This article originally appeared in an email sent by NC SPIN and the copyright and credit is theirs. However, your blogger thought it was so good, she just had to pass it along. KCC rarely re-posts info by others, but thought this was necessary information that readers should consider prior to election day:
Want to know how Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight remains in power? It’s simple. He gives large sums of money to the State Democratic Party earmarked for Democrats he wants to win. Basnight gave the state party more than $1 million.
Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand has given more than $370,000. Senate Budget Leader Linda Garrou chipped in almost $200,000 and Finance Chair Dan Clodfelter added another $81,000. And rank and file Senate Democrats are “encouraged” to contribute $25 to $50,000 to the party. Through these earmarked contributions, more than $513,000 has been given to Senator Julia Boseman to prop up her hotly contested election.
Three questions need answering:
Why do PACS, lobbyists and special interest groups continue to dump large sums of money into Basnight’s coffers even after we passed new laws that restricted their influencing peddling?
How do you think Boseman and other beneficiaries of these large sums of money from Basnight and Senate leadership are going to vote when these people who helped finance her return to office come asking for support on key issues? Why isn’t there a huge public outcry to change our campaign finance laws to restrict the amount of soft-money contributions from political parties to candidates?
Answer those three and you will get a clearer picture of how North Carolina is being run.
By the way, House Speaker Joe Hackney is also playing the game. He’s contributed over $600,000 to the State Democratic Party. And Republicans don’t have clean hands either. Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger has given the State GOP more than $180,000.
Editor's Note: We thank Tom Campbell and the folks at NC SPIN for the excellent job they do covering state government. For the record, State Sen. Phil Berger is a virtual choirboy when compared with the antics of Basnight, Rand, and Boseman! It appears that Campbell only included Phil Berger's name (not to be confused with communist Doug Berger) to seem non-partisan.
Phil Berger and the GOP are rightly giving party money to the campaign of Bettie Fennell, who is running against embattled Democrat R.C. Soles. He has a record a mile long, and stands alongside Basnight and Rand.
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