A Raleigh public relations firm that frequently does work in North Carolina politics.

The firm was started in 1994 as Capital Strategies by public relations consultants Ken Eudy and Steve Meehan.

In 1999, it acquired FGI Marketing Communications, a graphic design and marketing firm.

In 2004, the owners renamed the firm Capstrat.

A payment from the federal government to help tobacco farmers transition to other types of farming.

The Tobacco Transition Payment Program pays quota holders and producers for not growing the crop on their farms.The buyout program was established on Oct. 22, 2004, when President Bush signed the Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act.

Tobacco quota holders are owners of a farm with an established tobaccomarketing quota prior to establishment of the law. Marketing quotas are based on either acres of tobacco planted or pounds of tobacco produced.

Tobacco producers are owners, operators, landlords, tenants or sharecroppers who produced tobacco during 2002, 2003 or 2004.

Payments are based on the pounds of tobacco produced by a farm. Farm owners are paid a poundage rate based on the 2002 production.

Producers are eligible to receive as much as $3 per pound based on their share in a farm's tobacco poundage for either the 2001, 2002 or 2003 crop.

The right of government employees to negotiate a group contract.

A North Carolina law first passed in 1959 expressly forbids any city, town, county or state agency to negotiate with a union on behalf of government employees.

Under federal law, only private sector employees have the right to collective bargaining, though most states allow government workers to do so as well.

The State Employees Association of North Carolina, which represents about half of 120,000 state workers, functions much like a union on other matters, and in all likelihood would negotiate contracts as well if the law were repealed.

Starting in the 1940s, SEANC's bylaws included a rule against strikes. In 2001, the group voted to remove the bylaw and made repealing the ban on collective bargaining one of its top goals. 

Repeal was also No. 11 on the 14-point HK on J agenda put forth by the state NAACP and other groups.

However, bills to repeal the ban have consistently failed to pass the legislature. 

Manages the state's investments, administers budget funds and chairs the N.C. Banking Commission.

As the state's chief financial officer, the treasurer manages more than $75 billion in state funds and administers the General Fund, Highway Fund, and Highway Trust Fund.

The treasurer also administers a number of state investment programs, including retirement, pension and worker's compensation.

In addition, the treasurer serves on the State Board of Education, the N.C. Board of Community Colleges and the boards for the state's public employee retirement systems. The treasurer works with the state's 401(k) and 457 plans offered to public employees.

The treasurer is one of eight members of the Council of State, which oversees spending of tax dollars and conducts business on behalf of state government.

North Carolina is one of 36 states that elect treasurers by popular vote, and 22 states that do not have term limits for the office.

John Haywood was the longest-serving treasurer in state history. Haywood served for 40 years until his death in 1827. Harlan Boyles, who left office in 2000, served for 24 years.

When no candidate in a state primary receives 40 percent or more of the vote, a runoff may be requested.

Under state law, the runner-up must request a runoff by notifying the State Board of Elections by the ninth day after the election. Only the top two vote-getters can be included on the second ballot.

Second primary elections are held seven weeks after the first election.

Primary runoff elections are popular in the South. In the past, they were meant to ensure that a fringe candidate in a crowded race did not win the nomination, especially in districts or states where one party tended to dominate the general election.

From 1915 to 1989, a candidate had to win 50 percent of the votes plus one in the primary in order to avoid a runoff. In 1997, the state Senate voted to abolish the primary runoff, but the bill did not pass the House of Representatives.

A light-rail system in Charlotte.

For now, the Lynx Blue Line stretches 9.6 miles from the city center to Interstate 485, with 15 stations along the way. Future lines are planned in north Mecklenburg County, at UNC-Charlotte and to the Charlotte/Douglas International Airport.

The light-rail line, run by the Charlotte Area Transit System, opened on Nov. 24, 2007. It has averaged 12,000 daily riders, well above the 9,100 forecasted.

By 2011, $1.86 billion worth of construction and redevelopment, including 7,581 housing units and 628,000 square feet of commercial property, were planned along the rail corridor.

That is projected to be worth $8.5 million in increased property tax revenue for the city, and $15.6 million in revenue for the county.

Along with city bus systems, Lynx has been paid for by a half-cent local sales tax approved by Mecklenburg County voters in 1998. The tax survived a referendum to repeal it in November of 2007.

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory has been a key backer of the transit system.

A group of North Carolina mayors who work together on national and state issues that affect larger cities.

The organization began in the 1990s as the N.C. Public Transit Coalition, an advocacy group that focused solely on mass transit in urban areas.

In 2000, it was reconstituted as the Metropolitan Coalition, a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization that focuses on broader issues affecting growing urban areas, including transportation, economic development, downtown revitalization and criminal justice.

To join the coalition, a city must have a population of at least 25,000 and pay a yearly fee based on population that ranges from $2,500 to $15,000.

Under the leadership of Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, who was chairman for the first two years, the coalition expanded from around a dozen cities to 25, including Raleigh and Winston-Salem.

It is based within the N.C. League of Municipalities' Raleigh headquarters and had a staff of two in 2008.

A form of financing in which a municipality borrows money for a project with the expectation that it will pay back the debt using increased tax revenue generated by the new project.

The often-stated goal of TIFs, as they are sometimes called, is to jump-start development in a blighted area. In theory, TIFs are a mutually beneficial arrangement between a private developer and a municipality. The developer gets the municipality to pay for public improvements to a site. The municipality benefits, because sucessful development means more property or sales tax revenue.

In a simplified example, a private developer wants to build a shopping center in a depressed area. The developer tells town officials that he can afford to build his project if the city is willing to build sidewalks and extend water and sewer connections to the property. The developer proposes a TIF.

In this arrangement, the town issues bonds—or simply put—borrows money, to build the sidewalks and sewer lines. Before the first shovel hits the ground, the town determines how much property tax revenue the parcel generates—a number based on the assessed value of the property. That amount of tax revenue is frozen—it is all the revenue town will collect from the property for some time.

The developer builds the shopping center. Customers shop, dine and visit and the value of the land naturally increases. Because the land is now worth more money, the assessed value increases, which means its owner must pay higher property taxes.

But all the town gets is the amount of tax revenue it collected before the project started. The additional money, or the "increment" will be used to repay the debt the city took on to build sidewalks and sewer lines. In time, the debt is repaid and the town can start collecting the full amount of property tax on its new, bustling shopping center.

TIFs have had a controversial start in North Carolina. In 2004, voters approved a constitutional amendment that allowed the deals. They were controversial and divisive even before they were allowed.

In 2007, developer John Kane proposed using one to build retail and office space at the bustling North Hills in Raleigh. The proposal was denied after it met opposition with members of the Raleigh City Council.

Then there is Roanoke Rapids. The city used a TIF to build a theater for Randy Parton, brother of country superstar Dolly Parton. The theater was supposed to be the centerpiece of an entertainment and tourist complex, but in its first few months, the project was riddled with problems.

The project was made an issue in the race for governor, since Democratic candidate Richard Moore, who was head of a commission that must authorize TIFs, approved Roanoke Rapids' plans.

The process by which the U.S. military and the federal government decide which military bases to close down or streamline.

Congress created BRAC, which stands for Base Realignment and Closure, in 1988 as a way to respond to the political problems caused by closing military bases.

There have been five rounds of BRAC closures: 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995 and 2005.

In early 2003, Gov. Mike Easley asked Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue to oversee the state's response to the upcoming round of closures.

The legislature budgeted a total of $5 million between 2003 and 2006 for BRAC lobbying efforts, but only spent about $1.5 million, much of which went to outside consultants.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole served a similar role on the Senate Armed Forces Committee.

At least 13 people were kicked out of the legislature between 1757 and 1880.

Below, the year of their expulsion, their names, districts and alleged crimes.

1757: Rep. James Carter, of Rowan County, for embezzlement.

1758: Rep. Francis Brown, of Currituck County, for perjury.

1770: Rep. Herman Husband, of Orange County, for libel.

1779: Rep. William Gilbert, of Tryon County, for fraud.

1784: Rep. Edward Clay, of Caswell County, for theft.

1786: Sen. Benjamin McCullock, of Halifax County, for a military pay scandal.

1786: Rep. Henry Montfort, of Warren County, for a military pay scandal.

1787: Rep. John Bonds, of Nash County, for a military pay scandal.

1809: Rep. John Clary, of Perquimans County, for fornication with his stepdaughter.

1816: Sen. John Roberts, of Carteret County, for fraud.

1835: Rep. Robert Potter, of Granville County, for brandishing a gun during a fight.

1875: Rep. J. Williams Thorne, of Warren County, for publishing a "blasphemous" pamphlet.

1880: Rep. Josiah Turner Jr., of Orange County, for calling other legislators names.

In 2007, two House committees decided to consider expelling Rep. Thomas Wright of Wilmington.