In her May 26 column "Ethics are free, Bev," Ruth Sheehan challenged Gov. Perdue to show stronger leadership on ethics reform and offered reform suggestions of her own.
Although certainly laudable, Perdue's ethics reform package and Sheehan's suggestions both fail to get to the heart of the ethics problems in Raleigh.
We can track how big money flows and punish wrongdoers, but unless we give politicians an alternative way to finance their campaigns, they'll stay dependent on special-interest money.
For reform to be meaningful, it needs to offer a realistic alternative to the campaign money chase itself and establish a citizen-funded source of campaign financing.
Such a system would match citizens' small donations with public money, replacing politicians' (bad) dependency on special interests with a (good) dependency on voters.
The General Assembly has a clear opportunity to expand this public system of campaign financing to additional offices. By showing stronger support for these initiatives, Perdue not only would become more deserving of the Ethics Governor moniker, but also would help change the economy of dependency in Raleigh and (in the process) give citizens a real reason to have more confidence in state government.
Chase Foster
Director, N.C. Voters for Clean Elections
Raleigh
