Feb. 5, 2007
Money Race Underway for ’08 Governor Hopefuls
By Chris Heagarty
RALEIGH - With Election Day 2008 almost two years away, former N.C. Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr has announced that he will run for governor.
By all accounts, Orr, the winner of several statewide campaigns, is a well-spoken, savvy campaigner who should offer voters a respectable choice when they choose our next governor.
But in order to mount an effective campaign, Orr will have to live up to his well-deserved reputation for bulldog-like tenacity. He’s a Republican who has won in years when other Republicans went down in flames. But despite solid credentials, Orr will start the race with one glaring challenge -- money.
Orr can raise money. He raised a considerable amount running for the state Supreme Court. But a race for governor may cost more than ten or twenty times that, and his likely opponents may have a much easier time because they don’t have to look any further than their own bank accounts.
On the Republican side, two potential candidates are Salisbury trial lawyer Bill Graham, and Fred Smith, a Johnston County state senator and real estate developer. Graham is so rich he’s been tapping his own money to run TV ads all year about the gas tax. Smith’s company is building luxury homes in one of the fastest-growing areas of the state. Either one could finance their own million-dollar media campaign, reminiscent of John Edwards.
On the Democratic side, the two front-running candidates are State Treasurer Richard Moore and Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue. Both are also blessed with substantial personal wealth. And they have the advantage of being current office holders, with all of the perks and benefits that go along with that.
If Orr wins his primary, he will find that a lot of the big campaign donors are already lined up behind his opponents, who benefit from their status as incumbents.
Moore has proven very adept at fund raising. He enjoys solid campaign support from business and his well-documented campaign reports read like a “who’s who” of the financial community. This is a good example of why we need strong campaign disclosure laws.
A thorough examination of Moore’s records shows very good disclosure of exactly who has given to his campaign. And, the good news for those people sick of the pay-to-play Jack Abramoff style of politics, his campaign reports and public records show that some of his largest contributors actually lost state business, rather than getting any favors.
Likewise, Perdue appears to be raising money so fast that she can’t keep track of it. She’s also receiving a lot of business support, no doubt influenced by her long tenure in the state Senate. But with this support, some caution needs to be exercised. One family sent her $12,000 from their three under-age teenage boys. Though such giving by kids too young to vote is legal, it has to be a donation of their own money -- not their parent’s -- and that’s hard to prove. Perdue correctly decided to return the money.
The Perdue campaign also returned a $4,000 contribution that came from a fellow named Norman Chambliss. He’s the guy who was hip deep in illegal contributions and the conspiracy charges related to former Agricultural Commissioner Meg Scott Phipps.
Sometimes bad contributions sneak into a campaign, but candidates are obligated to know who their donors are. Exceptions are made when a campaign makes its “best effort” and still can’t find the data. But my “best effort” to confirm who this Chambliss was took all of about two minutes and the magic of Google. Why not get those teenage boys to volunteer to look these people up? That may be a more appropriate exercise of their civic duty.
But the point is that Perdue and Moore have vast networks to tap. Both are personally wealthy, as are Graham and Smith.
I’m not privy to any tax filings of the Orr household, but I do know what our state judges and justices make, and even with his new gig as the director of the non-profit Institute for Constitutional Law, I’d be willing to bet he doesn’t have the same deep pockets that all of his opponents will be able to fall back on.
The candidate with the most money doesn’t always win. But it sure helps.
Maybe one day there will be a matching funds program so hard working and qualified candidates like Orr won’t have to start so far behind, and can earn more resources for their campaigns by building on the support of the voters, not their own personal wealth.
Until then, though, don’t underestimate the bulldog. He might surprise you.
Chris Heagarty is the executive director of the N.C. Center for Voter Education, a Raleigh-based nonprofit and nonpartisan organization dedicated to improving elections in North Carolina.
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