We’ve given a lot of attention to this week’s cringe-worthy effort to expand taxpayer-funded campaigns by including it in the “ethics bill” making its way through the General Assembly. Though the language that would have allowed for taxpayer-funded campaigns looks like it’s been scrapped for this session, it’s important to understand just how ugly these efforts really were.
In formal terms, the taxpayer-funded campaigns would have been funded by “money collected pursuant to G.S. 55A-1-22, 57C 1-22, 58-33-125, 78A-37, 95-110.5(20), 95-69.11(11), and 147-69.2(e).”
What does that really mean? Look up those portions of the General Statutes and the proposed bill and you’ll find that the funds in question are fees levied by various state agencies. In a move that would have put what essentially amounts to new taxes on farmers, church and community groups, new business owners, and general consumers (in the form of greater fees for the inspection of heating units and health care licensing fees, as Becki previously noted here), legislators were set on increasing all of these fees; not for legitimate government purposes, but campaigns.
How is it that the same legislators who give press conferences on the importance of insulating campaigns from the voluntary contributions of “business interests” were attempting to fund their campaigns with new fees leveled on the very same businesses, just by force?
There’s another point of irony here. Legislators are quick to bemoan the current state of the economy, but were ready for the sake of political campaigns, to put a greater financial burden on everyday citizens and the start-up business owners that provide jobs and spur economic growth?
This whole effort might not have come as a surprise, but I think it’s safe to say that it’s certainly a new low.
