By By JONATHAN CLAYBORNE
and BETTY MITCHELL GRAY
Staff Writers
Editor’s note: This is the first installment in an occasional series on campaign finance.
It’s no secret that flush-with-cash candidates for the state House and Senate often pass on monetary contributions to favored political parties and colleagues.
What might be surprising to some, though, is just how much campaign cash gets handed out by candidates who have faced no opposition or dealt with only token opposition.
One of the most generous donors to other candidates in recent elections has been Sen. Marc Basnight, D-Dare, president pro tempore of the Senate.
In 2008, Basnight “far outspent all other candidates for the General Assembly,” according to an October 2009 report from the Program on Public Life at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Though Basnight ran unopposed in 2008, the senator’s campaign committee reported expenditures of more than $1.7 million, the Program on Public Life report reads.
Of that amount, more than $1.325 million was contributed to the North Carolina Democratic Party, according to campaign finance reports filed with the State Board of Elections.
Basnight has benefited from contributions from other candidates.
U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-N.C., gave Basnight’s campaign committee $2,000 on Oct. 9, 2008, according to the Web site OpenSecrets.org.
Rep. Arthur Williams, D-Beaufort, gave Basnight $2,000 during the 2008 campaign season, including a $1,000 contribution on March 31, 2008, and another $1,000 contribution on Oct. 14, 2008, according to Williams’ campaign finance reports.
Those contributions to Basnight are part of $68,050 that Williams gave to 24 other candidates in the past two years, including then-gubernatorial candidate Beverly Perdue, Beaufort County Commissioner Jerry Langley and then-Washington City Council candidate Ed Moultrie, campaign reports show.
Asked about the value of one candidate passing his campaign cash on to another, Williams was matter of fact.
“I would think that the value of it is that you’ve got to have support in Raleigh,” he said. “I’ve got to have the support of people in Raleigh to get my bills passed.”
That doesn’t mean that sharing the wealth equals guaranteed support for legislation, though, and Williams emphasized that the practice of candidate giving is above-board and in keeping with standard practice in the state capital.
“I’m my own man up there,” he said. “I think everybody in Raleigh knows I can take a stand. I try to do the right thing.”
Williams’ giving also extends to candidates outside of his party. On Nov. 20, 2008, he gave $1,000 to U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr., R-N.C., of Farmville.
“Walter B. Jones is a personal friend of mine,” Williams explained. “In times you’ve got to learn to do the job. Walter Jones does a lot for my constituents in my area, as far as federal issues, and I do a lot of state issues for him. I think that’s been good for my constituents.”
Political reality
Speaking of political money changing hands, “A lot of issues intersect in this,” said Ferrel Guillory, director of the Program on Public Life.
“Marc Basnight is a legislative leader, but he’s also a party leader and so he has dual responsibilities,” Guillory observed. “But it also intersects with his own personal ambition and his own personal status. So, because he’s been a longtime legislative leader, he’s built up relationships, he’s built up a certain amount of power. People who want to influence state government or have a hearing for their point of view will be naturally drawn to giving money to such a powerful figure.”
Guillory said that Basnight “practically runs unopposed so he doesn’t need the money for his own re-election.”
Candidates giving money to other candidates isn’t uncommon, said Bob Hall, executive director for Democracy North Carolina.
“It’s something both Democrats and Republicans in the General Assembly do,” Hall said.
The practice is particularly common among leaders in the chamber who generally attract more political-action-committee money and are in a position to help members of their caucus who may face tough challenges, Hall said.
Hood Richardson, Basnight’s declared Republican opponent, has bemoaned the huge fundraising advantage enjoyed by the incumbent senator.
Basnight can afford to give thousands to favored Democratic candidates, while the state Republican Party has been reluctant to make a significant investment in an opponent who could mount a serious challenge to the senator, Richardson has pointed out.
“Once political figures become powerful enough to be able to do that, they’ve violated the principles of both a democracy and a republic because government is for sale,” he said.
Other sources might disagree with Richardson, including Washington Mayor Archie Jennings, who gave $500 to Williams’ campaign.
“I think different people have different objectives,” Jennings said. “Certainly you could point to a large contribution and ones that are made directly to a party and refunneled to a candidate as something of a patronage system.”
Yet, Jennings said that when he gives money to a state House candidate, he’s endorsing legislative consistency in an office that requires its holders to run every two years.
“If someone, as in Arthur’s case, demonstrates a level of effectiveness, I want to see that perpetuated,” he said.
As for candidates giving their campaign contributions to other office-seekers, Jennings said, “I really haven’t given to those kind of center-of-influence type candidates. … I guess most of us at an individual level are under the impression that when we give our money it will be used by the candidate. I guess that goes back to your confidence and trust in the candidate.”