Nip it in the bud: Lawmakers Set to Relieve Commission of Caption Writing Duties

RALEIGH – State lawmakers returned to Jones Street Tuesday afternoon for a special session focused on half a dozen constitutional amendments that will appear on the ballot in November. In question is the descriptive captions for each amendment – who will craft that language, or will they be written at all?

Current statute currently dictates that the Constitutional Amendments Publication Commission has the responsibility of writing the captions. However, that commission of three – two Democrats, and one Republican – caused Republican leadership some concern.

The two Democrats, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and Attorney General Josh Stein, are two of the more partisan statewide elected officials of the lot. Stein has actively campaigned against one of the amendments (voter ID) and Marshall has a history of implementing policies that aren’t exactly in keeping with the law.

So instead of haggling over who will write the captions and each side dealing with accusations that the language is slanted for or against the passage of the amendments, it appears the caption will be nixed altogether.

The referenda questions themselves will apparently be sufficient, and the caption will read: “Constitutional Amendment.”

Pretty straightforward solution. Now prepare for the Left to go nuts about how Republicans are depriving the voting public of vital information, and understand that they really mean the Republicans are depriving the Left of an opportunity to sink the popular amendments’ chances.

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