Indictments tend to be good for political reform.
In 2007, the General Assembly finally passed comprehensive lobbying reform. For years previous, legislators had denied the need for anything beyond minor tweaks to a system that had essentially allowed special interests to openly buy political influence in restaurants and golf clubs. The impetus for the 2007 reforms were the indictments, convictions and eventual imprisonments of former House Speaker Jim Black and former Walkertown Rep. Michael Decker.
Now there is hope for further reform after 51 federal indictments were handed down recently against Ruffin Poole, a top aide to former Gov. Mike Easley. In Raleigh, there is momentum for reforms long pursued by a broad-based coalition of good-government groups.
Four widely discussed reforms should be included in any package that legislators pass this year.
Candidates need people to raise money. Often, an individual will collect a great many contributions from friends and business associates, "bundle" the checks and present them to the campaign. This makes that fundraiser, or "bundler," very important to the politician. Often, this bundler lands a good job or position in the winning candidate's administration.
State law should require registration with the State Board of Elections by anyone soliciting more than a small number of contributions, perhaps a half dozen. Certainly, anyone who spends money attempting to raise funds should be required to register. All contributions raised from this bundler's efforts should then be noted in public records as having been associated with him or her.
There are approximately 15 major state boards to which fundraisers are often appointed -- for example, the N.C. Board of Transportation. All members of these panels should be required, in public records, to disclose their campaign fundraising efforts.
Key legislators often run unopposed but still raise huge amounts of money. They distribute this money to candidates who will later, if elected, support their candidacies for key positions in the legislative hierarchy. This is how Black kept power in the House and how Sen. Marc Basnight has done so in the Senate.
State law should limit the amount of money that candidates for office and their political action committees can give to other candidates.
Finally, the State Board of Elections needs help. It operates in cramped quarters with a staff that is overwhelmed by the work state law assigns to it. The board needs more room and more staff.
Other ideas are floating around. Some say that the current gift ban should be tightened and that government employees should have to wait a year after leaving their jobs before they can register as lobbyists. Others want limits on the amount of time a legislator can hold a key position in the House or Senate.
All of these ideas should be discussed in the session that begins in May. Photos of handcuffed "public servants" being led into the courthouse are a strong indicator that these changes are needed.
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