Ross urges hard line on use of campaign funds

Amid all the ethics reform talk in the state House, Rep. Deborah Ross, a Raleigh Democrat, wants to do something about lawmakers who use campaign contributions for personal use. She has asked that a special House ethics committee take up the issue and, ultimately, recommend a ban on the practice.

"It needs to be changed because when people give money to someone's political campaign, they give it to advance the public policy that the person might affect," said Ross, who is a co-chairwoman of the House election committee. "They don't give it for that person's personal expenses."

Rep. Grier Martin, also a Raleigh Democrat, said the current law also could allow someone to legally bribe lawmakers by giving them campaign money that they can pocket.

Former Rep. Michael Decker's personal use of campaign money has triggered support for a change in the law. He kept a $4,000 political contribution from House Speaker Jim Black last year and used campaign money to buy a car. Other former lawmakers also have used leftover campaign money for personal use.

Ross has asked House Majority Leader Joe Hackney, one of the co-chairmen of the House Select Committee on Ethics and Governmental Reform, to put it on the agenda.

Hackney told Dome that he'd be in favor of taking it up, "but there's been no plan, one way or another, yet. We're just starting out."

Bowles starts with bow

The honeymoon is on.

UNC President Erskine Bowles clearly said things legislators wanted to hear when he made his first appearance this week before the joint legislative education oversight committee.

Bowles talked about how generous the legislature has been to the university system, even in times of enormous budget pressure. He pledged to work more closely with the state's community college system and graduate more public school teachers. He promised to manage the university system wisely, repeatedly uttering the phrase "efficiently and effectively." Those taxpayer-financed buildings going up on campuses? They'll be occupied nights, weekends and summers, he said.

Bowles admitted that the university could do better at keeping students enrolled after the freshman year.

"You look at our retention rates, they ain't nothing to brag about," he said.

And the new president opened the door to advice from legislators.

"I'll come over here, I'll meet with you, I'll listen to you, I'll talk to you. Republican or Democrat -- I want your ideas," he said.

Legislators expressed their delight.

Is there a warming trend in relations between the Ivory Tower and the Jones Street gang? Maybe, but Bowles conceded that it's early.

"I'm going to make some decisions people don't like," he said. "This is not a popularity contest by any stretch. What I'm going to try to do is communicate, communicate, communicate."

Voting machines fallout

A voting machine maker, Sequoia Voting Systems, has hired Raleigh lobbyist Theresa Kostrzewa to try to get the company into the state's voting machine market.

Kostrzewa met with state elections officials Wednesday, and so far, nothing doing. Election Systems & Software is the only company approved to sell equipment to the counties.

Sequoia received tentative approval to sell its machines in the state, but its certification was withdrawn because the company's machines don't have a federal testing agency stamp of approval the state requires. Kostrzewa says they are close.

Gary Bartlett, the state elections director, said there's nothing state officials can do to go back and open up the machine market. But he said his office is looking at ways to help counties complaining about the cost of buying new equipment this year.

Counties have complained to Gov. Mike Easley's office about the election requirements, saying they don't have enough time to buy machines by the May primary. The N.C. Association of County Commissioners wants Easley to call a special session to get a law allowing counties to use their old machines in the primary.

Asked about a possible special session, Easley's office wouldn't give a flat-out "No." But Sherri Johnson, an Easley spokeswoman, said in a statement that the elections board is working with counties individually to help them comply with the law.