Release Date: April 11, 2003
Contact: Peter Walz, 967-9942 ext.16

Burden of Running for Chapel Hill Town Council Increasingly on Candidates Themselves

• 2 in 3 council candidates gave significant amounts of own money to run
• Top spenders for council have had 69% success rate since 1995
• 92% of council candidates since 1995 have been white

Local elected officials make many sacrifices in order to be public servants: reading volumes of information on issues, attending long meetings late into the night, and there's always the prospect that no matter how they vote on an issue someone is going to be unhappy.

According to a new report from the non-partisan watchdog group Democracy North Carolina, yet another burden is likely to fall on candidates running for the Chapel Hill town council - they're probably going to have to spend their own money in order to mount a campaign. The study of campaign spending trends by candidates for Chapel Hill town council found that 2 of 3 council candidates since 1999 have had to give their campaigns significant amounts of their own money. In fact, more than 1 in every 5 dollars raised by council candidates since 1999 originated from the candidates themselves.

"Candidates for the town council shouldn't have to go into personal debt simply because they are participating in our democracy by running for public office," says Peter Walz who conducted the report for Democracy North Carolina. "Without a meaningful alternative, such as public financing, candidates increasingly will turn to spending their own money."

The report also found that if a candidate was among the top four spenders (vying for one of four available seats) in a council election since 1995, they had a 69% success rate in capturing a seat. Also, 12 of the 16 winners since 1995 have spent more than $6,000, while only 2 council winners since 1995 have spent less than $3,000, both of whom were incumbents. The current Chapel Hill town council spent an average of $7,971 in their campaigns for council seats.

"The privately financed system is forcing qualified candidates to choose between dropping out, getting beat, or going into personal debt," said Walz. "Those are not the options candidates should face."

The report also notes that council candidates since 1995 have been overwhelmingly registered as Democrats and white. According to voter registration records, more than 92% of the candidates are white and 77% are registered Democrats. A report earlier this year on the Chapel Hill mayoral race found that 98% of major campaign donors in that contest are white.

The town council is currently considering a petition by Chapel Hill citizens for a "Voter-Owned Elections" program, which would provide a public financing alternative to council candidates who accept strict spending and fundraising limits.

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Click here for the full report (PDF format).