epiphany. Maybe he just changed his mind. Then again, and most likely, maybe his misread of what North Carolina’s citizens value caused his poll numbers to drop and he’s trying to regain lost ground.

Whatever the case, Cooper has reversed course and now is prepared to do his job and defend the state of North Carolina, rather than play lackey to outside special interests.

A statement released by Governor McCrory’s office today reads as follows:

“On the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, Attorney General Roy Cooper told a federal court that his office intends to appear on behalf of the State of North Carolina in the lawsuit involving the U.S. Department of Justice. This quiet reversal of the Attorney General’s public position comes after his office repeatedly indicated he would not defend the state in any lawsuit involving a common-sense law to protect privacy in bathrooms, locker rooms and shower facilities.

His filings also indicate that his office engaged in conversations with the U.S. Department of Justice prior to entering the case. The Attorney General reversed his position without consulting any of the defendants in the lawsuit, and he did not make any public announcement that he had entered the case to represent the State of North Carolina.

Both the Attorney General and his campaign made public statements as recently as yesterday that undermine the state’s position and contradict the legal filings by his office. Therefore, in light of the conflicting statements by the Attorney General, Governor McCrory filed notice in federal court that his administration intends to represent and defend the State of North Carolina in its lawsuit.”

While it’s so nice of Roy Cooper to suddenly recognize that his job isn’t campaigning, it’s to defend the state of North Carolina, I would be really cautious going forward, if I were Governor McCrory.

I’m not a lawyer, and I’m certainly no politician, but if I were involved in a legal case and a lawyer had spent weeks telling the whole world I was guilty and an awful person, I wouldn’t be completely comfortable with that person stepping up to serve as my counsel the next day.

Knowing how corrupt the Obama administration is, and knowing about the outside money that has been funding Cooper’s campaign, I’d label this one suspicious, at best.