The 2009 Chapel Hill Town Council elections face a new dynamic after a law was signed Monday authorizing public campaign funding.
The bill, passed Thursday by the N.C. Senate and signed into law by the Speaker of the House, is the first in the state to allow public funding for municipal elections.
The pilot program will be implemented for the 2009 and 2011 municipal elections and will fund candidates' campaigns with a public grant.
Increasing local campaign costs and involvement of special interest parties, such as development companies, in neighboring municipality elections are concerns that prompted the Town Council to meet with local representatives, such as Rep. Verla Insko (D-Orange), to develop the bill, council member Mark Kleinschmidt said.
"This has been a public priority for a long time," he said.
Before implementation in 2009, the town will hold public hearings to determine the size of the grant and requirements for potential candidates.
"The candidates need to demonstrate their viability … to qualify for the fund," Kleinschmidt said.
Borrowing from a similar public financing program for state appellate judicial elections, candidates might have to collect a small number of contributions and adhere to strict spending and fund raising limits to qualify.
"I would hope that it would help all candidates realize that political office isn't out of reach; at least because of money," Kleinschmidt said.
Council member Sally Greene said she thinks the law will be great for all candidates, including students who might decide to run without financial constraints usually associated with campaigns.
Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton said the program might appeal those who previously couldn't afford to run for a Council seat.
"The real question is, 'Who is it that never ran … that might run now?'"
Chilton was elected to the Chapel Hill Town Council in 1991 as a University senior.
He described the political atmosphere of the time as unique because of the 1990 election between incumbent N.C. Sen. Jesse Helms and Harvey Grantt, former mayor of Charlotte.
"There were a lot of students that were unusually active," Chilton said. "Some of that spilled over into 1991, when I happened to run for the Town Council."
Kleinschmidt was elected to, the Town Council in 2001 after finishing law school at UNC.
"The process of raising money was certainly a challenge," Kleinschmidt said.
"Because of the cost of financing a campaign, I had to think about the race so far in advance."
But both Kleinschmidt and Chilton said that lack of funding might not be the main deterrent in some student campaigns.
"I think that there are many obstacles to students and recent graduates in pursuit of elected office," Kleinschmidt said.
"I think this is only one."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
