U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler has $1.1 million in his campaign account through the end of September.

Shuler, a Waynesville Democrat, has received $366,000 since he was elected in 2008, according to federal campaign finance records.

Shuler received $178,236 from individual contributions and $171,050 from committees.

Contributors include Vincent Ney of San Antonio, president of payday lender GECC ($2,500); William Quinton of Powder Springs, Ga., president of C.W. Matthews Contracting; Independent Community Bankers of America PAC ($5,000) and a PAC of the American Resort Development Owners Association ($5,000).

Shuler, a member of the House's Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, also received $5,000 contributions from PACs for rail companies Burlington Northern Santa Fe rail company and CSX as well as the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.

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.

Apple farmers begin the season intending to produce fresh apples, but weather can spoil the apples and those plans.

U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler met with about 50 growers at Jimmy Nix & Sons packing house in Edneyville Monday. The Waynesville Democrat said he only learned about the proposed change last week, and he wants to make sure Henderson County apple growers have a voice in the process.

"Now is the time for us to organize together and come up with an alternative," Shuler said.

The Washington Post reported this morning that U.S Rep. Heath Shuler, a Waynesville Democrat, is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee over a land-swap deal in eastern Tennessee.

The brother of U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler has filed for bankruptcy, according to the Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel.

Benjie Shuler filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection last week, the paper reported today. It said that the filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Knoxville indicated that his assets are valued at $265,630 while his liabilities are valued at nearly $10.2 million, Barb Barrett reports.

According to the News Sentinel, Benjie Shuler's bankruptcy filing identified Heath Shuler as a co-debtor on a $36,670 debt to Bank of America. Rep. Shuler is a Democrat from Waynesville.

Karen Elizabeth Price, daughter of U.S. Rep. David Price, has finished a documentary about the 2006 midterm elections.

The film, HouseQuake, focused on seven races including now-Rep. Heath Shuler, a Waynesville Democrat, The Washington Post's Reliable Source blog reports. 

Price, 39, is one of a handful of Congressional daughters who have become documentary filmmakers.

"It's an interesting trend," Price told the blog. "It seems to be the daughters. They tend to be political documentaries, too. I guess it gets in the blood.... There's maybe a need to make sense of it all and use our access to show everyone the reality of politics you don't see on cable news."

In the run-up to the 2006 midterm elections, she got the idea for a documentary about the Democrats' attempt to win back the House — after her dad told her about this  Rahm Emanuel guy with a plan so crazy it just might work.

"It was not a fun time to be a Democrat," she said. "They had to take on the belief they could win. I wanted to explore the question of, how do you create success?"

U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler is again playing in the Congress vs. Capitol Police football game, which raises money for families of three officers killed in the line of duty.

Shuler’s office notes that he formerly played quarterback for the University of Tennessee, Barb Barrett reports.

In its release, the office declines to mention his short-lived stint with the Washington Redskins (who this year are an abysmal 2-4). It also fails to re-live a past Congress vs. Capitol Police game in which Shuler threw a pair of interceptions. The bi-partisan congressional team lost that one.

Still, he’s on again for the game scheduled for 8 p.m. Oct. 27. The game, called The Longest Yard, is flag football and will be played at the DC Armory.

"The Capitol police do have bragging rights since they won the last game," said Shuler, a Waynesville Democrat, in a release. "No matter the final score of this game, the Capitol Police Memorial Fund wins."

Hendersonville Mayor Greg Newman announced Tuesday that he is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, a Democrat, the Asheville Citizen-Times reported.

Newman, 47, has served as mayor since 2005. Shuler, first elected in 2006, is a former NFL quarterback who has banked $1 million for his reelection bid.

The western North Carolina district is in a small minority of truly competitive districts in the country.

A week after major climate change legislation was introduced in the U.S. Senate, conservation advocates from North Carolina visited Capitol Hill today to gauge the views of Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan.

Carrie Clark, executive director of the Conservation Council of North Carolina, said she found meetings in both offices "positive," and that both senators are interested in tackling the issue, Barb Barrett reports.

"From Senator Burr we were happy to hear that he sees climate change as a problem and is working hard, and he thinks we need immediate action to avert the impacts that North Carolina is likely to face," Clark said in an interview.

Clark met with staff members in the office of Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican. She was told Burr wants to make sure that legislation doesn’t bring too many negative impacts to residential and commercial energy consumers, and that he wants to see jobs coming into the state.

In another meeting, Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat, told Clark she has concerns about the legislation’s costs, but that she’s interested in finding a solution on climate change.

"She totally gets it, and we worked with her when she was a state senator, too," Clark said.

The bill, introduced last week by Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Barbara Boxer of California, would force the U.S. to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020, and by 80 percent by 2050.

The House narrowly passed its own climate change legislation this summer. While in Washington today, Clark said she also stopped by the office of U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, a Waynesville Democrat, to thank him for his vote on the House bill.

U.S. Sens. Richard Burr, a Republican, and Kay Hagan, a Democrat, have introduced the Lumbee Recognition Act to provide full federal recognition to the Lumbee tribe based in Robeson County along Interstate 95.

The Lumbee have for years tried to earn federal recognition through congressional action, but have repeatedly fallen short, reports Barb Barrett. The Lumbee earned state recognition in 1885.

Federal recognition would allow the Lumbee access to federal housing and education benefits. Federally recognized tribes also earn the right to build casinos on their tribal land. But the Lumbee have in the past agreed to forgo that right in return for recognition.

Among the bill’s opponents in the past have been U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, a Waynesville Democrat who represents the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians in western North Carolina.