If you haven’t seen this already, here’s a rundown of the wonderful things happening in North Carolina that the billionaire Koch brothers hope to replicate in other states. Not that they’ve given up on controlling the US Senate, White House, several major newspapers, energy policy . . . the list goes on. But their current [...]
Why does the beer industry spend so much money on political campaigns in North Carolina? There aren’t nearly as many breweries as, say, auto dealerships but the beer boys pour in the money way out of proportion to their size in the state’s economy. The NC Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association PAC handed out $204,000 [...]
Bob Hall from Democracy North Carolina was on the WUNC’s “State of Things” radio show today, talking about the mysteries surrounding sweepstakes moneyman Chase Burns and the unfolding investigation into gambling money in NC politics, including the possible involvement of Gov. Pat McCrory and his former lobby/law firm. The second part of the show moves into [...]
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 [...]
The new Republican-majority State Board of Elections took office today and quickly elected attorney Josh Howard as its chair. Partisan wrangling broke out over the selection of the new executive director to replace the 20-year veteran Gary Bartlett. Bartlett is nationally recognized for upgrading the state’s voting system, increasing professional management of county election offices, [...]
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 Associated Press has a story on the wire tonight that builds on an investigative report by Democracy North Carolina from last month, as well as substantial additional material we provided the AP reporter. There's more to be told, but the AP story for tonight begins: “State elections officials are calling for an investigation of [...]
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 [...]