Feb. 9, 2004
Are Some Voters More Equal than Others?
By J. Barlow Herget
RALEIGH - Toward the end of George Orwell’s classic “Animal Farm”, after the animals had been taught for years that they all were equal, the clever pigs issued a new commandment one day that read: “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.”
Orwell’s fable was a brilliant lesson about the twisted hypocrisy exemplified in the modern communist state. What propagandists heralded first as a paradise for the proletariat became a “dictatorship of the proletariat” and then simply a brutal, deadly dictatorship.
The United States and North Carolina are not in such danger. We have a long if checkered history of democracy, but today we all have a vote. There are no legal impediments such as the poll tax or sham literacy tests. But you can’t help thinking of Orwell’s commandment when you see how some voters seem to be more equal than others.
There is a growing attitude among citizens that access to our elected officials is far from equal and is increasingly allocated mostly to those who give money for candidates’ campaign costs. For example, a 2002 poll by the N.C. Center for Voter Education about judicial elections showed that a great majority of voters -- 74 percent -- believed that judicial decisions could be influenced by giving judicial candidates campaign money.
(That attitude helped persuade the General Assembly to adopt the Judicial Campaign Reform Act in 2002 and establish a publicly funded, voluntary system to help pay for judicial campaigns. Taxpayers can right now designate their support on their state tax returns for the state to fund the system.)
It’s a safe bet that an equal percentage of North Carolinians worry that legislators and elected executives are similarly influenced.
And their campaign costs and contributions continue to mount. Look at the money being raised and spent in this year’s presidential race. The top five Democratic candidates raised $110.3 million by the end of 2003. Impressive until you learn that President Bush alone collected an unprecedented $132.7 million.
Early reports on the state’s race for governor indicate it again could cost each side $10 million if not more. State legislative races in 2002 saw average costs for winning Senate campaigns near $200,000 and $62,000 for House seats.
Who gives this money? Very, very few off us.
According to the Washington campaign watchdog group, the Center for Responsive Politics, less than one percent (0.23) of the population contributes $200 or more to political candidates. And only 0.09 percent gives as much as $1,000 or more.
Conversely, more and more citizens aren’t voting. One study of North Carolina’s record in the 2000 presidential election year shows that the state ranks 34th in turnout among voting age population when only 50.2 percent cast ballots. That figure was 52.9 percent in 1960.
In North Carolina, research by the non-profit, Carrboro-based group Democracy North Carolina shows that 90 percent of the state’s contributions come from just one percent of the population.
Two families who belong to that one percent are the Sheltons of Charlotte, Charles and Ed and their relatives, and Mr. and Mrs. Walter R. Davis of Texas and sometimes the Outer Banks. The Sheltons, one of whom served on the state Board of Transportation, gave $169,000 to Democratic and Republican candidates and parties in the 2000 election cycle. The Davises gave $194,000. When Davis speaks, politicians listen whether it is about variances to the Coastal Area Management Act or the University of North Carolina system Board of Trustees.
By contrast, the State Employees Association of North Carolina, whose membership totals almost 58,000 out of 84,900 state employees, gave $39,250 to candidates running for office in 2000. The average salary for a SEANC member is $33,581. And that figure has grown little since the 2000-01 legislative session.
In 2001-02, state employees received a one-time $625 bonus and in 2002-03, they received a $500 one-time bonus plus two weeks of extra vacation. Dependent health care increases and inflation have flattened real income growth. This is an election year and the state’s economy shows improvement, so SEANC officials are optimistic about a modest pay increase and maintaining fully paid health care benefits.
Giving a raise to state employees certainly affects the budget a great deal more than an individual’s request for a board appointment or a favorable regulatory ruling. Still, you are left wondering who has more actual influence: wealthy, political contributors or 84,900 state employees?
Mac McCorkle, a Durham campaign consultant, cautions, however, that contributors don’t always get their way. He points to the recent example of a Transportation Board member who asked his civic club members to contribute or their community would suffer in road projects. Gov. Mike Easley quickly asked for his resignation.
McCorkle observes, “I’ve been struck by the culture of expectations not just among the press but among contributors who think their campaign contributions will get you what you want. That’s not always true.” Besides, he laughs, “If you’re a jerk, you’re not even going to get access.”
Barlow Herget served two terms on the Raleigh city council and is host of "State Government Radio Newsmakers."
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