Jan. 26, 2004
It’s Time to Talk
By J. Barlow Herget
RALEIGH - Can we talk?
That line, made famous by Comedienne Joan Rivers, comes to mind at the start of this big election year. Citizens should be asking that question of candidates who will be running for office, from president down to county commissioner.
Having been a candidate, I can tell you that election time is the official period when you get to give your opinions and ask the questions and candidates are required to listen and give their answers.
You and your neighbors probably have a list of questions, but I want to add a few for you to pass along. These are questions about issues that stretch across party lines and deal with democracy itself and how we can make it better.
See how your candidates measure up and take a stand. (Feel free to clip this column and use it as a crib sheet.)
Consider the following:
* Campaign finance disclosure. We’ve learned from the Meg Scott Phipps scandal that our disclosure rules for campaign contributions are a good defense against illegal fund raising.
The state Board of Election has installed a new computer system that helps candidates to file reports electronically and requires political parties and Political Action Groups who give more than $5,000 to file.
Legislative candidates should be asked if they favor requiring themselves, if they spend more than, say, $30,000, to file electronically. Similarly, the state Board needs money to upgrade the computer system and improve its access. Do they favor such an appropriation?
“It is difficult for the average citizen to look up information,” says Bob Hall, research director for the non-profit Democracy North Carolina.
* Redistricting commission. The state legislature has faced lawsuits after every census when redistricting plans are approved. Version Three of the 2000 redistricting plan is before the courts now and may cause the May primary election to be delayed again as happened in 2002.
The legislature in the early 1990s, according to Sen. Ham Horton, R-Winston-Salem, established a bipartisan Election Laws Study Commission that recommended an Independent Redistricting Commission to do the work.
Horton believes it past time for such a commission to be authorized, and the legislature’s own members devised a common sense appointment process. For example, members of such a commission cannot be a member of the legislature nor held office in the preceding four years nor run for the legislature in the next four years.
How do legislative candidates stand on such an independent redistricting commission? Ask them.
* Close loopholes for lobbyists. North Carolina received a poor grade from the national Center for Public Integrity for disclosing lobbyist spending.
A notable loophole in the law permits a lobbyist to avoid disclosing the amount of money he or she spends to wine and dine legislators if there is no particular legislation discussed. It’s called the “goodwill” loophole because such luxuries are considered meals among friends and not business dinners. Right.
Lobbyists already file spending reports, and they should include expensive dinner tabs along with their other spending regardless of any specific legislative conversation. What they’re buying is access, and the public is better served knowing who is buttering what legislator’s bread. Talk to candidates about this loophole and ask if they favor it.
* Same day voting. This is shorthand for the allowing citizens to register to vote and vote on the same day. The long-term goal is to make such registration and voting happen on Election Day when public interest is at a peak, but the state and local election boards simply don’t have the resources now.
Rep. Deborah Ross, D-Wake, says there are 1 million eligible voters in the state who are not registered to vote. Shame on them. With a little help from the state, however, they can attain grace.
Ross has introduced legislation that would allow local boards to establish one-stop voting sites where citizens could, with proper identification, register to vote and then vote on the same day.
The sites would be open during the absentee voting period and close three days before Election Day. It works in other states, and three that have such same day voting are Maine, Minnesota and Wisconsin. They rank among the top five in voter turnout. Where do your House and Senate candidates stand on such legislation?
When you ask a legislator to talk, the list above will help start the conversation. And more.
Barlow Herget, a former Raleigh city councilor, talks regularly with elected officials as host for WDNZ-570 AM’s "State Government Radio Newsmakers."
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