Two days after Mark Kleinschmidt narrowly got past Matt Czajkowski by 244 votes to become the new Chapel Hill mayor comes this story from the Daily Tar Heel, which declares taxpayer funding of campaigns a success. Kleinschmidt took public money and Czajkowski did not.
The candidates finishing atop Tuesday’s Chapel Hill municipal elections are the only two that signed up for the voter-owned election program — an indicator of its success.
Out of 12 candidates, only Penny Rich and Mark Kleinschmidt participated. Rich received top votes for Town Council, and Kleinschmidt was elected mayor.
It was a stark contrast from the last time Rich ran in 2007, when she came in sixth place.
“It’s positive that voters found it appealing that candidates would make a statement about not taking larger contributions,” said Bob Hall, executive director of Democracy North Carolina.
Voter-owned elections is a pilot program enacted by the N.C. General Assembly for the 2009 and 2011 Chapel Hill elections that enables candidates to receive public funds after raising a minimum.
Using this logic, the program’s goal is to get people elected.
Using this logic, a Kleinschmidt loss would have indicated the program’s failure.
Using this logic, Barack Obama’s win indicates that NOT taking public financing leads to a win.
This story makes my hair hurt. It completely misses the point. JLF legal and regulatory policy analyst Daren Bakst lays out the facts behind the town’s misguided program here.
