If incumbent Greensboro City Council find themselves scrambling to file for the upcoming election as Sen. Trudy Wade’s SB 36 bogs down in the General Assembly, then what about potential challengers, especially those who’ve never been through an election before?
Another good point from EZ Greensboro—what about the money?
challengers generally start as early as possible. When George Hartzman ran against Mayor Vaughan and Mayor Perkins he started a year before either one of them.
Add to that the fact that Senator Wade’s SB 36 has also served to mobilize incumbent supporters earlier than they would normally jump into the fray and the incumbent advantage grows even bigger. Who doesn’t believe incumbents’ campaign contributions won’t rise because of SB 36?
Couple of things here—first of all, note that potential big contributors to incumbent City Council members running for reelection—from whatever district — are –I suspect— part of the same crowd that bemoans money in politics, except of course when it’s their guy or gal in the mix.
And if the true goal of Sen. Wade’s bill is to get more business people in city politics, then money should not be an issue.
