The State Board of Elections decided Thursday that Chapel Hill could not use any matching funds this fall for its taxpayer-financed election campaign program. Before the board meeting, Daren Bakst, John Locke Foundation Director of Legal and Regulatory Studies, sent a letter (PDF link) informing the board that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision should prompt North Carolina to purge all “matching-funds” provisions from state and local taxpayer-financing schemes, including the Chapel Hill program. Bloomberg View editor Lisa Beyer consulted Roy Cordato, JLF Vice President for Research and Resident Scholar, for an editorial about President Obama’s decision to scrap new federal regulations for ground-level ozone. N.C. Senate Republicans promoted Cordato’s column on myths associated with sustainable growth. A Charlotte Observer article this week profiling city council election candidates included challenger Jay Privette’s citation of JLF information on the Queen City’s light rail program. A guest columnist in the Hendersonville Times-News cited JLF support for redistricting reform. CounterPunch.org picked up a column from Fergus Hodgson, Director of Fiscal Policy Studies, on Syrian trade sanctions. Hodgson’s most recent contributions to the Future of Freedom Foundation have focused on price gouging and the National Debt Relief Amendment.