Round Three

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 09:00:00 -0400

It's Round Three for campaign finance.

The State Board of Elections today is set to take up a complaint involving Rep. Mary McAllister, a Fayetteville Democrat whose campaign finances have been under scrutiny, Andy Curliss reports.

This comes after earlier hearings led to criminal investigations of House Speaker Jim Black, a Charlotte-area Democrat, and Rep. Thomas Wright, a Wilmington Democrat. Black ultimately resigned in disgrace and pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance rules as well as other corruption charges. The probe of Wright by prosecutors is ongoing.

Among the questions for McAllister is whether she paid herself too much while repaying loans she had made to her campaign. Records show that she did: She received $13,838 on an original loan amount of $5,669, resulting in a possible overpayment of $8,169.

McAllister has said only that her documents might have had errors. She insisted to Dome in an interview that she did not pay herself extra.

Elections investigators have been looking at her records and are expected to detail what they have found in today's hearing, which begins at 9:30 a.m.

newsobserver.com projects - Round Three - Comments

Round Three