FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Oct. 15, 2008

NORTH CAROLINA VOTERS FOR CLEAN ELECTIONS COALITION (NCVCE)

Contact: Chase Foster, Coalition Director, NCVCE, 919.260.1872, chase@ncvce.org

SCORECARD RATES STATE LEGISLATORS ON CAMPAIGN REFORM VOTES IN 2007-2008 

A new scorecard assessing legislative support for campaign finance and ethics reform was released today by NC Voters for Clean Elections (NCVCE), a campaign finance reform advocacy coalition.

The scorecard gives all 170 current N.C. General Assembly members an overall campaign reform score and highlights the reform achievements of the 2007-2008 legislative session. The scores are based mostly on whether or not legislators supported Voter-Owned Elections, a publicly funded campaign financing alternative advocated for by the group. Under campaign public financing, candidates can receive a public grant to run their campaigns— but only if they first collected hundreds of small, qualifying contributions from voters and agreed to strict spending and fundraising limits.

 

The scorecard reflects on a legislative session when Voter-Owned Elections gained significant traction in North Carolina. A new program was authorized for the Council of State, the appellate judges program was strengthened, and the town of Chapel Hill created a local program for its municipal elections.

 

“We began the session with the Speaker of the House mired in federal bribery charges, and ended the session with new Voter-Owned Elections programs being put into action,” said Chase Foster, coordinator and lobbyist for the coalition. “Though we still have tremendous work to do, this was a good session overall for money-in-politics reform.”

 

Overall grades were higher than in past legislative sessions reflecting on growing support for campaign finance reform in both chambers.

 

However, some votes were still razor close. In one of the most divided votes of the legislative session, the Council of State public financing bill passed the House 53-52, with the Speaker breaking the tie.

 

“Though a majority of legislators are supportive of reform, the closeness of the votes reflects the work we still have to do,” said Foster. “But once legislators see how well the program is working in this election cycle, especially its bipartisan nature, support in the General Assembly will go up.”

 

The Council of State program was by far the coalition’s most significant win of the session. It was the first new public campaign financing program authorized since the judicial program passed in 2002, and was the culmination of a nearly ten year long campaign to pass public campaign financing for the Council of State.

 

Under the program candidates for Commissioner of Insurance, State Auditor, and Superintendent of Public Instruction can receive a grant of between $300,000 and $380,607, if they collect 750 contributions of between $10 and $200 from registered voters and agree to strict spending and fundraising limits. Four of the six candidates running for these offices qualified this year, including both the Republican and Democratic candidates for Commissioner of Insurance.

 

The coalition points to the prominent fundraising role of industries regulated by Council of State offices as one of the chief reasons for the publicly financed system. In one study done by the government watchdog group Democracy North Carolina, 68% of non-family campaign contributions for the 2000 Insurance Commissioner race came from people or groups affiliated with the insurance industry. Though the percent of money from the insurance industry in this year’s race is not yet known, advocates say that the program will bring it down to record lows.

 

“In the past it was common practice to have the insurance industry bankroll the insurance commissioner’s election,” said Foster. “But this year’s publicly financed Republican and Democratic candidates are receiving almost no money from the insurance industry, relying instead on small donor and public support.”

 

Other highlights of the scorecard include:

 

• Overall, Democrats outperformed Republicans: Democrats earned an average score of 89%; Republicans’ 27%.

 

• Perfect scores were earned by 34 members in the N.C. House and 15 members in the N.C. Senate.
  
  
• Zero per cent ratings were earned by two legislators, Rep. George Holmes (R-Yadkin) and Louise Pate (R-Wayne); The lowest Democratic score was 33%, earned by Rep. Ronnie Sutton (D-Robeson)

 

• The average score in the House was 60%, and the average score in the Senate was 71%

 

• Rep. Paul Stam (R-Wake) had the lowest score of any legislative leader, with a rating of 14%

 

The full results of the scorecard can be downloaded from www.ncvce.org.