Joe Sinsheimer continues to stay involved in Democratic politics.

He and his wife, Toddi Steelman, are hosting a fundraiser for Democratic congressional candidate Larry Kissell. The reception is scheduled for Sept. 28 at their Raleigh home.

Sinsheimer is a former opposition researcher for Democratic campaigns. He retired from full-time politics after the 2004 election, but he has been a vocal advocate for tougher ethics laws and a critic of many Democrats in the N.C. House.

He put pressure on then-Speaker Jim Black, a Mecklenburg County Democrat now serving a federal prison sentence for corruption.

Former Gov. Jim Hunt is the headliner for the Kissell fundraiser. Other sponsors include lobbyist Al Adams, public relations executive Ken Eudy, former candidate for treasurer Michael Weisel and lobbyist Leanne Winner. Suggested contribution: $100.

Kissell is running against U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes, a Concord Republican.

Joe Sinsheimer says more change is needed at the General Assembly.

The former Democratic campaign consultant released a statement Wednesday on the conviction of former state Rep. Thomas Wright. Sinsheimer filed the initial complaint against the Wilmington Democrat in December 2006 with the State Board of Elections.

Here's his statement:

Thomas Wright's latest felony conviction is a sad end to a once promising political career.

Wright seems to have been undone by the same toxic combination of arrogance, hubris and greed that led to the downfall of former Speaker Jim Black. The indictments and convictions will continue until either the leadership of the General Assembly decides to change the culture of the institution or voters adopt a 'throw-the-bums-out' mentality.

Neither seems imminent, although both would be welcome.

Several lawmakers are subjects of ongoing investigations. The State Board of Elections is investigating a complaint about Sen. Julia Boseman, a Wilmington Democrat, and it has been reviewing the campaign finances of several Mecklenburg County Democrats in response to an investigation by The Charlotte Observer.

The House of Representatives voted in March to expel Wright from office, the first expulsion since the 19th century.

Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated whether any lawmakers are under investigation.

Former N.C. House Speaker Jim Black has paid a $1 million fine days before a court-ordered deadline, his lawyers announced Thursday.

The Matthews Democrat is in federal prison in Pennsylvania after being convicted of accepting illegal payments from campaign contributors, mostly in cash handed over in men's bathrooms.

In a release, attorney Allen Powell said Black paid the fine to the school system in Wake County, where he was convicted, reports Jim Morrill and David Ingram.

"I always intended to leave a portion of my estate to help secure the enhancement of North Carolina's public educational system," Black said in a statement. "And while this payment comes a bit premature, I gladly give it knowing that North Carolina's children will be the beneficiaries."

The fine was originally due last year. But his attorneys argued that Black was unable to sell real estate at a fair market value. A Superior Court judge then set a July 1 deadline, with one condition: Black had to put up property as a guarantee.

He chose his former optometry uptown office, valued for tax purposes at $1.2 million. The judge wrote that the property could be sold at foreclosure if needed.

It's unclear where Black got the million dollars. Mecklenburg property records indicated he still owns the uptown property. Powell could not be reached late Thursday.

"The only legacy that Jim Black will leave the state of North Carolina is one of political corruption and personal shame," said Joe Sinsheimer, a former Democratic campaign consultant who has criticized Black.

Black is due for release in 2012.

Rep. Joe Boylan, a Republican from Moore County, received a call for his resignation from a recognizable name but from another country.

Joe Sinsheimer, a former Democratic campaign consultant turned political watchdog, urged Boylan's ouster Monday after the freshman legislator was charged with driving while impaired last week, Mark Johnson reports.

"He has quickly replaced Thomas Wright as the legislature's most embarrassing member," Sinsheimer wrote in an email, referring to the Wilmington lawmaker sent to prison last week.

Sinsheimer dispatched his condemnation from Vancouver, British Columbia, in Canada. He is living there for six months while his wife completes an academic fellowship.

"My legislative record reflects I've kept all my promises to the people of Moore County," Boylan said Monday. "I promise the people of Moore County I will complete the steps necessary to stop drinking altogether. I'm running for reelection and plan to win."

More after the jump.

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Joe Sinsheimer says Rahm Emanuel won't settle the presidential primary.

In a Newsweek article this week, the Democratic political consultant and friend of Emanuel's says that Emanuel is too close to Barack Obama's campaign manager, David Axelrod.

He also says that the Clinton's don't trust Emanuel, especially after Hillary Clinton tried to get him fired as a White House aide in 1993.

Sinsheimer says that Emanuel may have selfish reasons for wanting to stay uninvolved and avoid playing the role of party elder. "Rahm has his own ambitions," says Sinsheimer. If he runs for Speaker in four or six years, "why does he want to have 5, 10, 15 people on one side of this chasm or another mad at him over something?" 

Hat Tip: Mitch Kokai 

Joe Sinsheimer says Thomas Wright's lawyer is wrong.

In defending Wright of criminal charges, attorney Doug Harris implied Wednesday that Sinsheimer was working on behalf of Senate leadership, who wanted Wright out of office.

The campaign finance activist told the Insider that the charge was ridiculous.

"It's a bald-faced lie. I'm not doing any work for (Senate Majority Leader Tony) Rand or (Senate leader Marc) Basnight," he said.

He noted that his original complaint from May of 2006 alleging that legislators hid connections to payday lenders named 12 senators, including high-ranking Democrats. 

In an e-mail to Dome, Sinsheimer added that he has been outspoken on the issue of term limits for legislative leadership and the inclusion of non-budgetary items in the state budget, positions that have not endeared him to the long-serving Senate leadership. 

A defense attorney for former Rep. Thomas Wright said he was unfairly targeted.

At a trial for the Wilmington Democrat on pocketing corporate contributions, defense attorney Doug Harris said that "somehow, somebody had ganged up on Mr. Wright unfairly."

"You don't know who in the state is driving this thing, do you?" he asked a lobbyist who testified.

State Burea of Investigation agent K. Perry testified that Wright told him he thought he was being singled out because of his work on the 1898 Wilmington race riots.

"He thought this investigation was race-related," Perry testified.

Later, Harris suggested that the state Senate or campaign finance activist Joe Sinsheimer had targeted Wright for political reasons. (AP)

Joe Sinsheimer released this statement on the hearing on state Rep. Thomas Wright today:

"After two and half years of investigations of its top leadership, the House today finally took public responsibility for the corruption in its own ranks. Jim Black and Thomas Wright were able to operate in the shadows because so many members allowed them to do so. While I am pleased that the House has moved towards punishing Rep. Wright, I am saddened that it took a citizen complaint and more than a year of public criticism to force the House leadership to act."

"Good government in North Carolina must be color blind. This case was never about race as Mr. Wright's attorneys have so deceitfully alleged. This case -- like the Jim Black case before it -- was about political arrogance and the belief by some on Jones Street that political figures are above the law. I am pleased that my advocacy work has exposed two of North Carolina's most corrupt figures."

"One of the bright spots of this week's hearing is that we have seen a new star emerge in the General Assembly. Rep. Rick Glazier -- who was the only member of the existing House leadership to speak out against Jim Black's corrupt practices -- has stepped forward and proven himself to be the ethical leader that the House and our state so desperately need. We should all applaud Rep. Glazier's handling of this difficult task."

Joe Sinsheimer applauded House Speaker Joe Hackney today.

The campaign finance activist said that the Chapel Hill Democrat "stood silently" for 18 months during the investigation of disgraced former Speaker Jim Black.

But he said that Hackney's decision to have an ethics committee consider expelling Rep. Thomas Wright showed that lawmakers were not going to "hide behind state and federal prosecutors" any more.

"Today, for the first time, Speaker Hackney said we're going to step up and do the tough work ourselves," he said. "I think that's really important and I think it sends a strong vote of confidence to the public."

Sinsheimer was asked about criticism that legislators are being harder on Wright, who is black, than they were on Black, who is white.

"They are going to have to live with that hypocrisy," he said. "But I don't think the (answer) is to go back and do two wrongs."

Joe Sinsheimer says it's time for Rep. Thomas Wright to go.

In an e-mail to the media, the campaign finance watchdog noted that House Speaker Joe Hackney has held off on taking action against the Wilmington Democrat because he did not want to impede a state investigation.

Now that Wright has been indicted on six counts, Sinsheimer said it's time for Hackney to begin hearings to remove him from the state House. 

"It is a sad day when we see one of the state’s most powerful and promising African American legislators facing 6 felony counts," he wrote. "Like his political godfather, Jim Black, Rep. Wright is an embarrassment to the state and no longer deserves to be in the General Assembly."

He added that state taxpayers should not have to pay for the salary and retirement benefits of "such a corrupt lawmaker."

Previously: Hackney calls for Wright to resign; Wright never returns phone calls.