* Catawba County Board of Commissioners Chair Kitty Barnes will challenge state Sen. Austin Allran in the May Republican primary. (Hickory Daily Record)

* Gov. Mike Easley and First Lady Mary Easley will hang wreaths and light the state Christmas tree as part of an annual tradition tonight at 6:15. (AC-T)

* Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Mike Munger supports allowing illegal immigrants to study at state community colleges; calls alternative "apartheid." (AP)

* John Edwards says he's more seasoned and more passionate, which is why his current presidential campaign is more confrontational than in 2004. (AP)

BB&T hired Don Beason for more than lobbying.

A spokeswoman for the Winston-Salem-based bank said that Beason was hired for both "lobbying and legislative review" in 2007.

"The bulk of it was legislative review," said media relations manager A.-C. McGraw.

Under a loophole in the state lobbying law, money paid to lobbyists for non-lobbying work does not have to be reported to the Secretary of State's office.

Beason's contract with BB&T was exactly one-tenth what he earned from Catawba County during that same time frame.

As a government agency, the county's entire contract would have been public anyway, meaning it would not benefit from using the loophole.

Previously: IBM and Progress Energy say they hired Beason for more than lobbying; AT&T North Carolina refused to comment.

Don Beason's biggest contract was with Catawba County.

According to a review of his client list this year, the once-top lobbyist was paid nearly $33,000 to represent a county of 151,000 people having a water dispute with its neighbors.

That's almost four times what Progress Energy paid him, almost eight times the size of his IBM contract and more than 11 times what he earned from AT&T.

Only one other corporate client, Sigma Corp., came close with its $27,000 contract. 

As a public entity, Catawba could not pay Beason with a second contract — ostensibly for something other than lobbying — that it did not have to report to the Secretary of State. 

So its contract is likely close to what Beason actually charges. That means his major corporate clients, including Progress Energy, IBM, AT&T, Colonial Life Insurance and  BB&T, likely paid him the rest with secondary contracts. (At least one did so in a prior year.)

In fact, BB&T's $3,290.38 payments from Jan. 1 to June 30 are exactly one-tenth the $32,903.80 he earned from Catawba in that same time frame.

Don Beason said he's quitting lobbying.

In a brief conversation with Charlotte Observer columnist Jack Betts, the lobbyist said that he had informed the Secretary of State that he would no longer be a registered lobbyist. 

"It's not fair to my clients to put them through something like this," Beason said, according to a post on Betts' blog, This Old State.

In recent weeks, Beason has had contracts canceled or suspended with Catawba County, BB&T, Progress Energy, Cingular Wireless and Carolina Ballet.

Betts said Beason wasn't sure if he would still be an effective lobbyist given the questions raised by the revelation that he loaned disgraced former House Speaker Jim Black $500,000 in 2000. 

Don Beason charged Catawba County nearly $6,000 a month.

According to a December 2006 contract obtained by Dome, the lobbyist earned a monthly salary of $5,250 plus $500 per month in expenses.

A spokesman for the county said that it had paid a total of $38,521 to Beason's company, The Capital Group, under the agreement. The city of Hickory will reimburse the county for half that amount.

In the contract, Beason noted that it was discounted from a $7,000 monthly fee.

Beason's contract was suspended when the session ended, pending a year-end review by the Catawba County board of commissioners.

He had lobbied in part on the county's fight with Concord and Kannapolis over water use. A House bill passed this session addressed the issue, directing the Environmental Review Commission to study transfers from one water basin to another.

Don Beason's contract with Catawba County is up in the air.

The county manager suspended their contract with Beason last Thursday, pending a review by the board of commissioners of its lobbying activities.

The contract would have been reviewed regardless, said spokesman Dave Hardin.

"It's up for renewal at the end of every year," he said. 

The once-top lobbyist has faced questions recently over his relationship with disgraced former House Speaker Jim Black after a $500,000 loan he gave Black surfaced in late July.

His contracts with BB&T, Progress Energy, Cingular Wireless and Carolina Ballet have ended.

Another client of Don Beason's is reconsidering. 

The city of Hickory, where Beason worked to get state money for several projects in the city and Catawba County, is rethinking hiring the lobbyist in the wake of the revelation he loaned former House Speaker Jim Black $500,000 in 2000, the Charlotte Observer reports.

The city and county each pay $27,000 to hire Beason.

"We pride ourselves on having a transparent and open environment in this city," said Hickory City Manager Mick Berry. "If we can't understand exactly what took place, that will certainly give us reason to to consider our relationship."

Earlier, Progress Energy said it was reconsidering his services.