Supporters of publicly financed elections are using revelations from the State Board of Elections hearings into former Gov. Mike Easley to push their cause.

In publicly financed elections, taxpayer dollars provide candidates with money for advertising and campaigning. To qualify, candidates must demonstrate they have a minimum base of support and must agree to spending limits and restrictions on fundraising.

Municipal elections in Chapel Hill, appellate judge races and some Council of State races use the system. 

That's exactly the type of election the state needs in the wake of revelations that Easley's gubernatorial campaign planned to funnel money through the N.C. Democratic Party to circumvent the state's campaign finance limits, said Chase Foster, director of N.C. Voters for Clean Elections.

"More and more, North Carolina leaders see Voter-Owned Elections as the obvious answer to the rising cost of elections,” Foster said in a news release.

Foster released a scorecard tracking votes on publicly financed elections bills. Foster said the scorecard shows that lawmakers are increasingly supportive of the election changes.

A bill that would create a pilot program for more publicly financed municipal elections cleared the House this year. The Senate approved a bill that would expand the program to more Council of State races.

Opponents to such elections say taxpayers would be forced to fund political speech, and that political contributions would instead be given to special interest groups to spend.

North Carolina has been named the state with the the "top business climate" for the fifth year in a row by Site Selection magazine, Gov. Bev Perdue announced this morning.

"We are are all mighty proud given the circumstances we were dealt in January," Perdue said in making the announcement at the Council of State meeting, Rob Christensen reports.

But Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry poured cold water on the announcement. She noted that a half million citizens were about to lose their unemployment benefits and that the state's employment levels had declined to 1999 levels.

Since this time last year, Berry noted, the state had lost more than 200,000 jobs.

Perdue replied that North Carolina was part of "a global recession."

Perdue is a Democrat and Berry is a Republican.

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State Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry expressed concern this morning about some of the invoices connected to the state's legal battle with the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Berry, a Republican, noted invoices for $5.50 for a beer, unused hotel rooms, hotel upgrades, valet parking and candy, reports Rob Christensen.

"There are expenses being paid that I don't think are appropriate to be paid with taxpayer money," Berry said after a meeting of the Council of State, a body of statewide elected officials which approves of various expenses and transactions.

Attorney General Roy Cooper, a Democrat, defended the expenditures.

"Those invoices were scrubbed a long time ago," Cooper said. "The state did not pay anything it was not supposed to pay. The bottom line here is that we have succeeded in forcing TVA to significantly reduce pollution coming in to North Carolina. The people of North Carolina are big winners as a result of this lawsuit."

Cooper's spokesman later said the state never reimbursed the firm for the beer, nor did the firm ever submit the beer as an expense.

The Council of State Tuesday approved $103,771 in new expenses to two law firms, the Ayres Law Group and Hunsucker, Goodstein & Nelson. Berry voted against it.

The state had previously paid the firms $3.2 million in legal fees in the case.

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan said Congress is working as quickly as possible to dispense stimulus money and reform the health care system.

Speaking to the N.C. Sheriffs' Association on Monday, Hagan touted the $6.3 billion coming to the state from the federal stimulus package, including money for preventing crime, helping victims and violence against women.

"I hear all the time that it needs to start working faster," Hagan said. "Well, we're working on it."

She also spent a few minutes talking about the status of health care reform, which she has played a significant role in crafting.

The Senate committee on health, education, labor and pensions, of which Hagan and Sen. Richard Burr are members, has passed a health care reform bill and is now waiting for the finance committee to figure out how the program will be funded.

She said President Barack Obama's visit to the state Wednesday shows North Carolina's importance in the debate. She said she did not know what Obama will say, but she hopes it moves the debate forward.

"We need to wait and listen to him," she said.

Hagan was joined by U.S. Reps. Bob Etheridge, Brad Miller and David Price, as well as several members of the Council of State.

The House voted for a bill that seeks to stop pay-to-play in state government.

The bill says that if a company does work for a state agency, an elected head of that agency cannot take campaign contributions from that company's officers while that contract is active. 

Rep. Rick Glazier, a Fayetteville Democrat, said the bill is based on pay-to-play statutes in other states.

Rep. Phillip Haire, a Sylva Democrat, said he was worried that officials could unknowingly accept such a contribution.

"I think the recipient of the money is being put in a terrible situation with this language," Haire said.

A new poll shows that nearly half of North Carolina voters support expanding public financing for Council of State races.

The survey, from the N.C. Center for Voter Education, shows 47 percent support expanding public financing and 33 percent oppose it. Nineteen percent were unsure.

Seventy percent said they would favor Council of State candidates whose campaigns are funded by taxpayers over those candidates funded by the special interests their offices oversee.

In 2008, public financing was available for three Council of State contests: auditor, commissioner of insurance and state superintendent of public instruction. Legislation under consideration would expand the program to all Council of State races except governor and lieutenant governor starting in 2012.

The poll of 653 North Carolina voters was conducted from Apr. 28-30 by Public Policy Polling and has a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points.

Elaine Marshall will also take a voluntary pay cut.

In a press release today, the secretary of state said she would ask that her annual salary be reduced by half a percent, in line with cuts proposed by Gov. Beverly Perdue.

"This is a significant step toward making hard choices to balance the State Budget," she said. "It affects all of us, including myself. I have taken the steps necessary to ensure the pay reduction applies to me as well."

Under state law, Perdue does not have the authority to reduce the pay of Council of State members such as Marshall.

Schools Superintendent June Atkinson and state Supreme Court Chief Justice Sarah Parker have also volunteered for a pay cut.

Update: Marshall and Atkinson's pay cuts are worth about $616 a year.

Second Update: Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin has also volunteered.

"Balancing our state’s budget will not be an easy task, and I certainly want to do my part in supporting my employees at the Department of Insurance and this portion of the state budget solution," he said in a statement.

Third Update: A spokeswoman for the governor says that all of the members of the Council of State and elected judges will take the cut.

Gov. Beverly Perdue encouraged fellow members of the Council of State to voluntarily cut their pay unless they want to end up on a list of elected officials who didn't.

Perdue ordered a 0.5 percent cut in state employees' pay last week to help balance the current state budget. This morning she told members of the council, comprised of the state's top statewide elected officials, they would receive an electronic form today that would allow them to cut their own pay. Perdue does not have authority to cut the pay of council members, who include the lieutenant governor, secretary of state and others. She also cannot trim the pay of judges, who also will receive the form.

She made it sound like an easy decision: "Or your name will appear on the list of elected officials who did not" cut their own pay, Perdue told the group, adding later, "Someone will have a web site up" with the names. She said she'd "hate to see that happen."

Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry asked if Perdue was confident that the state's trouble-plagued Beacon payroll system was up to dealing with the change.

Perdue replied: "No."

Some officials already have initiated the pay cut.

Which judges will volunteer for a pay cut?

N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Sarah Parker sent out a request this week to elected judges asking them to consider taking a proposed pay cut in solidarity with other state workers who are facing slightly lighter paychecks as a result of the recent budget woes.

Under state law, Gov. Beverly Perdue doesn't have the ability to take away from the paychecks of the elected judges as well as members of the Council of State.

Parker announced she'd be taking the cut, as well as Judge John Smith, head of the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts.

Dome will be checking in with judges around the state next week, to see who is going to take the half of one percent cut.

Judges: If you want to tell us directly, e-mail sarah.ovaska@newsobserver.com.

Council of State races cost $26.3 million more in 2008.

According to an analysis by the National Institute on Money in State Politics, state-level non-judicial campaigns cost $80.9 million last year.

That was a 48 percent increase from 2004.

Most of that money came in the races for governor and lieutenant governor, which went from $19.2 million in 2004 to $42.1 million last year.

Other statewide candidates went up slightly, from $7.4 million to $8.1 million.

Legislative races also remained relatively level, with candidates for the House and Senate receiving $30 million in 2008, up from $28.1 million.

More data is available on the nonpartisan group's Web site.