Voters will decide Nov. 4 whether to approve the sale of $16 million in bonds to buy the water and sewer system from the county and make needed capital improvements.
Douglas Middaugh, an opponent of the $16 million bond issue, and Clare Ruggles, treasurer of a political action committee campaigning for the bond issue, each filed separate written complaints last Thursday and Friday with the Moore County Board of Elections.
The complaints were forwarded Tuesday to the State Board of Elections office in Raleigh for review. The state board was asked to report its findings to the Moore County board in an “expeditious” manner, according to Moore County elections board Supervisor Glenda Clendenin.
The complaints could end up forcing the committees to disclose funding sources and other information required by state law.
The complaints center on whether or not either of the committees is engaging in “express advocacy,” as defined under state law.
Middaugh accuses the Pinehurst Village Council and its water committee of unfairly supporting and influencing voters’ positions to favor the bond issue. He is asking for a “formal inquiry” from elections officials into the upcoming referendum. Middaugh said he believes the elected council and its water committee members (consisting of Mayor Steven Smith and Councilman Douglas Lapins, as well as the village manager and finance director) have demonstrated “express advocacy,” according to the North Carolina campaign reporting manual, “but have not complied with any required disclosure requirements.”
Citing a story in The Pilot, Middaugh accuses the council of belonging to the We Want Our Water (WWOW) committee formed to advocate passing the referendum.
(This accusation was based on incorrect information in an Oct. 5 story in The Pilot. A correction has since been published.)
The council does not belong to the referendum committee as a body, according to Ruggles.
Individual council members have First Amendment rights to participate in campaigns, but not to spend public funds in such a campaign, Clendenin said. It would not be illegal for all five council members to be members of the committee, she said.
The Village Council has unanimously endorsed the water system purchase in public meetings.
Middaugh also calls it “express advocacy” that the council held a series of three public information sessions to outline reasons that the village should buy the utilities and answer questions.
He also lists as supporting evidence that the news media got copies of the village water committee’s anticipated questions and answers before the meeting.
Middaugh contends that the village engaged in “express advocacy” at the Oct. 6 public information meeting in which a committee member referred to a “just-received Moore County financial analysis” that was distributed prior to the meeting by representatives of the WWOW referendum committee.
The analysis itself is taken from county public records and audited financial statements prepared by the Moore County Finance Officer. The report showed $1.3 million in Pinehurst capital additions were expended by the county on the village’s utility system, while $1 million was expended in other parts of the county’s system, not in Pinehurst.
Ruggles has filed a complaint about a telephone survey being conducted by Competitive Edge Marketing and Research of San Diego. The company, which would not reveal who is paying for the survey, is calling Pinehurst residents and asking questions that seem “designed to scare and intimidate uninformed voters” by a series of questions asking how the person plans to vote and then other leading questions, Ruggles said.
Some speculate that the only referendum committee that could afford such a costly survey would be Concerned Citizens for Responsible Government, which opposes the bond issue. That group is composed mostly of homebuilders and Realtors.
Tim Minton, treasurer of the PAC and director of the North Carolina Home Builders Association, said Tuesday, when asked if the group is paying for the survey, that he wouldn’t disclose campaign strategy.
He said any legally required disclosures would be included when the committee files its next campaign finance report, due by Oct. 27 in Carthage.
