RALEIGH — No stranger to swearing oaths, Scott Brewer took another on Wednesday.
While he’s used to taking an oath as a judge, this time it was as a representative in the N.C. House.
“It was an interesting experience … but it was enjoyable,” Brewer said Thursday morning.
With his daughters Lauren and Leanne holding the Bible, and wife Karen nearby, Brewer took the oath from N.C. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Ervin, whom he met through the College Democrats. Brewer was a student at UNC-Chapel Hill and Ervin studied at Davidson.
Brewer was appointed late Tuesday by Gov. Roy Cooper to fill out the remainder of now-former Rep. Ken Goodman’s term, representing Richmond and Montgomery counties and a sliver of eastern Stanly County.
The state House Democratic Executive Committee, a six-member group comprised of two members from each county in the district, selected Brewer over Dobbins Heights Mayor Antonio Blue, Martha Sue Hall of Stanly County and Tony Charpentier of Montgomery County.
“I think it speaks well for the district that so many people … were willing to serve,” Brewer said.
He had his first caucus meeting at 11 a.m. and was formally introduced in the House shortly after it went into session at noon.
“Scott’s knowledge of the law and the legislative process will serve him will in the General Assembly,” Goodman said. “I wish him well.”
Goodman recently resigned his seat, after being re-elected in November, following his appointment in late February to the N.C. Industrial Commission by Cooper.
He previously told the RO that he wasn’t planning to move to the commission but was approached by several people and asked if he would be interested in serving. When he answered in the affirmative, they submitted his name to the governor.
He will be part of a six-member board — made up of three individuals from the employee side and three from the employer side, with Goodman being from the latter — that hears workers’ compensation claims in the state.
Goodman was first elected to the House seat in 2010. Before him, the seat was held for a combined seven terms by current state Democratic Party Chairman Wayne Goodwin (four) and his wife, Melanie (three).
Melanie Goodwin recently became the commission’s chief deputy commissioner.
It had been 17 years and one month since Brewer’s daughters held the Bible when he was first sworn in as a district court judge.
He spent the rest of the day taking care of paperwork and getting a crash course on how things work on the House floor.
“(I was) trying to get up to speed as quickly as I can …I had a lot of homework,” he said.
Brewer added that it was the perfect day to do it, since the legislature wasn’t in session.
He also took time to visit with the handful of Richmond County educators who attended the “Day of Action” to protest for, among other things, a raise in pay.
Before attending law school at Campbell University, Brewer worked for U.S. Sen. Robert Morgan in 1980.
The following year, he was on the sergeant-at-arms staff of the N.C. General Assembly, “and I’ve always had an interest ever since.”
Although he never expected to have the opportunity to return, Brewer said at least now he knows his way around the labyrinthine corridors of the legislative building.
After obtaining his law degree in 1984, Brewer searched for a job and eventually went to work for Womble Carlyle in Winston-Salem, which was the state’s largest law firm at the time.
While representing large corporations, Brewer said he wanted the chance to be in a courtroom, so he left the city to be an assistant district attorney.
He first served as a prosecutor under Carroll Lowder in a district covering Richmond, Moore, Anson, Union and Stanly counties, then under Ken Honeycutt.
After serving as an ADA from 1987-2002, Brewer was elected as a district court judge, a position he retained until his retirement last November. Six of those years were as chief district court judge.
“I knew I would be doing something else but didn’t know what it would be,” he said. “I knew I was too young to sit around the house.”
Since his judicial districts never included Montgomery County, Brewer said he looks forward to meeting the people there and reacquainting with “old friends” in Stanly.
When asked if he was planning to run in the next election, Brewer replied: “Absolutely.”
“I never would have sought the nomination if I hadn’t planned to keep the seat,” he added.
Brewer invites all constituents to stop by his office whenever they’re at the legislature.
