08/01/2008

By WHITNEY WOODWARD  / Associated Press

Democrats outside North Carolina jumped in the gubernatorial campaign fray Thursday when an independent political group began questioning GOP candidate Pat McCrory's economic policies in a television ad.

The ad from Alliance for North Carolina says McCrory, the mayor of Charlotte, opposes raising the state's minimum wage but supports pay raises for politicians — including himself.

The 30-second spot concludes by asking viewers to call Charlotte's administration office. The ad does not mention McCrory's Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue. But the Alliance has received funding from a Democratic group.

McCrory's campaign denounced the ad as largely false and called on Perdue to ask the group to stop running the ad.

"She's not out asking them to take down this negative ad, she's not calling on them to disclose who their contributors are," McCrory campaign spokeswoman Amy Auth said.

Perdue campaign spokesman Tim Crowley said the Democratic candidate had no knowledge of the advertisement and was not working with the Alliance, in accordance with campaign law.

As a 527 group — a reference to the federal tax code — Alliance for North Carolina is barred from coordinating its efforts with candidates. The law also prohibits the group from expressly supporting or opposing candidates.

The Alliance was formed July 8 to "communicate independently with citizens of North Carolina on issues of importance in a manner that does not expressly advocate the election or defeat of any candidate" for office.

But the Alliance has received backing from the Democratic Governors Association — a 527 group which tries to get the party's candidates elected to governor's posts.

DGA spokesman Brian Namey said Thursday that the organization has given more than $500,000 to the Alliance. The group, which raised more than $5 million during the three-month reporting period that ended June 30, will "aggressively support" the Alliance because it believes in the issues it is raising, he said.

Scott Falmlen, the Alliance's political consultant, wouldn't specify which markets the ad was running in or how much the Alliance spent on media buys.

That information will be made public Friday — the deadline for the group to file a statement with the State Board of Elections detailing funding sources and expenditures, Falmlen noted.

"We want as many citizens as possible to hear our call to action," Falmlen said. "We will decide the rest of our schedule on a week-to-week basis."

The Democratic ad comes on the heels of the public disclosure that the Republican Governors Association has formed a political action committee for the state and has raised more than $380,000 from out-of-state residents.

Watchdog group Democracy North Carolina has asked the State Board of Elections to investigate the committee because it claims the RGA is misleading the public about who is donating to the North Carolina effort — a violation of campaign finance law.

Unlike 527 groups, which cannot expressly promote candidates or positions, political action committees can push for specific candidates. PACs can't collect money from unions and corporations.