Public Financing

AARP has just published an enlightening national article - at this link here - highlighting North Carolina's public financing of elections program, which currently involves three Council of State offices (including Insurance Commissioner) and statewide judicial races.

I invite your comments to this Charlotte Observer editorial. (In the interest of full disclosure, I presently serve as President of the NC Center for Voter Education.) I am bothered by the hypocrisy of those who decry judicial activism when one ideology has a majority on the U.S. Supreme Court versus when the ratio is flipped.

I am very curious to know what people here think about this. Essentially, a group of 27 very wealthy campaign donors have gone on strike and are vowing to withhold campaign cash from mostly Democratic lawmakers who stand in the way of legislation (FENA) that would allow for public funding of congressional campaigns. This is a few weeks old, so apologies if it's been posted:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/12/donor-strike-rich-progres_n_572...

I've been holding my tongue publicly about the recent decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Citizens United, trying to find just the right words to express my outrage. No more am I mute.

It is an unusual set of recent circumstances for my good friend, Chris Heagarty of Raleigh.

For many years he has been a citizen leader advocating for campaign finance reforms and election law changes.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn about this week's national recognition of my publicly-financed campaign for NC Insurance Commissioner. Here is the link to this week's profile.

On that subject, here is additional information for interested persons.

Do you want to help ensure Democrats win in 2010?

What if one step was so simple it only required you to place a check mark on a form you already have to fill out?

This year, when you file your taxes, be sure to check off the Democratic Party under NC Political Parties Financing Fund.

Doing so won’t cost you one extra penny on your tax return or reduce your refund, and you’ll be helping to guarantee that Democrats across the state have the necessary funding to compete in 2010.

It's that simple.

FYI - I thought you might be interested in this press release from my campaign.

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Wayne Goodwin's Insurance Commissioner Campaign Receives Qualifying Contributions from Ashe to Yancey: State Board of Elections Certifies Campaign for Public Funding; Goodwin Leads in Polls

In the pilot public financing program for Council of State offices, the State Board of Elections has certified that Wayne Goodwin has met the qualifications for public financing as the Democratic Party's nominee.

I believe fellow BlueNC'ers will enjoy and appreciate this week's article by Bob Geary of The Independent Weekly.

In it he writes:

Four years ago, Democrat Wayne Goodwin was running for state labor commissioner, and his campaign consisted mainly of long days trapped in a cubicle with a telephone, as he called everyone he knew and asked for contributions. Campaigns, he decided, were "like a modern-day Frankenstein's monster, scaring the villagers and candidates alike" with their insatiable demands for money.

To read the remainder of the article, then go to