RALEIGH -- The U.S. Supreme Court has complicated the problem of political reform in North Carolina. A couple of weeks ago, the high court raised the specter of a lot more money being spent in federal and state elections. Corporations now can spend unlimited amounts on independent campaigns to affect elections.
The image of a top aide to ex-Gov. Mike Easley being led into a federal courthouse on a 51-count indictment was one more reminder that no one has yet found a way to rub out corruption in North Carolina. Still, state officials will try.
As my colleague Andrew Curliss has pointed out, Gov. Bev Perdue, members of both political parties and a coalition of liberal and conservative interests are working on another round of ethics and election reforms for the legislative session convening May 12.
Yet the fact that state leaders have been working on ethical reforms much of this decade has instilled in some people a cynical belief all politicians are crooks and that the only way to clean the place up is to replace them all. That perception is the price democracy pays for a procession of Democrats arrested, charged, convicted and imprisoned for bribery, extortion, fraud and other crimes, and for some personal and legal misconduct by a few Republicans.
All this has tarnished the reputation of both political parties in a state where major elections are hotly contested, but where too many legislative elections are tilted toward a fixed outcome because of redistricting efforts that pack one party's voters into single-member districts.
House Speaker Joe Hackney says the legislative atmosphere is favorable for reform legislation: "The prospects are excellent. There's a lot of renewed interest in ethics reform due to current events."
Because corporations may become big contributors in this state, lawmakers could beef up disclosure laws that require faster reports on contributions or spending. But even many reform-minded legislators are unlikely to take the strongest steps to root out corruption: For starters, prohibit anyone who contributes money to politicians from serving on major state boards and commissions. Stop public officials from accepting gifts of any value. Require immediate electronic disclosure of all political contributions.
These steps would dampen the corrosive effects of money on politics and diminish the impact of a pay-to-play culture in Raleigh.
But it's unlikely to happen, because politicians depend on the regular flow of campaign contributions to win office and stay there. The proposed reforms are good ones, but they won't solve a problem that's about to get worse if big corporations or powerful labor unions get involved in North Carolina's elections in a big way.
If they do, candidates for the legislature are going to be looking for more ways and more places to raise money, not less.
Worthy items favored by the N.C. Coalition for Lobbying and Government Reform include three House bills pending in the Senate. One requires appointees of boards and commissions to report campaign contributions they give to officials who appoint them, plus any fundraising activities they engage in. Another would ban contributions from state contractors to officials who can approve their contract. A third would require a six-month cooling-off period before executive branch officials can become lobbyists or before state workers can go to work for industries they regulate.
One important reform would prohibit parties from giving unlimited sums to legislative or statewide campaigns, a practice that has helped Democrats stay in power. Thanks to the Supreme Court decision and its threat of more money, the prospects for such a welcome reform are even dimmer.
Everyone is waiting to see what will happen: Will corporations or unions launch independent campaigns that put their favorite candidates in office? Will they be able to decide who controls the legislature? How much money will flow, and what will be the impact on public policymaking?
The Supreme Court decision, like it or hate it, has made political reform in this state harder.
Jack Betts is a Raleigh-based columnist and associate editor for The Charlotte Observer.
