We had a story today on 5A by David Lightman of our DC bureau about candidates "treating the news media as enemies this year....." This included not talking to reporters, keeping them away from campaign events, refusing to release schedules, etc.
Richard Burr was mentioned in the story, because he declined to be interviewed by reporter Barb Barrett for a story about him that we ran in the N&O and Charlotte Observer. Barb covers the NC congressional delegation for both papers.
Burr is unhappy with some stories we have done about where he has been getting his campaign funding from.
Rob Christensen, our veteran political reporter, wrote this in a story in September:
"Burr's campaign has been bankrolled largely by the business community. His donor list reads like a Dow Jones ticker.
No member of Congress during this election cycle has received more money than Burr from individuals and political action committees affiliated with pharmaceutical companies, tobacco companies, business associations, foreign import automobile dealers, dentists and steel producers, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks congressional fundraising.
Burr has received the second-highest amount of political donations of any member of Congress from the insurance industry, according to the center, and he's among the leading recipients of money from commercial banks, agribusiness and electric utilities."
I believe you can learn something about a politician by looking at where he or she gets campaign financing. I don't believe that politicians are automatically in the tank for a campaign donor. That's a little simplistic. But it's an indicator. If a politician gets a lot of money from corporate interests, it is because the politician's worldview is congruent with that of the corporate interests. I wouldn't expect a politician who gets buckets of campaign contribution from business sources to be railing against corporate greed, looking to raise capital gains taxes and the like.
Similarly, I would expect a politician who gets lots of money from unions to support policies making it easier for them to organize plants and in favor of tougher laws regarding workplace safety and for more generous unemployment benefits.
I think it's part of our job to let readers know where the campaign money is coming front, and politicians shouldn't be surprised or offended that we do it. This is the campaign finance system that the politicians have created and kept in place. If they don't want people to talk about it, if they think newspapers reporting about their big donors gives people the wrong idea about them, then don't take the money. Or work for a system that replaces private money with public financing.
One other thing.
Barb Barrett's profile on Burr last week -- the one he wouldn't talk to us for -- had a revealing detail that I liked. When Burr is in North Carolina, he often travels to events -- Rotary clubs, factory visits and the like -- by himself, driving without an entourage.
That suggests to me that he's not full of himself, which is an admirable and rare quality in a U.S. senator.
I would expect this kind of person to take newspaper reporting on campaign financing in stride and see it as a normal part of the coverage.
NPR newscaster Carl Kasell (left) will moderate Monday night's US senate candidate debate at UNC-TV studios. Republican candidate Richard Burr and Democratic candidate Elaine Marshall will participate in the debate.
The first debate between all three candidates in North Carolina's US Senate race will be aired live tomorrow morning on News 14 Carolina.
