Link-of-the-Day – Page 27 – Democracy North Carolina

LOD: Guns, Money and ALEC

The gun lobby nurtures fear to make money and increases its profits through a partnership with the American Legislative Exchange Council, writes Paul Krugman of the New York Times. Florida’s radical version of ALEC’s boilerplate Castle Doctrine legislation cost young Trayvon Martin his life, but it is paying off for gun makers, gun dealers, the [...]

By Bob Hall| 2017-01-03T12:05:29-05:00 March 26th, 2012|Link-of-the-Day, Lobbying, Money in Politics, Pay to Play|0 Comments

LOD: Toxic Mix in Raleigh

Despite promises of cleaning up what it called a “pay-to-play culture in Raleigh,” the new leadership in the General Assembly has done nothing to strengthen ethics or campaign finance laws. It hasn’t even enacted stronger disclosure laws to help the public’s right to know how money flows through the political system. Instead, as the Independent Weekly [...]

By Bob Hall| 2012-03-22T07:53:18-04:00 March 22nd, 2012|Disclosure, Environmental Issues, Ethics, Link-of-the-Day, Lobbying, Money in Politics, Pay to Play|0 Comments

LOD: Broadband Bandits

A new report by the National Institute on Money in State Politics examines the money behind the telecommunications industry’s recent success in passing legislation to restrict local governments from building broadband networks that hooked local businesses and residents to the Internet, even in areas long ignored by the private providers. According to the report, “The [...]

By Bob Hall| 2012-03-21T06:56:17-04:00 March 21st, 2012|Ethics, Link-of-the-Day, Lobbying, Money in Politics, Pay to Play|0 Comments

LOD: Trickle-Down Immorality

Last week brought a flurry of reporting about the moral decay of America's economic and political culture; the politics of greed is at the heart of the problem and the right target for the Occupy Movement and others. Somewhere in the 1980s, thanks to leadership at the top ranks of business and government, the transition accelerated [...]

By Bob Hall| 2012-03-19T18:43:54-04:00 March 19th, 2012|Civic Engagement, Ethics, Link-of-the-Day, Money in Politics, Pay to Play|0 Comments

LOD: Judicial Restraint

The Obama Justice Department on Monday blocked implementation of the voter ID law adopted in Texas, using a similar rationale to their objection to the version passed in South Carolina: Research shows that people of color will be much more heavily impacted than whites by the state’s new restriction. The Charlotte Observer’s editorial praises the [...]

By Bob Hall| 2012-03-13T22:52:22-04:00 March 13th, 2012|Link-of-the-Day, Voting Rights|0 Comments

LOD: More Sunshine, Please

The Center for Responsive Politics follows the “Shadow Money Trail” through the annual reports of foundations and business associations in order to uncover some of the millions spent by the Koch-Pope-Americans for Prosperity network for political advertising – but the source of most of the money remains hidden. What can be done? Even New Bern’s [...]

By Bob Hall| 2017-01-03T12:05:29-05:00 March 12th, 2012|Citizens United Case, Disclosure, Link-of-the-Day, Money in Politics|0 Comments

LOD: Fraud Claims

Advocates for requiring photo ID checks at the polls may delight in a news story breaking in Statesville, where a city council member is charged with voter fraud along with his sister and two of her family members. But all these voters cast ballots in their own names; requiring them to flash a photo document with [...]

By Bob Hall| 2017-01-03T12:05:29-05:00 March 7th, 2012|Civic Engagement, Disclosure, Ethics, Link-of-the-Day, Money in Politics, Pay to Play, Voting Rights|0 Comments

LOD: Laughable Madness

The impact of last year’s crop of voter suppression laws is showing up in various states in bizarre and disastrous ways. The Colbert Report profiles a Florida teacher charged with voter fraud for registering her students and failing to get the forms to the elections agency within 48 hours instead of the old 10-day deadline. [...]

By Bob Hall| 2017-01-03T12:05:30-05:00 March 2nd, 2012|Civic Engagement, Link-of-the-Day, Voting Rights, Youth Vote|0 Comments

LOD: Secrecy & Pay-to-Play

House Speaker Thom Tillis left out loads of information about his donors when he filed his campaign disclosure report for the last half of 2011. He got called out by Democracy NC and others; he said he’d fix the report and file an amendment. Well, the new report is in and there are still lots [...]

By Bob Hall| 2012-02-28T22:18:25-05:00 February 28th, 2012|Disclosure, Link-of-the-Day, Media Feed & Press Releases, Money in Politics, Pay to Play|0 Comments

LOD: The Good & the Dead

A quick look from the news: Here are two examples of splendid editorials from North Carolina papers – one from the Charlotte Observer about good ways to hold Super PACs accountable for their wacko ads, and one from the Winston-Salem Journal about the bad ways Speaker Thom Tillis’ behaves as a leader in government. And [...]

By Bob Hall| 2017-01-03T12:05:30-05:00 February 24th, 2012|Civic Engagement, Ethics, Link-of-the-Day, Money in Politics, Voting Rights|0 Comments