The State Board of Elections allowed lawyers to make closing statements in the Gov. Mike Easley campaign finance hearings.

John Wallace, an attorney for Easley's campaign committee:

THE CAR: Easley and his campaign have paid more than $25,000 for the use of a GMC Yukon that neither Easley, nor his committee, were paying for.

FLIGHTS: Tracking which flights were campaign-related has been difficult for the committee. "One can never be sure that one has captured all the flights and one can never be sure that all the flights that one has scheduled in a spreadsheet occurred," Wallace said.

McQueen Campbell, who provided scores of flights for Easley, did not submit invoices to the campaign treasurer.

"Mr. Campbell failed utterly to give information to the treasurer," Wallace said. "I don't know what the treasurer can do if he knew nothing about the air travel."

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There's a bad recession on, but there's a lot of billable hours being added up in the State Board of Elections hearing room.

Whatever comes of the Gov. Mike Easley hearings, the proceeding has given a boost to a bunch of lawyers.

Gov. Mike Easley has his lawyer, Thomas Hicks (pictured at the far right). Hicks worked as a prosecutor under Easley when Easley was a district attorney in Bladen, Brunswick and Columbus counties.

Jim Cooney (pictured next to Hicks) is representing the N.C. Democratic Party. Cooney represented exonerated Duke University lacrosse player Reade Seligmann and former death row inmate Alan Gell.

John Wallace and David Long are representing the Easley campaign.

Ruffin Poole, a lawyer himself, came with his attorney, Joseph Zeszotarski.

Car dealer Robert F. Bleecker testified with his lawyer, Dan Boyce, sitting behind him. There are at least a half dozen other lawyers or paralegals in the room.

Correction: Post now includes correct information about where Easley was a District Attorney.

The Bleecker Olds Buick GMC dealership paid property taxes for 2003, 2004 and 2005 on the SUV that the campaign of Gov. Mike Easley says it was using then.

New records from the Robeson County tax office show the taxes were paid each year. The combined total was $459.81, Andy Curliss reports.

The additional information means that the Bleecker dealership, which is based in Red Springs, had spent at least $18,184 on the vehicle — a figure that does not include insurance for six years the dealership also paid.

This month, after reports of the car became public, Easley or his campaign paid the Bleecker dealership $13,595 on the vehicle, an amount that is for the use of the car during the campaign and then Easley's subsequent purchase of it this month.

A campaign lawyer for Easley, John Wallace, has refused to discuss the issue. Attempts to reach Easley have been unsuccessful.

So it remains unclear why Easley hasn't paid for the full value of the vehicle.

It's also unclear who from the Easley campaign used the vehicle in 2003, 2004 and the first part of 2005. Easley won re-election in November 2004.

The State Board of Elections is looking into the matter.

A Carolina Journal report Monday raised questions about one of Gov. Mike Easley's appointees and air service he provided to the governor on the campaign trail.

The report is titled "Clues Point to Secret Easley Air Service." But it was not a secret that one of the appointees, McQueen Campbell, had flown Easley around the state, reports Dan Kane.

Easley campaign reports from 2005 show that Campbell's company, Executive Aircraft Services, was reimbursed twice for air travel. The campaign paid the company $4,777.50 on Feb. 18, 2005, and $6,300 on Aug. 11, 2005. John Wallace, an election law attorney representing Easley's campaign, said the payments were for air service provided during the 2004 campaign.

Wallace said the N.C. Democratic Party also helped pay for Easley's air travel. The party's campaign reports reflect a $1,500 payment to Campbell on June 30, 2004, though it provides no details.

More after the jump.

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Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue's campaign sent a "cease and desist" letter to an alcohol industry contributor trying to raise money for her campaign.

The campaign heard that an e-mail from Paul Criscuolo, a vice president for the nation's largest wine and liquor distributor, Southern Wine & Spirits, urged contributions to her campaign with the suggestion that her election would lead to expanded marketing opportunities for the liquor industry, Lynn Bonner reports.

"SWS North Carolina will be contributing $15,000 to Bev Perdue's campaign from employee donations," said the e-mail sent to eight people, including another SWS vice president and and two men with email addresses from alcohol broker Diageo.

The e-mail is dated Feb. 2. The day before, the liquor industry was handed a setback, when the state Alcohol Beverage Control Commission revoked its permission for free-tasting promotions at bars and restaurants.

The e-mail said that with Perdue's election, current ABC chairman Douglas A. Fox, "should be reinstated." Fox supported the bar tastings, and decided in October to allow them. The decision was reversed under pressure from Gov. Mike Easley's office.

Perdue's campaign heard the e-mail was circulating, and in mid-February had its lawyer send Criscuolo at letter telling him it was out of line.

More after the jump.

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