Ethics bill
State Senate Democrats tucked in their tails and ran away from expanded public-campaign financing Wednesday, a key component of their ethics bill.
What's left of the legislation hardly qualifies as the major ethics reform expected after the scandals surrounding former Gov. Mike Easley.
Senate Republicans cast the campaign-financing provisions as a tax increase, and Senate Democrats told Raleigh's "The Insider" newsletter that they didn't want to hand the GOP that kind of issue this election year.
It's a shame that the Democrats lost their nerve because the five offices that would have received public financing -- secretary of state, state treasurer, the commissioners of agriculture and labor and attorney general -- are relatively low on the public radar during election years. Typically, most contributions to candidates for these offices come from people with vested interests. As Bob Hall, the leader of the reform group Democracy North Carolina, said, it is in these races that a real "pay-to-play" exists.
Once again, as has happened in so many other years, legislators are trying to do as little as possible about the many ethics issues that face the state. It is the history of North Carolina reform efforts -- going back to the late 1980s -- that when facing the need for major reform, legislators will only peck around at the margins of the problem.
Democrats are heading into the 2010 elections with Easley hanging like an albatross around their necks. Federal and state investigations of his administration have produced indictments, State Board of Elections fines and a pile of negative news stories about how pay-to-play works here. It would appear to be in the Democrats' best interest to address these issues with tough new requirements.
There is a little bit of good in the bill: Some criminal sentences are toughened. State personnel records are opened to greater public review. New restrictions are placed on top state officials who leave their jobs and want to go into lobbying.
But that is it. Legislators refuse to tackle the biggest issues.
Legislators should be looking to better regulate the money that flows into campaigns. Many of the scandals facing Easley, and some of the questions now aimed at Gov. Bev Perdue, focus on their fundraisers. North Carolina needs better public-reporting regulations for these people. Similarly, it is too easy for big campaign contributors to circumvent individual contribution limits by giving directly to the state parties.
The Senate bill does not address either problem.
It is clear that Senate Democrats, with what is now a weakened bill, have decided not to aggressively pursue a reform agenda this year.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement