Roger Bone, a former legislator and one of the state's top lobbyists, has died.

He passed away this morning, according to a fellow lobbyist. Further details are not yet available.

Bone was ranked the No. 1 lobbyist in North Carolina last year by the N.C. Center for Public Policy Research based on a survey of journalists, politicians and lobbyists. In seven previous surveys, he was either second or third.

In June, he received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the highest honor the governor can bestow on a North Carolina citizen.

His clients included Eli Lilly, Lorillard and the N.C. Association of Long Term Care Facilities.

Former N.C. Sen. Robert Pittenger, Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, is running a TV ad against his Democratic challenger, state Sen. Walter Dalton.

What the ad says: Announcer: "Raleigh's pigging out. Take Senator Walton Dalton. Dalton gave Goodyear tax breaks...after they hired his brother-in-law. Dalton made state insurance pay for erectile dysfunction drugs...while Dalton's daughter was the drug company's lobbyist. Dalton gave Dell special tax breaks...while he owned Dell stock. Wasteful Walter Dalton. He made government work...For Walter Dalton."

"I'm Robert Pittenger, running for Lieutenant Governor, and I sponsored this message."

The ad features cartoon images of pigs prancing around with bags of money.

The background:

- In September 2007, the legislature passed an economic incentives bill that would give Goodyear more than $24 million over 10 years. On a strictly party-line vote, Dalton voted in favor; Pittenger against.

Goodyear hired Dalton's brother-in-law - former Republican legislator and gubernatorial candidate Chuck Neely - on Aug. 31, a day after Gov. Mike Easley vetoed an early version of the incentives bill. Dalton publicly supported that version. But when it passed the Senate overwhelmingly, he was absent.

- Under one version of the 2004 budget, drugs such as Cialis -- after a four-year absence - reappeared on a list of those eligible for coverage under the state health plan. Dalton, a chief budget writer, said at the time that the suggestion came out of a subcommittee. The measure passed the Senate but never became law.

Dalton's daughter, Elizabeth Dalton, was a lobbyist for Eli Lilly, which manufactured Cialis. Aides say Dalton also has voted against his daughter's clients, such as the N.C. Retail Merchants. And they say he voted for a similar drug provision in an earlier budget, when his daughter was still in college.

- In 2004, Dalton was among a majority of lawmakers who voted for $242 million worth of incentives to computer-maker Dell. Dalton had bought $10,000 worth of Dell shares in 1999. While the stock value rose after the incentives deal, he later sold it at a loss.

Dalton spokeswoman Kimberly Reynolds said the stocks were in a managed account and "daily decisions are made by his financial advisor without input from Sen. Dalton." She said Dalton has long supported measures he believes will create jobs.

Is the ad accurate? The votes are accurate. But the implication that Dalton voted because of family ties or personal benefit is subjective.

- Jim Morrill, The Charlotte Observer

Beverly Perdue has received $98,500 from health care-related PACs.

Political action committees representing drug companies, health care providers, insurance companies and industry associations were the single largest group of PAC donors to the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, according to campaign finance reports.

They made up about a fourth of the $376,293 she raised from PACs since her re-election in 2004. Other politicians' campaign committees were a close second, contributing $91,933, with about a third of that coming from other Democratic senators.

The biggest donors were the N.C. Hospital Association and the NP PAC, which represents nurse practitioners. Both gave $8,000. PACs for the Asheville Anesthesia Associates and the Association for Home and Hospice Care of N.C. gave $5,000 apiece. 

Drug companies whose PACs donated included GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Roche, Eli Lilly, Novartis, Wyeth, Pfizer and Abbott Labs. Pharmacy chains such as Kerr Drug, pharmacist managers Medco Health and Caremark and the PILL PAC, which represents pharmacists, also gave.

Perdue also received money from trade groups: The N.C. Medical Society, the N.C. Health Care Facilities Association, the N.C. Association of Nurse Anesthetists, the N.C. Assisted Living Association, the N.C. Association of Long Term Care Facilities and the N.C. Orthopaedic PAC. 

Perdue previously worked at a hospital and has made health care one of the signature issues in her campaign.  

Beverly Perdue has received $47,500 from political action committees in the health-care industry.

The Democratic gubernatorial candidate, who worked as a hospital consultant, received money from 22 health-care PACS in the current election cycle, according to campaign finance reports.

The donors include pharmaceutical companies, AstraZeneca International, Roche Pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithKline and Eli Lilly & Co.; Caremark, which handles drug management programs; and pharmacists, Kerr Drug and the PILL PAC, which represents pharmacists.

She also received money from industry groups: The Nurse Practitioners PAC, the N.C. Association of Nurse Anesthetists, the N.C. Assisted Living Association, the Association for Home & Hospice Care of N.C., the N.C. Hospital Association, and the N.C. Association of Long-Term Care Facilities.

In addition, she received money from specific medical groups: Anesthesiologists of the Triad, Western Radiologists and Surgeons in Asheville, Piedmont Triad Anesthesia, Asheville Anesthesia Associates, Southeast Anesthesiology Consultants in Charlotte, the Mountain Neurological Center in Asheville, Blue Ridge Bone & Joint and Western Carolina OB/GYN.

The money made up more than a fourth of Perdue's PAC contributions. 

The next ethics fight will likely be over nonprofits.

According to an article in the Winston-Salem Journal, the N.C. Coalition for Lobbying and Government Reform intends to ask for a ban on lawmakers soliciting donations from nonprofits.

The ban was included in an early draft of an ethics bill last year, but it was taken out.

Lobbyist Roger Bone, whose client Eli Lilly & Co. gave $6,000 to the N.C. Legislative Black Caucus Foundation in recent years, said it used to be "very, very commonplace" for legislators to ask, though requests have died down a little.

"If you're asked by a legislator, there's always pressure" to make a donation, he said.

A political action committee for major U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly & Co. gave to the N.C. Legislative Black Caucus Foundation.

The Eli Lilly & Co. PAC gave a total of $2,500 to the nonprofit foundation in recent years, including $500 in May of 2002, $500 in June of 2003 and $1,500 in December of 2005.

In recent years, the drug company has lobbied against the state mandating that patients on the Medicaid health insurance program use generic drugs in order to keep costs down. It also considered the Triangle for a 700-employee insulin plant, for which the state offered millions in incentives.

Update: The company's Lilly Grant Office also donated $3,500 to the foundation in 2006. A spokeswoman said the grant was given after the caucus foundation sent a solicitation letter.

Janice Chavers, an associate communications consultant for Eli Lilly, said the letter noted that the donation would support a conference to raise money for historically black colleges in North Carolina. She said the letter indicated the caucus foundation would select recipients.

She said that the company's political action committee was not involved in the decision to approve the grant.

"We're totally removed from that process," she said. "The request goes straight to the Lilly Grant Office."