ALEC Expenses Show Up On Senator Jeff Tarte's Campaign Finance Report

Monday was the deadline for mid-year campaign finance reports.

Where money comes from and flows to can often provide some interesting reading, and since NC Senate 41 Senator Jeff Tarte is a prolific fundraiser we took a quick look at his.

Now, to be fair, Senator Tarte's report is not quite as interesting as Rep Jason Saine's from Lincoln County.  For example, Tarte didn't spend over $19,000 on clothes like Saine reportedly did.  Saine, readers may remember, is a member of ALEC's national board which means he's got to do a lot of hobnobbing with corporate big wigs, but who knew one had to dress so well when invited to those kind of dinner parties?

While not anyewhere near the same league as Rep Saine's, Senator Tarte's mid-year report did show a couple of interesting ALEC related expenses however.

He's now all paid up on his membership and dues with payments on 1/30/2015 and 2/18/2015 for a total of $350 dollars.  There's also $1400 for a house rental when Tarte attended ALEC's Spring Taskforce Summit in Savnnah, GA in mid-May.

According to Senator Tarte's campaign consultant, Larry Shaheen of Carolina Political Consulting, the Senator serves as the Chair of ALEC's Higher Education Taskforce.  He attended the May taskforce meetings, but not the more recent national meetings in July.

When asked about the $1400 charge, Shaheen explained that the campaign was actually saving money by renting the house rather than staying in the hotel where the meetings were held.  Tarte's legislative assistant, an intern, and his wife also made the trip, so multiple hotel rooms for three nights would have cost twice as much.  To be clear though, the house at 417 E Bay St dubbed Magnolia Hall wasn't exactly slumming it.  Having the baby grande on hand when one travels is always nice.

Shaheen says Tarte is proud of the work he has done with ALEC, and that the organization provides a forum for the exchange of good ideas rather than sticking with the failed ideas of the past.  He went on to say "blanket attacks" on ALEC are nothing but attempts to advance the "liberal agenda".

Despite all the grief ALEC has received on this site and others related to its toll-road lobbying, Shaheen did provide an example of something good done by ALEC which has likely benefitted this area.  He said the legislation to fix Mecklenburg county's flawed revaluation process was run by the organization for its input.

Readers have been wondering about the Senator's possible involvement with the American Legislative Exchange Council.

Now, you know.