Following up Friday’s posting about the public campaign financing case in the US Supreme Court, here are stories about Monday’s arguments written by the Associated Press, Washington Post and New York Times. The same five justices who twisted common sense and judicial precedent to open the door for massive corporate spending in elections were ready [...]
The US Supreme Court will hear arguments on Monday about the constitutionality of the matching (or rescue) funds provision in Arizona’s public financing program. We have a similar provision in our North Carolina programs, so the ultimate decision (expected in late summer) will affect us, too. The Brennan Center has an overview of the issues [...]
A significant number of legislators in Raleigh seem determined to help big political donors gut regulations and overturn state laws that protect consumers, public health and the environment. The poor state of accessible campaign finance data makes it difficult to track the pay-to-play culture, but Democracy North Carolina has highlighted the undue influence in several [...]
The proposal to make NC voters show a government-issued photo ID is gaining widespread condemnation by editorial boards across the state. Read these recent editorials from the major newspapers in Asheville, Greensboro, Raleigh, and Wilmington. Smaller papers in places like Ahoskie and little Washington are also covering the issue. The head of the NC Republican [...]
Thanks to the leadership of Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the sustained agitation of citizen activists, there are now positive signs that the New York legislature could adopt a public financing program for state elections during this legislative cycle. The program will likely follow the model used in New York City elections, where small-dollar donations raised [...]
Here’s a weekend adventure: Explore how the State of North Carolina spends your tax dollars, who gets the big contracts or grants for doing what, and what tax revenues are lost because of loopholes or special breaks (these are called “tax expenditures”). The NC Open Book website is rated among the best in the nation [...]
Here’s a sobering essay from Forbes magazine (“the capitalist tool”) about a two-pronged plan by the super-rich in the U.S. to gain even more political clout and wealth at the expense of the middle and working classes. Business publications (like Business Week and Fortune) are so much more straightforward in explaining how capitalism works than [...]
Context is always important. These two columns in national publications provide valuable context and important insights into what are the reasonable limits of a code of ethical conduct for Supreme Court justices and what are unreasonable restrictions on voting. The column about voting includes the conservative Cato Institute’s worry that the misplaced drumbeat for a [...]
Is there a national effort to make voting harder for young people? The head of Generation18 provides an overview of the issue and the anti-voter efforts across the country, as well as a plea for deeper civics education in our schools. Closer to home, Charlotte WBTV has a cover story on how the issue is [...]
The Independent Weekly this week features a blockbuster series of investigative stories about the Art Pope empire. One big shocker: Pope failed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes on his foundation’s earnings for YEARS, eventually begging the IRS for forgiveness with various lame excuses. So Pope turns out to be a miserly [...]