Late in the pre-primary confusion, a wave of out-of-state cash is bidding to buy another state Supreme Court seat, plus other news, this week in CIB:
Campaign Watch: Big Bucks Target Supreme Court Contest
A late tide of special-interest money, mostly from out-of-state sources including the oil industry’s Koch brothers, is swamping another critical North Carolina judicial contest in shadowy-source campaign ads. Incumbent N.C. Supreme Court Justice Robin Hudson is the target of up to a million dollars in opposition spending, funding a combination of sunny endorsements for her two opponents and nasty negative ads targeting her.
Why should conservationists/environmentalists care? Among other reasons, the N.C. Supreme Court (on which Hudson sits) holds the final say on rate and rule cases decided by the N.C. Utilities Commission. This includes cases which set the way in which solar and other renewable energy sources are used (or not used) by electric utilities here (i.e., Duke Energy). The same Utilities Commission decides cases determining who pays for pollution cleanup costs, as in coal ash spill disasters (i.e., Duke Energy’s recent peccadillo).
And guess who has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to a funding source of the television ads running in the Supreme Court contest? Duke Energy.
Our state Supreme Court also interprets and rules on the validity of various state legislative enactments, energy exploration permits, and pollution control rules of interest to the oil and gas industry. By a remarkable coincidence, more hundreds of thousands of dollars behind the sources of these ads come from major players in this industry as well.
Naturally, most sources of corporate cash in this type of legal money laundering campaign scheme prefer to plead ignorance and innocence of any responsibility for slick or downright nasty campaign tactics. In this case, they employ a double set of cutouts to evade public revulsion. First, the attack ads against Hudson focus on a case addressing the constitutionality of applying a new kind of monitoring requirement to sex offenders convicted prior to the new law’s enactment. Referring to that case, the ads sleazily accuse Hudson of not being “tough” on these criminals. (One neutral journalist described the ad as “perhaps the most despicable political advertisement ever aired in the state.”) Now, who would connect an ad about sex offenders (rather than pollution offenders) with oil companies, power companies, or other entities normally focused on the corporate bottom line?
Second, the companies don’t run or pay for the ads directly. The formal legal sponsor of these attack ads is an “independent expenditure” political action committee ironically named “Justice for All NC”. Nearly all of Justice for All NC’s 2014 funding comes from a $650,000 contribution from another “independent committee”, the Washington DC-based Republican State Leadership Committee. (Data from N.C. State Board of Elections.)
Who funds the Republican State Leadership Committee? A potpourri of wealthy sources, including Reynolds American (tobacco), Koch Industries (oil), America’s Natural Gas Alliance (fracking, anyone?) and Duke Energy, among many others. More here.
The positive ads endorsing Hudson’s opponents are sponsored by yet another independent committee called the NC Chamber IE (as in N.C. Chamber of Commerce independent expenditure committee). It’s financed by similar sources, including Koch Industries, Reynolds American, and Piedmont Natural Gas. More here.
Analysts say that this unusual surge of special-interest independent expenditures into a North Carolina judicial primary rises out of a desire to take advantage of an expected higher turnout by Republicans and Republican-leaning independents in the primary, driven by the hotly contested Republican U.S. Senate primary. While North Carolina judicial races are officially non-partisan, it has become common for political parties to identify judicial candidates by party registration, and campaign accordingly. In the case of this N.C. Supreme Court seat contest, the two candidates praised by the NC Chamber IE ads are philosophically “conservative” Republicans. The candidate attacked by the “Justice for All NC” ads is the contest’s sole Democrat. In this technically nonpartisan primary, the outcome could leave voters with a choice in the fall between the two corporate-friendly lawyers, eliminating incumbent Supreme Court Justice Hudson before most voters even cast their first ballots of the year.
This current episode of big special interest money in politics smells as bad as fish kills along the Dan River. NCLCV supports campaign laws designed to reduce the influence of big money and political influence in the selection of judges. Judges are not supposed to come into office with an issue agenda. They are supposed to apply their legal training and judicial experience to the fair and impartial application of the law – something it can be tough to do if, as the old song goes, you “owe your soul to the company store.”
NCLCV doesn’t make endorsements in state judicial contests, but we do urge our members and supporters to study all the important election contests, and vote with the environment in mind. The selection of state Supreme Court justices is as important a contest as can be found on our state ballots this year.
Early voting has concluded but there’s still time to vote on Primary Day: Tuesday, May 6.
Important primary contests are also being decided at the district and local levels around the state. Those important contests include several in which NCLCV has made primary endorsements. Two of those hot races to watch are in Guilford County, where NCLCV supports incumbents Rep. Pricey Harrison (D-Guilford) in House District 57, and Sen. Gladys Robinson (D-Guilford) in Senate District 28. See more on these and other hot contests here.
NCLCV’s full primary endorsement slate can be found here.
NCLCV urges all its members and supporters to vote, and to vote with the environment in mind. Take the pledge to be a conservation voter this year here.
Washington Watch: Supreme Court Upholds Interstate Air Pollution Rule
The U.S. Supreme Court last week handed down a major win for clean air when it voted 6-2 to uphold the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rule regulating pollution from coal-fired power plants that crosses state lines. This Cross-State Air Pollution rule (a.k.a, the Transport Rule) affects 28 states, including some which are both “upwind” and “downwind” states – ones which are impacted by pollution from elsewhere, and which also produce pollution with affects other states.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg wrote in the majority opinion that the EPA had acted reasonably within its authority under the Clean Air Act, while Justice Antonin Scalia fumed in dissent. John Walke of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) said, “This is great news for millions of people who suffer from serious health problems caused by the soot and smog-causing pollution from the power plants in other states.” More here.
Laura Sheehan of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity asserted, “EPA continues to abuse the Clean Air Act, imposing overreaching regulations that promise little gain with great pain for American consumers and the broader American economy.” More here.
However, Molly Diggins of the N.C. State Chapter of the Sierra Club noted, “Protecting the public from cross-state air pollution will prevent tens of thousands of premature deaths annually, help American families avoid 19,000 emergency room visits, and prevent 1.8 million missed work and school days each year. The rule would also save Americans up to $280 billion in annual health and environmental costs.” Diggins credited N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper for his role in asking EPA to take action that led to the now-upheld Transport Rule. More here.
Legislative Watch: No More Local Tree Ordinances?
Without advance warning, a legislative study commission last week recommended legislation which would eliminate statewide cities’, towns’, and counties’ authority to enact or enforce tree conservation ordinances, including those involving protection of trees during construction, as a condition of development, in buffer areas, or in the protection of historic or “heritage” trees. More here.
The proposal was endorsed by the Agriculture and Forestry Awareness Study Commission, but it appears to have been motivated by earlier testimony from Raleigh lobbyists for the N.C. Home Builders Association. It follows a pattern set by the current legislature of considering draconian limits on and revocations of local governmental authority which has offended influential interest groups. Municipal and environmental advocates will urge the General Assembly to reject this proposal during the “short session” beginning later this month.
Education & Resources: Take a Virtual Tour of Coal Ash Sites
The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE), Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), and other partners have developed a “comprehensive coal ash website…to bring attention to the magnitude of coal ash issues in the Southeast.” The site features “an interactive map with unique displays of comprehensive information on each of the region’s coal ash dumpsites” as well as a clearinghouse for news and regulatory developments related to the issue. Check out this tool here.
Conservationists: Justine Oller, Outreach Director
CIB welcomes NCLCV’s newest staff member, Justine Oller, who takes the role of Outreach Director. She will work to build a field program to better engage conservation-minded voters in our work to make the environment a voting issue in North Carolina elections.
Justine brings more than a decade of experience in working with environmental and community-based organizations in organizing and community education efforts. Her most interesting experience to date may be her work with an indigenous community in Ecuador’s Amazon River basin region, where she “witnessed firsthand the impacts of human and industrial development on the delicate ecosystem of the rainforest.” CIB agrees that experience in such a challenging situation may be just the preparation needed for dealing effectively with the wild and changing political environment of our state today. Welcome Justine!
And a reminder from NCLCV’s Debra Davis Rezeli: Just in case anyone hasn’t heard yet, please take note – NCLCV’s Green Tie Awards Dinner will be held Tuesday, May 27, in Raleigh. For full details (including ticket information), see here.
That’s our report for this week.
