“Welfare For Local Pols” Bill Stuck In Neutral

RALEIGH (By Colleen Calvani, Carolina Journal Online) - It’s certainly a detour if not the end of the road for a bill that’s been called “welfare for local politicians,” resulting from a grass-roots effort to defeat the legislation. House Bill 120, which called for taxpayer-funded political campaigns at the city level, is stuck in committee for the time being, with General Assembly watchers predicting that it won’t be seen again before the legislature adjourns.

The bill would mandate a public financing option for elections in cities with more than 50,000 people, a stipulation placed in the bill to garner support from otherwise unwilling Democrats from eastern North Carolina, explained Dallas Woodhouse, state director of Americans for Prosperity. Americans for Prosperity helped jump-start a grass-roots campaign against the bill.

“I hope we have defeated it at least for the foreseeable future. Nothing’s ever dead forever in politics,”Woodhouse explained. It was Woodhouse’s voice that North Carolinians heard on recorded phone calls explaining AFP’s opposition to the bill.