by Rich Fowler
Staff Writer
The Chapel Hill Town Council passed a new law that will change the way elections for mayoral and town council seats will be funded for the next two municipal elections. The new Voter-Owned Elections program, approved Monday at a meeting at Town Hall, provides town money to candidates for mayor and town council to help run their 2009 and 2011 campaigns. The council set aside $25,000 in its 2008-2009 budget to start funding the four-year pilot program.
Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy said that he thought the council was trying to ensure that in the long term politics in Chapel Hill wouldn’t be polluted by money.
“I think it would be unfortunate if we wait until a time when corruption does occur,†Council member Mark Kleinschmidt said. He also said that he didn’t want people who were unable to raise large amounts of money to be locked out of the political process. He said that this program would give those people a chance to get involved.
Mayor Pro Tem Jim Ward said that the council and the residents of Chapel Hill would be better served by council members who are funded by the town instead of two or three special-interest groups.
Some of the citizens who spoke at the council meeting and one council member objected to the council passing the measure without putting the issue to a referendum.
“If we believe that this is such a good thing, let’s have the confidence to turn it over to the good people of Chapel Hill and allow them to say yea or nay. Why can’t we do that?†Council member Matt Czajkowski asked.
Foy rejected the notion that the council shouldn’t make this decision for the community. He said that the council was elected to listen to the community and make decisions on its behalf.
Czajkowski objected to the use of taxpayer money to fund candidates, especially in a year when the council is raising property taxes.
“When I look at priorities,†he said, “I say increasing funding for EZ Rider is more tangible and more important than spending whatever it is we ultimately spend on providing campaign financing.â€
This will be the first time that municipally funded campaigns will be tried in a local election in North Carolina. The state government has been funding appellate judge elections with a similar program since 2004.
So how will the new program work? First, candidates who want to use town money will have to raise seed money from registered Chapel Hill voters to qualify. Town council candidates will have to raise $750 from 75 people and mayoral candidates will have to raise $1,500 from 150 people. Contributions have to be in the $5-$20 range to qualify, and candidates aren’t allowed to raise more than that before enrolling in the program.
After candidates are allowed to get town funds, they can continue fundraising but they can only accept contributions of up to $20 from registered Chapel Hill voters. Town council candidates can accept another $2,250, for a total of $3,000 of private fundraising. Mayoral candidates can accept another $4,500, for a total of $6,000.
Town council candidates will get up to $3,000 more from the town and mayoral candidates will get up to $9,000. If there’s not enough money in the budget to pay the full amount to everyone, candidates will get equal shares of whatever is available.
The program has strict reporting requirements for candidates. All candidates participating in the program have to provide the name, address and amount of money they get from every contributor. Other reporting requirements will require all candidates for council or mayoral office to file disclosure reports on their spending five days before election day and 16 days after, whether they are participating in the program or not.
The program will give emergency funding to candidates using town money when their opponents try to outspend them with private money. Town council candidates can get up to $2,000 extra and mayoral candidates can get up to $4,000.
The program will be run by the N.C. Board of Elections. The board is allowed to pass on responsibility for running the program to the Orange County Board of Elections.