Barry Smith - In the Loop


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Rep. Bill Faison suggests that Gov. Bev Perdue step aside in 2012 bid

November 29th, 2011, 5:44 pm by

State Rep. Bill Faison, D-Orange, who for years has been considered a potential candidate for higher office, has said that he won’t challenge incumbent Gov. Bev Perdue in a Democratic primary.

But as WRAL.com’s Laura Leslie reports, Faison believes that Perdue will step aside and not seek re-election next year. Faison made the statement Tuesday, a day after three Perdue campaign aides were indicted on campaign-related charges.

While Faison suggested that Perdue isn’t acting like she’s running again, her campaign office says differently. Her campaign announced her re-election bid a year ago and there’s been no change in her status.

If Perdue steps aside, that would leave room for Faison – and others — to launch a campaign bid.

Posted in: 2012 Election • Bev Perdue • Campaign Finance • General Assembly • Politics • State government | Post a Comment »

NC PACs give more than $11 million during ’10 election cycle

September 22nd, 2011, 5:24 pm by

Which political action committee gave the most money to state political parties and legislative candidates during the 2010 election cycle?

If you guessed the one representing trial lawyers, you’d be correct.

According to a report just put out by the N.C. Free Enterprise Foundation, the N.C. Advocates for Justice PAC gave $530,400 to state candidates and parties during the 2010 election cycle. Coming in second was the N.C. Medical Society – State and Federal PACs with $355,000.

Not surprisingly, one of the top issues addressed by the 2011 was medical malpractice reform. Those two groups took opposing sides on that issue.

Rounding out the top five PAC contributors are the Progress Energy Employees’ Carolinas PAC, the Bank of America PAC and the Nationwide Carolina Political Participation Fund.

PACs gave more than $11 million during the election cycle, the NCFEF reports.

You can click here to see the top 100 PAC contributors.

Posted in: Campaign Finance • Elections • General Assembly • Politics • State government | Post a Comment »

GOP lawmakers out-raise their Democratic colleagues

September 1st, 2011, 3:36 pm by

Republican legislators are out-raising their Democratic counterparts when it comes to campaign coffers, according to an analysis by the N.C. FreeEnterprise Foundation.

That’s not a bit surprising. The party in power seems to almost always have the fund-raising advantage over the minority party. The question usually is, how much?

GOP senators are out-raising their Democratic colleagues by 10 to one, according to the NCFEF report. House Republicans are out-raising Democratic representatives three-to-one. However, Democratic House members have more cash on hand than GOP representatives.

The report shows that Democratic House members have more than $1.2 million in the bank. That compares to $781,538 for Republicans.

During the first half year of 2011, Republican House members raised $663,742 compared to Democrats, who raised $211,807.

During the same period, GOP senators raised just more than $1 million, compared to Democrats, who raised $96,126. Democratic senators had $354,765 in the bank. Republican senators had $973,345.

Click here to see the NCFEF’s About the Capital analysis of legislative campaign accounts.

Posted in: Campaign Finance • General Assembly • Politics • State government | Post a Comment »

Analyst believes Supreme Court ruling guts NC public campaign finance law

June 28th, 2011, 4:32 pm by

A think-tank analyst believes that Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring the “matching funds” provision of Arizona’s public campaign finance law will, from a practical standpoint, gut North Carolina’s public financing law.

“Practically, they won’t participate in the program,” said Daren Bakst, director of legal and regulatory studies at the John Locke Foundation. “They’ll readily admit that.”

Gary Bartlett, elections director, said the State Board of Elections would do its “diligence” to see to it that the laws are tidied up. “On the face, it looks like our rescue funds statutes in our campaign finance laws are unenforceable,” Bartlett said.

Rescue funds or matching funds are monies that the state gives a candidate participating in a tax-supported campaign finance program above the baseline amount. The rescue funds are triggered by the candidate’s opponent, who isn’t participating in the program, spending more than the candidate who is participating.

“The concept of clean elections is all about matching funds,” Bakst said. “Now you have a public financing scheme that makes no sense.”

North Carolina has tax-supported campaign financing programs in place for appellate judicial candidates and for candidates for three Council of State offices (insurance commissioner, state auditor and superintendent of public instruction).

Posted in: Campaign Finance • Elections • Government spending • State government • Taxes | 1 Comment »

Starnes explains why campaign finance amendment was pulled

May 4th, 2011, 3:26 pm by

State House members weren’t exactly singing Kumbaya when they debated the state budget Tuesday night. They weren’t even close.

But the rhetoric got heated, might I say testy, when Rep. Edgar Starnes, R-Caldwell, tried to amend the House’s $19.3 billion budget by eliminating the state’s tax-paid campaign finance system for three Council of State races and appellate judicial races.

Democrats cried foul, saying such an effort ought to be debated fully on the floor as a separate bill, not as part of the budget. Rep. Grier Martin, D-Wake, said of supporters of the proposal, “It’s because you lack guts.”

I heard the word “hypocrite” come out of the mouth of Rep. Stephen LaRoque, R-Lenoir, in his reference to Democratic critics.

Starnes eventually decided to pull the amendment from consideration, saying that he’d introduce a bill containing the substance of his amendment. But Starnes said the debate over process wasn’t the predominant factor. Instead, it was a concern that support for the budget by a handful of Democrats might erode.

“They were getting nervous,” Starnes said.

Posted in: Budget • Campaign Finance • General Assembly • Government spending • State government | Post a Comment »

NC FREE analysis: GOP made big political spending gains for Senate

February 4th, 2011, 1:47 pm by

A new analysis by the N.C. Free Enterprise Foundation shows that GOP state Senate candidates’ funding in 2010 was up 93 percent over the 2008 funding while Democratic Senate candidates funding dropped 10 percent.

Democratic Senate candidates still outspent Republicans, but not by much. The analysis does not take into account separate party spending or spending by outside political groups, such as Real Jobs NC or Real Facts NC, said Jonathan Kappler, the foundations research director.

The analysis shows that in 2008, Democratic Senate candidates raised nearly $9.7 million and spent $7.7 million. Last year, they raised $8.8 million and spent $7 million.

In 2008, Republican Senate candidates raised $4.1 million and spent $3.8 million. Last year, GOP Senate candidates raised nearly $7.9 million and spent nearly $6.5 million.

Said the analysis:

“Perhaps for the first time in recent history, Republicans candidates for the N.C. Senate raised and spent nearly as much as their Democratic counterparts. During the 2009-2010 Election Cycle, Democrats lost many of their long-serving senators to retirement or resignation. Many of these (such as former Senators Tony Rand, David Hoyle, R.C. Soles, Charlie Albertson, David Weinstein, and others) often raised significant sums for their own campaigns and the Senate Democratic Caucus. This loss of incumbency and proven fundraising ability had a measurable negative impact of the capacity of the Democratic Caucus to raise funds. In addition, the departure of a number of business-friendly Democratic Senators changed the dynamics of the then-majority caucus and resulted in a more distinct philosophical divide between the two party caucuses.”

Posted in: Campaign Finance • General Assembly • Politics • State government | 1 Comment »

Easley’s fine seems a bit dissatisfying

November 24th, 2010, 3:31 pm by

Most everybody, including myself, has something to say about former Gov. Mike Easley’s plea deal Tuesday. Easley, of course, took an Alford plea bargain, pleading guilty to one count of filing a false campaign finance report. For the felony charge, he got a $1,000 fine.

An Alford plea allows a defendant to plead guilty to a crime without having to admit guilt. Instead, the defendant admits that the prosecution has sufficient evidence to convict him.

News & Observer columnist Rob Christensen noted the irony of seeing Easley, who made his name as first a district attorney and then as an attorney general, sitting at the defendant’s table in a courtroom.

“How had Easley made the journey from the prosecutor’s table to the defense table – from Mr. Clean to felon?” Christensen asks. He goes on to note that it’s apparent that Easley has not come to grips with what has happened.

Bob Hall, executive director of Democracy North Carolina, found the punishment unsettling. “The puny punishment is neither a deterrent for the future nor an honest portrayal of the wrongdoing that happened,” Hall wrote.

Hall finds only one bright spot in the ordeal, Easley telling the judge, “I have to take responsibility for what the campaign does. The buck has to stop somewhere. It stops with me.”

Hall goes on to say that Easley should accept responsibility for paying the remaining $94,000 of the $100,000 fine that the State Board of Elections levied on Easley’s campaign committee last year. The committee paid only $6,000 and has a zero balance after paying attorney fees, Hall notes.

Posted in: Campaign Finance • Courts • Crime • Elections • Government Corruption • Mike Easley • Politics • State government | Post a Comment »

The former governor gets a slap on the wrist

November 23rd, 2010, 5:29 pm by

Count me among those who believe that former Democratic Gov. Mike Easley got off with just a slap on the wrist.

I’m not among those who are calling for his head, mind you. I’ve had a number of opportunities over the past two decades to interview Easley. My first opportunity was when he ran for U.S. Senate back in 1990, well before came to Raleigh to cover politics and state government. I found him to be quite personable. I met his family. On a personal level, it’s hard to dislike any of them.

I’m not big on giving heavy active sentences for people convicted of non-violent crimes. But I find the fine of $1,000 to be less than appropriate in this plea bargain, particularly since the former governor didn’t even admit that he did the crime for which he was convicted.

Last year, when Easley was testifying at the State Board of Elections hearing, he basically said that the information (or lack thereof) regarding airplane flights on his campaign finance reports were below his pay grade.

On Tuesday, he accepted responsibility for the campaign, but didn’t have to admit guilt. The fine levied by the judge was a mere 1 percent of the $100,000 fine imposed on his campaign committee by the State Board of Elections a year ago.

Certainly no one, much less a politician, wants to wear the label of a convicted felon. Now Easley must. He could lose his law license. And as a GOP loyalist pointed out earlier in the day in a tweet, he can’t run for sheriff.

Easley will have the assurance that his legal nightmare is over since the plea deal included an end to the federal investigation that began in 2009, must a few weeks after he left office. I’m sure that’s a relief.

Posted in: Campaign Finance • Elections • Government Corruption • Mike Easley • Politics • State government | Post a Comment »

Looking back at the legislative elections

November 4th, 2010, 2:25 pm by

UNC-TV’s Kelly McCullen and I discussed the election results for the General Assembly. The segment aired on the station’s North Carolina NOW program Wednesday evening. Click here to see the video.

We discussed the historic GOP takeover of both chambers of the General Assembly and took a look at a number of the hotly contested races.

Don’t give me too hard of a time if I look sleepy. We recorded this segment Wednesday morning, and I’d had only a few hours sleep.

Posted in: Campaign Finance • Elections • General Assembly • Politics • State government | Post a Comment »

Real Facts to take on Real Jobs

September 17th, 2010, 4:46 pm by

A Democratic-leaning group is being formed to counter a Republican-leaning “527 organization” in North Carolina politics, reports Mark Binker of the Greensboro News & Record.

Real Facts NC is currently being organized by Democrats to counter mailers and ads being sent out in legislative districts by Real Jobs NC.

The “527” number refers to the section of the federal tax code that the political corporations organize under.

Posted in: Campaign Finance • Politics | Post a Comment »

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