Special-interest slush funds coming to N.C.?
With almost no notice, N.C. legislators made a fundamental and dangerous change last week that will lead to millions of dollars being funneled directly to four politicians.
They created something innocuously named “affiliated party committees.” They are actually slush funds that will let the four receive and spend big money from and on anyone they choose.
Under current law, legislators cannot accept money from corporations or lobbyists, cannot take money from anyone while in session, and must limit contributions to $5,100 per contributor.
The new slush funds would change all that for four of the 170 legislators. The House Speaker, the Senate President Pro Tempore and the minority leader in each chamber would create bank accounts that don’t have to abide by those rules. They could take unlimited money from corporations and lobbyists and do so during a legislative session.
Most of the money would be spent on getting other candidates of their party elected. But it can also be used to “manage daily operations” of the committee. The expenditures will be under the complete authority of the individual leading it.
The legislation came to the House and Senate floors on Thursday tacked on to an unrelated bill. The idea was never vetted by a legislative committee. The Senate passed it easily. The House passed it 52-49, with 19 Republicans voting against.
Opponents’ concerns centered on the new slush funds taking power and money away from the traditional state parties. Regular citizens should oppose it for another reason: the potential for special-interest money to make a beeline to legislators who control what happens in the General Assembly.
Lobbyists and corporations could, and would, give money to legislative leaders who are deciding on legislation that directly affects them – perhaps at the exact same time.
It would lead to much more money flowing into a system already swimming in it, money that would be under the control of lone individuals.
The changes “give wealthy special interests new ways to dominate N.C. politics,” said Bob Hall, a campaign finance watchdog in Raleigh. “And they create new ways for legislative leaders to sell access, steer money into their pet causes and exert control over other legislators.”
The proposal is not law yet. It was presented to Gov. Pat McCrory on Friday. McCrory, voters will recall, campaigned in 2012 as the change agent who would come in to fix a broken state government. He said the election gave him a mandate to do so.
There’s nothing more broken about government than the vast amounts of money that course through it seeking to shape policy to benefit certain special interests. Legislative leaders want to open those spigots up even higher. McCrory should protect North Carolinians from that, knowing the legislature would sustain his veto.
This story was originally published September 26, 2015 at 11:00 AM with the headline "Special-interest slush funds coming to N.C.?."