Developer Roy Carroll's Plane Will Sit on Tarmac While The Mayor and Chairman Ponder Ethical Standards

In the Greensboro News & Record online edition here is the headline "Community Foundation Delays D.C. Trip", CLICKHERE . In the article this is what was said from the Community Foundation

“Questions have been raised as the result of the misperceptions of some regarding the use of this donated plane,” the statement said. “While we are disappointed by the misperceptions this travel plan has caused, more importantly we value the public’s trust and do not want to do anything to damage that trust. Therefore, we are postponing the trip.”also in the print edition that came out on July 4th 2009 this was below the title of article,

"Some questioned the ethics of using a foundation member's jet" , Triadwatch was all over this aspect of the trip to D.C.

Earlier in the week Triadwatch had this to say about this whole ordeal.

Ed Cone writes today that local elected officials are flying to Washington D.C. to meet with our elected federal officials on securing federal money for a redevelopment project which the News & Record talked about CLICKHERE.

Here is the part of the post that needs to get a closer look and scrutiny, Ed Cone writes this,"The group will be flown to DC at no tax-payer expense by developer Roy Carroll, says Johnson." Here is the post CLICKHERE

We have a local developer in Roy Carroll who also has a local Political Action Committee called "North Carolinians for Leadership in Government " giving free airplane rides to local elected politicians in Mayor Johnson and Guilford County Commissioner Skip Alston.

Is it ethical and or legal for a local developer who already got tax incentives from both the greensboro city council and guilford county commissioners flying local elected officials to Washington D.C. ?

How will Roy Carroll report this on his political action committee?

These are some of the questions that need to be answered or talked about.

UPDATE Greensboro News & Record has an article tonight CLICKHERE

UPDATE UPDATE Guarino has a post as well CLICKHERE

Local elected officials need to be understand what ethical standards are and this trip on a major campaign donor and major developer in Roy Carroll's plane stunk to high heaven. If Mayor Johnson and Guilford County Chairman Skip Alston want to fly to D.C. then use your expense travel budget money that each of you have as a elected official to fly commercial up to D.C. if it is that important to meet with federal officials.

It is time for all local elected officials to understand this will not pass muster seeing a major campaign contributor and developer offering his plane for a trip to D.C. for any purpose whatsoever. As you can see from the delay in the trip someone got to them to explain to the local elected officials it wasn't going to fly with the citizens of this area.

Happy Independence Day!

The Fourth of July is a day that is usually a time when families get together for sunshine hot dogs, fun, and fireworks. Every American regardless of race, sex, income, and political party celebrates the day that the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, spurring the start of the American Revolution.
Like many other national holidays, the meaning can often be lost in the festivities. And so it is up to each of us to, in the words of Jefferson, "Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."
The American system of government, with the Founding Father's emphasis on "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," has inspired almost every country in the world to rise up and take control of their own destiny. Constitutional Republics have spread throughout Europe, and just this year fellow freedom fighters as far away as Iran and as near to us as Honduras are standing up for their own independence much like our Founding Fathers did more than two centuries ago.
This is America's lasting legacy. Before 1776, only two Constitutional Republics even attempted to bring any form of freedom and liberty to mankind: The Greek and Roman Empires. But the people of these great nations became apathetic, not realizing, as John F. Kennedy wisely warned, "Complacency is the jailer of freedom."
So, while the Fourth of July has become a day of festivities (celebrating if nothing else, a day by the pool or at the beach), what Americans really are observing is the fact that a relative handful of courageous citizens lit a flame of liberty and installed a form of government that has governed over unprecedented prosperity and individual liberty. And even today, "the glow from that fire can truly light the world."
http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1340

From Our Friends at GETLIBERTY.ORG
Americans for Limited Government


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Loopholes, Big PACs, and the North Carolina Budget Debate

Loopholes, Big PACs, and the Budget Debate

By Bob Hall

Legislators in Raleigh are struggling to piece together a budget for a state with a lot less income to spend. Cuts for vital programs are definite. But what about cuts to the tax breaks that reduce income and benefit wealthy special interests who happen to be major political donors?

The program to provide uninsured children with health care will be cut back, but what about the unusual tax credit insurance companies get in North Carolina that reduces their tax bill by $20 million a year, a hole the rest of us have to fill?

Students (and their parents) will suffer because of cuts in teacher assistants, but what about cutting the $12 million annual subsidy that primarily benefits wealthy athletic boosters at the universities?

Many legislators are promoting an approach to handling the budget crisis that incorporates basic principles of fairness, but they face opposition from colleagues who listen most closely to wealthy business groups with well-funded lobbies and political action committees (PACs).

At Democracy North Carolina, we recently connected the dots between the big PACs and tax breaks that the NC Department of Revenue says are valued at more than $1 billion a year. (See the report at http://www.democracy-nc.org/.)

Here are just a few examples:

● “Athletic Supporters”: A group of UNC-Chapel Hill boosters called Citizens for Higher Education set a record for PAC donations to legislative candidates by handing out $479,000 during the 2008 election. It backs a controversial subsidy that means taxpayers finance out-of-state athletic tuition costs that athletic boosters formerly paid. The state House eliminated this subsidy (worth over $12 million a year) in its budget proposal, but the Senate did not.

● Big Insurance: Two insurance companies have sizeable PACs – the Blue Cross & Blue Shield PAC (giving a total of $171,250 in 2008) and Nationwide PAC (total - $226,500). Budget proposals increase the regulatory fee on insurance firms, but caps on taxing the companies’ revenue may still save them more than $150 million a year. The Senate proposal eliminated an unusual tax credit on what insurance firms pay into guaranty funds to protect against their failure, which saves them $20 million a year.

● Big Tobacco has lost some recent fights, but with the help of the R. J. Reynolds PAC (total - $88,000) and numerous lobbyists, it defeated a provision in an early version of the House plan to end a tax break worth $12 million a year for cigarette manufacturers, and it continues to lobby legislators against Gov. Beverly Perdue’s proposal for a substantial increase on the excise tax on a pack of cigarettes.

● Boss Hog: Thanks to the political clout of agribusiness, including the donations of the NC Farm Bureau PAC (total - $222,150) and NC Pork Council PAC (total - $187,000), agriculture gets many exemptions from regulations, as well as a host of tax breaks. A proposal to reduce one break for the biggest farms – the cap on the sales tax paid on purchases of farm equipment and supplies – could generate over $100 million in new revenue.

● Telephone giants: AT&T (PAC total - $140,500) and Embarq Corp. (PAC total - $151,250) are two of the firms that benefit from a tax break on the purchases of telephone equipment that costs the state an estimated $31 million a year in lost revenue.

● Mega Corporations: The big banks (four banking PACs contributed $704,300 in 2008), drug makers like GlaxoSmithKline, tobacco firms, and other multi-state corporations would pay an additional $45 million to $100 million in taxes to North Carolina if they were forced to report the income of their various subsidiaries through a method called “combined reporting.” But the NC Chamber and other groups are fighting this proposal, which the House adopted but Senate leaders oppose.

● The Super Rich: At a time when so many are suffering, simple fairness means individuals who still make more than $250,000 (after deductions) should pay a higher tax rate. Both the House and Senate have ideas for a more progressive income tax structure, but how truly progressive the final plan will be remains a question. The rich have plenty of PACs speaking for them, but what about the ordinary citizen?

The test of the balanced budget this year will be how fairly it distributes the pain of spending cuts and how well it ends the loopholes and favoritism built into the tax system over decades by special-interest lobbies.

Bob Hall is executive director of Democracy North Carolina, a nonpartisan research and advocacy center for campaign finance reform and voting rights.

North Carolina's Judicial Public Financing Law A Success

HAT TIP UNDER THE DOME CLICKHERE

Press Release from the Center for Governmental Studies CLICKHERE or click on the title above.

North Carolina’s Judicial Public Campaign Financing Law A Success

North Carolina Judiciary: Balancing the Scales, issued today by the Center for Governmental Studies (CGS) CLICKHERE, concludes that North Carolina’s judicial campaign finance program is a model of reform and could become even stronger with additional adjustments. North Carolina’s public finance reform law provides full public financing for the general election campaigns of Court of Appeals and Supreme Court candidates who meet certain qualifications.

CGS found that the program insulates Court of Appeals and Supreme Court judges from the influence of contributors who may have an interest in cases before the judge. The system also decreases the amount of time judicial candidates need to spend fundraising, therefore increasing the time candidates can spend with all voters, regardless of the voters’ ability to make campaign contributions. In addition, public financing programs such as North Carolina’s have been shown to increase the public’s confidence in their elected officials.

“In addition to a set of useful recommendations, this report provides an independent, comprehensive assessment of the North Carolina program which indicates that it is working remarkably well and can serve as a model for meaningful reform,” said Bob Hall, Executive Director, Democracy North Carolina.

Balancing the Scales recommends that North Carolina implement four reforms in order to ensure its long-term viability. First, North Carolina should change its taxpayer check-off from an opt-in check-off to an opt-out check-off. An opt-out check-off would automatically direct money to the public financing program unless the taxpayer indicates that he or she does not want to contribute to the Public Campaign Fund. Second, North Carolina should use only general election spending (as opposed to primary and general election spending) when calculating the amount of “rescue funds” a publicly financed candidate can receive in the general election. Third, North Carolina should expand the program to provide funding for the primary election as well as the general election. Lastly, North Carolina should index contributions public funds provided to candidates for inflation. Balancing the Scales’ recommendations have become especially important in light of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Capterton v. Massey, which held that excessive campaign contributions to judicial candidates can create a risk of bias that violates the U.S. Constitution.

Jessica Levinson, Director of Political Reform at CGS, said, “North Carolina’s judicial public financing program goes a long way to reducing the potentially corrupting influence of private contributions in judicial elections. The recommendations made in this report propose further steps that North Carolina can take to improve their current system and guarantee its long term success.”

Balancing the Scales, as well as other CGS reports, are available on the CGS website, www.cgs.org. Rockefeller Brothers Fund provided generous funding for this report but is not responsible for the statements or views expressed in it. The Center for Governmental Studies is a national non-profit, non-partisan organization that creates innovative political and media solutions to help individuals participate more effectively in their communities and governments

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For Further Information Contact:
Bob Stern(rstern@cgs.org), 310-470-6570 , 117
Jessica Levinson(jlevinson@cgs.org) 310-470-6570 , 115

Local Developer Roy Carroll Transports Mayor of Greensboro and County Commissioner to D.C., Any Ethical ?

Ed Cone writes today that local elected officials are flying to Washington D.C. to meet with our elected federal officials on securing federal money for a redevelopment project which the News & Record talked about CLICKHERE.

Here is the part of the post that needs to get a closer look and scrutiny, Ed Cone writes this,"The group will be flown to DC at no tax-payer expense by developer Roy Carroll, says Johnson." Here is the post CLICKHERE

We have a local developer in Roy Carroll who also has a local Political Action Committee call "North Carolinians for Leadership in Government " giving free airplane rides to local elected politicians in Mayor Johnson and Guilford County Commissioner Skip Alston.

Is it ethical and or legal for a local developer who already got tax incentives from both the greensboro city council and guilford county commissioners flying local elected officials to Washington D.C. ?

How will Roy Carroll report this on his political action committee?

These are some of the questions that need to be answered or talked about.

UPDATE Greensboro News & Record has an article tonight CLICKHERE

UPDATE UPDATE Guarino has a post as well CLICKHERE

The Obama Doctrine, A Tragic Silence,Obama and The Pulse, Editorial Cartoons by William Warren

ALG Editor's Note: William Warren's award-winning cartoons published at GetLiberty.org are a free service of ALG News Bureau. They may be reused and redistributed free of charge.
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Greensboro Mayor Amends 2007 and 2008 Campaign Forms for Second Time

Greensboro Mayor Yvonne Johnson has had to amend her 2007 and 2008 Campaign Contribution forms for the second time in the past month. This all started when Triadwatch was looking at the Mayor's campaign forms and noticed that in her 2008 Mid Year report she had a negative balance of -($3,087.56) then you proceed to see her 2008 year end report CLICKHERE then proceed to yvonne johnson on list of candidates, it shows at positive balance of $12,049.01 with no reporting of any contributions from individuals or PAC's for the whole year only expenditures that equaled $2,551.40.

How can a candidate go from a negative to a positive balance with no contributions being brought in? This was the question to the Guilford County Board of Elections. But as the late, great Billy Mays would say " But Wait There's More" .

If you want to see the campaign contribution forms for 2007 CLICKHERE then proceed to Yvonne Johnson this will show you that the Mayor's 35 day report was amended twice and also the 2007 year end semi annual was amended twice with the mayor's treasurer last amending the forms on 6-9-2009.

While we are on the subject of Mayor Johnson's 2007 Year End Semi Annual report . Triadwatch has also found a huge discrepancy in her contribution information not given to the Guilford County Board of Elections. To see these forms click on the title of this post above which is "Greensboro Mayor Amends 2007 and 2008 Campaign Forms for Second Time" or CLICKHERE then proceed to year end semi annual for 2007.

North Carolina election laws states the following below


NCGS 173-278.11 states

(1) Contributions. – Except as provided in subsection (a1) of this section, a list of all contributions received by or on behalf of a candidate, political committee, or referendum committee. The statement shall list the name and complete mailing address of each contributor, the amount contributed, the principal occupation of the contributor, and the date such contribution was received. The total sum of all contributions to date shall be plainly exhibited. Forms for required reports shall be prescribed by the Board.

As used in this section, "principal occupation of the contributor" means the contributor's:a. Job title or profession; andb. Employer's name or employer's specific field of business activity."

Let's take a closer look at Mayor Johnson's 2007 year end semi annual campaign contribution report.
There were a total of 46 individual contributions given and out of those 46 as stated above 40 of those forms were left empty. On top of the 40 out of 46 with the above statute there were 7 missing addresses. There was also a unusual contribution from a company called click and pledge for a total of $188.94,if these new ways of giving are going to be used in future then they need to start providing the information to the treasurers as to who gave the $188.94.

The municipal election for Greensboro is just around the corner and the treasurers of all these candidates need to be aware of election law and filling out the proper forms to make sure it is filled out correctly just ask Guilford County Commissioners Paul Gibson, Skip Alston,and candidate Larry Proctor who had to amend their returns as well. The lax reporting needs to change and the time is now.

Special Interest PAC's Guard Tax Loopholes in North Carolina Analysis from Democracy NC

Democracy North Carolina

Bob Hall
1821 Green St., Durham , NC 27705 · 919-489-1931 or 286-6000 · democracy-nc.org

A new analysis shows that three dozen of North Carolina’s biggest political action committees (PACs) donated $7 million to state candidates and political parties in the last election – and now many of the groups are scrambling to make sure their interests, including tax breaks worth at least $1 billion a year, are not harmed in the new budget being hammered out in Raleigh.

The list of top PACs includes groups of developers, attorneys, university patrons, doctors, auto dealers, state employees, teachers, and beer wholesalers, as well as executives with blue-chip firms like Progress Energy, Wachovia, Blue Cross, AT&T, and Nationwide Insurance.

The analysis by the watchdog group Democracy North Carolina shows that legislative winners in 2008 received 94 percent of the $5.7 million the big PACs donated to all legislative candidates. The PACs also gave $770,000 to gubernatorial and other statewide candidates, as well as $590,000 to political party committees, much of which gets funneled into legislative races.

On September 16, 2008 the NC Realtors Association PAC sent 106 legislative candidates a total of $169,500 in donations. The same day, the NC Telephone Cooperative’s PAC sent $66,800 to 75 legislators. The next day, the Blue Cross PAC sent $42,200 to 45 candidates and two weeks later, Bank of America’s PAC gave 84 legislative candidates $118,250. And on and on it went.

But now the budget crisis is forcing elected leaders to make hard choices that affect big donors and pit one powerful lobby against another.

Teachers are holding rallies against cuts in the education budget, and the NC Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association is running full-page ads against proposals to increase the tax on its products. Both groups have PACs that gave more than $100,000 in direct contributions in 2008, plus at least another $100,000 through affiliated groups and individuals. . . .

To see the whole analysis and to see 36 LEADING PACS IN N.C. 2008 ELECTION – DONATIONS ONLY click on the title above or CLICKHERE to go to the Democracy NC website.