in a surprise move that caught most Legislative Building watchers off-guard, Republican lawmakers unveiled legislation on Thursday that would make significant changes to state campaign finance law. The sudden move prompted all 20 Senate Democrats to walk out of the chamber in protest when the bill was quickly brought to a vote. It was approved 28-0 by the Republicans who remained on the Senate floor. The House is expected to take up the measure next week.
The proposed law changes, which were appended to a conference committee report on a controversial and much-debated bill dealing with punishment for unlawful protests and the wearing of masks (see the box below), would make it easier for big dollar donors to funnel large sums of cash in relative anonymity to support North Carolina political candidates.
Republicans said the proposal was merely designed to “level the playing field” with Democrats in response to a 2020 advisory opinion from the State Board of Elections that they said benefited the Democratic Governors Association, but Democratic legislators and good government groups decried both the substance of the proposal and the process used to bring it forward.
Complex but important changes
According to veteran campaign finance watchdog Bob Hall, the former longtime executive director of the group Democracy North Carolina, the changes are complex, but their impact will likely be significant.
Hall told NC Newsline that the proposed changes would provide wealthy individuals with new ways to give tens (or even hundreds) of thousands of dollars to support a North Carolina candidate without their name being identified with the donation. The change would allow them to contribute to a national “527 committee” like the Republican Governors Association or Democratic Governors Association, which could then donate the money in its name to a party committee or “affiliated party committee” controlled by a state candidate without disclosing its true source.
Hall said that the change will incentivize politicians of both parties to create more front groups that launder large donations to a committee the politician controls. Meanwhile, Hall noted, the real source of the money will be buried in hundreds of pages of a PDF report and not filed with the North Carolina State Board of Elections until “weeks and weeks after the fact.”…