Mar. 28, 2003
Checking on the Check-Off
By J. Barlow Herget
RALEIGH - One of President Bush’s arguments for replacing Saddam Hussein in Iraq is to introduce democracy into that long-suffering country. Yet, here at home some of the machinery of our own democracy is in jeopardy, and the public’s willingness to fix it has a bearing on North Carolina’s own elections in 2004.
In trouble is participation in the system of public financing for presidential campaigns, according to a recent report in "USA Today." North Carolinians, starting next year, will employ a similar system in the campaigns for state appellate judges, namely those who sit on the Supreme Court and Appeals Court.
After the Watergate scandal and its attendant campaign wrongdoing, Congress adopted a system of public financing for future presidential elections. Taxpayers can check-off on their tax form if they want $3 of their taxes to go into a fund that would be available for presidential candidates.
The fund helps reduce reliance on the huge sums, mostly from wealthy individuals and special interests, which have come to dominate almost every other race for federal elected office. In the 2000 Election, then Gov. George Bush and Vice President Al Gore drew about $74 million from the fund for the final 11 to 12 weeks of that race.
However, it's a hard fact that fewer Americans are contributing to this fund, likely because they don't understand its purpose. Simply saying that "politicians will get campaign money from taxpayers" is not likely to win many supporters. However, most people would rather politicians be accountable to taxpayers than to big contributors.
How many average citizens can afford the $1,000 dinners that get them access to elected leaders? If everyone gave a little, elected officials would have more time to hear the concerns of average citizens, rather than spending their time chasing big donors for much needed campaign dollars. So part of the blame for only telling half the story lies with the government, since there has been virtually no publicity about the benefits of the fund for about 20 years.
In the 2000 Republican presidential primary, George W. Bush opted out of the system because he did not want to be limited in how much he could spend in his primary campaign. But this year some candidates are beating the drum to qualify: Democratic Senator and Presidential hopeful John Kerry recently sent out an email to supporters asking them to help him qualify for the public funding system. The reports of the demise of the check-off system may be premature.
Even if you are reluctant to designate $3 to the presidential funding system, consider this: though you won’t see it on your tax form this year, North Carolina will be adopting a new check-off system starting next year. The new fund was created when the General Assembly passed the Judicial Campaign Reform Act last fall. Starting in 2004, candidates for the appellate courts will have the option of receiving public campaign funding, if they agree to limit their campaign spending and meet a host of qualification requirements.
Judicial campaigns typically cost only a fraction of what a candidate spends to become Governor or US Senator, much less President. However, in order for the new system to work, taxpayers will have to show that the concern they express about courts being targets of special interests translates into a willingness to check-off $3 to designate to the new fund.
The check-off gives the average citizen a chance to have his voice heard as a campaign contributor along with the tiny number who can afford to send big dollar checks. Don Wright, general counsel for the State Board of Elections, figures that eight percent of the state’s taxpayers must check the box on their returns if the judicial campaign fund is to have enough money.
That’s not too much to expect. For each box checked, $3 will go into the fund. The money does not come from the taxpayer’s refund nor is it added to his or her tax bill.
As Wright appropriately notes: "The State Board of Elections office is committed to do all it can to make this program work, but it will truly be up to the citizens of North Carolina to contribute the funds that will be necessary for the success of the program."
Democracy starts at home. Remember that when you fill out your tax forms.
Barlow Herget is a former member of the Raleigh City Council and testified before the American Bar Association’s Commission on the 21st Century Judiciary on North Carolina’s new law.
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