A new ranking says Raleigh has a new top lobbyist. It also says that some lobbyists' influence has been shaped by ethics investigations and a fight over a real estate transfer tax.

The N.C. Center for Public Policy Research released its biannual ranking Thursday of the most influential lobbyists in the state capital. The ranking is based on a survey of legislators, lobbyists and capital journalists following the 2007 long session of the General Assembly.

Roger Bone ranked No. 1, after seven previous surveys had ranked him No. 2 or 3. His wide variety of clients includes Lorillard Tobacco Co., the N.C. Association of Long Term Care Facilities and the Save our Summers group.

Rounding out the top five: John McMillan, John Bode, Franklin Freeman and Zeb Alley.

Previous No. 1 Don Beason fell to No. 35, following revelations about a series of $500,000 transactions between him and former House Speaker Jim Black. Beason later resigned his clients. Black, a Democrat, is in prison on unrelated corruption convictions.

Bob Hall, who filed the original complaint against Black with the State Board of Elections, saw his ranking jump from 49th to 19th for his work with Democracy North Carolina.

Also seeing their rankings rise: Tim Kent (11th), Rick Zechini (12th), Paul Meyer (25th) and Jim Blackburn (31st). All were involved in the fight over a tax on real estate transfers.

Six inches is a start, but Gov. Mike Easley wants another foot.

A veto threat prompted the Senate Tuesday to change a House bill that would let fishermen and other recreational boaters haul 10-foot-wide boats and trailers down narrow state roads at night, Bruce Siceloff reports.

The amended version, scheduled for a final Senate vote today, would trim the maximum width to 9 1/2 feet at night and 10 feet during the day.

Franklin Freeman, a top Easley adviser, warned last week that allowing wider boats at night would cause more crashes and deaths. He said Tuesday that the governor still wants legislators to keep the nighttime limit at its current mark, 8 1/2 feet.

"I think the governor hoped he could get out of this session without having to veto anything," Freeman said. "It would be a shame to put him in that position ... We've gone from 18 inches to 12 inches, but there’s still a foot missing."

Gov. Mike Easley will likely veto a bill to relax road safety rules.

Several bills in the House and Senate would let recreational boaters haul wider boat trailers on state roads, but Easley wants them to include a ban on towing at night.

"The governor believes strongly that these wide boats at night are a safety hazard, that there would be additional deaths on the highway," said Easley adviser Franklin Freeman.

The Senate bill would permit trailers as wide as 10 feet on state roads, day and night, without permits. It would also open more than 20,000 miles of state roads to 53-foot semi-trailers, replacing a 48-foot limit.

Easley has also pushed for the blood alcohol content of people hauling the boats to be 0.04 percent instead of the 0.08 percent standard for other drivers. (N&O)

Gov. Mike Easley probably will veto legislation that would let fishermen and other recreational boaters haul wider boats on state roads — unless the bill is changed to ban towing at night, an aide told legislators today.

“The governor believes strongly that these wide boats at night are a safety hazard, that there would be additional deaths on the highway,” Franklin Freeman, a top advisor to Easley, told members of the House Finance Committee, reports Bruce Siceloff.

The legislature is considering several bills to relax limits on hauling wide boat trailers. The proposals would allow boaters to pull trailers up to 10 feet wide, day or night, without a permit.

Current law requires permits for boat trailers more than 8.5 feet wide and outlaws towing on Sundays, nights and holidays.

“Should it pass and get to the governor, the likelihood of his signing it is not good, given what he has indicated to me,” Freeman said.

More after the jump.

   Comments (0)

Gov. Mike Easley's budget director, David McCoy, is a step closer to becoming state controller after the Senate Commerce committee endorsed his nomination this morning.

The full Senate and House must confirm the appointment, reports Lynn Bonner.

In his long government career, McCoy has held posts as varied as state transportation secretary and deputy secretary in the Department of Administration.

Franklin Freeman, a top advisor to Easley, credited McCoy for his accomplishments as head of the state budget office.

Freeman said McCoy "helped guide this state through the worst fiscal crisis since the Depression."

A top aide to Gov. Mike Easley recently claimed he never uses e-mail.

So Dome was doubly surprised when we checked our personal account the other night to see a message from "Franklin Freeman" in our inbox.

It seemed especially urgent, from the subject line, so we clicked on it, only to see this:

Pharmacy Promotion only for TODAY! 
: Free 4 or 12 ViagraPills with any purchase 
:: 100% FREE & NO GIMMICK

The e-mail also noted that Dome's "woman" is waiting for us to "satify her."  

A panel reviewing state e-mail policies agreed today to recommend that government agency heads be required to make sure that employees who handle public records understand which ones must be preserved.

Gov. Mike Easley's panel is scheduled to vote next week on the proposal, which includes providing a 40-minute computerized tutorial and quiz on the state's public records law to any state or local government employees who need or want to know it, reports Matthew Eisley.

"There are probably few more important subjects in the long run than public records," said Franklin Freeman, a top aide to Easley who chairs the panel. "That's how we preserve our history."

Easley formed the committee in response to criticism over his administration's handling of e-mails concerning public matters. Under the administration's policy, each employee can decide which e-mails to delete and which to save because they have lasting administrative value.

"We need to frame it so that you're expected to do the public's business openly and transparently," said panel member Ferrel Guillory, director of UNC-Chapel Hill's Program on Public Life, and a former N&O editor. "We still have to struggle with when do you delete, and what do you delete."

Who fired Debbie Crane?

In a meeting with newspaper editors Wednesday at the Executive Mansion, Gov. Mike Easley offered a new take on the recent firing of Crane, a former spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Human Services, reports Matthew Eisley.

Easley said Crane’s firing wasn’t his idea, which contradicts the accounts of others involved.

“It wasn’t me,” he insisted.

Crane, 48, was fired March 4 amid the political fallout of a News & Observer investigation into failures of the state’s mental-health system. Her dismissal revolved around the Easley administration’s attempts to persuade Carmen Hooker Odom, the former health and human services secretary, to talk with The News & Observer about what the administration says was her opposition to 2001 mental-health reforms.

Easley on Wednesday said DHHS fired Crane at the urging of the governor’s chief of staff because she had inappropriately talked Hooker Odom out of being interviewed and she failed to produce agency documents.

Read more after the jump.

   Comments (11)

Linda Daves says Gov. Mike Easley needs a new leader on the panel he has asked to review his administration's handling of e-mail.

Daves, chairwoman of the N.C. Republican Party, was struck by Franklin Freeman's comments earlier today that he does not communicate by e-mail. Easley has assigned Freeman, one of his top aides, to lead a panel to study the retention of e-mails by public employees under the state's public records law.

"With this latest revelation, I now urge Governor Easley to take this inquiry seriously and appoint a chairman with familiarity with the technology and issues involved in this important matter," Daves said in a statement.

Franklin Freeman, Gov. Mike Easley's senior assistant for government affairs, said today that people who want to speak at the public hearing before the governor's newly appointed committee on retaining e-mails as public records should not send him e-mail to reserve a slot.

"My children are besides themselves with laughter because I don't even know how to cut a computer on," Freeman said of the reaction at his home after Easley picked him to chair the committee, reports Michael Biesecker.

"I do not communicate by e-mail. I receive it. I have an e-mail address to receive it, but I'm still one of the old-fashioned folks that communicates by telephone or face to face."

The public hearing is scheduled for April 3 at 9:30 a.m. in the Administration Building on Jones Street in Raleigh

Those wanting to speak can sign up when they arrive, or register in advance by calling Freeman at 733-6184. They can also e-mail committee member Liz Riley, Easley's deputy legal counsel, at liz.riley@ncmail.net.