NC GOP's usurpation of power continues
Submitted by scharrison on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 11:08am
An unethical move to control ethics probes:
The budget plan that will go to the House floor next week would move campaign finance reporting from the State Board of Elections and lobbying registration from the Secretary of State's office, combining operations in the State Ethics Commission.
A bill filed by Sen. Andrew Brock, R-Davie, would essentially merge the State Ethics Commission and the State Board of Elections, combining all their functions.
It doesn't just combine them, it moves them into a new entity under the direct control of GOP legislators:
AN ACT to consolidate ethics, elections, and lobbying under the State board of ethics and elections enforcement.
Before we continue, a glance back at Government 101 is apparently needed for masters Berger, Brock, Stam and Tillis: The House and the Senate aren't separate branches of government, they're the same Branch (Legislative). When you (try to) set up a board or commission that has equal parts for the House, Senate and Executive, the Balance of Powers that were of the utmost importance to our nation's Founding Fathers is gone. Das kaput.
While the previous State Ethics Commission was comprised of four members appointed by the Governor and four members appointed by the Legislature (balanced), the proposed legislation is not:
§ 163A‑200. Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement established.
There is established the State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement.
"§ 163A‑201. Membership.
(a) The State Board shall consist of nine members. Three members shall be appointed by the Governor, of whom no more than two shall be of the same political party. Six members shall be appointed by the General Assembly, three upon the recommendation of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, neither of whom shall be of the same political party, and three upon the recommendation of the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, neither of whom shall be of the same political party.
I also (apparently) need to remind Republican leaders that, although the NC Department of State is ostensibly part of the Executive, it has a certain autonomy. The Secretary of State is elected by the voters, to provide (among other things) oversight on lobbyists. To usurp that power and responsibility is not only an assault on the Executive and the duly elected Secretary of State, it's an assault on the trust of the voting public itself.
And considering that lobbyists funnel great amounts of money into the campaign coffers of Legislators, allowing those same Legislators to perform oversight on them is an ethical quagmire.
Message to the Governor: Not only should you Veto this bill, any other piece of legislation that seeks to draw Executive powers into the Legislative should be Vetoed with extreme prejudice. They're trying to steal your cookies, Bev, and they need a rap on the knuckles or it will only get worse.
VETO
veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto veto
Do good. Be nice. Have fun.
get on the phone to montana...
...and see if schweitzer'll lend perdue his "veto" brand collection...
"...i feel that if a person can't communicate, the very least he can do is to shut up." --tom lehrer, january 1965
It gets even worse!
The House gutted the General Funds budget for the SBOE - cut is 20%! 14 jobs - mostly technicians who help the counties make sure that the voting goes right - and other related expenses for a total of nearly $1 million a year for the next two years. And initially they wanted to send back $6 million in already appropriated HAVA funds that would pay for Early Voting, ballot coding and machine maintenance and replacement of SEIMS servers/infrastructure. But now they will let us keep the money - we just can't spend it.
Funny thing - one provision I will call the "Kim Strach Full-Employment Act" takes Kim Strach's entire Campaign Finance department and transfers it over to Ethics under the budget with no loss of staffing or funding. You know what they say - it's not what you know, it's who you know (or are married to).
The same budget that guts the election administration and voter registration functions of the SBOE also coughs up $1.5 million a year for two years ($3 million total) to give to the NC Symphony to help them raise $8 million a year for two years from private benefactors. Which do you think is more important to NC's 6-million voters - the symphony or election integrity?
Chris Telesca
Wake County Verified Voting
http://noirvnc.blogspot.com
http://statewideirvnc.blogspot.com