Bob Hall: C+ on the ethics reforms
If — like me — you’ve had trouble following the twists and turns of the Democrats’ promised “lobbying & ethics reform” in the General Assembly, here’s a summing-up from Democracy NC’s Bob Hall. He is THE expert on money-in-politics in North Carolina. He gives it a C+ grade. (And lists as the biggest disappointment the failure to include a pilot program of public campaign finance for legislative elections.
The combination of the omnibus State Government Ethics Act and several
campaign reforms bills adopted this year will improve how democracy works in
North Carolina. These changes were urgently needed — and there’s more work
to do.The Government Ethics Act puts in place the framework for North Carolina’s
first comprehensive set of ethics and lobbying regulations. It provides a
solid foundation and important features that citizens and lawmakers can
build on and continue to improve. For the first time, we have in law an
independent Ethics Commission covering the three branches of government,
conflict-of-interest rules, disclosure requirements for public officials and
lobbyists, gift restrictions (not a “ban”), an ethics education program,
restrictions on lobbyists providing campaign money to state officials, a
process for handling violations, and serious penalties.Certainly more can be done in each area. Some people will be disappointed,
especially given the bold promises from political leaders earlier this year
in response to controversies that exposed weaknesses in our ethics, lobbying
and campaign financing laws. But getting rank-and-file legislators and
their leaders to quickly accept reforms that affect their personal behavior
isn’t easy. Eventually, a positive product emerged, thanks to the continued
pressure from the public, reform groups, citizen activists, and the media,
and thanks to the hard work of individual legislators such as Rep. Joe
Hackney, Rep. Deborah Ross, and Sen. Dan Clodfelter. The final Ethics bill
was better than either the Senate or House versions; I’d give it a grade of
C+, showing solid performance and recognition that more is expected and can be done.The package of reforms adopted this year provides more public accountability
and protection of the public interest. In addition to the Ethics Act, the
package of bills:
* bans the use of campaign accounts for personal purposes
* clarifies laws to ban anonymous contributions and checks with blank payee
lines
* requires training for campaign treasurers
* lowers threshold for public disclosure of a political contribution to $50
per election
* increases regulation of phony issue-ad committees (527s and similar groups)Other highlights from the session –
LEAST NOTICED ACHIEVEMENT
** Requirement in the Ethics Act that the Secretary of State and State Board
of Elections coordinate efforts to “create a searchable Web-based database”
of the contents of lobbyist disclosure reports and campaign finance reports,
which will allow citizens to search, by donor or recipient, the amounts and
source of gifts, entertainment and political contributions given to state
official.MOST DISAPPOINTING LOSS
** Opposition to a pilot program to give candidates in 4 legislative
elections the option of using public funds in their campaign IF they refused
special-interest funds and obtained a large number of small contributions
from voters in their districts. Until candidates have a realistic source of
“clean” funds, they will continue to rely on special-interest donations that
wind up costing the public billions of dollars in special favors.NEW AREAS FOR NORTH CAROLINA
** Regulation of the “solicitation” of the general public to take action as
grassroots lobbyists on key issues — from Bill Graham’s anti-gas tax
advertisements to the robo-telephone calls that patch people directly to
their legislator’s office. This is a growing form of lobbying but uncharted
territory for North Carolina regulators, and because the language in the
bill has such a wide scope, from email solicitations to conferences, it will
likely need considerable revisions as it gets enforced.** Experimenting with rank voting or Instant Runoff Voting in up to 20 local
election jurisdictions in the next two years. This bill (H-1024) wasn’t
part of the reform package, but illustrates another dimension that continues
to need work: ways to make elections more accessible and meaningful for
voters and candidates.Thanks to all of you in the media who stayed vigilant, educated the public,
and kept a focus on the fate of government reforms.Best,
Bob Hall, Director
Democracy North Carolina