State lawmakers passed a wide-ranging controversial bill Tuesday that would create new civil and criminal penalties targeted at protesters, change laws about wearing masks in public for health reasons and ease restrictions on so-called dark money political groups that could spend tens of millions of dollars in North Carolina in this year’s elections.
The bill now rests with Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper to sign or veto. On Tuesday, a spokesman for Cooper was highly critical of the campaign finance changes, in particular, which would create a loophole that allows corporations and anonymous donors to funnel money into the campaigns of North Carolina politicians and political parties through a series of transactions that are currently illegal.
“Governor Cooper opposes Republicans changing campaign finance rules behind closed doors just months before the election to allow out-of-state billionaires to bail out far-right statewide candidates,” said Jordan Monahan, a spokesman for Governor Cooper. “This goes against State Election Board guidelines. Political contributions should be more transparent, not less.”
Earlier in the day, government ethics and transparency advocates also gathered at the state Capitol to denounce the changes.
But Republicans are defending the changes. They say protesters are exploiting COVID-19-era mask-wearing rules to hide their identities at demonstrations, and they hope the new rules will change that. The new rules would say people can only wear masks to prevent the spread of disease, and only medical masks. They say stronger criminal penalties for protesters are needed to crack down on roadblocking demonstrations. Blocking a road is already a crime, but the law would make the penalties even tougher.
And they say the campaign finance changes would allow them to compete on an equal footing with Democrats, especially in the gubernatorial race, where Republican candidate Mark Robinson is lagging behind Democratic candidate Josh Stein in fundraising.
Election funds
Under current state law, politicians must disclose who is giving them campaign contributions, they can’t take money from corporations at all, and they can only accept a maximum of $6,400 from any individual or political group.
But now critics say reforms proposed by Republican lawmakers in North Carolina would create a huge loophole — allowing unlimited, untraceable “dark money” to flow into politicians’ campaigns, using state parties as intermediaries, without the public knowing who is behind it.
“This policy really reduces our ability to monitor and understand who is influencing our elections,” said Ann Webb of Common Cause North Carolina, a government ethics reform group.
Republican leaders say the change will level the playing field in the race to replace Governor Cooper, who is term-limited.
As of February, Stein had raised $19.1 million, with $12.7 million left to spend, according to the most recent campaign finance records.
Robinson had raised $10.7 million in the same period and had $4.5 million left to spend, meaning he was millions behind.
Super PACs spend millions
North Carolina’s current campaign finance laws impose strict limits on the amount of money politicians can borrow from any single source, but there are some exceptions: Politicians can personally loan as much money as they want to their campaigns, and political parties can give as much money as they want to candidates.
New changes to state law would loosen rules on state political parties and allow them to receive money from a type of federal political action committee known as a super PAC.
Super PACs, unlike politicians or political parties, can keep their donors secret and can accept unlimited amounts of money from sources that would normally be prohibited, such as labor unions and corporations. That’s why in North Carolina, super PACs are not allowed to donate directly to politicians or political parties.
Democrats say the changes are apparently intended to allow corporations and others to make anonymous donations to Robinson’s campaign by giving money to super PACs that would then be routed through the NCGOP to Robinson.
A spokesman for Robinson’s campaign declined to comment. House Speaker Tim Moore confirmed last week that the change was in preparation for the gubernatorial race but said he had not personally discussed it with Robinson.
“The way the rules are being interpreted seems to be balanced in favor of the Democrats’ approach,” Moore said.
This was a reference to a 2020 memorandum from the North Carolina State Board of Elections suggesting that a large national Democratic group had taken the additional steps required to segregate funds based on their origin, which allowed the group to transfer some of the funds to the state Democratic Party without violating state law.
Similar Republican groups have not taken similar steps to legally donate to the North Carolina Republican Party, which is why GOP leaders say the law needs to be changed.
“What we’re trying to do is level the playing field,” Moore said.
Related to bills targeting protesters
The campaign finance changes have come under further criticism because they were passed by Congress with limited debate and were tacked on to an unrelated bill targeting protesters.
Republican lawmakers initially proposed banning masks in public for health reasons, saying they believed protesters were exploiting that rule and COVID-19-era mask-wearing norms to hide their identities at demonstrations. Supporters and opponents of the proposal unanimously said a mask ban would make it easier for police to search, detain and potentially arrest people wearing masks that partially cover their faces.
But after the proposal received widespread backlash, including from Republican lawmakers, congressional leaders agreed to a compromise that would allow people to wear masks in public to prevent the spread of the disease but make clear that they must be medical-grade masks.
The bill also increases criminal penalties for protesters who block roads and allows for civil lawsuits to be brought against organizers of protests that block roads, even if the organizers were not physically present at the event.
“Protests are part of democracy,” said Dawn Blagrove, a prominent Black Lives Matter activist who leads the North Carolina Movement for Liberation. “Suppressing the right to protest is a clear sign that you’re afraid of the people. And when you’re afraid of the people, you’re afraid of the power of the people.”
