The evidence of inappropriate behavior is mounting: Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas not only attended an expense-paid strategy retreat with the Koch brothers and their corporate friends before the Citizens United ruling; it turns out that back in 1991 Citizens United spent $100,000 to support Thomas’ nomination to the Supreme Court. As [...]
Who are the voters most likely to face possible disenfranchisement by a Republican proposal to require NC voters to show a government-issued photo ID each time they vote? In early February, the State Board of Elections matched its database of registered voters with records at the Division of Motor Vehicles and learned that 1 million [...]
Which state legislative seats will change the most? Detailed numbers from the 2010 Census are now available down to the block level for North Carolina. They show big population gains in metropolitan areas, modest increases in most other areas, but declines in several northeastern counties. It’s not easy navigating the new system of queries on [...]
Here’s a nifty video that makes sense of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision – and explains the need for a Constitutional amendment to clarify that corporations don’t have “free speech” rights as “people” to spend unlimited money buying elections. There are a number of other links from the site for Free Speech for People, [...]
Democracy North Carolina weighs in on the controversial proposal to build special jetties or “terminal groins” near coastal inlets: Our media release today documents the millions of campaign dollars given by vacation homeowners advocating for the groins, and we caution legislators, especially those who say they’re against pay-to-play politics, please evaluate this legislation based on [...]
Want to read a case that’s being argued at the US Supreme Court? Here’s a link to an amicus brief (or ‘friend of court’ filing) by judges from 10 states who argue that the Court should not throw out the rescue funds provision in public financing programs for judicial elections. The provision provides for the [...]
The pushback continues against the Republican plan to purge unwanted voters from North Carolina and other states. The Texas Observer features our day of action at the NC General Assembly in its short report about the GOP’s 20-state crusade; it also includes quotes from election administrators in Iowa and Wisconsin who explain the multiple safeguards [...]
How much did Art Pope and his co-conspirators spend to flip the General Assembly? The pro-business NC FreeEnterprise Foundation has crunched more numbers and concludes, “The total amount spent by 11 outside groups vying to influence the outcome of elections for the State Legislature was $2,635,297.86, with nearly 92 percent of those funds being used [...]
You can listen to two 10-minute segments of a secretly taped conversation in which Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker gushes about his bust-the-union strategies with a prankster playing the role of David Koch, the billionaire patron of Americans for Prosperity and numerous politicians. Walker describes various plans to trick and pressure Democrats; he encourages Koch to [...]
A poll of North Carolina voters indicates a large majority believe campaign contributions influence how judges rule in cases. By a 2.5-to-1 ratio, voters would also look unfavorably on state legislators who voted to eliminate North Carolina’s innovative judicial public financing program. The press release highlights a number of other questions in the poll sponsored by [...]