Looking for Funds in All the Wrong Places

Out-of-district financial contributions from special interests and wealthy individuals undermine democracy in North Carolina by reducing the influence of citizens who live in a candidate’s district. Looking for Funds in All the Wrong Places analyzes contributions to 10 powerful members of North Carolina’s Legislature during their 2006 campaigns to determine how much funding came from outside the candidates’ districts. On average, 74 percent of funding came from outside the district, including 14 percent from outside the state. North Carolina should adopt a public financing system for legislative campaigns to address this problem.

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Out-of-district financial contributions from special interests and wealthy individuals undermine democracy in North Carolina by reducing the influence of citizens who live in a candidate’s district. Looking for Funds in All the Wrong Places analyzes contributions to 10 powerful members of North Carolina’s Legislature during their 2006 campaigns to determine how much funding came from outside the candidates’ districts. On average, 74 percent of funding came from outside the district, including 14 percent from outside the state. North Carolina should adopt a public financing system for legislative campaigns to address this problem.

Authors

Elizabeth Ridlington

Associate Director and Senior Policy Analyst, Frontier Group

Elizabeth Ridlington is associate director and senior policy analyst with Frontier Group. She focuses primarily on global warming, toxics, health care and clean vehicles, and has written dozens of reports on these and other subjects. Elizabeth graduated with honors from Harvard with a degree in government. She joined Frontier Group in 2002. She lives in Northern California with her son.

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