Jan 23, 2008
EDITORIALS 
Money and politics 
1998 proposal on DOT board still makes sense in 2008
- Charlotte Observer

A short memory must be a handy thing to have in politics. Among other things, you can forget all about common-sense proposals from, say, a decade ago. That's when a state House committee recommended a ban on appointing members of the State Board of Transportation who contributed more than $500 to the governor's election campaign. 
 
That was a good idea then and it's a good one now. It would have eliminated one of two damaging appearances about North Carolina politics. One is that seats on the Board of Transportation are for sale. The other is that if you want the Department of Transportation to pave a road or build a bridge, you'd better pony up with contributions when board members ask. 
 
Alas, the 1998 House did not agree with the proposal by Rep. Joanie Bowie, R-Guilford, to keep big political contributors off the board. It dropped that sensible limit. Hopes that it would be restored in the Senate, where then-Sen. Bev Perdue, D-Craven, was chair of the Select Committee on Transportation, went for naught. 
 
Had the legislature restored that ban on large political contributions, neither Gov. Mike Easley's administration nor Lt. Gov. Perdue's gubernatorial campaign would now be embarrassed by the revelation that DOT board member Thomas Betts of Rocky Mount had asked an economic developer in Roanoke Rapids to raise $20,000 for her campaign. He suggested the money come from Randy Parton and others involved in a controversial theater project over which Ms. Perdue has criticized her opponent, State Treasurer Richard Moore. 
 
The News & Observer reported last week that Mr. Betts resigned his board seat hours after the newspaper asked Gov. Easley's office about the fund-raising activities. Lt. Gov. Perdue's campaign said it earlier returned contributions from other donors associated with the troubled theater project. It wants Mr. Moore to do the same. 
 
The N&O story underscored a proposal earlier this year by Mr. Moore to reform DOT and outlaw political fundraising by DOT board members. "We should end this practice by enacting a campaign finance law, similar to the prohibition on fundraising activities by lobbyists, which would apply to Board of Transportation members," he said. 
 
Mr. Moore is right about this. So is Ms. Perdue when she says the state's investment advisers should also be prohibited from fund-raising activities for political campaigns. Tapping into those sources of funds creates an appearance that contributors are buying an inside track on lucrative state business or a place near the front of the line for costly transportation projects. 
 
Separating policy and politics by imposing a ban on fundraising wouldn't fix everything that's wrong with the N.C. Department of Transportation. But it would remove the clear appearance that the public's business can be bought and sold like one more commodity.