When the Democrats hold their 50th Vance-Aycock dinner in Asheville in October, it will be the last time the fundraising event will go by that name.
Earlier this year, the Democrats' executive council decided to "retire with honor" the name of former Gov. Charles Brantley Aycock (1901-1905) because of his role in the white supremacy campaigns of 1898 and 1900.
But the Democrats have yet to decide on a new name for the dinner when it is held in the fall of 2011. Will it just keep the name of Civil War Gov. Zebulon Vance? Add another name? Or come up with an entirely new name?
While no decision has been made, delegates to the state Democratic convention recently passed a resolution urging party leaders to rename it the Vance Lucas Dinner in honor of both Vance and state Sen. Jeanne Lucas, the late African-American lawmaker from Durham.
It also urged the party to "remove" and not to "retire" Aycock's name because of what the resolution called his "well documented legacy of hate and division."
For much of the past 100 years, Aycock had been a revered figure in the state because of his leadership on education. There are statues of him on the state Capitol grounds and in the halls of Congress. His birthplace is a state historic site, and his words are carved on state government buildings. But in recent years, his racial views have come under more criticism.
The Democrats' executive council has not taken up the issue.
I-told-you-so constituency
Proponents of public financing for political campaigns are pointing to the controversy over the State Board of Elections ruling on Gov. Bev Perdue's flights on private aircraft as an example of why voters should wholly own the electoral process.
"It underscores the need for alternative financing programs that don't give aircraft owners, who can loan their planes to candidates, a wing up on the rest of us when it comes to participating in our democracy," said Damon Circosta, executive director of the N.C. Center for Voter Education.
The state elections board voted 4-1 last week to fine Perdue's campaign $30,000 for its failure to report 42 flights on private aircraft prior to the 2008 election. The fine was imposed after the board split down party lines, with the Democratic majority appointed by Perdue shooting down motions from Republicans to hold public hearings where members of the governor's staff could be questioned under oath.
Circosta pointed to the failure of a proposal to extend voter-owned elections during this year's legislative session to Council of State races.
The measure had been unveiled by Democratic leaders as the centerpiece of a major ethics bill, paid for by new fees on the businesses and firms regulated by the elected offices involved - attorney general, state treasurer, agriculture commissioner, labor commissioner and secretary of state.
Within hours of the bill's introduction, however, the conservative group Americans for Prosperity produced automated phone calls featuring Pat McCrory, the former Charlotte mayor and Republican nominee for governor in 2008. McCrory painted the proposed fees as a tax hike about to be imposed on businesses by Democrats.
Democrats then stripped the voter-owned elections measure from the ethics bill.
Dems say legalize medical pot
The state Democratic Party wants the legislature to legalize marijuana for medical use.
At its state convention this summer in Fayetteville, the delegates passed a resolution urging the legislature to legalize marijuana when prescribed by a physician as part of pain management.
Fourteen states have legalized the medical use of marijuana, but none of them are located in the South.
By staff writers Rob Christensen and Michael Biesecker.
