Oct. 31, 2005
Tricks, Treats Not Limited to Halloween
By J. Barlow Herget
RALEIGH – In politics, the season for tricks and treats is year 'round.
You can, for instance, stuff yourself sick on any good budget bill. Take the $286 billion federal Transportation Bill. It's filled with an estimated $24 billion worth of made-for-home pork pastries.
(North Carolinians, by the way, are among those who are tricked by the federal formula that hands out gas tax revenues. The state typically receives only 90 cents back from every dollar sent to Washington.)
North Carolina's 2005 Budget Act has some tasties, too. Republicans claim that the Democratic majority stuffed $40 million of political sweets into this year's $17.1 billion budget. But one party's pork barrel is another's nutritious necessity.
Look at the budget provision that affects out-of-state scholarship students in the University of North Carolina system. Without even threatening a trick, these students are now considered in-state residents when it comes to their tuition fees.
Proponents of the provision argue that it will allow more bright students (and good athletes) to attend college here; opponents complain it will cost the university system millions in lost revenue.
Then, there are the little goodies at the back of the budget bill that are spread among almost all legislators for local consumption. One of the cheeriest this year is the $400,000 appropriation for a teapot museum in Sparta.
But these are the Halloween treats of a cynic.
There is a more serious if not delicious list of political and campaign achievements to savor, starting with the new lobby reform law.
After years of ragged regulation of state lobbyists, the legislature closed the “goodwill loophole” that allowed lobbyists to spend thousands of dollars entertaining legislators and government executives without revealing the expenses to the public.
The spending was considered “goodwill” and thus, free of disclosure as long as no specific piece of legislation was discussed. Now, it's on the books at the Secretary of State's office for all to see.
“That was my favorite treat,” says Superior Court Judge Edwin Wilson, Jr., of Eden and chair of the N. C. Center for Voter Education. “It had near unanimous, bipartisan support, and that's pretty remarkable.”
Rep. Grier Martin, D-Wake, agrees, even suggesting that lobby reform was the biggest treat for citizens in the 2005 legislative session.
Voters also were handed several election improvements in this session. Many North Carolinians felt tricked by the 2004 election when it was months before they knew who had won the races for Agriculture Commissioner and State School Superintendent.
The prankster was an electronic voting machine in Carteret County that failed to count over 4,400 votes. Because the two races were so close, the missing ballots caused stomachaches and lawsuits all around.
The legislature provided relief in the “paper trail” law that requires election officials to keep paper documents of votes in case of any lost electronic ballots in the future. Additionally, the legislature cleaned up the voting process. It standardized the types of machines allowed and set aside $36 million in grants to help counties meet the standards.
The Public Campaign Fund received a pleasant surprise, too. The fund helps finance the state's acclaimed publicly financed appellate court elections, and it will have a dedicated revenue stream from lawyers' license fees. Fifty dollars of every fee will go to the fund.
Savvy Gov. Mike Easley spurned naming the many political treats he won from the legislature for a sports plum. “There was no sweeter treat than watching Roy [Williams] and the Tar Heel basketball team win the national championship this past April,” he says.
But enough of the good stuff. Political and campaign tricks abound.
Ran Coble, executive director of the N.C. Center for Public Policy Research, points to a favorite legislative trick of hiding substantive policy in the “technical corrections bill.”
“Twenty years ago it wasn't that way,” he says. “Ten years ago, the bill was used to clean up technical mistakes in legislation. Now, it's used to make substantive changes, too.”
Don't forget the lottery. Some still complain about the tricky politics of its passage in the Senate. And recent revelations about questionable lobbying by a potential private operator hamper the program's start. The shady conduct is an unwelcome stink for Lottery Commission Chair Dr. Charles Sanders.
Finally, watch out for special interest 527 nonprofits in next year's elections. If they call themselves “Good Guys for Good Government,” they're probably wearing a mask.
Barlow Herget is a former Raleigh city councilman and writes the "Follow the Money" column for the N.C. Center for Voter Education.
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