Dome came close to ferreting out secret information this morning.

Okay, it wasn't any super-sleuthing on Dome's part. A member of the state Ethics Commission almost spilled the beans about an ethics case involving a senator.

By law, the commission has to consider ethics matters in closed session and even the names of people involved are secret.

But early in Friday's meeting, when commissioners received their standard reminder about conflicts of interest, member Jerry Blackmon raised his hand. He said he may have a potential conflict of interest when it comes to the matter of "Senator..."

That's when Commission chairman Robert Farmer and Executive Director Perry Newson stopped him. They would discuss the potential conflict in closed session, Newson said.

Trying to divine who Blackmon was talking about could be tough. Blackmon was a Mecklenburg County Commissioner in the 1980s and was a state senator through much of the 1990s. He was appointed upon the recommendation of senate leader Marc Basnight and has served on various boards.

After the ethics commission concluded and before the closed session began, Farmer suggested to reporters that they lobby the legislature to open up ethics proceedings.

The state Ethics Commission removed two public officials from office and recommended three others be removed in a meeting this morning.

The five appointees, plus nine others, were also fined $250 each for failure to turn in a financial disclosure form required under a state law that went into effect Jan. 1.

The board made some allowances for people who resigned from office promptly rather than turn in the forms, which are more extensive than in years past. But commissioners warned that they were only being lenient becaus the law is new.

"I'm not going to be inclined to do that next time," said commissioner Jane Finch.

Former state Sen. Jerry Blackmon, a new appointee on the commission, said he was leery of fining unpaid volunteers on local boards.

The board waived fines for six officials and ordered further investigation of one other.

A complete list of board decisions after the jump.

Correction: An earlier version of this post and its headline did not include actions taken on appointees who filed late. There were 20 fines levied.

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