| 2009 Scorecard on Campaign Reform |
Check out our new legislative scorecard!
The 2009 Scorecard on Campaign Reform evaluates state legislators' actions campaign finance reform initiatives debated during the 2009 legislative session.
See what score your legislator received and what bills will be taken up again when the General Assembly reconvenes in May.
Read the scorecard.
View our press release.
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| NCVCE Ten Year Anniversary Reception |
One decade ago, NC Voters for Clean Elections was formed as North Carolina’s campaign reform coalition.
Over the year’s we’ve accomplished a lot: increasing transparency, holding politicians accountable, and creating alternative Voter-Owned Elections programs for appellate judges and the Council of State.
Join us as we celebrate our achievements and look to the future!
Click here for more details and to view our invitation.
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| Council of State Expansion Approved by Senate |
A bill that expands Council of State public financing and creates a sustainable funding stream to pay for the program has been approved by the state Senate.
In a final vote of 29-17, the Senate passed SB-20: State Treasurer Voter-Owned Elections.
It will now be sent to the House for consideration.
See a press release about the vote here.
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| U.S. Supreme Court Says Money Matters |
In a 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a citizen’s right to due process requires that judges recuse themselves from cases where their impartiality might reasonably be questioned.
The issue at hand in Caperton v. Massey was whether West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin was required to recuse himself in a case that involved his largest campaign contributor.
This is a victory for the rule of law and the guarantee every citizen has to receive a hearing untainted by campaign contributions.
It will likely be a boost in our efforts to allow candidates to run without having to take money from special interest groups.
Read NCVCE's statement on the case.
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| NC House Passes Municipal Public Campaigns |
In a close 60-56 vote, HB-120 passes the state House on third reading.
The bill authorizes municipalities with more than 50,000 residents to create local public financing programs similar to the system created by Chapel Hill last year.
It now heads for approval in the state Senate.
Click here to view our press release.
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| Voter-Owned Elections Expansion Bills |
There are three main initiatives to expand Voter-Owned Elections this year: to most of the Council of State, to municipalities (authorization only), and to the legislature (pilot only)
The Council of State bills would expand the successful program to five additional statewide offices.
The municipal bill would merely authorize cities to create programs if they meet certain guidelines and local governments approve it.
And the legislative bill would create a small VOE pilot in three Senate and six House districts that would begin in the 2012 election.
Click here for more details and bill summaries.
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| Chapel Hill Approves Local Voter-Owned Elections |
With a final ordinance approved last week, the town of Chapel Hill has become the third municipality to offer a full public financing option for candidates running for municipal office.
This is a huge victory for campaign reform and comes after a near ten year effort to create the program in the town.
The program will be available to candidates running in this year's municipal elections.
As Chapel Hill initiatives its first run, other municipalities across the state will be watching closely as they consider creating programs of their own. They may soon have that right if legislation authorizing other municipalities to create public financing programs is approved by the NC General Assembly this year (HB-120).
Click here to learn more about how their program will work.
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| 2009 Legislative Agenda |
NCVCE is excited to announce our 2009 Legislative Agenda
We will be working with our partners to launch three Voter-Owned Elections bills this legislative session.
The first is a municipal authorization bill that will allow municipalities to create public financing programs for local elections and open up mayoral and council service to all citizens regardless of wealth. View HB-120.
The second is a bill to expand our state's successful Council of State Voter-Owned Elections program to additional statewide offices, including State Treasurer, Attorney General, and Commissioner of Labor.
Finally, we will be introducing a bill to create a Voter-Owned Elections pilot for the state legislature.
Click here to view our full 2009 legislative agenda.
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| Insurance Industry No Longer Bankrolling Top Insurance Job |
Candidates running for the state's top insurance job are no longer receiving most of their campaign financing from the insurance industry because of a new public campaign financing program.
According to the study conducted by NCVCE, the percentage of campaign money taken from the insurance industry and other industries directly regulated by the state insurance agency dropped from 66% in 2004 to 5% in 2008.
This drop was possible because of a new public financing program available for Commissioner of Insurance candidates and two other Council of State offices which began this year.
Because the program gave candidates an alternative way to finance their campaigns, they didn't fundraise as much from regulated groups. As a result, special interests spent just 1/6th of what they did in 2004 on the Commissioner of Insurance race, despite this year's race being more competitive.
Read the report.
Read a press release about the report.
View a PDF version of the report.
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