The first thing the mega-millionaires who financed the winners this November will go after is more money for themselves. They’ll call it tax relief for small business, but it’s really a further shift of US resources into the hands of a tiny elite. Nothing exposes the corruption of American politics more plainly than how politicians [...]
“Follow the money. It tells a story – and it’s not a pretty one.” WRAL-TV in Raleigh looks at the spike in special-interest donations pouring into the campaign accounts of Republican leaders in the NC General Assembly in the final two months of the election. The head of the NC Dental Society explains his PAC [...]
The Institute for Southern Studies has another report on Art Pope’s use of corporate and personal donations to spread lies and depress voter turnout by pumping up the “negatives” of state Democratic candidates. This is how you purchase election outcomes through deceit, but of course it didn’t begin with this election cycle and is not [...]
A quick report by Public Citizen points out the significant role of the unprecedented spending by outside groups in US House and Senate contests on November 2. In 58 of the 74 elections where party control changed, the winning candidate got more support from non-party, outside group(s) than the loser. A press release with the [...]
In a state where half the registered voters typically do not vote, relatively small swings in the activism of sub-groups of voters can have a big impact. In 2008, the exceptional turnout among African-American women and youth led the way to sweeping victories for Tar Heel Democrats. In 2010, Republican enthusiasm and disinterest among youth [...]
The election of the decade is nearly over: The political party that wins majority control of the NC General Assembly will use new Census data to redraw political district lines to maximize its ability to win legislative and Congressional elections for the next decade. That’s one reason why the battles are so intense and complaints [...]
A segment on NPR today exposes a nasty example of public policy for sale to private interests. It turns out that private prison officials, along with a shadowy group nicknamed ALEC, basically wrote Arizona's controversial new anti-immigration law as a revenue generator; they envisioned special prisons for women and children, among other things. Thirty of [...]
Two front-page stories by the Raleigh News & Observer highlight the perspective of the forces dominating this year's election cycle: make voting for poor people harder and the influence of big-money political donors easier. The first story describes Tea Party supporters in Raleigh harassing Chavis Park voters by writing down their names, asking them questions, [...]
The money keeps pouring in, setting all kinds of records – in state legislative races and nationally. Conservative investors who previously shied away from sinking large amounts into elections are writing big fat checks: the buyout of American democracy is on! On the national level, many of the investors have been involved, in one way [...]
Two websites provide background and instructions, including a video, about the Instant Runoff Voting method being used this year in three local Superior Court races and one statewide Court of Appeals election. The Court of Appeals race, which is the nation’s first use of IRV in a statewide general election, has a certain historical fascination. [...]