Sep. 22, 2003
Fundraising Numbers Rise and Fall, But Problems Stay the Same
By J. Barlow Herget
RALEIGH - Along with hurricane season, it’s election time for North Carolina’s towns and cities. Most hold elections in off years, and this year appears to be an off year for the money grubbing, too.
Early campaign finance reports show that high-profile races are not attracting the shocking amounts that have marked recent elections. Here in the Capital City, for example, the two candidates running for mayor have raised less than $300,000 between the two of them.
That’s far different from the contested mayoral elections in 1999 and 2001. Four candidates in 1999 spent well over $1 million to occupy a post that pays $16,000 annually. In 2001, two candidates spent almost $1 million.
Incumbent Mayor Charles Meeker, an attorney, spent about $85,000 in 1999 and came in third. In 2001, he spent almost $400,000 and won. This year, he and his challenger, Councilman John Odom, an auto repair businessman, are not likely to spend more than $500,000.
The campaign for mayor in Durham is on a parallel course. Mayor Bill Bell spent over $40,000 to win in 2001 when his opponent spent about $60,000. This year, Bell’s two opponents do not plan to raise more than $3,000 each, and the mayor has added only $400 to the $10,000 in his campaign fund.
In Greensboro, there’s more interest in a referendum that will prohibit the city from building athletic stadiums than in the City Council races. Mayor Keith Holliday faces several challengers, and eight candidates are running for three at-large council seats.
Municipal races there generally do not attract large sums of money, according to one observer. “Ten thousand dollars is a lot of money for a Council race,” says John Nagy, metro editor at the “News & Record” of Greensboro. Winston-Salem has no municipal elections this year because city officials there were elected to four-year terms in 2001.
There is a spirited mayoral contest in Wilmington between incumbent Harper Peterson and political newcomer and banker Spence Broadhurst. If money is a measurement of interest, Broadhurst is giving off sparks by quickly collecting over $100,000 to fund his campaign.
Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory is running for a fifth term and has raised over a quarter-million dollars. That’s this year’s record, so far, and several Charlotte city council candidates have raised over $100,000. These are not low-rent campaigns, even though they may not set any records.
This year’s municipal races do seem to go against recent trends in other state elections. Look at state legislative campaigns in 2002.
According to Democracy North Carolina, a non-profit campaign watchdog in Carrboro, candidates spent on average over $101,000 to win a seat in the state legislature last year. Compare that with the 1992 Election when the cost was about a third of that.
As appalling as that figure is, it is the average. Most candidates, especially incumbents, spent far less than $101,000. Just as many municipal races this year are uncontested, 68 legislators in 2002 did not have opponents or only token opposition.
But in the competitive races, campaign spending soared. Thirty-five candidates spent more than $150,000 to win their General Assembly seats and one race in Charlotte ended with both candidates spending a combined total of over $800,000.
The largest contributors this year generally will come from the same groups as last time. Most candidates raise their money from friends, relatives and people with a special interest in city government. That list includes players in the real estate development industry, attorneys, people in the banking, finance and insurance business, as well as homemakers and retirees.
Why the downturn in municipal campaign spending this year? Maybe the sluggish economy and the Iraq War had something to do with the slowdown. Or it could have been that close encounter with Mars.
Jesse Rutledge, the associate director of the N.C. Center for Voter Education, offers this explanation: “Escalating costs have had the end result of reducing the number of candidates who file. They’re fearful of the expense.”
Rutledge notes that even in this bargain year for municipal campaigns, the cost of running for Council in Charlotte or Mayor in Raleigh or Wilmington is out of reach for the average citizen.
“In the City of Raleigh, for example, the incumbent may raise and spend only $250,000, far less than before, but that’s still a tremendous amount of money,” he says. “Not many people have the kind of Rolodex that will allow them to raise that much money.”
Let’s hope that 2003’s off year spending doesn’t produce an off-year turnout. You can do something about that: Go vote.
Barlow Herget is a writer and former member of the Raleigh City Council.
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