Guest post by Will Raymond

Here's a last bit of business from the 2003 Council campaign.

A little background. Before attending Daily Tarheel forum, I went to the Board of Elections to check out all the candidates' campaign reports. I was looking for one thing, but was completely surprised to find another.

The surprise? The pattern of contributions to Candidate Bachman was unlike any other of the candidates. She was receiving most of her money via large contributions from a few in the development community. This was unlike her fellow candidates whose contributions varied across the spectrum and came from a broad range of residents.

Based on this anomalous pattern, I decided to ask Candidate Bachman two questions at that night's forum.

One, given that she was seeking to correct an image problem - that she was unduly influenced by outside interests � how could taking 60% of her funds from this group of contributors possibly help her rework that image? Two, was this very unusual pattern of contributions continuing?

She ducked the first question. On the second question, she told me I could wait until January to take a look.

It can't be a surprise to many folks that some current and former UNC employees on the Town Council are uncomfortable with the proposal to have people who are paid to lobby the Council register and document their activities. To me, their objection is further evidence of the need for better monitoring of lobbying activities.

To borrow some "logic" from red light camera supporters, you have nothing to be afraid of if you're not doing something wrong. This proposal won't stop local citizens from cornering their favorite Council member at the grocery store and bending their ear about a pet issue. It simply acknowledges the fact that there are now people, employees of both private and public entities, whose job it is to influence the Council. This is an evolving situation that should be addressed.

It doesn't inspire much confidence for me to see Orange County government holding yet another forum about our affordable housing problem. In addition to forums like this, a "summit" a few years ago, and a lengthy report from a well-qualified task force you'd think they'd be up to doing something about affordable housing by now.

In my experience, the County's not even particularly good at the one thing they do, which is disperse the voter-approved bond funds to support the building and acquisition of affordable housing.