Forum Post: Lets take things to a local level... (Discussing politicians in local races)

There is a lot of talk about the national elections, i.e. the race for President, and the major Congressional races in "swing states." Barely a fraction of that attention is paid to the races that hit closer to home, the races that determine who decides our state's laws. Often these laws affect us more directly than anything that passes at a federal level...

With that in mind, I wanted to get more informed before hitting the polls in my state starting on May 4th. votesmart.org has been a good source of local info, and followthemoney.org provides more details about political contributions at the local level. I'm going to be doing more research as my primary date looms closer, and I suggest you do the same to make sure that you are making the informed choices on the lesser-known races on your ballot.

For example, lets talk about Julia Howard, an incumbent in the NC state House from District 79:

http://projects.propublica.org/alec-contributions/states/NC http://www.votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/5988/julia-howard http://www.followthemoney.org/database/uniquecandidate.phtml?uc=15190

So ALEC companies gave her some money. Big deal, right? Lets see how she has been voting:

Jan. 5, 2012
SB 727
No Dues Checkoff for School Employees Veto Override Passed - House (69 - 45) Yea

She voted yes to make it harder for teachers to deduct union dues from their paychecks? Seems a bit anti-union to me... I wonder why companies like Bank of America like to give a few thousand dollars to people that vote against unions?

Sept. 12, 2011 SB 514
Constitutional Amendment to Define Marriage
Bill Passed - House (75 - 42) Yea

She a bigot too! Or maybe its OK in her opinion to legislate equal rights away from others because her bible said so? One thing worth noting is that Julia was born in 1944. She was 16 when the Civil Rights movement was ramping up, so she should have seen first-hand how laws like this hurt the entire community.

Actually, maybe she's just a racist too?

July 15, 2009 SB 461 Racial Discrimination in Capital Sentences
Bill Passed - House (61 - 54) Nay

So she voted NO to SB 461. What was this vote about?

"Vote to pass a bill that prevents the execution of defendants if race is found to have been an underlying factor in the decision to seek the death penalty at the time of the trial."

Last but not least:

June 23, 2009
SB 526 Prevention of Bullying and Violence in Schools
Bill Passed - House (58 - 57) Nay

So you see, a lot of the bills that you hear about in the news are being passed or defeated quietly in your local legislatures as well. Corporate interests are still funding these laws in the smaller legislatures as well. Remain vigilant and call out your elected officials if they are doing something wrong, no matter where they are.