We have posted previously on House Bill 120, Publicly funded Municipal Campaigns here and here and here that expands taxpayer funded campaigns (already in place for judicial and some council of state candidates) to municipal elections in North Carolina’s larger cities. Daren has written about the constitutionality of taxpayer funded campaigns here and here and Bradley Smith, former FEC chair spoke about the problems with compelling taxpayers to pay for campaigns of candidates they may vehemently disagree with. All good and persuasive arguments. However in addition, under the taxpayer funded campaign laws in North Carolina, if John Edwards had run for one of the seats qualified for this program, North Carolina taxpayers’ money would have been used to pay his girlfriend to videotape his campaign. Is this what we want in North Carolina? If politicians want to pay their girlfriends, let them do it with their own money.
The bill passed in the House 60 to 52. Go here to see a list of who voted for and who voted against. The vote in the Senate has been delayed until May 27. Giving girlfriends time to take a video class?
