Campaign Finance

I decided to voluntarily impose a $100 limit per person on contributions to my campaign fund. I believe in open, fair, accessible elections. One way I can put this principle into action is to limit the size of the contributions I accept. I support campaign reform at every level, not just locally, and have been an interested observer of this effort in our state at the appellate judicial level. Democracy should be available to people from all economic walks of life.

In our local area, Chapel Hill has a town ordinance limiting contributions by individuals or political committees to no more than two hundred dollars ($200.00) for a candidate for an election.  Additionally, I am interested in watching the operation of the bill passed by the N.C. General Assembly this summer to authorize a public financing campaign program for Chapel Hill for its 2009 and 2011 Town Council elections.  At present, Carrboro does not have any such ordinance or program, although unsuccessful efforts were made to pass a Carrboro campaign finance bill in the North Carolina General Assembly this summer.  I would support the passage of such a bill.

North Carolina law requires that candidates are also asked to declare within 10 days of filing if they plan to spend more or less than $3000 on their election campaign (if they later determine they intend to spend more than $3,000 they file further paperwork). Candidates who previously ran for aldermen positions in Carrboro told me they spent anywhere from one to five thousand dollars. The figures seemed to vary for various reasons, such as whether the candidate was opposed, and whether the candidate was an incumbent.

Although I have prepared a preliminary budget, it is difficult to know how much I will need to spend between now and November, because this is my first run for office. In any event, I plan to run an economical, grass roots campaign.

Filing without the $3,000 threshold carries additional documentation requirements. It means we collect and report all financial data from the start of my campaign, rather than possibly needing to go back and recapture this information. By declaring at the higher limit, my options remain open and I make public all of my financial information throughout my campaign.