Gary Bartlett, Director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBOE) told the N&O that he was holding a symposium to educate candidates and the public. Bartlett said that, “If there was education and awareness, we could cut down on the silly stuff.” According to the N&O the “silly stuff” Bartlett was referring to was Gov. Perdue’s 42 (at least) unreported flights on donor’s planes during her 2004 and 2008 elections.
The SBOE made it pretty obvious at the August 2010 hearing into Perdue’s campaign that they believed the Governor’s failure to report airplane flights was merely”silly stuff,” when they voted to end the investigation without holding hearings or questioning witnesses under oath. The Wake County District Attorney made the SBOE look silly when, in October of 2010, he asked the SBI to investigate the flights.
Three members of Perdue’s campaign team have been indicted – Peter Reichard has pleaded guilty, Buzzy Stubs and Julia Leigh Sitton have pleaded not guilty. Perdue has also said that federal investigators also were looking into her campaign finances.
After reading the N&O article one would wonder if Bartlett has issues with procrastination or his commitment to educate candidates in general. Bartlett indicated that he first entertained the idea of a symposium during the agency’s investigation into Gov. Perdue’s unreported flights – more than two years ago. And then he said that he had planned to hold the symposium later in the year (2012), before the General Election. So you may ask, why now? According to Bartlett, ” former Gov. Jim Hunt asked the state to host it before the May 8 primary. “He would like to … see as high a playing field as there can be.”
Jim Hunt? Evidently Bartlett has been reaching out to the former two-time Governor of North Carolina for advice.
Not including lunch, the symposium is just under seven hours. It includes 11 sessions ranging from 10 minutes to 1 hour and 5 minutes. The longest session is devoted to contribution compliance and airplanes/travel and will be led by Gary Bartlett.
Below is an abbreviated look at the agenda, for the full agenda click here and once you reach the State Board’s website click on Elections Symposium
What you will not find on this agenda is an understanding of the quote from Gary Bartlett about Jim Hunt’s desire to “… see as high a playing field as there can be.”
| 45 minutes | General Overview of Basic NC Campaign Finance Laws |
| 30 minutes | Media Regulations |
| 30 minutes | Independent Expenditures and the Impact of Citizens United |
| 10 minutes | North Carolina Public Financing Programs in light of Arizona v. Bennett |
| 1 hour 5 minutes | Contribution compliance and airplanes/travel |
| 20 minutes | Test Your Knowledge |
| 25 minutes | General Overview of Elections |
| 35 minutes | Voter Registration |
| 35 minutes | Safeguards in the Election Process |
| 15 minutes | Voting Equipment |
| 35 minutes | Election Day Problems |
| 35 minutes | Voter Fraud,What it is- What it isn’t |
| 20 minutes | Test your Knowledge |
You silly propaganda machine – voter fraud is not a problem. It has never happened anywhere, ever!
And that South Carolina voter fraud story is not really a problem because some of the people who voted were only a little bit dead. We should not disenfranchise voters just because they are no longer alive!
Mr. Bartlett seems to find a lot of “silly stuff” occuring that should just go away. If it is not campaign fund violations it is the corrupt voter registration data base or that video showing how easy it is to commit fraud in voting. Of course voter is a Class I felony. Wow! The most important right a citizen has, one our forefathers DIED TO GAIN FOR US, is a lower class felony than stealing pine straw or dog fighting! Why does this seem ridiculous to me?