Former U.S. Senator Urges Soft Money Opposition

Morgan opened with a short history of his political career, in which he served as N.C. attorney general and N.C. senator in addition to holding a position as a U.S. senator.

Morgan then quickly turned to the topic of campaign finance reform, which he said was not nearly the problem that it is today many years ago when he ran for office.

He said during the five times he ran for state senate he did not ask for any money. Instead, he went directly to the people to gain funding, often going door to door to meet them and speak with them.

In contrast, he said N.C. Senate candidates today raise an average of $138,000 every two years.

In addition, the representative who now holds his former seat in the N.C. Senate raised $284,000 in 1998.

"It has become so expensive, it is almost impossible to attract bright young candidates," Morgan said. "There is little time for candidates to get out and see the people."

He said the change in funding over the years is evidence that special interests have taken over political campaigns in the United States.

Morgan was quick to point out that public officials are not necessarily committing fraud. Instead, sponsors are donating money to buy access to the candidates, he said.

The more money a supporter gives to a candidate, the more likely the supporter's opinion will be heard by the candidate, Morgan explained.

Morgan also said limitations on the amount of money a political candidate can receive from one sponsor are deceiving.

Since candidates are unable to directly accept large donations, money is instead given to the candidate's party, and then given from the party to the candidate.

Morgan said the problem of soft money is not limited to legislators.

Many appellate court judges and N.C. Supreme Court judges also receive money, often from lawyers, he said.

This becomes a problem, Morgan said, when those lawyers appear before the judge.

"The judge may not be dishonest, but human nature says he will give the lawyer every courtesy possible," he said.

Morgan said the best way for young people to help reverse this trend is by getting involved in politics.

"This money is almost destroying our democracy, and we're going to try to make it possible for young people to make a difference," Morgan said.

Overall, those in attendance seemed pleased with Morgan's speech.

Robin Sinhababu, a freshman business major, said even though Morgan shared personal experiences from many years ago, they were still pertinent to the issues at hand today.

"It was interesting the way his experience when he was a student showed the way it should be, where anyone who wanted to run could run instead of the way it is today," Sinhababu said.

Chris Brook, president of the UNC Young Democrats, said he thought Morgan's speech was informative.

"(Campaign finance reform) is a very complicated issue," Brook said.

"Senator Morgan really boiled it down to the core issues and made it easy for people to grab on to what really is at stake in the issue of campaign finance reform."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.