Jinny Batterson: Use campaign money for aid

Oct. 9 was a saturation day for both political and weather news. It featured the second presidential debate, another verbal slugfest. Earlier in the day, I’d watched extended TV news coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew in North Carolina, with major beach erosion and ongoing inland flooding.

Periodically, coverage was punctuated by long sequences of competing political advertisements by senatorial and gubernatorial candidates mostly badmouthing their opponents. Enough!

Although I realize it’s a long shot, I would like respectfully to suggest that all our North Carolina candidates, plus the media outlets they use, agree to a short-term moratorium on all forms of paid advertising, instead donating the equivalent in funding to a disaster relief group such as the Red Cross.

In an even greater stretch, it would be great to see our elected officials and hopeful officials helping support the staff of temporary shelters and soup kitchens or even hauling trash from receding creeks and rivers, rather than trashing each other.

This story was originally published October 12, 2016 at 4:28 PM with the headline "Jinny Batterson: Use campaign money for aid."