Democracy North Carolina

Fundraising Grows Four Times Faster Than Inflation For Members of Congress from North Carolina

 

November 20, 2007

 

Members of Congress from North Carolina are raising four times as much campaign money as they did a generation ago, even adjusting for inflation, according to a new report.

The report shows that North Carolina’s thirteen members of Congress raised $17 million during the 2006 election, with forty percent of the funds coming from political action committees (PACs) sponsored by medical groups, utilities, unions, Realtors, political party leaders, and others.

After adjusting the value of dollar for inflation, NC incumbents with opponents raised almost twice what their counterparts did in 1992 and four times what was raised in the 1980 election.

Incumbents with opponents took in an average of $560,600 from PACs in the 2006 election, compared to $384,900 in 1992 (inflation adjusted dollars).

“Members of Congress are spending more time raising more money—and getting much of it from wealthy special interest groups that want a payback for their investment,” said Bob Hall of Democracy North Carolina, the nonpartisan watchdog group that analyzed the data.

The research shows that challengers raised less than one third as much as the incumbents in the 2006 election, and only one succeeded—Heath Shuler in western NC’s eleventh Congressional District. The challengers also got only one ninth as much PAC money as the incumbents.

“The price of election is being bid up and up,” Hall said. “That helps the money suppliers gain an even larger advantage over ordinary citizens, but it squeezes out many candidates and gives the appearance that elections have become auctions.”

Hall noted that the partisan tilt in how Congressional districts are drawn—making some heavily Democratic and others heavily Republican—also reduces competition.

Democracy North Carolina’s analysis of fundraising data shows that:

• In the money chase, Rep. Sue Myrick (R-9^th District) swamped her opponent by a margin of 130 to one—the biggest margin among NC members with opposition in 2006 ($1.3 million for Myrick versus $9,760 raised by Democrat Bill Glass).

• Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-7^th Dist.) had the second biggest margin, outpacing his opponent by eighty to one, followed by Rep. Patrick Henry (R-10^th Dist.) who out-fundraised his opponent sixty-four to one.

• Vernon Robinson was the only challenger to surpass an incumbent, raising $2 million in a losing race against Rep. Brad Miller (D-13^th Dist). Fully 98% of Robinson’s money came from individual donors, most living outside NC. By contrast, Miller raised $1 million from individuals and $698,630—or 39% of his total – from PACs, most based outside NC.

• Rep. Mel Watt (D-12^th Dist.) and Rep. Howard Coble (R-6^th Dist.) relied most heavily on PAC funds, receiving 89% and 85% of their total fundraising from political action committees respectively. Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-1^st Dist.), the only NC member of Congress with no opposition in Nov. 2006, got 70% of his funds from PACs.

• Rep. Charles Taylor (R-11^th Dist.) raised $4.1 million, far more than any other candidate, including $2.53 million of his own money—but he lost the hotly contested race to Heath Shuler. Shuler raised $1.85 million, second only to Vernon Robinson among challengers. (Taylor was also the top fundraiser in 1992, raising $1.18 million ($1.69 million in 2006 dollars.)

• Rep. Robin Hayes (R-8^th Dist.), the second biggest fundraiser among NC incumbents with $2.4 million (none of his own money), narrowly defeated challenger Larry Kissell. Kissell apparently could not convince enough out-of-state backers that he could succeed; he got $400,000 less in PAC money than Heath Shuler.

• Besides Taylor and Hayes, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-5^th Dist.) was the only incumbent who did not defeat the challenger with at least 60% of the vote. She out-polled Roger Dean Sharpe by 56% to 44% of the vote, but out-fundraised him by a margin of ten to one; in the contest for PAC funds, she outdid Sharpe by a ratio of seventy-seven to one.

• PACs (which include committees sponsored by political parties and Congressional leaders) shunned nearly all the challengers: five of the twelve received no PAC money in the 2006 election according to a review by the Center for Responsive Politics, and three others received less than $4,000. Only Health Shuler and Larry Kissell managed to get more than $15,000.

• Rep. David Price (D-4^th Dist.) and Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-2^nd Dist.) each raised more than $900,000 for the 2006 election cycle, despite weak opposition. Price, the only winner besides Howard Coble who also won as an incumbent in 1992, raised forty percent more than he did that year (after adjusting for inflation.)

Democracy North Carolina is part of a coalition promoting a public financing alternative called “voter-owned” or “clean” elections, which rewards candidates who refuse special-interest donations and instead gather a large number of relatively small donations from registered voters. The coalition, NC Voters for Clean Elections, has won adoption of public financing programs for twenty-two appellate judicial offices and three executive branch offices in North Carolina.

A new bill in Congress would provide a similar public financing option in Congressional elections, modeled on programs used in NC, Maine, and Arizona. The “Fair Elections Now Act” (S. 1285) is sponsored by US Senators Richard Durban (D-IL) and Arlen Specter (R-PA). [See http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=2876971 for details.]

In the next two months, reformers will encourage NC House members to sign on as sponsors of a counterpart to the Senate bill. “The money chase is destroying public faith in democratic institutions,” said Hall. “We need political leaders who will champion real reform.”

Reformers got a boost from a NC Republican on Saturday. Speaking at the annual meeting of Common Cause/NC, US Rep. Walter Jones Jr. decried the grip that wealthy lobbies have over Congress and announced he will co-sponsor the House version of the “Fair Elections Now” bill being prepared by Rep. John Larson (D-CT).

 

This article was produced by Democracy North Carolina and is made available with permission. For additional information contact Bob Hall at 919-489-1931, or visit their website at http://democracy-nc.org.