CHAPEL HILL—Former Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards watches the second half of the UNC vs. Boston College basketball game in the Smith Center Thursday. His former competitors in the Democratic primary, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, met in a California debate that same night. (Robert Willett)
A three-judge panel ruled that North Carolina can sue the Tennessee Valley Authority.
The panel in the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the TVA's motions to dismiss a lawsuit that demands the utility clean up its power plants and reduce air pollution.
North Carolina sued the TVA in 2006, claiming that thousands of North Carolina residents suffered ill health from pollution blowing across the mountains from TVA coal plants in Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee.
The lawsuit also argues the pollution has hurt North Carolina's environment and economy.
"Clean air is critical to our health and our economy," Attorney General Roy Cooper said in a statement. "This ruling clears the way for us to to make TVA clean up its pollution that's dirtying our air and making North Carolinians sick."
TVA disputes the claims. (N&O)
Beverly Perdue's freshman initiatives focused on health care.
As a first-term representative in the state legislature, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate obtained funding for senior citizens' nutrition and education programs, a semiautomated defibrillator for Pamlico County’s rescue squad and Craven County’s board on aging.
In all, she sponsored 33 bills in the 1987-88 session of the state House of Representatives, of which 26 were adopted.
She secured more than $3,000 for three education initiatives, a Lenoir County’s Boys and Girls Club, a drug and alcohol abuse education program and a service pairing children of single-parent families with adult mentors.
Perdue also helped decorate Craven County ambulances. She co-sponsored a successful bill to add the word “Craven” to the side of county ambulances.
Bob Orr says his campaign is not in debt.
Due to a glitch in the State Board of Elections software, Orr's most recent campaign finance report did not include money previously raised.
Dome reported those numbers earlier, but we have pulled that post offline until we can check the new numbers. Our apologies for any confusion.
Richard Moore received $105,965 from political action committees since 2005.
According to campaign finance reports filed since his 2004 re-election as state treasurer, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate received donations from 45 PACs.
He received $4,000 apiece from ACS, Bank of America, BB&T, Wachovia, Central Carolina Radioloigsts, Coca-Cola, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the Harnett Citizens PAC, Kennedy Covington, the N.C. Hospital Association, Replacements Ltd., Southeastern Radiology Organization, the Nationwide Carolina Political Participation Fund, the National Good Government Fund.
He received $3,965 from the Pike Electric PAC, $3,500 from the Capital Area Radiologic Association, $3,000 apiece from Corning employees' PAC and Genworth Financial, and $2,200 from Piedmont Stone Center.
He received $2,000 from the Ashland/APAC North Carolina PAC, CCHTA, GlaxoSmithKline, the N.C. Automobile Dealers Association, the N.C. Realtors Association, Pfizer, Sandhills Anesthesiologists, PBSJ Corp., the South Financial Group, United Health Services and Wal-Mart.
He received $1,500 from Piedmont Natural Gas.
Other donors included Duke Energy, First Citizens Bank, Marqim, the N.C. Association of Convenience Stores, Smithfield Foods, the N.C. Bar Association and the N.C. Beer and Wine Wholesalers Association.
Richard Moore has received $18,400 from other politicians' campaign funds since 2005.
According to campaign finance reports filed since his 2004 re-election as state treasurer, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate received donations from 14 campaigns.
The top contributors were state Rep. Pryor Gibson and Rep. Gordon Allen, who each gave $4,000. Former Gov. Jim Hunt gave $3,000. Rep. Drew Saunders and Sen. Doug Berger gave $2,000 apiece, and Pitt County Commissioner Bob Ramey gave $1,000.
Moore received $500 donations from Rep. Arthur Williams, Rep. Lucy Allen, Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand and Cumberland County school board member Frank Barragan.
He also received money from Surry County Sheriff Connie Ray Watson, District Attorney Howard Boney and Fayetteville City Council members Curtis Worthy and D.J. Haire.
Bob Orr received $600 from other politicians' campaign funds in 2007.
According to his mid-year and year-end campaign finance reports, the Republican gubernatorial candidate received donations from two campaigns.
State Rep. Carolyn Justus, a Hendersonville Republican, gave $100 and former Wake County Commissioner Phil Jeffreys gave $500.
Bob Orr received $1,500 from political action committees in 2007.
According to his mid-year and year-end campaign finance reports, the Republican gubernatorial candidate received money from two different PACs.
He received $1,000 from the Coca-Cola Consolidated Employee Committee PAC and $500 from the Embarq Employees' PAC.
Kenneth Starr had a bit of an identity crisis Wednesday.
After talking about the nobility of the legal profession, the former special prosecutor in the Whitewater investigation was asked about his connection to movie star Wesley Snipes, who is currently on trial for tax fraud, conspiracy and willful failure to file tax returns.
"I heard something that you were offering opinions about whether or not we should have to pay taxes and whether or not Wesley Snipes is in the wrong," the student asked.
In the trial, Snipes' defense attorneys said his former financial adviser, one Kenneth I. Starr of New York, never told him that it's illegal not to pay taxes.
Trouble is, that's not the same Kenneth Starr who spoke at Campbell.
"Gosh, I must be talking in my sleep," Starr told the student. "I don't think I've commented on Mr. Snipes' case, at least to my memory."
If he did, Starr said, it would have been "imprudent."
Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue's office released a statement on the auditor's report:
"This office has endeavored to maintain an appropriate division between state-related business and campaign activity. We appreciate the recommendations and insights of the Auditor's office. We have taken action to respond to the concerns that were raised and will continue to do our best to maintain an appropriate division of activity."
The statement came from Perdue's chief of staff, Don Hobart.
Dan Besse said a pro-choice group made the wrong decision.
The Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor said he has a strong record on reproductive choice and should have received the endorsement of NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina, which announced it is backing Hampton Dellinger in the primary today.
The group said it was backing Dellinger because he is pro-choice and "positioned to win."
"We're disappointed that NARAL's endorsement decision was made based on factors other than the candidate's specific records and demonstrated commitment to reproductive choice" said Christine Toole, Besse's campaign manager.
Besse argued that he has a longer record on the issue, advocating for reproductive rights in student groups in the 1970s and working for Planned Parenthood in various capacities since 1996.
"It's great that (Dellinger's) pro-choice," he said. "So am I."
Dennis Wicker said the lieutenant governor needs security.
The former lieutenant governor, who served from 1993 to 2001, said he had a State Highway Patrol detail during his entire time in office. The patrolman was with him most of the time and served as a driver when he went on official business.
He said he had a few "minor incidents" that required security.
"When you were out there in Hight Point or Wilson and somebody would recognize you and come up and start saying the things they did, you felt vulnerable," he told Dome. "The security folks stepped right in and took care of the problem."
When Wicker was running for re-election and in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, his campaign reimbursed the Highway Patrol for the cost of providing security. He also hired a retired patrolman to serve as his campaign driver.
Still, there were a few times when he asked not to have security.
"When you're going to a class reunion, you don't want a highway patrolman walking around with you," he said.
Earlier: Former lieutenant governor says job needs security.
Gary Pearce says superdelegates may decide the Democratic nomination.
In a post on Talking About Politics, the former adviser to Gov. Jim Hunt points out that the results of this year's primary may hinge on a rules change Hunt set in motion in the early 1980s.
The commission, led by now U.S. Rep. David Price, created a superdelegates, political figures like U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy who are automatic delegates to the national convention.
"The superdelegates are unbound by primaries and caucuses, free to follow their consciences—or their personal agendas," Pearce writes.
If Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama continue to divide the delegates evenly in the state primaries, they may come into a convention short of the 2,025 necessary to win.
That could leave the decision up to the 800 superdelegates, Pearce says.
U.S. Rep. Walter Jones has taken a lot of flak from Republican Party regulars mainly because he has questioned the wisdom of the war in Iraq.
But while the Farmville Republican has angered some party regulars, there are signs the GOP establishment is not ready to abandon him, Rob Christensen reports.
Jones raised more than $50,000 Tuesday night at a Washington fund raiser attended by Rep. Tom Cole, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Hosting the event was Jones' North Carolina colleague, Howard Coble of Greensboro.
Some supporters of John Edwards' still hope for a comeback.
Ed Turlington, a Raleigh lawyer who managed Edwards' campaign in 2004, told the Winston-Salem Journal yesterday that Ronald Reagan didn't win the presidency until his third attempt.
Comparisons with former presidents are familiar territory for the Edwards camp. Some Republicans predicted that the former senator's career was over after he and John Kerry lost the 2004 race, arguing that failed veeps rarely win the top job.
Edwards supporters were quick to point out that Franklin Roosevelt lost his 1920 vice presidential attempt but later became the only four-term president.
But the similarities end with the failed vice-presidential races because Roosevelt didn't attempt another national campaign until he won the presidency 12 years later.
Edwards '16 anyone?
