John McCain to Visit N.C.

By J. Barlow Herget
Published: Oct. 6, 2003

RALEIGH - When I look at the cost of many of our political campaigns in North Carolina today, I am reminded of an old television ad. The TV actor, at the end of his sales pitch, said, “You can pay me now or pay me later.”

He was selling motor oil or air filters -- something that represented preventive maintenance. Anyone who has operated a lawn mower or owned a home knows that such maintenance is a good investment. You pay a few bucks for a furnace filter in the fall or you pay several hundred dollars to fix a clogged furnace in January.

U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-AZ, knows that you can apply the same argument to elections. Our campaigns cost money, and someone is going to pay for them. Someone is paying for them now, and as we study campaign finance reports, we know that much of the money comes from a small number of wealthy people and special interests.

McCain, co-author of the McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, will be at Meredith College here on Monday, Oct. 20, giving a noon speech in support of North Carolina’s own judicial campaign reform law.

In particular, he will be encouraging citizens to support the new law’s Public Campaign Financing Fund on their 2003 state income tax returns. The 2002 Judicial Campaign Reform Act permits North Carolinians to mark “yes” on their tax returns to put $3 into the Fund.

North Carolina’s law evolved from widespread concern among judges, lawyers, legislators and citizens over the growing campaign costs in the state’s judicial elections. The 2000 campaign for Chief Justice, for example, cost the two candidates over $1 million!

And, according to surveys by the N.C. Center for Voter Education (NCCVE), sponsor of McCain’s visit, voters also are worried about the influence of such money on recipients who become judges. No wonder.

Candidates for the 2002 state appellate courts -- the Supreme Court and the Courts of Appeal -- received 47 percent of their contributions from attorneys, some of whom appear before their beneficiaries’ benches.

If there is an elected office that should be above even the suspicion of special interest influence, it is that of judge. The intent of the judicial reform law is to decrease such influence, real or otherwise, and increase the average citizen’s participation in appellate court elections.

The Fund has several purposes.

One, it will pay for an impartial voter guide that will tell you and other citizens about our judicial candidates. It will be published and distributed by the State Board of Elections.

Two, the Fund sets up a system by which candidates can voluntarily limit their campaign spending in exchange for contributions from the Fund.

Three, it will level the playing field in terms of money for candidates who accept help from the Fund.

The Judicial Campaign Reform Act made judicial elections non-partisan although it is unlikely that they will be completely free from partisanship. Experience elsewhere, however, shows that non-partisan judicial campaigns generally cost less.

Judicial candidates will run in the same primary as partisan candidates next year, and the top two finishers will face each other in the general election on November 2, 2004.

Former American Bar Association President Alfred P. Carlton, Jr., a Raleigh attorney, has said, “We’re going to be a test tube for the nation. A lot of eyes are on us and we need to make it work.”

To make it work, says NCCVE Executive Director Chris Heagarty, there must be money in the Fund. Money raised from McCain’s October 7th visit will go to the Fund. (Tickets are $45 each and available at www.ncjudges.org or by calling 919-839-1200)

Heagarty is realistic about the state’s new experiment in democracy. He says, “The success of judicial campaign reform here depends upon the support of individuals like you and me. Together, we can make all the difference in improving our judicial elections.”

North Carolina’s judiciary is noted for its fairness and integrity. Senator McCain and others believe that if we all pay a little now, we can avoid paying a lot more later if we lose our judiciary to special interests.