More with Moore: business recruiting, ethics, bargaining and health care
More notes and audio from Thursday's conversation with N.C. Treasurer Richard Moore:
- As Doug reported on his blog, Moore talked a bit about business recruiting in the state and how one might do it better.
- Doug asked about ethics and campaigning and recent stories about Moore's fundraising.
The conversation rolled around to a question by me on whether he would go for publicly financed elections? Short answer, yes, Moore said he would look at that. But then he continued.
"The discussion I believe needs to be more broad-based than that. There are a lot of folks who don't like public financing and I actually see their point of view," Moore said. Many citizens he said, don't like the idea of tax money going to campaign ads of any sort.
He wasn't ready to float a specific proposal or commit to this idea in particular, but as an example of the kinds of things he was thinking of (can you say trial balloon?) he offered this:
"How about something along the lines of the Hatch Act, that has served the United State of America extremely well. If you're a federal employee, you're not allowed give money. So if you're state employee, you're not allowed give to campaigns, you're not allowed to be in fundraising. How about if you are a vendor to the state of North Carolina, a bright line?"
It's a long take (8:10 minutes) but click here for the Qs and As on the topic. (And yes, at one point in this take, Moore goes off the record and yes I faded out the comment in question so no you can't hear it.)
- What about collective bargaining for public employees?
"I believe that workers, when they work for a private company, should have the right to band together to make their lives and their workplace better. If you're working for government, you have the opportunity to change your bosses. You can get involved in the political process and change your bosses, which - to me - makes the need for collective bargaining for public employees less. I can't tell you have hard position one way or the other."
- The discussion veered into health care.
"To me, the no-brainer, because it is the cheapest coverage that goes the longest way, is covering our kids," Moore said.
That's it for now. When I get to chance to interview other front-runners, they'll get similar treatment.