Bob Hall, whose complaint led to the State Board of Elections hearings this week, praised the board's decision.

Hall, executive director of Democracy N.C., said the board sent a strong message that it is illegal to try to funnel contributions through a political party.

It’s a sad day when evidence justifies referring a governor for criminal investigation, but it’s in the best interest of the public and of the thousands of candidates who are acting properly for the State Board to make it clear that no one is above the law.  In another unanimous vote, the Board recommended that the General Assembly amend state law to require the candidate to personally bear the cost of fines imposed as a result of election law violations if the candidate’s campaign committee is too broke to pay. Again, the Board sends a strong message that candidates must be held accountable for the conduct of their campaign.

Fear the State Board of Elections.

That may be the one lesson learned by political figures who have been dragged before the board in recent years.

Starting Monday, the board will begin a hearing into the campaign finance activity of Gov. Mike Easley.

Dome has no way of knowing how the hearing will go. But over the past several years, the board has been a crucial player in shining the light on political shenanigans.

It's come a long way from the day 11 years ago when a hog farmer told the board "Kiss my [expletive] I'm not coming" when he was ordered to testify about political rough housing over fundraising.

Now, the board is recognized as a key agency in fighting corruption, according to Bob Hall, the director of the liberal-leaning Democracy NC.

"They have shed light on problems, they've exposed wrongdoing and they've documented problems in a way that not only points to specific wrongdoing, but also to policies that should be changed," Hall told reporter Joe Neff.

As political theater goes, next week's hearing will be the best show in the state, and The News & Observer's investigative and multimedia staff will be there with lots of coverage, images and analysis.

This weekend, the N&O's investigative team will bring you stories to help set the stage for the hearing. From that work, we'll tease out some highlights, a brief history of the State Board of Elections hearings in posts to follow.

Drug makers, insurance companies and health providers have chosen carefully in deciding where to put their campaign dollars in North Carolina.

North Carolina's lawmakers in Washington have received millions of dollars from health-related companies in the past three campaigns, according to a new analysis by Democracy North Carolina, a government watchdog group, Barb Barrett reports.

Top among them: Sen. Richard Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican and a member of the Senate health committee who has submitted his own legislation for health reform.

Burr received nearly $1.7 million from health and insurance interests from 2003 through 2008, according to the organization. It conducted its analysis using data compiled from the Center for Responsible Lending and the Federal Elections Commission. (N&O)

The billboard industry contributed a total of more than $160,000 to more than 30 legislative and statewide campaigns in North Carolina in the past four years, according to a new study by Democracy North Carolina, a nonpartisan watchdog group.

In that time, the industry has been pushing a bill that would increase the area around billboards where companies can remove trees. The bill passed the Senate in past years, but stalled several times in the House. It recently received approval by a House committee.

"The billboard industry is not one of the 10 biggest spending special-interest groups, like the big banks, utilities, and developers - but it is one of the most persistent," Democracy North Carolina said in a press release.

The contributions came from industry representatives, such as business owners, as well as the industry's political action committee. The PAC contributed $95,750.

"If you are an active organization, then you want to help the people who are good representatives and senators," said Tony Adams, executive director of the N.C. Outdoor Advertising Association, who noted that his organization's contributions are substantially less than other PACs.

More after the jump.

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Judging from emails, phone calls and online comments, a lot of people have opinions about our story today on the effort to reduce Jim Black's prison sentence or move him closer to home, Jim Morrill of The Charlotte Observer reports.

Lawyers for the former N.C. House speaker, who is serving five years for corruption in Lewisburg, Pa., have organized a letter-writing campaign to commute his sentence or at least get him moved back to North Carolina. They cite his ailments as well as his wife's recent diagnosis with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease.

About 150 people have written in support of Black. Not everybody is sympathetic.

"The key piece to remember is that Jim Black had a chance to get a shorter prison sentence," says Bob Hall of Democracy North Carolina, who's research into Black's campaign contributions helped set the stage for his prosecution. "There was a considerable period of time between his conviction and his sentencing when prosecutors sought his cooperation in their investigation of corruption, but he gave them no help....

"So if he wants a reduced prison time now, does that mean he's changed his minds and is ready to tell the truth about the full extent of pay-to-play politics in North Carolina?" 

How do you feel about Black's sentence?

Weigh in with the authorities after the jump.

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From Democracy North Carolina's 2007 lobbyist report:

* Don Beason, who retired after a shady loan to disgraced Speaker Jim Black became public, reported earning $145,521 from 16 clients, putting him in 29th place.

* His son, Mark, reported earning $279,423 from 16 clients, putting him in sixth place.

* Elizabeth Dalton, daughter of Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, reported earning $79,343 from five clients, for 56th place.

* Courtney Crowder, now a lobbyist for Gov. Beverly Perdue, reported earning $42,794 from 10 clients, for 116th place.

* Lanier Cansler, now secretary of Health and Human Services, reported earning $31,110 from four clients, for 159th place.

* Don Vaughan, who was elected a state senator last year, reported earning $22,500 from one client, for 206th place.

A record $22 million was spent lobbying the state in 2007.

According to data compiled by the nonpartisan Democracy North Carolina, nearly 900 businesses, trade associations and nonprofits lobbied state officials in 2007, the last long session of the state legislature.

That amounts to nearly $125,000 for each of the 170 legislators.

The $19.5 million in compensation for individual lobbyists was $5 million more than reported in 2005, but executive director Bob Hall said that may be because we know more.

"That big a jump is largely due to the state's new ethics law that requires more groups to file more complete reports about more of their activities," he said.

The top lobbying groups were the N.C. Association of Realtors, which reported spending $972,384 on six lobbyists and other expenses; Land for Tomorrow, $403,092 on three lobbyists; and the N.C. Automobile Dealers Association, $287,959 on four lobbyists.

The highest-paid lobbyists were former state Sen. Steve Metcalf of Asheville, who reported $485,362 in compensation; former Secretary of State Rufus Edmisten, $396,764; and Alexander "Sandy" Sands of Womble Carlyle, $325,055.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina donated $643,000 to state politicians from the 2000 election cycle through 2008, the election watchdog group Democracy North Carolina says.

No other company the size of Blue Cross has donated more to state politics, the organization said in a news release Tuesday. The political action committees of seven other companies, such as banks and utilities, have given more, but they are larger than Blue Cross and operate in multiple states, reports Dan Kane.

Sen. Tony Rand, the Democratic majority leader and chairman of a Senate committee on employees’ hospital and medical benefits, received $36,000 from Blue Cross, making him the top recipient, Democracy North Carolina said. The second highest recipient was Senate leader Marc Basnight, who received $35,000.

Blue Cross, the state’s largest health insurer, administers the health insurance plan for state employees. The health plan is supervised by a legislative body.

"This arrangement puts legislative leaders in the awkward position of monitoring themselves," Democracy North Carolina said in a news release Tuesday. "When substantial political money flows from insurers to legislators, the awkward position becomes more problematic to a skeptical public, even when legislators are doing their best to protect the public interest."

Read more after the jump.

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The watchdog group Democracy North Carolina offered a reminder Friday of just why North Carolina got rid of video poker.

Research Director Bob Hall warns of a "pandora's box of mischief and miscreants" if Judge Howard Manning's order from Thursday overturning the state's ban on the electronic gambling machines is upheld: "Video-poker," Hall wrote, "has rightly been labeled the 'crack cocaine' of gambling."

Hall's group was ringing the alarm bell about video poker and its influences on N.C. politics years before former state Transportation Secretary Garland Garrett or former House Speaker Jim Black went to prison on federal corruption charges. Garrett was convicted of running an illegal gambling operation involving video poker, and the federal investigation that brought down Black started with video poker.

Hall and his group helped drive the 2006 State Board of Elections investigation into video poker contributions to Black, which totaled about $200,000 between 2000 and 2004, Hall reminded reporters in a memo Friday. Video poker money made up more than a third of the $30,000 that Black paid to then-Rep. Michael Decker in 2003 to switch parties and vote to keep Black in the speaker's chair. 

A campaign finance watchdog says university boosters are big givers.

Bob Hall, president of Democracy North Carolina, announced today that two political action committees tied to trustees and boosters of UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State have given heavily to state legislators.

Citizens for Higher Education, which is tied to Tar Heel boosters, gave $485,000 in the 2007-08 election cycle and $425,000 in 2005-06. It was one of the five largest PAC contributors in the last election.

The University Development Coalition, which supports the Wolfpack, gave $100,500 in the last election.

According to Hall's research, 76 percent of the 170 legislators in office today have received contributions from one or both PAC, including Senate leader Marc Basnight and House Speaker Joe Hackney, who each received $24,000.

Hall said the donations are of interest as the legislature considers whether to end a program that allows out-of-state athletes to pay in-state tuition rates at state colleges.

The program is estimated to cost about $10 million a year.