Public Campaign - north carolina

Public Financing Going to the Chapel?

Katie Schlieper — Thu, 15 May 2008 10:44:07 -0500

Speaking of North Carolina, Chapel Hill may become the state's first municipality to offer a full public financing option for city council races. The state legislature has approved the idea, now the council is debating it. Cities like Portland, Oregon and Albuquerque, New Mexico offer a full public financing option and officials in more cities (like Los Angeles and New York) are proposing similar programs as the cost of running for office goes up and closes more people out.

Get Real

Katie Schlieper — Thu, 15 May 2008 10:29:15 -0500

From the Raleigh News and Observer this morning an editorial lauding the state's existing public financing programs for campaigns in the state and encouraging further expansion of these programs as fast as possible.

Court Rules for Public Financing

Katie Schlieper — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:40:08 -0500

The generally conservative 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected challenges to North Carolina's full public financing program for judicial elections and upheld the law that put Clean Elections-style financing of judicial races on the map. This is great news for North Carolina and the popular public financing program, which this year has been expanded to include three Council of State positions (the state Cabinet).

Chapel Hill Hearings

Katie Schlieper — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:36:00 -0500

Hearings on a new full public financing program for elections in Chapel Hill, North Carolina are getting underway after a long effort by town council member Mark Kleinschmidt to get attention to the issue. The North Carolina Assembly has opened the door for Chapel Hill to pursue this on a pilot basis, we'll see if it goes all the way.

New Way to Run

Katie Schlieper — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:09:15 -0500

North Carolina's Independent Weekly covers the full public financing pilot program that applies to three Council of State races this year, and talks to candidates about how their run with public funding will diverge from the traditional campaign model.

Going to Greensboro?

Katie Schlieper — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:26:31 -0500

A group of Clean Elections supporters in Greensboro, North Carolina are organizing to bring full public financing of elections to their city, following in the path of Albuquerque, New Mexico and Portland, Oregon, as well as public financing programs for North Carolina's judicial races and three Council of State races, as well as a new program in the works for Chapel Hill. As the cost of running for office escalates, there is concern that running for office is becoming prohibitively expensive for would-be candidates.

Costing Out City Council

Katie Schlieper — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:04:40 -0500

Joel Burgess at the Asheville Citizen-Times writes about how expensive it's getting to run for a City Council seat, and about the law recently passed in North Carolina allowing Chapel Hill to pursue a Clean Elections public financing option for its races to control costs and open the door for people without access to wealth to run for office.

On Second Thought...

Katie Schlieper — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:32:18 -0500

The West Virginia judge who raised eyebrows for vacationing with the CEO of an energy company he'd just decided in favor of (a CEO known for using campaign contributions to influence the outcome of judicial races) has indicated he would support public financing of judicial races, but he has some concerns.

Looking Good

Katie Schlieper — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 13:17:57 -0500

It looks as though participation in North Carolina's pilot program for public financing of three Council of State races will be high. Six of the 11 candidates for the offices of auditor, insurance commissioner and superintendent of public instruction have indicated they would opt in, and another four are still mulling whether to participate.

Snipping the Price Tag

Katie Schlieper — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 15:52:13 -0500

The Daily Tar Heel weighs in on recent efforts in Chapel Hill, North Carolina to implement a full public financing option for municipal races. The price tag to win a seat in Chapel Hill is typically thousands of dollars -- well out of reach for many people who might otherwise make excellent candidates. The editorial supports public financing to level the playing field for all competitors.