Sharon F. Valentine writes in North Carolina's Fayetteville Observer that the days of “take an aspirin and call me in the morning” reform are over, and the cure to the corruption in our political system lies in more deep, systemic change: like Clean Elections. North Carolina, shaken by Former House Speaker Jim Black's guilty plea on corruption charges, has led the way with public financing of judicial campaigns, and will soon consider Clean Elections for Council of State Races.

Valentine acknowledges that, while Black's actions are currently shocking, it's the legalized bribery happening everyday that really rotting the core of goverment:

The political system is sick with donations that come with strings attached. Millions of dollars don’t have to be passed as cash in a restaurant bathroom. It is funneled through national PACs and committees to powerful state politicians who dole it out to favored candidates and legislative back-benchers.

 

We'll look forward to following what happens in North Carolina and whether they succeed in passing the Clean Elections "cure"!