The News Record of North Carolina laments the spate of dishonest lawmakers it feels has tarnished the state's reputation for honest government and exhorts the public to take a stand against dishonest leadership when it comes time to vote. The paper mentions the public financing legislation being explored to curb corruption, but says the burden is on citizens to hold officials accountable.

Of course, if voters are going to punish unethical lawmakers by voting them out of a job, it would help if there were a system in place to let challengers run without the conflicts of interest campaign contributions can generate, and that's what full public financing of elections is about.