The Senate is scheduled to vote today on a House bill that would allow taxpayer-funded municipal elections. JLF’s Daren Bakst weighs in:

For years, North Carolina has listened to “reformers” who have created excessive campaign finance regulations, restricted free speech through contribution limits, crafted incoherent lobbying laws that discourage political participation, and advanced other policies that blame citizens while protecting the “innocent” politicians. Now they want to force citizens, from the poor to the wealthy, to pay local politicians money for their personal use.

How have their reforms worked for North Carolina? The state government’s corruption is at an all-time high. The state government has become a joke to the rest of the country — even Illinois is laughing. It’s time to ignore these “reformers” who think it’s for the “greater good” when government unethically restricts speech and forces taxpayers to subsidize politicians. A good place to start ignoring them is by shooting down House Bill 120.

As others pointed out, proponents emphasize the fact that the bill would only put in place the option of taxpayer-funded elections. Anybody think the Greensboro City Council couldn’t be talked into this? and with that group in mind, note that Bakst calls taxpayer-funded elections “incumbency-protection” schemes, because when funding is on an equal plane, name recognition gives incumbents an advantage. And yes, there are challengers out there with the means to spend more than the incumbent.

I realize there’s a strong sentiment here in Greensboro that the city is run by developers and the lawyers who funnel money to pro-development council members like Robbie Perkins. But taxpayer-funded elections are not the answer to bringing change to Greensboro’s municipal government. I’ll take my chances with the developers, as it’s just my hunch candidates elected with the help of taxpayers will have no problem with using taxpayer money to enforce their agendas, which I somehow suspect would involve politically correct initiatives such as smart growth and expanded public transportation.

Here’s more from Bradley Smith, chairman of the Center for Competitive Politics: