What happened to Don Beason's clients?

When the once-top lobbyist resigned his practice last year over a shady loan to House Speaker Jim Black, his lucrative list of clients was up for grabs.

By Dome's count, seven of the 16 clients did nothing. BB&T, Cingular Wireless, Albemarle Mental Health Center, Dale Earnhardt Inc., Sigma Corp., the Association of Settlement Companies, and the Carolina Ballet have no registered lobbyists during the current session.

That may be because they don't face any pending bills in a short session devoted to the budget. 

Three clients still employ Beason's son, Mark, along with other lobbyists: The Association of Health Information Outsourcing Services, AT&T North Carolina and S&M Brands.

Two clients, the city of Hickory and Catawba County, went with a new team of Jack Cozort, Kevin Leonard and noted lobbyist Alexander "Sandy" Sands.

Among the other top clients, Progress Energy went with noted lobbyist Zeb Alley, John Bode and Kathy Hawkins; while IBM went with former lieutenant governor Dennis Wicker and a team of eight lobbyists. Colonial Life Insurance hired Glenn Jernigan and the N.C. Railroad Co. hired Michelle Frazier and John McMillan.

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's son, Mark, worked closely with him.

According to filings with the Secretary of State's office, Mark Beason made $61,130 from 10 clients he shared with his father, including BB&T, Cingular Wireless and the N.C. Railroad Co., in the first six months of the year.

The single largest contracts were with Sigma Corp., a New Jersey pipe fitting company, for $27,000, and Colonial Life Insurance, for $12,000. Both paid Don Beason the same amounts.

In addition, Mark Beason made $31,750 from four other clients. The N.C. Railway Association paid him $15,000, the N.C. Community Health Center Association paid $13,000 and the N.C. Pawn Brokers Association paid $3,750.

Valley Development is also listed as a client, but it has not filed any payment reports.

In all, Mark Beason earned $92,880 in the first six months of the year. 

Don Beason made over $100,000 in the first half of the year.

According to filings with the Secretary of State's office, 15 corporate clients paid Beason a total of $107,671 from Jan. 1 to June 30, 2007.

Two clients, Carolina Ballet and Dale Earnhardt Inc., paid nothing. The ballet said Beason had donated his services. The city of Hickory did not pay Beason directly, but reimbursed Catawba County for half of its contract.

The largest single contract was the county, which paid Beason $32,903, according to the filings. (The county's records showed a slightly different amount.)

Another large client was Sigma Corp., a New Jersey-based maker of pipe fittings, which registered Beason as a lobbyist on May 21. The company paid Beason $27,000 in the second quarter of the year.

Progress Energy, the Raleigh-based electric utility, paid Beason $8,500.

Other contracts for clients such as BB&T, Cingular Wireless and the Albemarle Mental Health Center, were worth between $3,000 and $4,000 each in the first half of the year.

Update: AT&T North Carolina, formerly BellSouth, is also a Beason client, but it does not show up on his clients listings. According to the company's filings, it paid him $2,940 in the first half of the year. His total earnings have been updated.

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.

Don Beason no longer works for Carolina Ballet.

The lobbyist had represented the nonprofit ballet company based in Raleigh. But Executive Director Lisa Jones e-mailed Dome to say that the "relationship expired" on June 30.

"Mr. Beason donated his services," she wrote.

Carolina Ballet is still listed as an active account on the Secretary of State's list of Beason clients. He resigned his contract with Cingular Wireless (now AT&T Mobility) on June 13 and with Progress Energy on Aug. 3. His contract with BB&T was terminated on Aug. 10.

The once-top lobbyist has been under an ethics cloud since disgraced former House Speaker Jim Black said in July that Beason loaned him $500,000 in 2000.

He is still registered as a lobbyist for the N.C. Railroad Company, Dale Earnhardt Inc., the city of Hickory and Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Co.