The House ethics committee on Thursday cleared Rep. Heath Shuler of any wrongdoing for his role in a land deal.

Shuler, a Waynesville Democrat has been dealing with questions about whether he used his office improperly to influence the Tennessee Valley Authority over a land swap. The House ethics committee cleared Shuler and was the third investigative body to find no wrong-doing, Shuler's office notes. In a statement, Shuler said he was ready to move on with his job of representing his constituents.

Throughout my personal and professional life I have always held myself to the highest possible ethical standard. I maintained that standard through all my interactions with the TVA relating to Blackberry Cove. I have never and will never attempt to use my office for personal gain and look forward to continuing to work on behalf of the people of Western North Carolina.

N.C. Republican Party Chairman Tom Fetzer says he believes the genesis for the current run of corruption in state government began in 1977, when the state changed the Constitution to allow governors to serve two consecutive terms.

That prompted the legislature to end its practice of limiting leaders leaders of both chambers to serving only one term, Rob Christensen reports. Powerful lawmakers could then hold onto power.

"I trace the end of good government back to 1976 when Jim Hunt changed the Constitution to succeed himself," Fetzer told News and Observer editors and reporters Wednesday. (Hunt was elected in 1976 but the Constitution was changed in 1977.) "I would personally advocate that we pass a constitutional amendment to get the governor back to one term."

Fetzer said he was saddened to see the campaign finance investigations surrounding former Democratic Gov. Mike Easley, noting that he often chatted with Easley while hitting balls on a public driving range off Yonkers Road on Sunday afternoons.

"On a personal level," Fetzer said, "I like Mike Easley. I think he has made some horrible mistakes. I think he and State of North Carolina are going to pay a price for those mistakes. I think that is sad."

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Gov. Beverly Perdue says she is happy with her transportation secretary's efforts to take politics out of road building.

Dome asked the governor, through a spokeswoman, to respond to calls from Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger to have Transportation Board member Lanny Wilson withdraw from board business.

Wilson testified during a State Board of Elections hearing that he wrote checks to the N.C. Democratic Party that he believed would be forwarded on to former Gov. Mike Easley's campaign.

Perdue did not comment on Wilson specifically, but said Transportation Secretary Gene Conti was succeeding in removing politics from the department's decisions.

"The governor continues to move toward a more transparent state government, and she commends Secretary Conti for all he has done with the DOT and its Board to take politics out of the planning and decision making processes," said Chrissy Pearson, a spokeswoman for Perdue.

Former state Auditor Les Merritt said the N.C. State Ethics Commission has failed to keep government clean.

In an opinion piece published in the Fayetteville Observer, Merritt writes that the commission has been silent as multiple investigations focus on former Gov. Mike Easley.

However, in nearly three years of existence, the commission has done little to tackle real ethics issues in our state. Not a single resolution of note has come as a result of any Ethics Commission investigation, even though several dozen complaints have been submitted or referred. For example, the media have reported that former Gov. Mike Easley allegedly failed to disclose a seemingly inappropriate relationship on his Statement of Economic Interest, but this went undetected (or perhaps unchallenged) by the Ethics Commission.

Meanwhile, a Board of Elections investigation continues into alleged campaign finance violations by Easley, as well as a federal grand jury investigation of how his wife obtained her position (and subsequent 80 percent raise) at North Carolina State University.

None of these issues appears to have been surfaced or investigated by the Ethics Commission.

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Secretary of State Elaine Marshall will extend Gov. Beverly Perdue's ban on gifts to the Secretary of State's office.

Perdue's gift ban, which applied to employees in her administration, came after revelations that Verizon Business plied state employees with dinners and gifts. The company has a $51.5 million, no-bid contract with the state.

Marshall said in a statement Monday that her office already bans gifts in certain circumstances. She praised Perdue's order, which is a sweeping ban on gifts to employees.

"The people of North Carolina deserve to know that their state government is operating in unison to reject gifts from those seeking to do business with the state, as well as gifts that could even create any appearance of conflict of interest."

The N.C. Department of Justice is reviewing its gift rules.

"We're currently reviewing our policies to see what additions need to be made," Noelle Talley, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Roy Cooper, said in an e-mail.

Talley said many of the department's employees, particularly lawyers, already have to abide by professional ethics rules.

Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger says that state employees will remain ethical if the consequence for breaches is a loss of their pensions.

Berger, an Eden Republican, said in a news release Friday that he intends to introduce a bill that would do just that. Berger issued his release the day after Gov. Beverly Perdue, a Democrat, banned gifts to state employees in her administration.

Berger said public corruption is a consequence of the fact that Democrats have dominated state politics for years. Berger, who is helping lead a Republican charge to win legislative seats, took pains not to offend state employees with his pitch.

"I plan to introduce legislation requiring any state employee convicted of taking illegal gifts or other corruption related charges to forfeit their pension, just like elected officials.  99.9 percent of state employees are working hard for the people of this state and they do not deserve to have their reputations ruined by the few who are not doing the right thing," Berger said.

State Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler doesn't want department employees taking gifts from contractors, either.

The agriculture department intends to "comply with the spirit and intent" of the executive order Gov. Beverly Perdue signed Thursday, said Brian Long, a department spokesman.

The department is going to tell employees not to take gifts, but some of the details Perdue laid out in her order, such as getting everyone to certify in writing that they know about the ban, may present logistical problems and take time to accomplish, Long said.

"The intent of the order is certainly something we're going to comply with," Long said. "Certainly, we should not be taking gifts."

The state Department of Insurance applied the state's ethics law to its employees.

Department spokeswoman Kristin Milam said the department would not be changing its policy on gifts in the wake of Gov. Beverly Perdue's executive order banning gifts for all employees in her administration. 

The insurance department policy, first adopted in 1985 and revised in 2008, prohibits gifts to employees from anyone who might want something from the state, even if the gift is just mean to build good will.

No employee shall knowingly accept a gift or anything of value, directly or indirectly, from a lobbyist or lobbyist principal. For the purposes of this Policy, the term "lobbying" shall mean any of the following:

(1) Influencing or attempting to influence legislative or executive action, or both, through direct communication or activities with a designated individual or that person's immediate family.

(2) Developing goodwill through communications or activities, including the building of relationships, with a designated individual or that person's immediate family with the intention of influencing current or future legislative or executive action, or both.

The term "lobbying" does not include communications or activities as part of a business, civic, religious, fraternal, personal, or commercial relationship which is not connected to legislative or executive action, or both.

Update: Post now clarifies when the policy was enacted.