Sweethearts of the Tea Party elected to Congress last November have quickly become water carriers for heavy duty lobbyists and special interests. And they are cashing in like the veterans. So much for their promises of integrity or changing the system; if anything, these guys are even deeper in the pocket of Wall Street and [...]
A coalition of advocacy groups spanning the political spectrum and a bipartisan group of state legislators held a press conference today to unveil their proposal (H-824) for North Carolina to adopt a nonpartisan redistricting commission similar to the one used for decades in Iowa. The press conference featured chief sponsors Rep. Rick Glazier and Rep. [...]
Day of Action: This Wednesday. After sending some mixed signals last week, Republican leaders waved off a possible compromise with Democrats on the photo ID bill. They’ve decided to line up with the Art Pope-financed advocacy groups and freshmen legislators who apparently hope requiring a government-issued ID will create enough confusion at the polls to [...]
The Center for Public Integrity has just released an in-depth investigative report on the sprawling, worldwide business operations of the Koch family, patrons of far-right groups descending from the John Birch Society. Ironically, brothers David and Charles Koch are happy to take government subsidies and spend millions to lobby for special tax breaks and protection [...]
The federal Fair Elections Now Act was introduced in Congress on Wednesday, followed by a press conference featuring actor Alec Baldwin calling for an alternative to politics dominated by special-interest fundraising. The bill provides a path for ordinary community leaders to become viable candidates and national policy makers, thanks to a program that matches small [...]
Duke Energy is feeling heat from both sides of the political spectrum. The company wants to become the largest electric utility in the US, through a merger with Progress Energy, but conservatives want Duke CEO Jim Rogers fired. They don't like his support for regulating carbon emissions, his executive team's multiple ethical violations, and (probably [...]
Republicans in Raleigh are reviving their push for a hard-line bill that would require voters to show a government-issued photo ID each time they vote. There was a brief moment where Republicans seemed to recognize that accepting a broader range of ID documents would be fine, but the zealots’ perspective has apparently prevailed: North Carolina [...]
If you're doing your taxes this weekend (or later), don't forget to check the $3 question on the NC income tax form about the NC Public Campaign Fund. Checking YES does not change your tax or refund; it just transfers $3 to the Fund from what you're paying anyway. The Fund pays for the judicial voter guide [...]
The problem with politics in America boils down to this: General Electric piled up $14 billion in profits last year and paid ZERO in income taxes; GE’s chief executive Jeffrey Immelt, who coordinated the massive political effort to win those tax breaks, received millions in salary and an appointment by Barack Obama to head up [...]
Noted constitutional law professor Richard Hazen (host of Election Law Blog) has written an essay for Slate that probes the rationale behind US Supreme Court rulings on cases involving political spending and contributions. The Court should protect the First Amendment “free speech” rights of individuals to support candidates, but it also must protect a free [...]