Piles of money from pro-Democratic sources could not overcome the deeply conservative make-up of the Congressional district that on Tuesday elected tarnished former SC Gov. Mark Sanford over Elizabeth Colbert Busch. Groups backing Busch spent nearly $1 million on mostly negative broadcast ads, about five times the spending by outside groups supporting Sanford. Busch also [...]
Amid prayers, songs, and speeches condemning a litany of new policies attacking the poor, seventeen protesters were arrested as they blocked the giant gold doors leading into the state Senate chamber. Adam Sotak of Democracy North Carolina joined the Rev. William J. Barber II of the NC NAACP and 15 others who followed the tradition [...]
On Monday morning, April 22, Democracy North Carolina’s executive director Bob Hall filed a formal request with the State Board of Elections to investigate possible illegal behavior related to campaign contributions by donors connected with the sweepstakes café industry. The call for investigation follows two research reports released by Democracy NC on March 18 and March [...]
The chair of the Stanly County Board of Elections sets Lt. Gov. Dan Forest straight about provisional ballots in this column. In an earlier column, Forest revealed an embarrassing ignorance of election law when he claimed that provisional ballots are arbitrarily counted or discounted, without any standard, and a photo ID requirement would be the [...]
This week ends on Good Friday with a press conference in a church, sponsored by the NAACP, Democracy NC and others, pointing out the fraud of state legislators trying to steal people’s right to vote by manipulating the election system – yet justice will rise triumphant! The respond to these hostile bills filed earlier this week [...]
New research by Democracy North Carolina reveals more ties between Gov. Pat McCrory’s 2012 election campaign and the corruption scandal that caused Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll of Florida to resign two weeks ago. Last week, Gov. McCrory said $8,000 was being sent to a Durham charity to purge his campaign account of the $8,000 donated [...]
The man at the center of a national gambling scandal that caused Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll of Florida to resign last week played a surprisingly large – and mysterious – role in financing North Carolina politicians in 2012, according to new research by the election reform group Democracy North Carolina: ● Chase E. Burns, owner [...]
If you think some of the shenanigans by heavyweights like Duke Energy and the NC General Assembly are beyond wacko, you’re not alone. Uncle Sam may have your back. The federal government has a way of slowing down implementation of many unethical practices, which should encourage you to speak up, too. In the case of Duke Energy, the [...]
WRAL-TV has created a searchable database of the major stockholdings listed by NC legislators and other state officials on their ethics disclosure forms. For example, eight legislators disclosed owning at least $10,000 worth of stock in Duke Energy or Progress Energy – although the amounts may be much higher, and smaller amounts held by others [...]
After a review of the changing landscape in the NC General Assembly, reporter Jordan Green of YES! Weekly provides an in-depth analysis of the NC Republican House Campaign Committee. According to its plan of organization, it is responsible for “recruiting candidates and raising funds for use in electing Republicans to the North Carolina House.” Donations [...]