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Former N.C. Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake Jr. told business leaders today that while state government is in a budget crisis now, the state judicial system has been in a severe financial crisis for decades.

"This is due entirely to a protracted, gross, and yes, unconstitutional underfunding of our Judicial System by our Legislature," Lake told the Triangle Business Leader Associates at the Sheraton Hotel.

He said the judicial branch's share of government spending has declined from 2.8 percent to 2.1 percent of overall state spending since he stepped down as chief justice in 2006. The signs of the system fraying are everywhere, he said, reports Rob Christensen.

Lake voiced support for a new law, that would give the judicial branch new authority to set its own priority in how it spends the available funds.

"A national survey recently conducted reveals no other state in which the court system’s budget is restricted the way it is in North Carolina," said Lake.

Former Gov. Mike Easley inducted more than 4,000 North Carolinians.

Between January 2001 and January 2009, the two-term Democratic governor added state residents into the Order of the Long Leaf Pine at a rate of nearly 10 a week, or more than one a day.

Notable recipients included former U.S. Attorney Janice McKenzie Cole, Broadway costumer designer William Ivey Long, architectural historian Catherine Bishir, Charlotte Observer columnist Jack Betts and painter Bob Timberlake.

A number of politicians also made the list: former state Sen. Aaron Plyler, former state Rep. Zeno Edwards Jr., former UNC system president Bill Friday, Supreme Court Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson, former Justice I. Beverly Lake Jr., former Wake County Commissioner Betty Ann Knudsen, Charlotte City Councilwoman Susan Burgess and former Wendell Mayor Lucius Jones.

A few on the list are not North Carolinians: civil rights advocate Coretta Scott King, actor Danny Glover and Navy aerobatic pilots the Blue Angels.

Also on the list: his in-laws, Ann and James Pipines, fundraiser Louis Sewell, and several members of his Cabinet. The list does not include Robert Lee Guy, however.

See anyone else interesting on the list? Post in the comments below or e-mail dome@newsobserver.com.

After the jump, the number given each year.

Richard Moore has some high-profile help.

Former N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake is in the Wake County courtroom where a Superior Court judge is hearing Moore's attorney's motion to dismiss a lawsuit by the State Employees Association of North Carolina.

It's something of an odd-couple mix. 

Moore is a Democrat who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination this year. Lake is a former Democrat who switched to the Republican Party to run unsuccessfully for governor in 1980.

(Come to think of it, maybe they do have something in common.)

The explanation is fairly simple, however. Lake recently joined the Raleigh law practice of Kieran Shanahan, whom Moore hired to represent him in the lawsuit.

So far, Lake has not spoken in court, but he no doubt helped shape many of the legal arguments being made by Moore's attorneys.

I. Beverly Lake Jr. has joined the Shanahan Law Group.

The former chief justice of the state Supreme Court will be a senior counsel at the Raleigh law firm, handling general corporate representation as well as litigation and appellate cases.

"Justice Lake is widely respected in legal, political and business circles throughout our state, and we are fortunate to have him on our team," said firm founder Kieran Shanahan.

A graduate of Wake Forest University's law school, Lake served two terms in the state Senate, ran for governor as the Republican nominee in 1980 and served on the Supreme Court from 1992 to 2006, when he was required to step down because of his age.

I. Beverly Lake Jr. received the Jesse Helms Award for Courage.

At the President's Day Dinner tonight, the former chief justice of the state Supreme Court was given the second award by the Wake County Republican Party. (The first went to Helms.)

Presenters noted Lake's decision to become a Republican, his unsuccessful run for governor and his work on the N.C. Actual Innocence Commission as examples of his courage. 

Lake, who was spotted earlier sporting a sticker for gubernatorial candidate and former colleague Bob Orr, said the awards "means more than I can possibly say."

He said that Helms was one of his three "greatest heroes" in politics, along with his father, I. Beverly Lake Sr. and Raleigh consultant Tom Ellis.

"Jesse and Tom and my dad held the banner for us and charted the way through the last half of the 20th century," he said. "Jesse's entire political career defined courage."

Lake also spoke briefly about his time in the state Senate in the late 1970s, fighting social studies textbooks that he said would "teach secular humanism as a religion to our children in the public schools."

"They're trying to make a run again in that direction, but we'll turn it back," he said.

Associate Supreme Court Justice Bob Edmunds is distancing himself from the partisan comments made by N.C. Appeals Court Judge Doug McCullough in Haywood County.

Last month, McCullough's comments to Haywood Republicans stressed the importance of Edmunds' reelection bid, Titan Barksdale reports.

A recent complaint against McCullough sent to the N.C. Judicial Standards Commission says that his comments violated ethical rules of judicial integrity and implied that judges — i.e. Edmunds —prejudge cases based on political leanings.

Judicial elections are non-partisan, and the preamble to state rules of ethics calls for an independent judiciary.

Edmunds, in a telephone interview today, made it clear that he was an "impartial judge who doesn't prejudge cases," and that McCullough was not part of his campaign.

More after the jump.

Bob Edmunds is running for re-election.

The state Supreme Court Justice said today that he will seek a second eight-year term to the state's highest court in 2008, Dan Kane reports.

Edmunds, a Greensboro lawyer and a former U.S. attorney, served two years on the N.C. Court of Appeals before being elected to the Supreme Court in 2000.

In a news release, Edmunds said he has the endorsement of all five living former chief justices: Rhoda Billings, Jim Exum, Burley Mitchell, Henry Frye and Beverly Lake. His campaign Web site is here.

Bob Orr is not afraid to be a state government insider.

In his remarks at the Republican gubernatorial debate, the former Supreme Court justice has talked at length about his time in Raleigh.

He noted his successful state campaigns in 1988, 1992, 1994 and 2002. Twice, he mentioned former Republican Gov. Jim Martin in an offhand way.

The first time, he noted that Martin appointed him to a judicial seat. The second time, he talked like an old friend of the governor's.

"I heard Jim Martin say when he was governor time and time again that you have to set budget priorities," He said.

He also mentioned Supreme Court Justice Bob Edmunds, who was in the crowd, and former Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake.

Those remarks contrast with Bill Graham's "outsider" campaign.

Judge Doug McCullough kicked off his re-election campaign Wednesday.

The N.C. Court of Appeals judge, a former federal prosecutor and a Republican, had some bipartisan support. He announced a steering committee that included Republicans such as I. Beverly Lake Jr. and Democrats such as Burley Mitchell, both former chief justices of the N.C. Supreme Court.

Among the other Democrats backing McCullough were former Judges Sid Eagles and Gerald Arnold, both former chief judges on the N.C.Court of Appeals, Rob Christensen reports.

The kick off was at the Raleigh law offices of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice. A fundraiser was held after the news conference.

Gov. Mike Easley had some notable lunch dates in 2004.

According to the governor's daily schedules from that year, Easley dined with such notables as then Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake, Red Hat CEO Matthew Szulik and former Sen. Lauch Faircloth.

With one exception, the lunches were held on Wednesdays at the Governor's Mansion. (Easley held a lunch with his top staffers on a Tuesday before the holidays.)

The schedules are for planning purposes only, so some of the lunches may have been canceled. They were obtained by Dome after a public records request.

Still, they show an interesting cross-section of North Carolina's power players in business, government and political advocacy.

After the jump, a complete list of the 2004 lunches.

Hat Tip: Andy Curliss