N.C. Spin has heard some of the same gossip as Dome.

The weekly politics newsletter seconds some of the names we've heard tossed around for Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue's administration.

(Those would be Bryan Beatty and Scott Thomas for Crime Control; Crandall Bowles at Commerce; Clark Jenkins, Gene Conti and Lanny Wilson at Transportation; and Dempsey Benton, Bill Ross and Britt Cobb to stay.)

They also toss out some new names:

Cultural Resources: Kay Myers, wife of former state transportation board member and Democratic fundraiser Gordon Myers of Asheville.

Education: Howard Lee to remain chair of the board of education and J.B. Buxton to remain advisor to the governor on education.

Commerce: Former deputy Tony Copeland, now working for Longistics in Raleigh.

Environment and Natural Resources: Current assistant secretary Robin Smith, Richard Rogers and former UNC-Wilmington chancellor Jim Leutze.

Administration: Rep. Alma Adams of Greensboro.

Employment Security Commission: Current head Harry Payne to remain.

Office of State Personnel: Rep. Linda Coleman of Knightdale.

The usual caveat applies that the above names are just gossip. The Perdue transition team says the governor-elect has not made any decisions.

Harry Payne's name isn't on the ballot, but it might as well be.

The former two-term labor commissioner is at the center of the primary runoff between Mary Fant Donnan and John C. Brooks next Tuesday.

Donnan served as policy analyst and research director at the N.C. Department of Labor under Payne, and he endorsed her earlier this year. Brooks was defeated by Payne in the 1992 Democratic primary in an historic loss for an incumbent Council of State member.

Not surprisingly the two candidates have different views on Payne.

Donnan called him a mentor and said she "can't think of a more compassionate, wonderful person to work with." Brooks said Payne unfairly maligned his leadership in their race, which hinged on the death of 25 workers at a Hamlet chicken plant fire in 1990.

He said Payne's criticisms were "meaningless generalizations" that took advantage of the publicity given to the fire.

For his part, Payne said Donnan is "an exceptional listener" who would find new solutions to problems in the state's workplaces. He refrained from criticizing Brooks, saying only that the former labor commissioner was very gracious after losing the election.

"Oftentimes, when people leave office they don't make it that easy for the one coming in," he said. "He made it exceptionally easy."

Full Disclosure: Payne is married to N&O columnist Ruth Sheehan, who once watched Dome's black Lab on short notice.

Mary Fant Donnan has picked up more endorsements.

The candidate for the Democratic nomination for state labor commissioner was endorsed last week by the N.C. Academy of Trial Lawyers, the Durham Committee for the Affairs of Black People and the N.C. Association of Educators.

"I'm honored to have received the endorsement of all of these organizations," she said in a statement. "I think this shows that people know we need to move the Labor Department in a new direction and feel I'm the best qualified candidate to do that."

Previously, Donnan was endorsed by the AFL-CIO, former Labor Commissioner Harry Payne and two former Democratic opponents.

She faces former Labor Commissioner John C. Brooks in a primary runoff on June 24.