2006 Campaign Reform Scorecard

Legislative Scorecard Rates State Legislators on Campaign Reform Votes;
Thirty-Two Legislators Receive Perfect Scores

A legislative scorecard that rates N.C. General Assembly members on their campaign finance and lobby reform votes from the 2005-2006 legislative session was released today by the NC Voters for Clean Elections Coalition (NCVCE).

The scorecard gives all 170 current N.C. General Assembly members an overall campaign reform score and highlights the legislators with the highest and lowest scores. The scores are based on eleven votes or co-sponsorships in the state House and eight in the state Senate from the 2005-2006 session. They include everything from a pilot program for legislative campaign public financing to the landmark lobby and ethics reform legislation that was passed this year. The full results of the scorecard can be downloaded from www.ncvce.org.

Fourteen members in the N.C. House and eighteen members in the N.C. Senate received a perfect score of 100%. Thirty-eight House members and thirty-two Senate members received scores of 80% or above.

The lowest score in the state House was given to Rep. George Holmes (R-Yadkin), who received a 0% rating and the lowest scores in the state Senate were given to Sen. Hugh Webster (R-Alamance) and Sen. Jerry Tillman (R-Randolph) who both received a 25% rating. The lowest score received by a Democrat in both chambers was Rep. Bill Faison (D-Orange) who received a 45% rating.

The average score for Democrats was 80% in the state House and 93% in the state Senate. The average score for Republicans was 61% in the state House and 67% in the state Senate.

The scores are calculated from the number of times a legislator voted with the reform community divided by the total number of votes the legislator voted on. Absences and not voting were excluded from the percentage calculation.

Beth Messersmith, NCVCE's President, said that the scorecard was part of NCVCE's increased focus on holding legislators accountable for what they do or don't do as elected representatives. 'This scorecard makes it clear who the real allies for reform are in Raleigh.' Messersmith said. 'It lets citizens from across the state see if their legislator has actual votes to back up their rhetorical stances on ethical government and reform.'

Most of the votes or co-sponsorships dealt with the lobby reform bills that came out of the House Special Committee on Ethics and Government Reform in 2006, but others were from the 2005 new lobby disclosure legislation.

A central focus of the scorecard is on legislators' support for campaign public financing for legislative and Council of State races. The coalition backs a 'Voter-Owned' Election program for political campaigns as the best way to significantly reduce the influence of wealthy special interests on state politics. Under this program, modeled on a successful judicial program, candidates can receive a public grant to run their campaigns IF they voluntarily accept strict spending and fund-raising limits and demonstrate broad community support by getting a large number of small donations from registered voters.

Chase Foster, coordinator for NCVCE, said he hopes this scorecard and other tools will be a positive force for getting meaningful campaign reform legislation passed. 'Hopefully, this scorecard will be a good pat on the back for the legislators who have been tirelessly working for campaign finance and lobby reform, and an encouragement to unsupportive legislators to become more reform-minded,' Foster said.

NCVCE is the central statewide coordinating group for comprehensive campaign reform advocacy based on the 'Voter-Owned' Elections, public financing model in the state of North Carolina.

The coalition is made up of 35+ organizations including: AARP, Center for Voter Education, Common Cause North Carolina, Democracy North Carolina, League of Women Voters, NC Conference of Branches of the NAACP, NC Association of Educators, NC PIRG, NC Council of Churches, and the NC Justice Center, among others.

Summary Tables:

NC House Summary

NC House members with Perfect Scores

NC House members with 80% to 91%

NC House members with 50% or lower scores

NC Senate Summary

NC Senate Members with Perfect Scores

NC Senate Members with 80-88%

NC Senate Members with 50% or less