Media Coverage and Campaign Needs

It's strange how we go through life believing that the life-changing experiences that will shape us come with a flashing red light, or an attached note that says "This is serious!"

North Carolina Campaign Finance Made (Relatively) Easy

The time it takes to make a campaign transparent interferes with the time it takes to actually run the campaign -- things like filling out disclosure and reporting forms to the Board of Elections, for example, which is what caused such a long delay in getting this post up! I thank everyone for being patient.

Here is the long-awaited overview of how North Carolina Campaign Finance works. All citations come from the most recent (2015) North Carolina Board of Elections Candidate Campaign Finance Manual unless otherwise noted or linked.

For ease of reading, I have selected a traditional question & answer format. The first section explains the candidate perspective of campaign finance, while the second section examines donors and donations.

Policy Position Overview, and Soliciting Feedback

Since I need a break from putting together the Campaign Finance post, I thought I would take a moment to outline some of my goals in pursuing this office, as well as solicit feedback both from Wake County residents and other interested parties anywhere who want to contribute:

Making Campaign Finance Easy is Difficult

... and so I ought to have an explanation of the nuances of state campaign finance law posted over the weekend.

-J. McL

Campaign Finance and Regulation Made (Relatively) Easy

North Carolina provides Campaign Finance Training for campaign treasurers. This is a good thing, given the penalties and sanctions that the treasurer can be liable for, and doubly so when one is functioning as one's own treasurer.

Tuesday, June 21st, is Campaign Finance Training Day. By Wednesday or Thursday, I'll have the skeleton of a Beginner's Guide to Complying With State Election and Finance Regulation Or Else! 

The Race: Wake County Board of Education (Background and Process)

When Government Lab decided to explore politics, it was on the small scale: a local, non-partisan election. Why and how?

Meet the Candidate

If we're going to go through this process together, I should share a little about my background:

Welcome to the Government Lab!

If you're reading this, you've either gotten desperately lost on your way to another website, or you have an interest in government. Either way, welcome to the great experiment! This blog will be a combination of a personal campaign platform, and a narrative of the electoral process at the local level. In essence, this is a 'ride-along' for those who are curious about politics... an overview, from start to finish, of what a political campaign looks like from the perspective of the candidate.