N&O: Democrats raise money, eyebrows

State Democrats, including Governor Bev Perdue, Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, House Speaker Joe Hackney, and budget writer Sen. Linda Garrou took a break from budget negotiations this week to attend a fundraiser for the Democratic Party Tuesday night, according to the News & Observer.

Republicans criticized the fundraiser as a transparent “shakedown” of lobbyists while legislation affecting their clients is under consideration.

“Holding a fundraiser the day before voting on the budget and an ethics bill is an action that the word hypocrisy does not begin to define,” said Tom Fetzer, the chairman of the state Republican Party. “This clearly violates the spirit of state ethics laws and reveals that all the Democrats’ talk about ethics is just that.”

It is illegal under state law for lobbyists to make political contributions to legislators or members of the Council of State, including the governor. It is also illegal for elected officials to raise money from political action committees while the legislature is in session.

But there are no such limits on political donations to political parties. Political parties, in turn, can make unlimited donations to the re-election campaigns of state lawmakers.

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Jane Pinsky, director of the non-partisan N.C. Coalition for Lobbying and Government Reform, said she was surprised Democrats would choose to overtly raise money from special interests after the recent spate of fundraising scandals.

“It does push the envelope,” said Pinsky, herself a registered lobbyist. “If there was ever a time when the political parties would want to be above reproach it is now. They should want to be squeaky clean.”

The conservative Civitas Institute sent a group to stand outside and videotape those going in. It was humid, and a young Democrat guarding the iron gate offered them water while politely declining requests to go inside.

Sen. Linda Garrou, a Winston-Salem Democrat who serves as a chief budget writer, waved to the camera-wielding activists. She denied even knowing that lobbyists were attending the event, before hurrying inside.

Perdue and her husband arrived in the back of a black Suburban that sped up a driveway to the backdoor. Flanked by her security detail, the governor did not respond to an interview request shouted from the street.

Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, said she didn’t know lobbyists had been invited. Her office directly regulates lobbyists.

“I knew it was a fundraiser, but I didn’t know who was on the invitation list,” Marshall said before going inside.

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