Fund raising notes
A few notes, fiduciary in nature:
Note #1When I interviewed Pricey Harrison last week, the Greensboro Democrat told me that she was still raising money for the race against Republican Ron Styers.
She wasn’t kidding. Former Gov. Jim Hunt is coming to town to headline a fund raiser for Harrison on Oct. 3. That’s a big ticket event that should dump plenty of money into her campaign coffers right as election season hits over-drive.
For his part, Styers says he has campaign events planned but said most of his energy has been focused on going door to door.
When I ask GOP state officials last week whether they were going to come to the aid of under-funded candidates in potentially competitive races, like Styers, they were cagey…something about not wanting to give away the play book. Styers said he didn’t know whether he would be getting any help from the state party or not.
My bet would be that you will see some GOP party money from the state level filter down into the campaign…it’s too tempting an opportunity to let pass, especially if the Republicans are serious about pushing to take back the House.
Note #2 The FEC has sent a love note to Howard Coble. Will be checking into this.
Note #3 Passed along to me this afternoon was this: a fund raising letter from House Speaker Jim Black’s campaign.
For a guy that’s supposed to be on the ropes, Black still sounds like he’s throwing body blows.
“A new Speaker is elected every two years. I have far more commitments than anyone else in the House. I ask you to continue to support me,” reads the letter. Sounds to me like he’s gunning to keep his job.
The letter also contains a great example of one of the Mack-truck-sized loopholes in the lobbying and ethics reform bills passed this year: “ps – if you are a registered lobbyist, I am not asking for a personal contribution, but if you would kindly forward this letter to the PACs you represent, I would be most appreciative.”
Give Black credit. He’s complying with the new laws before he has to, unlike some of his colleagues who tried to wring a last donation out of lobbyists before the new rules clicked in.
And viewed under the lens of the new rules, the letter’s language is right on the mark. Lobbyists can’t give campaign donations. But they CAN pass on suggestions about who their clients should give campaign donations to. So while your friendly local pol is out the up-to-$4,000 a lobbyist as an individual could give, they don’t have to forgo the much larger sums that could be raised by that lobbyists’ network.
That’s part of the reason you’ll hear me sniff and jeer a bit when incumbent legislators talk this fall about their big accomplishments in the campaign finance and lobbying reform arenas.