Under the Dome: Super PAC contends RFK Jr. campaign deceived NC voters
Good morning! ☀️ Did you sign a petition to support independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.? A Democratic super PAC says some voters were misled about what they were signing. Here’s what you need to know about North Carolina politics today from our team and correspondent Stephanie Loder.
CLEAR CHOICE ACTION CHALLENGES RFK JR. PETITIONS
Are the backers of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign misleading voters so they can get Kennedy on the ballot in North Carolina?
A Democratic super PAC thinks so.
The group, Clear Choice Action, filed a challenge with the State Board of Elections claiming voters who signed petitions for ballot access were made to believe their signatures would put independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the November general election ballot.
Instead, voters’ signatures went to support a spot on the ballot for We The People, a new political party expected to nominate Kennedy.
In a letter to the Board of Elections, attorneys representing the super PAC said the petitions were “an unlawful effort” by Kennedy to “evade the requirements for an unaffiliated candidacy creating a sham political party.”
Kennedy, the son of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy, had been a Democrat until 2023.
Get the full story from Vivienne Serret here.
MASKING, CAMPAIGN FINANCE BILL HEADS TO GOV. COOPER’S DESK
A bill on mask restrictions – revised last week by legislative Republicans to include a contentious campaign finance provision – is heading to Gov. Roy Cooper’s office after a Tuesday vote.
A compromise between House and Senate Republicans, House Bill 237 rewrites a provision in state law that allows people to wear masks in public for health and safety reasons.
As reported by Avi Bajpai, state law prohibiting mask wearing in public has been in place since the 1950s after North Carolina lawmakers passed the ban to crack down on the Ku Klux Klan.
The compromise bill limits mask wearing to only allow medical and surgical grade masks to prevent the spread of disease. The bill also targets people who wear masks to hide their identity while committing a crime or during protests.
Democrats say the campaign finance changes open the door to difficult-to-trace contributions from wealthy donors ahead of the November election.
Cooper is expected to veto the bill. If that happens, it would set up override votes in both chambers.
Get the full story from Avi Bajpai and Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi here.
NO NEW BUDGET, BUT STATE WORKERS TO GET RAISES
When will North Carolina lawmakers pass a budget? The answer is not anytime soon.
Republican House Speaker Tim Moore said negotiations have broken down with Republican Senate leader Phil Berger regarding a compromise budget adjustment.
Instead, the House is poised to release its own budget proposal.
However, even if the General Assembly doesn’t pass a new bill, the 2023 budget that became law in October will allow for raises this year for many state workers. Read the details of who gets what in this story from Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan.
The 2023 budget is a two-year spending plan covering the fiscal years of July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2025.
Berger says House Republican leaders want to spend about $1 billion from the state’s reserves in their districts, but Senate Republican leaders are not in favor of the plan.
Moore said he wants to give state employees more raises and retirees a cost of living adjustment in this year’s budget bill, but he and Berger are far apart on budget spending. Read more from Vaughan here.
$100 MILLION IN NC BUDGET MAY BE HOUSE SPEAKER’S ROAD TO REELECTION
House Speaker Tim Moore fast-tracked a state highway project to fix a bottleneck and add lanes to the interchange of I-85 and I-485 in western Mecklenburg County by using part of a $100 million discretionary fund.
The road project near Charlotte Douglas International Airport – which state officials weren’t going to tackle until 2033 – was a good look for Moore when he made the announcement last fall.
Why?
Because the project will take place no later than 2025 in the newly formed congressional district where Moore is running for a House seat.
The $100 million was inside a 786-page supplement to a 625-page compromise budget bill. Moore is allocating $45 million to accelerate the redesign of the congested interchange.
At a news conference on Nov. 2, Moore said: “We had the funds, simple as that.”
Get the full story from Dan Kane and David Raynor here.
That’s all for today. Check your inbox tomorrow for more #ncpol news.
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