Sep. 19, 2005
Local Elections Face Same Trend as State Elections
By J. Barlow Herget
RALEIGH – Maybe it's campaign fatigue from last year or hurricane news this year, but all's quiet on the local election front in 2005.
A random survey around the state shows slack attention to municipal elections in the state's metro areas where the bulk of North Carolina voters reside today.
Mayor Keith Holliday is unopposed in Greensboro. In Charlotte, there's a rematch between five-term incumbent Pat McCrory and his Democratic challenger Craig Madens, whom McCrory out-spent 10-1 in 2003.
It's the same in Wilmington where Mayor Spence Broadhurst is facing Harper Peterson, the man he unseated in 2003. Here in the Capital City, four city councilors are running unopposed.
Two-term Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker, with $60,000 reported in his campaign fund, has ceased actively raising money. His two, little-known opponents have said they will not spend more than $3,000 each in their campaigns.
In Asheville, gasoline prices have caused more talk than municipal races, according to political observer Bill Sabo, a political science professor at UNC-Asheville. Mayor Charles Worley nor his three challengers are expected to set any spending records.
Do not be fooled by the slow news. Local election costs may be deflated this year, but they are following the same trend as those in state legislative and congressional campaigns–up.
Charlotte's McCrory, even in a slow year, is expected to spend over $100,000, and Raleigh's Meeker spent about $250,000 to win his first term.
“Where you see a straight line [going up] in the legislative races,” says Bob Hall of the nonpartisan, election watchdog group Democracy North Carolina, “you see a jagged line in [spending for] local elections, depending on the competition or whether it's an open seat.”
Political Consultant Perry Wood of Raleigh agrees. He notes that in Cary, over $100,000 flowed into the mayor's race in 2003. Mayor Ernie McAlister was elected to a four-year term, so this year, you can follow the money to the at-large council seats.
Julie Robison, an at-large incumbent, and challenger Michael Curran are expected to spend well over $60,000 combined, according to Wood who is Robison's consultant.
Cary is the one city in the state that tried in 2001 an alternative campaign system, one that employed public financing. The system was discarded after the State Board of Elections ruled that cities, like individuals, were limited to giving $4,000 per election.
Former Sen. Wib Gulley, D-Durham, introduced legislation to fix the flaw in Cary's system in 2003, but the bill failed.
Gulley said at the time, “A lot of people from both parties understand that this is enabling legislation, and it's for local governments who might want to try this. They are our laboratories for democracy.”
North Carolinians interested in public campaign financing for local elections are not alone. Boulder, CO, Tucson, AZ, and even a Texas city, Austin, offer candidates some form of public campaign funds. Big cities such as Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Miami and Sacramento also have publicly financed campaigns. The idea is not untried.
Enthusiasm for Gulley's enabling legislation for local government public financing has shifted to statewide Council of State races. Opposition from the powerful home builders lobby further dampened legislative interest.
“They saw it as a great threat to their dominance,” says Hall. Builders and developers comprise the single largest group of contributors in most local elections. A study in 2003 showed they gave 44 percent of the money in local Triangle races.
State Sen. Janet Cowell, D-Wake, won two terms on the Raleigh City Council before running for the legislature. She knows what's required in a competitive municipal election in a city such as Raleigh.
“A standard candidate will have a Web site, direct mail advertising, potentially TV, and maybe a campaign manager,” she says. “If you're using all volunteers and cutting corners, you could do a real good race for $30,000 to $40,000. If you pay somebody and have somebody run your campaign, it's a lot of money. [Former City Councilor and Wake Republican state Senator] Neal Hunt spent over $100,000.”
Thomas Mills is a principal in The Campaign Network, an award-winning Chapel Hill political consulting firm. He believes that money will continue to follow local races, like state legislative contests that have cost over $500,000 in recent elections.
“The thing that drives a campaign is how competitive the race is,” he says of the state's larger municipal campaigns. “Races are becoming increasingly competitive. North Carolina is one of the most competitive states in the country. You're not going to see a [competitive] mayor's race where you're going to spend less than $100,000.”
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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