by Dan Kane and J. Andrew Curliss
State
lawmakers on Thursday passed the first significant measure this year to
reform the way state officials operate in North Carolina. But several
other major reforms that legislative leaders have labeled priorities
have yet to clear the legislature as it nears the end of the session.
The
House voted 111-2 to prohibit state and local candidates and elected
officials from using their campaign funds for cars, trips and other
personal uses. The Senate had previously passed the ban, so all that's
needed to make it law is Gov. Mike Easley's signature.
"It's
certainly significant," said Rob Thompson, of the N.C. Public Interest
Research Group. "If you are going to have regular citizens involved in
the political process, they have to be confident that their
contributions aren't going into the personal bank accounts of
politicians."
The
ban would take effect Oct. 1, so if candidates for this year's election
choose to pocket campaign funds, they would have to report it before
Election Day.
The
ban got its start after lawmakers learned that Rep. Michael Decker, a
Forsyth County Republican, had used campaign money in 2003 on a car and
a trip to Florida to pick it up. Much of that money came from
supporters of House Speaker Jim Black, whom Decker helped keep in power
by switching parties before the start of the 2003 session.
Last
year, Decker pocketed a $4,000 campaign contribution from Black and
closed the account. Decker had lost re-election in the 2004 primary.
Decker
is under investigation by state authorities after the State Board of
Elections said he had committed several election law violations,
including failing to account for $3,400 in donations. Evidence at
hearings by the elections board indicated that Decker also cashed those
checks. A federal grand jury is also looking into the campaign activity.
Decker
is not the only lawmaker to cash in campaign money. A News &
Observer review last year found other lawmakers who used their campaign
funds for personal expenses such as a new car or computer, moved the
money into personal accounts or gave it to family members.
A
majority of states have similar bans. The North Carolina legislation
would allow candidates and elected officials to donate unspent campaign
money to charities, political parties or other candidates' campaigns.
They could also return the donations to the contributor or use them to
pay election penalties.
Under
current North Carolina law, candidates are free to spend campaign funds
however they wish as long as they disclose the spending.
Rep. John Blust, a Greensboro Republican, was the first to call for a ban and filed a bill to that effect last year.
But
momentum didn't build for a ban until Black came under scrutiny for
several controversies that erupted in the latter half of 2005. They
included his role in helping pass a new state lottery, while his unpaid
political director wined and dined lawmakers as an undisclosed
consultant for a major lottery vendor.
That created the drive to tighten government ethics and lobbying laws, but those measures continue to sit in a Senate committee.
Reform
advocates have sought changes that would ban lobbyists from campaign
fundraising and give an independent ethics board the authority to
investigate complaints against lawmakers.
Easley
entered the fray Thursday, a day after the man he appointed chairman of
the N.C. Board of Ethics, former Superior Court Judge Robert Farmer,
criticized the lobbying and ethics legislation still under
consideration as "pretend ethics."
One
of Easley's top advisers, Franklin Freeman, said the governor is
lobbying lawmakers to create an independent ethics board that
investigates complaints against lawmakers as well as the executive
branch and some judicial officials.
"It serves no useful purpose if it's not meaningful," Easley told reporters Thursday.
