The goal of Voter Owned Elections is not simply to rein in campaign spending but to put government back into the hands of the public.

Voter Owned Elections help to ensure that politicians are accountable to the voters and not to well-funded special interest groups. Public campaign financing also ensures that marginalized groups, such as women, minorities and low-income citizens who may not have access to special interest funding or the ability to loan themselves large sums of money still have an opportunity to participate in the electoral process.

Opponents of Voter Owned Elections point out that fundraising comes with the territory of running for office and that some are uncomfortable with their tax dollars paying for the campaigns of candidates they do not support. Campaign reform involves questioning such assumptions. Public financing greatly reduces the amount of time candidates spend raising money, allowing them more time for serving the public through direct voter interaction. For candidates who are not independently wealthy or cannot afford to quit their day job in order to campaign, this can make running for office an option, and will serve to diversify the pool of candidates. As for the cost, Voter Owned Elections is expected to cost each Chapel Hill resident $1.88 during its first four years, which covers two elections. The 2009 elections will cost each taxpayer $0.94.

As a final note, the citizens of Chapel Hill should remember that Voter Owned Elections was approved overwhelmingly by the Town Council, and is supported by over 30 state-wide organizations such as the League of Women Voters, the AARP, the N.C. Association of Educators, and the N.C. Council of Churches. Over a dozen cities and counties across the country have instituted public campaign financing and report overwhelmingly positive results.

Brooks Rainey Pearson

Chapel Hill

Letter writer should not judge homeless

Mr. Halpern's assumptions about the Inter-Faith Council and the homeless community were in poor taste and preposterous at best (Letters, CHN July 8).

Homeless individuals are not "deadbeat magnets." Mr. Halpern, I have long believed that whenever we are ill equipped with the facts, it becomes second nature for us to judge too harshly. We are living in tough times. We can choose to blame others, or we can choose to work together and try to make a difference.

My family and friends attended the Varsity many, many times, and we are sad to see it close. But there is no logical connection between the closing of any business and our men's shelter in the Old Municipal Building. Volunteers, congregations, town leaders and I are very proud of an incredible place called Community House and an IFC/Town partnership that has lasted more than 23 years. I am very proud of our new IFC/Town/UNC partnership that was created because we all care about creating a better home for homeless men who want to work on their individual goals.

Formerly homeless persons live all around you and me, and work in our businesses, and make our community a special place. I know you would like our relocation timeline to go more quickly and so do I. The IFC could do this if we suddenly received a huge contribution to help pay for this project. A magic wand would also be welcomed to help project leaders to circumvent a Town/UNC planning process that apparently you forgot about. I guarantee you that gifts like these would rapidly speed up our relocation of Community House out of the downtown to our new location.

Chris Moran

Executive director

Inter-Faith Council for Social Service

Editor's note: The IFC plans to move its men's shelter to an area near the corner of Homestead Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Cutting school funding cuts future

Despite the recession and the consequent lack of appropriate funds to run various state programs effectively, a significant budget cut in money for the education of our state's children is unreasonable, very frightening and short-sighted since, imply stated, cutting funding for public education means cutting short North Carolina's economic future.

I would urge our state legislators to explore earnestly ways in which to keep adequate funding to maintain a quality statewide educational system.

Debbie Finn

Chapel Hill

Protect central office staff from cuts

The Hillsborough/Orange County Chamber of Commerce enjoys a good relationship with Orange County Schools. For well over 10 years we have awarded scholarships to graduating seniors so they may continue their education beyond high school.

Over the last two to three years the chamber has significantly stepped up efforts to support our schools, adding programs such as a Speaker's Bureau, Adopt-a-Classroom/School and Lunch Buddies. These initiatives strengthen our school/business connection and our community.

The proposed state budget cuts target Central Office employees, but what about the duties they perform? Who will be left to do that work? Principals and other building level staff? Teachers? If this happens, how will schools be able to respond to the learning needs of their students? How, then, will our children compete in our local and global economies?

In the last two years our school system has cut its Central Office staff by 23 percent, which already illustrates the district's budget-conscious operations. They currently have a bare bones staff of 18 individuals who support our medium-sized district of nearly 1,000 staff members and 7,000 students.

We understand the need to address our state's deficit but to do so on the backs of educators and pupils in the K-12 system is counterproductive.

The state should explore other options for generating revenue rather than cutting more from our state's K-12 budget.

Libbie Hough

Hillsborough/Orange County Chamber of Commerce

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

The Chapel Hill News welcomes letters and columns from readers. Letters are limited to 250 words, columns to 550. Writers are limited to one letter a month and one column every three months. All submissions become property of The Chapel Hill News and McClatchy Newspapers.

Mail: Letters should be e-mailed to editor@nando.com or typed and sent to Editor, The Chapel Hill News, 505 W. Franklin St., Chapel Hill, NC 27516 . Letters may be edited for space and clarity.