Whenever you read a media report about Democracy North Carolina, chances are good you’ll find us described as a “watchdog organization.” While we do a lot more than just monitor candidates and elected officials, we are very proud of our watchdog label and serious about our role as an independent, nonpartisan observer of North Carolina politics -- especially when it comes to tracking the impact of money in politics.

 

We believe accountability and transparency are two of the most powerful tools we have for preventing corruption in government. We encourage both in a number of ways. We:

• Advocate for Voter-Owned Elections;

• Use our research to expose corruption;

• Publicize both unacceptable and exemplary campaign finance practices;

• Promote policies that toughen ethics rules and lobbyist regulations;

• Advocate for disclosure rules that support the public’s right to know what their government officials are doing and whose interests they are representing.

• Educate the public on how to analyze campaign finance reports and track lobbyist spending.

We are also active partners with organizations that make ethics reform their primary focus, including the NC Coalition for Lobby Reform.

 

What We’ve Accomplished

In the past few years, our research has led to the conviction of a NC House Speaker on federal corruption charges and exposed troubling money ties between industry political action committees and politicians making policy in those industries. In addition, our Voter Rights work in 2008 led to an $100,000 fine imposed by the North Carolina Attorney General against an out-of-state group for misleading robo-calls that resulted in voter suppression. Plus, our organizing work with a bipartisan coalition inspired the NC Legislature to adopt a comprehensive set of laws regulating ethics and lobbying.

 

What’s Ahead

We are working with our bipartisan coalition on additional reforms, including requiring local governments to establish and enforce codes of ethical conduct, enacting “pay to play” restrictions for state contractors and appointees to policy-making boards, plus new rules expanding electronic disclosure of campaign contributions and of the economic-interest statements from public officials. If you’d like to support our work in these areas, please donate on-line here.