Opponents of the program say it's a waste of public money and it could encourage candidates who aren't serious to run, but organizers say this is not political welfare.
GREENSBORO -- A grass-roots Greensboro group is hoping to change the way candidates finance their campaigns. Greensboro Citizens for Clean Elections say they want to restore public confidence by reducing the influence money has in politics, but not everyone is convinced this is a good idea for Greensboro.
Joe Wilson ran for Greensboro City Council last November. “There were six people in [the race] when we started; I ended up finishing second to councilmen Zach Methany, who is in office now. We raised about $6,000 or $7,000, which I feel is an appropriate amount. Mr. Methany was able to raise $46,000.”
He believes the discrepancy in campaign funds was one of the reasons he lost and that's why he's a part of the movement for publicly financed campaigns.
“All we're trying to do is give people the opportunity who otherwise wouldn't, but who could make really good leaders," said Wilson.
It’s an idea that one Guilford College political science major agrees with.
“If we don't have a level playing field, if we don't have equal opportunity to participate in democracy, then we can't get a lot of other stuff done,” said student Malcom Kenton.
Greensboro Citizens for Clean Elections say there's a direct link between those people who win local elections and money raised.
Greensboro Citizens for Clean Elections say there's a direct link between those people who win local elections and money raised.
“You know there's 250,000 people in this city and you can't go talk to each one of them so you have to buy media,” Wilson said. “And it cost money and times are a little bit tough economically so raising money is going to be difficult.”
Opponents of the program say it's a waste of public money and it could encourage candidates who aren't serious to run, but organizers say this is not political welfare.
“And the great thing about this is with the local program it will be completely up to Greensboro to set the parameters on what those qualifying guidelines are. And overall it's not a very large amount of money and it's up to the city to determine how much money will be used for this,” said Diane Tworog, associate director of Common Cause North Carolina.
The group will now take their petition to the city council. They would have to pass a resolution asking the state to allow Greensboro to publicly fund campaigns.