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The "honest services" law that federal prosecutors relied on to convict the likes of former state lottery commissioner Kevin Geddings, former state Rep. Michael Decker and former U.S. Rep. Frank Ballance Jr. is about to get a thorough review.

Andy Curliss reports on The N&O's investigations blog that the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to take a look at the law. It's not clear what the effect would be on public corruption cases.

A spokeswoman is defending Attorney General Roy Cooper.

In an e-mail to Dome, public information officer Noelle Talley said that the attorney general's office won't comment on any current or potential investigation.

Cooper has been criticized by Republicans who think he should be more vocal about recent news reports about former Gov. Mike Easley's potential violations of campaign finance laws.

Talley noted that Cooper has investigated a number of high-profile Democrats.

"During Attorney General Cooper's tenure, his lawyers and SBI agents have investigated more than 500 public corruption cases, including Jim Black, Thomas Wright, Meg Scott Phipps and Frank Ballance," she wrote.

She added that the department has often worked with other prosecutors.

"Although we have no original prosecution authority, our Department frequently works with federal authorities and local district attorneys to bring charges against elected and appointed officials," she wrote. "The Attorney General can serve as a Special Prosecutor when requested by a local district attorney."

Previously: Senate Republican leader calls for special prosecutor.

The question North Carolina Democrats whisper in the halls is: when are the Republican U.S. attorneys going to be replaced?

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan says the answer is pretty soon, Rob Christensen reports.

Hagan, the Democrat freshman, said she hopes to recommend three new U.S. attorneys for North Carolina in the coming months.

"I would like to get some names fairly soon and make some recommendations," Hagan said in an interview. "I would certainly think by spring or early summer we could have nominees. The timing has a lot do with the president."

She has appointed a panel, headed by former N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Burley Mitchell to advise her on potential nominees for both federal prosecutors and federal judgeships. Hagan said the group held its first meeting Tuesday.

More after the jump.

Does Tom Fetzer want to put the N&O out of business?

Democratic consultant Gary Pearce wrote on his Talking About Politics blog that the candidate for state Republican chairman "has a gimmick in his campaign: help put The News & Observer out of business."

The gimmick comes from an e-mail from Fetzer to supporters.

In it, he says he would call on individual donors to pledge $365 a year to the local party for "A Dollar a Day Keeps the Democrats Away Club."

I know that sounds like a lot, but not if you break it down this way: 1) just drink one less cup of coffee or one less Coke a day, or, 2) better yet, read the newspaper online and give the money to the party rather than giving it to the newspaper so they can spend your money to beat Republicans.

In an item on the gimmick, Dome's friends over at TriPol wondered about four state Democrats who did jail time.

"You have to wonder: Do Jim Black, Meg Scott Phipps, Frank Ballance and Kevin Geddings — all Democrats imprisoned after newspaper investigations — get Fetzer's joke?"

To be clear, Fetzer did not single out the N&O in his e-mail.

Roy Cooper says he investigates corruption too.

A spokeswoman for the attorney general e-mailed Dome today to note that the State Bureau of Investigation, which he oversees, also played a role in the corruption cases mentioned in a recent N&O article.

In a sidebar to the story, we had written that the Eastern District U.S. Attorney's office brought down a number of prominent Democrats in recent years, including Agriculture Commissioner Meg Scott Phipps, former Speaker Jim Black, U.S. Rep. Frank Ballance and lottery commissioner Kevin Geddings.

Spokeswoman Noelle Talley said that the SBI was involved in those cases and more than 450 public corruption cases over the past eight years.

"Keep in mind that under state law, our office can take over criminal prosecution of cases when requested to by local District Attorneys," she wrote. "We are often asked by DAs to prosecute cases against public officials including sheriffs, judges, state legislators and others."

She added that Cooper has pushed for the legislature to give his office the power to convene investigative grand juries in public corruption cases.

As we noted, federal prosecutors have more powerful grand juries than state and local prosecutors.

If the U.S. attorney in the Eastern District were a hunter, he'd have some nice trophies.

Over the past eight years, federal prosecutors based in Raleigh have taken down some big Democratic game as part of their anti-corruption efforts.

A short list:

Meg Scott Phipps. The former Agriculture commissioner spent three years in prison for fraud and extortion over inappropriate use of campaign funds.

Jim Black. The former longtime speaker of the N.C. House is serving time for taking $29,000 in bribes from chiropractors who wanted him to push legislation.

Michael Decker. The former state representative is serving time for taking more than $63,000 in cash and campaign checks from Black to switch parties.

Frank Ballance. The former Congressman is serving time for diverting $100,000 in public money he helped direct to a nonprofit to his law firm, church and family.

Garey Ballance. The son of Rep. Ballance, a Democratic district court judge, served time for failing to report money he received from his father to buy a Lincoln Navigator.

Kevin Geddings. The former state lottery commissioner is serving time for failing to disclose that he worked for a lottery vendor when he took his seat.

The U.S. attorney's office may have also helped investigate former Rep. Thomas Wright, who was found guilty in state courts of improperly spending campaign donations, though it has never confirmed or denied the assistance.

Not all of their targets were Democrats, either. Federal prosecutors also put former state GOP chairman and former U.S. attorney Sam Currin in prison for laundering money for a client.

Greg Dority is running for lieutenant governor.

The Washington security consultant has been making the rounds of local Republican groups, though he has not yet set up a campaign Web site or talked with any major newspapers.

Dority first ran for public office in 2002, losing to U.S. Rep. Frank Ballance by a 2-to-1 margin in the heavily Democratic district.

After Ballance stepped down amid a criminal investigation, Dority was chosen by the state GOP to run in a special election to serve out his term in 2004.

He lost to former state Supreme Court Justice G.K. Butterfield in that election and the regular 2004 general election several months later.

Hat Tip: Bill Clark 

A former FBI agent is joining Les Merritt's staff.

Frank Perry, once the top agent for the FBI's Raleigh office, will head the inevstigative division of the state auditor's office starting Sept. 1.

For the past year, he has been education director for the State Ethics Commission, where he helped teach thousands of elected officials and state workers about new ethics laws.

As an FBI agent for 22 years, he was involved in the public corruption investigations of former state Agriculture Commission Meg Scott Phipps and former U.S. Rep. Frank Ballance. He retired in 2004.

In a statement, Merritt said that Perry will help take the investigations division "into new directions."

Perry will earn $94,164 a year in the position. 

With former House Speaker Jim Black sentenced to more than five years in federal prison, what we can learn from the Mecklenburg Democrat's fall and the rising importance of money in politics? (N&O)

So, is 63 months in prison and a $50,000 fine an appropriate sentence for former House Speaker Jim Black?

Joe Sinsheimer, for the Democratic political consultant who aggressively pushed the the case against Black, called it "a fair outcome."

Republican activist Claudia Rogers said it was not inconsistent with the punishment given to former state agriculture commissioner Meg Scott Phipps and former U.S. Rep. Frank Ballance.