North Carolina's strong and growing system of publicly financed elections

Quick Take: Despite all of the sobering state policy news of late, North Carolina continues to make real and sustained progress in an area of tremendous, overarching importance to the future of the state: the promotion and expansion of publicly financed elections. This year, legislators are considering proposals that would expand public financing to many municipal elections and five more Council of State offices. One proposal could be considered on the Senate floor today.

The news in North Carolina has been pretty grim of late. Here in Raleigh, the state faces a record budget shortfall and lawmakers have been seriously considering a plan to dumb down public education by cutting thousands of teacher jobs and even shortening the school year. Meanwhile, our new and comparatively high energy governor has little to say on this – the most important of all matters on her plate.

Elsewhere in the state capital, the former governor and his wife are mired in scandal, state lawmakers and judges seem bent on restarting executions and the state's highest profile nonprofit health insurer has decided to make Halliburton its model for corporate citizenship. All in all, times have been better – both for the people of the state and their elected officials.

A cause for optimism

And still, it's clear that all is far from lost. Despite the stories of greed and shortsightedness, North Carolina still has a lot going for it both in the real and political worlds. One of the most important examples of late has been the encouraging progress made by advocates for campaign finance reform.

Several years ago, North Carolina became a national pioneer in this area through its adoption of a groundbreaking program of publicly funded judicial campaigns. More recently, the state has expanded public campaign financing into three statewide political offices – State Auditor, State Superintendent of Public Instruction and State Insurance Commissioner. Last year's election marked the successful debut of publicly financed elections for these three offices and the results were outstanding.

Here's how the expert advocates at the Democracy North Carolina summarized some of last year's key successes.

In the courts:

"On November 3, the US Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from opponents of public financing that challenged North Carolina's ‘rescue funds' provision. This provision provides additional funds to publicly financed candidates who are significantly outspent by opponents or outside groups. The Supreme Court's decision is important recognition that North Carolina's public financing program protects, rather than chills, free speech as it bolsters the independence and impartiality of our judicial branch."

In the Council of State elections:

"North Carolina's pilot program for three Council of State positions was successful. Most candidates in the primary and four of the six candidates in the general election participated in the program. Two of three winners (June Atkinson as Superintendent of Public Instruction and Wayne Goodwin as Commissioner of Insurance) will serve free and clear of the perception that large campaign contributors will hold sway over their offices…."

In the judicial elections:

"Eleven of the 12 NC Court of Appeals and Supreme Court candidates in contested races participated in the judicial public financing program, including all six winners. When those winners are sworn in, five of the seven justices on the Supreme Court and 10 of the 15 judges on the Court of Appeals will have reached their posts through public financing."

In addition, the General Assembly also enacted a new law that gave the city of Chapel Hill the authority to introduce  publicly financed elections at the local level. In 2009, it will be the first municipality in North Carolina to implement an authorized local public campaign financing program for its town council and mayoral elections.

In short, the momentum is with the public financing advocates. Despite unrelenting attacks from the ideological right and its allies in the corporate world – both of which fear that the key to their out-sized political influence will be eroded even further as the importance of big money in politics is lessened – lawmakers continue to consider and advance important reforms.

Why this is so important

Though self-evident in many ways, it's worth reminding ourselves why it is that the public financing – or what supporters call "voter owned elections" – represents such a critical breakthrough in modern politics and policymaking.

Basically, it boils down to this: modern American politics have devolved into an incessant and toxic money chase. In North Carolina, the cost of a campaign for the General Assembly has tripled in just the last decade. Even at the local level, campaigns have become remarkably expensive.

Meanwhile, as the good folks at N.C. Voters for Clean Elections remind us regularly, roughly 90% of all campaign contributions come from only 1% of the state's population. Rather than being "voter-owned," our elections have become "special interest owned." Unless a person is independently wealthy or well-connected to the state's power-elite, it is extremely difficult to mount anything approximating a serious campaign – especially if one is challenging an incumbent officeholder. As a result, many well-qualified persons never even try.

Publicly financed elections change all of this by allotting public funds to any and all candidates who demonstrate a measure of public trust by gathering a large number of small, individual contributions. In one fell swoop, the disproportionate influence of the wealthy and well-connected is cut down to size.

The next logical steps

This year, legislators are seriously considering two more important proposals to expand public financing.

The one to proceed the furthest thus far is a bill to promote public financing at the local level.  Under this proposal, all municipalities with more than 50,000 residents will be authorized to establish local public financing systems along the lines of the one in Chapel Hill.

Last month, the bill narrowly passed the House. More recently, it was approved with bipartisan support by a Senate committee. It is scheduled to be debated on the Senate floor as early as today.

The second bill to move forward is a proposal to expand the successful Council of State public financing program from three statewide executive offices to eight. This would add the Commissioners of Agriculture and Labor, the State Treasurer, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of State to the program. Races for these offices are seen as particularly in need of a publicly funded alternative, because of the strong pattern of fundraising from the groups these offices regulate or do business with.

A third proposal, which, unfortunately, is not expected to move forward this year, would create a legislative public financing pilot in three Senate and six House districts beginning in 2012. The bill would allow North Carolina to follow the lead of a handful of other states and test public financing at the legislative level. Proponents are hopeful that it will advance in 2010.

Going forward

While North Carolina is not alone in its multi-front movement to promote and expand publicly financed elections (Maine and Arizona, among others have already moved even further in some areas), it is clearly a national leader. With a little extra effort this year, it could even sprint to the head of the class.