Leave it to the North Carolina legislature to address ethics issues by pushing illegal, self-serving policies.
A North Carolina Senate committee (Senate Judiciary I committee) is taking up a government ethics bill (HB 961) that would expand taxpayer financing of elections to all Council of State races.
The audacity of this action should anger everyone:
1) Unethical: The Senate would be trying to address ethical problems by forcing the public to give these same politicians money for their own self-interests. Instead of taking money voluntarily given to them from supporters, politicians want to force you to support them. Only politicians would think to solve ethics problems by being more unethical. You will be forced to support candidates and policies you oppose.
2) Illegal: The taxpayer financing system is illegal. The United States Supreme Court just a couple of weeks ago blocked what are called matching funds (a central part of taxpayer financing) from being issued in Arizona. These are the same matching funds we use in North Carolina. The Court is making it clear that matching funds are illegal, yet instead of passing a moratorium on them, the legislature wants to ignore the law and do whatever serves their political careers.
3) Proactive: I have just sent a letter to the State Board of Elections to urge them to block matching funds from being released in North Carolina. Unless the SBOE believes people in Arizona have greater First Amendment rights than North Carolinians, there should be no matching funds. It is not unreasonable to say that SBOE officials could be subject to individual liability for issuing matching funds–the illegal nature of matching funds is that clear.
Will the legislature set a low-mark for unethical behavior this term or will it decide that pushing illegal and unethical laws is not such a good idea? It is a tough call.
