North Carolinians need look no further than Wednesday’s action by a state House Committee to confirm that the representatives are clueless about public dissatisfaction with the legislature.

– Winston-Salem Journal
May 21, 2007

Last week the State Board of Elections said Representative Thomas Wright had failed to report $220,000 in campaign donations. And that he may have put the money in his pocket.

The next day “The House Election Law Reform Committee” met and made its latest anti-corruption recommendations. And it was like the Wright scandal never existed.

The Committee – appointed by the House leadership – took a step back from even the tepid reforms the House passed last year. It proposed legislators report fewer campaign contributions. And it voted to keep State Election Board records secret, specifically ‘Advisory Opinions’ the Board gives to candidates. In effect, the Committee’s response to the Wright scandal was less disclosure and more secrecy.

Later as the scandal grew – and the press turned up the heat – the House blinked and began to backpedal. But, still, it’s hard to argue with The Journal that in the midst of the worst series of scandals in state history House Democrats are clueless.

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