A top consultant for U.S. Sen. Richard Burr's campaign is paying for a recent survey to avoid any problems with federal elections authorities.

Paul Shumaker has agreed to pay $1,250 for a recent survey conducted by his private polling firm because of concerns about how the Federal Election Commission might view the Burr campaign’s use of the survey data, Roll Call reports.

He said he commissioned and released the poll through his Carolina Strategy Group because he felt some Democratic groups, specifically Public Policy Polling, an automated polling firm also based in North Carolina, were painting a false picture of the current political environment in the state.

But two of the first five questions in the poll asked respondents about Burr’s Senate race. One of those questions asked respondents who they would vote for in a hypothetical matchup between Burr and one of his potential Democratic challengers, North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall.

Shumaker said he chose the polling questions and added the ballot test to the survey because "nobody pays attention to any of these things if you don’t put in the ballot test."

But Shumaker's dual roles with his company and Burr's campaign put him in a complicated position.

PPP drops hints about who is not running for Senate after the jump.

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Another pollster will be surveying North Carolinians.

A group of Republican consultants and strategists have started Carolina Strategy Group, a business-focused firm that will regularly poll state voters.

Paul Shumaker, a longtime consultant who is currently advising Sen. Richard Burr's re-election campaign, said that he started the firm to pursue business work apart from his political consulting.

"I'm trying to provide a little bit of a buffer," he said.

Other members of the firm include media consultant Jean-Paul Damé, attorney Roger Knight, Virginia consultant Vick Gresham, South Carolina consultant Mark Lisella, attorney Neal Robbins and public relations executive Tim Pittman, the former press secretary for Gov. Jim Martin.

Shumaker said the firm will do two or three polls a month on public opinion issues that could affect business, such as state taxes, but he does not plan to do "horse race" polls on how candidates are doing.

Carolina Strategy Group will be the fourth major pollster in the state, after the Elon University Poll, Democratic firm Public Policy Polling and the conservative Civitas Institute.