Gov. Bev Perdue Gets Off on Campaign Finance Charges

Aug. 24, 2010 - PRLog -- The NC State Board of Elections has decided to impose a $30,000 on the Perdue Campaign for failing to report 17 flights from political supporters. That's approximately $1700 for each flight, a mere slap on the wrist for what appears to be an extensive violation of state campaign finance law. Of course, considering that the board has five members, all appointed by the governor, and three of them are Democrats, the results of this investigation are hardly surprising. It's worth noting that the board also decided to forgo continuing the investigation and putting members of Perdue's campaign staff under oath.

Of course there are two things that can be learned from this situation. The first is that the governor appears to have very cleverly evaded campaign finance law in the 2008 campaign. Considering that the last election for North Carolina's governor was fairly close by historical standards, Perdue's attempts to get around the rules were likely not inconsequential. Especially when viewed in light of the charges against former Gov. Mike Easley and previous investigations into such people as former Speaker Jim Black, the political corruption in the upper ranks of state government is disturbing to say the least. It's also worth noting that all of that corruption is emanating from one party, which also happens to be the party that has enjoyed largely unimpeded power for the last 100 years. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

The other thing that can be learned from this ruling is that the current system where the governor appoints the members of the board creates a substantial conflict of interest when the governor or allies of the governor are brought under investigation. Unless I have missed something in the course of my research, it doesn't appear that the members of the board are even evaluated by the General Assembly. The Board of Elections needs to be more accountable for to the people of North Carolina and less accountable to the governor who appoints them. As "the state agency charged with overall responsibility for administration of the elections process and campaign finance disclosure in North Carolina," the Board of Elections needs to be free of any allegiance to political persons within state government. The current systems fails to ensure this.

Read more at http://www.marcseelinger.com!

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