Jun. 7, 2004
Legislative Leaders Grow in Power
By J. Barlow Herget
RALEIGH - The famous Texas trial attorney Percy Foreman dismissed critics once by drawling, “I’m too busy pulling the load to be worried about the horse flies biting my a…”
Republican Co-Speaker of the House Richard Morgan of Southern Pines must feel like Foreman these days after Republican backbiters voted to banish Morgan from party offices.
Morgan’s co-speaker position is not a Republican Party office.
Morgan became co-speaker in a compromise with Democrats that split the leadership in the House between him and Democratic Co-Speaker Jim Black of Matthews. Some House Republicans vowed revenge and they took it at the recent Republican state convention.
A misleading headline about the vote to throw Morgan off the party’s Executive Committee had some people thinking that Morgan had been booted out of his legislative office, too.
Not so.
Morgan firmly retains the Speaker’s gavel along with Black. The two have compiled a remarkable bipartisan record in their term together, much to the astonishment of media and political observers.
They are expected to adopt a state budget on schedule for the second year in a row. They pushed through a redistricting plan last year that remains in place after two other legislative maps failed in court.
While the co-speakership has proved to be a political wonder, the growing influence of those who hold that office and its counterpart in the Senate is not a surprise. Morgan, Black and Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight of Manteo not only are the bosses of legislative business, but in recent years, they have become principal campaign benefactors to their legislative minions.
North Carolina’s legislative leaders traditionally have been powerful political players. In the decades before the governor had veto power, House and Senate leaders determined what became law. Once a bill was adopted by the legislature, that was it.
The legislature followed traditions, however, that restrained the power of their leaders.
Rep. Gordon Allen, D-Person, has served in both houses, including a brief stint as Senate President Pro Tem in 1971-72. At that time, the lieutenant governor made committee appointments and controlled the flow of bills in the Senate. He was limited constitutionally to one, four-year term.
The lieutenant governor’s power over appointments was removed by a Democratic majority in 1989 after Republican Jim Gardner was elected lieutenant governor in 1988. That power now resides in the President Pro Tem.
In the House, Allen says members observed the tradition of electing a speaker to one, two-year term. Also, they alternated the office between speakers from the eastern half of the state and those from the west.
Two things have loosened those restrictions on the leaders:
Members have tossed aside self-imposed term limits for speaker and president pro tem.
House and Senate leaders have used their well-funded campaign committees to elect legislators who are then beholden to them.
Rep. Carl Stewart first broke the one-term tradition in the House, followed by Rep. Liston Ramsey who served four terms. Jim Black is in his third term, one of them as co-speaker. Basnight is in his sixth term as President Pro Tem.
As for the money, Basnight is the champion, collecting $1.56 million for the 2002 election. He has collected $864,184 through mid-April for the 2004 elections.
Black raised $1.3 million for 2002 campaigns and $624,592 for 2004.
Morgan, the new leader on the block, is no slouch; he has raised $435,398 for 2004, more than the $404,770 that former Senate Minority Leader Patrick Ballentine raised for the 2002 campaign.
In addition to their own political committees, General Assembly leaders can also tap money from outside groups. A recent article by Reporter Dan Kane of “The News & Observer” illustrated how this works.
Following the special session in December that approved a number of financial incentives for certain companies to keep or bring jobs to the state, contributions from the affected companies flowed into the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee in Washington. Black is finance chairman of the group whose purpose is to elect Democratic majorities in state legislatures.
Rep. Allen looks back over the 35 years since he first entered the legislature in 1969 and declares that the biggest difference between then and now is the money in politics.
“There were no such things as PACs back [in 1969],” he observes. “It didn’t cost much to run.” Now, he adds, “Jim Black has contributed to my campaigns.”
When asked if money gives legislative leaders more power, Allen snaps, “Absolutely.”
The lesson has not been lost on Morgan. Two months ago he formed his own 527 political non-profit fund called the N.C. Republican Main Street Committee.
Barlow Herget is a former Raleigh city councilman and is host of "State Government Radio Newsmakers."
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