The Senate took a preliminary vote late Wednesday to pass the monster bill that aims to limit voting and expand ways for big money to influence North Carolina elections. This WRAL story gives a rundown of the provisions in the bill (H-589) and the action on the Senate floor. The Senate will take up the [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Do you think it’s hopeless to challenge the advantage of big money in politics, especially after the Citizens United decision? Mark Schmitt points out that programs that amplify the power of small donors with “clean” public grants or matching money are effectively giving candidates the resources to wage viable campaigns. And even after CU, the [...]
Soon after donating $100,000 to Obama's 2013 inaugural committee, the Southern Company announced it was “newly optimistic” about prospects for gaining an $8.3 billion loan guarantee from the federal government for building a new nuclear power plant. Is a quid pro quo involved here, asks Public Citizen. Answer: “We need more information to answer that [...]
Republicans, African Americans, Women and Seniors Post the Highest Voter Turnout Rates in North Carolina Read the full release (pdf), which includes the 2012 Voter Turnout Index. A new analysis of the 4.5 million ballots cast inNorth Carolinareveals that registered Republicans showed up at higher rates and in larger numbers than in 2008, which contributed to the [...]