Here is the first glimpse of something I think you will be hearing a lot more about in the near future:
Elections & Campaigns Archives
- Jun19
Another Cost of IllegaI Immigration Discussed
While open border advocates continue to push blanket amnesty for illegals aliens in hopes that these newly minted citizens will impact the electorate, more talk is zeroing in on an effect of our unenforced border laws: the impact on blue collar employment. Blogger Clayton Cramer really gets at the heart of the native worker issue [...]
- Jun15
Civitas Friend Robinson Everett Passes
A good friend to the Civitas Institute, Duke Law professor, Robinson Everett has passed away at the age of 81. Everette was a frequent guest at the Civitas monthly poll lunches and was keenly interested in the opinions of North Carolina's voters. In addition to a ground breaking career as a military lawyer and judge, [...]
- Jun05
Welfare for Politicians Bill Dead?
Overlooked in all the budget talk yesterday was the significant development that the welfare for politicians bill (HB 120) was sent back to committee from the Senate floor yesterday. This has to be seen that the votes to pass the bill just aren't there in the Senate. It's good to see that some in the [...]
- May28
Stated vs. Demonstrated Preferences
Today's Under the Dome reports on polling results by Public Policy Polling that claim to show public support for taxpayer-financed campaigns. Democratic firm Public Policy Polling has found that 60 percent of voters favor full public funding for candidates for state Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals. Twenty-four percent had an unfavorable opinion, and [...]
- 3May20
Election Welfare Stumbles in NC Senate
The bill to give local politicians taxpayer money to run for office hit a snag in the today's session of the NC Senate. HB 120 would set up a so-called "pilot" program that would allow your local municipal government to set up a publicly financed campaign scheme. (Civitas' Brian Balfour lays it all out here.) [...]
- 1May12
“Clean Elections” or Dirty Politics?
Today's Fayetteville Observer published this letter to the editor I wrote regarding taxpayer-financed campaigns. Josh Glasser thinks he has found a silver bullet for all that ails today’s political landscape: forcing taxpayers to finance political campaigns (“Clean elections restore democracy,” May 3). Unfortunately, Glasser’s solution has been tried before and the promised benefits never materialize, [...]
- May11
Tar Heels at the White House + 1
The UNC Tar Heels made it to the White House to be congratulated by President Obama. While sports is not the usual RedClay fodder (except for Maybe Chris Hayes) This one has a political angle. At the end of the story note that Attorney General Roy Cooper showed up at the White House with the [...]
- May09
Easley Corruption?
Before the left uses the Easley scandal of the day to rev up the call for "Welfare for Politicians", also laughingly called voter-owned elections, they should take a deep breath. The Easley story is not about using existing campaign laws to an advantage, if proven to be true, it is about violating EXISTING campaign law and about [...]
- May06
Dan Blue Elevated To NC Senate
Former Speaker of the House, Dan Blue has been selected by local democrats to replace the late Senator Vernon Malone. His addition to the Senate is making for some interesting rounds of the what if game? Should there be a vacancy in the position of President Pro Tempore of the Senate in the near future, [...]
- May06
Voter Registration for 16 Year Olds
The House Election Law and Campaign Finance Committee is set to hear H1260 at 1pm this afternoon. This bill would create a voter "pre-registration" and education program for 16 year olds that would automatically convert their pre-registration to a full voter registration on that person's 18th birthday. If enacted this will create tremendous problems in [...]
- Apr22
Welfare for Politicians Bill Approved by House
As reported in the N&O: A bill that would allow cities and towns to use taxpayer money to pay for campaigns cleared the House Tuesday. The bill, which was approved 60 to 56, now moves to the Senate. The bill's supporters have repeatedly delayed the bill to avoid adding long debate to already long sessions [...]
- Apr17
Welfare for Politicians Bill Update
A week ago, Francis noted on this blog that H 120 was being delayed because House leadership was afraid they didn't have the necessary votes to pass the bill. H 120 would allow for local governments to authorize a system of taxpayer-financed political campaigns.I've written about how this system never produces the promised results, and [...]
- Apr10
Welfare for Politicians or the Political Consultants Full Employment Act
HB 120 is being delayed to make sure the supporters have the votesafter passing 2nd reading in the state house. Supporters delaying the process to pass something they say will make the system better should come as no surprise after listening to the hypocrisy during debate in committee. So called "Voter Owned" elections are just [...]
- Apr09
Why Republicans are Losing the Tax Issue 2
I wrote back a post back in February speculating on why Republicans are now losing the tax issue to Democrats when voters are polled on which party do they trust more to keep taxes low. Further evidence why Republicans are losing the issue: Sen. Stan Bingham, a Davidson County Republican who represents parts of High [...]
- 1Apr08
Tea Party Protests Taking Off!
Elected officials beware! Last night a "Tea Party" in Wilmington drew up to 1,000 people to protest against against ever expanding government. You can watch video in the above link from WECT-TV and in this story and this story from the Wilmington Star-News. Local folks along with radio host Curtis Wright from "The Big Talker FM" and Americans [...]
- Apr02
Legislative Hypocrisy
Attending a meeting of the House Committee on Election Law and Campaign Finance Reform I listened to two bills (among others) being discussed and couldn't help but be struck by the hypocrisy in the reasons given for passing these bills. HB 120 - Public Municipal Campaigns and House Bill 76 – School Board Candidate Filing Fee. In the case of the HB 76 the argument was that [...]
- 1Mar26
Civitas Poll: Cooper 41, Burr 38
In a hypothetical 2010 matchup for US Senate, Attorney General Roy Cooper leads incumbent US Senator Richard Burr by three points 41-38. Burr is seen more favorably by voters than Cooper, yet still trails in the head-to-head matchup. The questions: “If the election for United States Senate were held today and the candidates were republican [...]
- 1Mar23
Population Politics
Barry Smith, Capital Correspondent for Freedom Newspapers has a piece out today about the effects of North Carolina's growing population on this state's representation in Congress. We could be in line for another seat in the U.S. House of Representatives after the next census. Barry brings up the point that the fighting over redrawing the [...]
- 3Mar20
More Nutty ACORN News
While warnings about the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, (aka ACORN) have been landing on the deaf ears of the media for years, evidence of how deeply they have penetrated the voting process in this nation is starting to emerge. ACORN has made voter registration one of there main focuses. Now we hear [...]