More details are coming out about how Art Pope intervened two weeks ago to kill the judicial public financing program. To stop Rep. Jonathan Jordan’s amendment that would have saved the program, it’s now apparent that Pope misled Jordan with a crucial falsehood - some might say a lie, although perhaps Pope was misinformed himself. [...]
Wow! Yesterday, Art Pope personally intervened to stop an amendment that would have saved the judicial public financing program from certain death. He came to the House Speaker’s office, pretending to act on behalf of the Governor in his role as McCrory's Budget Director. But the amendment had NO impact on the state budget. Pope [...]
The American Prospect magazine features a collection of articles about the South's changing political dynamics. Bob Moser, once with the NC Indy and now AP’s editor, writes the lead essay about the “End of the Solid South.” Chris Kromm and Sue Sturgis of the Institute for Southern Studies have a timely article about North Carolina’s [...]
In a bold move, 14 current NC Court of Appeals judges - Republicans and Democrats - have sent a joint letter to General Assembly leaders and Gov. Pat McCrory declaring their firm support for the judicial public financing program. In the letter, the judges note that the public financing system "helps restore public confidence in [...]
A new survey by a Republican polling firm finds that rascal legislators – especially Republican men - should think twice before destroying North Carolina’s embattled judicial public financing program. The poll, conducted by a firm that has worked for Sen. Jesse Helms and many leading conservatives, shows that 67 percent of Republican women especially like [...]
Yesterday, as the NC Senate voted to kill our state’s judicial public financing program, two West Virginia Republicans came to Raleigh to tell judges and legislators why their state just adopted essentially the same program to raise confidence in their judiciary and improve a sagging business climate. “The perception of judges being bought, rather than [...]
The movement against the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling continues to gain strength across the nation. Twelve states have already introduced resolutions at the state level calling on Congress to overturn the controversial decision, and there are efforts underway to make Wisconsin number thirteen. Similar efforts are underway here in N.C. To date, fourteen [...]
Former Governors Jim Holshouser (R) and Jim Hunt (D) have an op-ed column in the Greensboro and Wilmington newspapers that lays out the case for keeping the judicial public financing program. It begins, “As former governors, we often disagree. But here's one area where we strongly agree: We don't want the integrity of our courts [...]
Our state’s successful judicial public financing program is a national model, replicated in several states, but several bills in the General Assembly would kill it. The program provides a statewide voter guide and an alternative source of campaign funds for appellate court candidates who abide by certain public trust conditions. Here’s an update from NC Voters [...]
In case you’ve been waiting to see the much anticipated “Screw the Voter Act of 2013,” it was filed today by Rep. Edgar Starnes, NC House Majority Leader. This is not the voter ID bill, that’s coming later. This is actually a bill to Promote Voter Fraud! House Bill 451 creates new barriers to Early Voting, which [...]