Counting to 527
The North Carolina Association of Realtors have been actively involved in campaigns for years. Their PAC regularly spreads the love to candidates of both parties.
New this year, the realtors have launched a 527 group, called the N.C. Homeowners Alliance.
So far, the group has done mailings in two places:
- They backed Allan Dameron, a Democrat, who is running against Republican incumbent Bonner Stiller. (Here’s an N+O story on that race.)
- They also sent out mailings on behalf of Julia Howard, who has no opposition in the fall general election, but was targeted by fellow Republicans in her primary because of her ties to Richard Morgan.
In both district, they sent out an 8.5x11 flier lauding the candidate of their choice and urging voters to call and thank the candidate for their hard work. According to Tim Kent, executive vice president of the realtors, those are the only two races where the group will intervene this year. So no, you won’t be hearing from them in Greensboro…yet.
“We intend to be very active in the ’07-’08 election cycle,” Kent said.
Something to look forward to, I guess.
In the mean time, Kent said that this would be one of the most active years for direct giving by the realtors’ pac. By the time the final reports are filed, he said, the realtors will have give more than $500,000 to candidates during this campaign cycle.