Link-of-the-Day – Page 28 – Democracy North Carolina

LOD: Super Negative

Here’s a sobering statistic from a Washington Post report: “Four years ago, just 6 percent of campaign advertising in the GOP primaries amounted to attacks on other Republicans; in this election, that figure has shot up to more than 50 percent, according to an analysis of advertising trends.” Most of the money for the negative ads [...]

By Bob Hall| 2017-01-03T12:05:30-05:00 February 21st, 2012|Citizens United Case, Link-of-the-Day, Money in Politics, Pay to Play|0 Comments

LOD: Hearing Voices

NC House Speaker Thom Tillis deserves credit for his series of town hall meetings where he takes questions from the audience, including a sprinkling of dissenters. But his handlers apparently don’t want him exposed to an audience that is less overwhelmingly sympathetic to his message. Some voices are good, others are just not welcome, even [...]

By Bob Hall| 2017-01-03T12:05:30-05:00 February 20th, 2012|Civic Engagement, Ethics, Link-of-the-Day, Pay to Play|0 Comments

LOD: Against the Madness

The NC General Assembly came back to town today, as demonstrators protested the leadership’s lousy record of out-of-control mischief and “madness against schools,” “madness against workers,” “madness against voting rights,” “madness for fracking,” etc. The Associated Press provides a good overview, and News 14 has this video of the demonstration. Protestors later went inside the [...]

By Bob Hall| 2017-01-03T12:05:30-05:00 February 16th, 2012|Civic Engagement, Disclosure, Environmental Issues, Link-of-the-Day, Money in Politics, Voting Rights|0 Comments

LOD: Paying for the Tune Up

North Carolina’s election system is run by 100 county offices that oversee thousands of voting machines, train an army of poll workers, process millions of ballots, and solve a stream of problems that becomes a torrent on Election Day. It’s a system that needs regular maintenance tune ups, writes Damon Circosta of the NC Center [...]

By Bob Hall| 2017-01-03T12:05:30-05:00 February 15th, 2012|Civic Engagement, Get Out the Vote, Link-of-the-Day, Voting Rights|0 Comments

LOD: Leading Reform

The New Mexico legislature just passed a resolution calling on Congress to initiate a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. A blog entry from John Nichols of The Nation describes the significance of this action and how it fits into other efforts for an amendment and the larger outcry against corporate [...]

By Bob Hall| 2017-01-03T12:05:30-05:00 February 14th, 2012|Citizens United Case, Disclosure, Link-of-the-Day, Money in Politics|0 Comments

LOD: McCrory’s Opening Miscue

Guess where Pat McCrory ended his swing across the state, announcing the official start of his campaign for governor as the candidate who will “turn North Carolina around” and end the “corruption” of the Democrats? The trip finished in Wilmington, with a large McCrory rally at a pool hall and grill - which is owned [...]

By Bob Hall| 2012-02-09T15:32:23-05:00 February 9th, 2012|Ethics, Link-of-the-Day, Media Feed & Press Releases, Money in Politics, Pay to Play|0 Comments

LOD: Starving Elections

A bipartisan group of election officials from more than 85 counties sent a letter to NC General Assembly leaders late last week, urging them to release $4 million designated for improving the administration of the 2012 elections. The funds come from the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 and are in a NC bank [...]

By Bob Hall| 2012-02-07T09:13:11-05:00 February 7th, 2012|Civic Engagement, Link-of-the-Day, Media Feed & Press Releases, Voting Rights|0 Comments

LOD: Predatory Super PACs

Dozens of news stories are telling the horrific impact of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision on 2012’s election, and we’ve barely begun. Super PACs, billionaires, and front groups for who-knows-what are the oxygen that candidates rely on for their lives. They'll also have a chokehold on them if they are elected. Election attorney Rick Hasen [...]

By Bob Hall| 2017-01-03T12:05:30-05:00 February 3rd, 2012|Citizens United Case, Link-of-the-Day, Money in Politics, Pay to Play|0 Comments

LOD: Two Nasties, One Target

Here’s a strategy to simultaneously fight nasty political money and the nasty political ads they buy: Go after the broadcasters and make them pull any ad not completely substantiated with hard evidence. As a media expert explains, independent ads don’t enjoy the same protection from a broadcaster’s good-taste test as ads produced by candidates during [...]

By Bob Hall| 2012-01-31T21:48:42-05:00 January 31st, 2012|Citizens United Case, Disclosure, Ethics, Link-of-the-Day|0 Comments

LOD: Pope’s Blessing

An editorial writer for the Raleigh News & Observer handed Art Pope a bevy of compliments for his “humanitarian” philanthropy, extolling the list of “charities and universities the Pope Foundation blessed with $1.2 million in grants last year.” Alliance Medical Ministries - $10,000; Barium Springs Home for Children - $10,000; Blessed Sacrament School - $10,000; etc. [...]

By Bob Hall| 2017-01-03T12:05:30-05:00 January 26th, 2012|Ethics, Link-of-the-Day, Media Feed & Press Releases, Money in Politics|0 Comments