Peach of a Proposal
The latest place to see the possibility of judicial public financing raised is Georgia. This article in the Gwinnett Daily Post tackles the recent proposal to make the state's judicial elections partisan, something Common Cause Georgia, among other groups, opposes on the grounds that it would bring even more special interest money into the races. The last part of the article discusses an upcoming proposal to provide public financing for judicial elections to reduce the role of special interests in elections. The naysayers trot out their usual arguments - among them, courtesy of business leader Eric Dial, "“I think public financing is a non-starter. It’s a liberal idea, the kind of thing you see up in New England.” That should come as something of a surprise to the people of North Carolina where judicial public financing is both widely used and popular among voters.