Got $10,000? You can watch a football game with NC lawmakers.

Another dark money group pops up in North Carolina politics.

Posted 8:05 p.m. Aug 17, 2021 — Updated 12:14 a.m. Aug 18, 2021

Travis Fain

, WRAL statehouse reporter

RALEIGH, N.C. — A group with ties to Republican lawmakers sent out fundraiser invites this week, asking for donations up to $10,000 to mingle with half a dozen state lawmakers at a college football game.

Greater Carolina is a 501(c)(4), one of several "dark money" groups that can raise unlimited cash without identifying donors. It sent invites to lobbyists and others in the General Assembly orbit, inviting them to the Sept. 2 game between East Carolina University and Appalachian State University, which will be played in Charlotte.

"Greater Carolina can accept unlimited personal (including registered lobbyists) and corporate contributions," the accompanying email states.

For $1,000, donors can attend a pre-game tailgate with an open bar and food from a "double decker tailgate unit" provided by SPEVCO, a specialty vehicle manufacturer located in Pfafftown.

For $5,000, Greater Carolina throws in tickets to the game. For $10,000, donors also get two tickets to a stadium suite where Sens. Deanna Ballard, R-Watauga, Todd Johnson, R-Union, and Dave Craven, R-Randolph, will watch the game, along with Reps. Ray Pickett, R-Watauga, David Willis, R-Union, Jason Saine, R-Lincoln, and Matthew Winslow, R-Franklin.

"Tickets are VERY limited, so an RSVP is REQUIRED," the invitation promises.

Fundraising consultant Anna Scott Marsh's name is on the invitations. She said in a text message that it was her policy not to comment on clients, but leave it up to them. She didn't respond to a text message asking her to pass along a request for more information.

Lawmakers named on the invitation didn't respond to an email sent Tuesday afternoon to their legislative accounts.

Greater Carolina was founded in 2018, but it hasn't been active until now, according to political fundraisers who follow state politics closely. It was incorporated by Clark Riemer, Saine's legislative chief of staff, who said Tuesday that he's no longer involved with the group.

Saine is the highest-ranking lawmaker on the invitation because he's an appropriations chairman. That makes him a key part of the legislative budget writing process underway right now.

Beach time with NC lawmakers? It's yours for $30,000

North Carolina law limits fundraising, forbidding lobbyists from giving to lawmakers year round and forbidding people who hire a lobbyist – "lobbyist principals" in state campaign finance law parlance – from giving during the legislative session.

But there are plenty of loopholes. The bans apply only to individual campaign accounts, and much of the money in North Carolina politics flows instead through the state political parties or similar groups that can accept unlimited donations. Money also flows to dark money groups that don't have to list their donors and often promise access to the state's power brokers.

These 501(c)(4) groups, named for a section of the U.S. tax code, are also known as "social welfare" groups, and they spend money to advertise in favor of various public policy efforts.

Greater Carolina describes itself as a "coalition of forward thinking, pro-free market conservative leaders" and says it will work "to ensure North Carolina embraces the policies necessary to maintain and support our status as one of the best states in the nation for business and free enterprise."

"We will accomplish our mission by educating North Carolinians about the policies our state must embrace for continued economic success and by influencing public policy and elections," the group said on a flier included with the football game invitation.

Update: After this posted, N.C. Insider Editor Colin Campbell noted on Twitter that SPEVCO is in line to benefit from a new program lawmakers wrote this year into the state budget, which has not yet been finalized.

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