Calling his trial an "abomination," former state Sen. Hugh Webster took the stand Wednesday in Caswell County Superior Court and denied the allegations that he violated the trust of his elderly aunt and embezzled $12,000 from her.

Webster, 65, contends the check from his 83-year-old aunt was a gift, the Burlington Times-News reports.

The state has contended that the aunt gave Webster the money with the understanding that he was going to invest it for her by buying a CD at a credit union and that he did not give it back when she asked for it.

On the witness stand, Webster was asked whether he told an SBI agent that if he needed to steal it would be more than $12,000. Webster said, "I've had the opportunity to steal millions of dollars and I never stole a dime."

The Burlington Republican added, "What's happening here, right now, is an abomination."

Earlier in the day, while Webster's attorney Kieran Shanahan was arguing a motion to Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens, Webster walked out of court.

"I hope your client had some reason to leave the courtroom without the permission of the court," Stephens said calmly.

A minute later, Webster returned and sat down without saying a word.

The case continues today.

There's a new government relations and public affairs firm in town.

CompassNC is being launched by John Cooper, a former federal agriculture official, Raleigh attorney Kieran Shanahan, Tina Shanahan, who worked for Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and J. Brad Edwards, a former assistant to U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms and a principal with Jenkins Hill Consulting.

Kieran Shanahan hopes the next U.S. attorneys keep the focus on corruption.

The Raleigh lawyer, who worked as an assistant U.S. attorney from 1984 to 1989, notes that federal prosecutors have played an important role in rooting out corruption in North Carolina.

Shanahan, a Republican, points to the successful prosecutions of former Agriculture Commissioner Meg Scott Phipps, former Speaker Jim Black and former Reps. Michael Decker and Thomas Wright, all Democrats.

"The one watchdog for the people of North Carolina has been prosecutors in the Eastern District," he said. "It would be a disappointment if they did not continue that effort."

Shanahan said that federal prosecutors are "uniquely equipped" to handle corruption investigations because they are politically insulated, have larger budgets and nationwide subpoena powers and can empanel investigative grand juries, a power that state and local prosecutors do not have.

He noted that U.S. attorneys often have different priorities in Republican and Democratic administrations, saying he expects the next prosecutors to focus more on cases involving white collar crime and environmental regulations.

"I think this administration might be more inclined to go after business," he said.

The Pitt County Republican Party and a voter are suing over Democratic fundraising methods.

In a lawsuit filed this week, the plaintiffs allege that the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee is circumventing a law barring corporate money from being used in state campaigns, the Associated Press reports.

"The injunction sought in this lawsuit is essential to the voters in North Carolina if we are to have a fair and honest election conducted on a level playing field," said Kieran Shanahan, the plaintiffs' lawyer said in a news release.

Matt Compton, a spokesman for the DLCC in Washington, said the lawsuit would be dismissed.

"We feel that this is a classic publicity stunt lawsuit," he said. "There's nothing to it."

The GOP and voter Kimberley Hendrix allege that the DLCC accepts corporate contributions and transfers it to the DLCC North Carolina Political Action Committee.

The State Board of Elections is also investigating the PAC.

Pat McCrory will host a fundraiser in Raleigh Wednesday.

The Republican gubernatorial candidate will hold a "business casual" event at the law offices of former Raleigh City Councilman Kieran Shanahan from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

The fundraiser is being hosted by Shanahan and his wife, Tina; former Councilman Tommy Craven and his wife, Nancy, and Jamie and Matt Martin. 

Other hosts include Councilman Philip Isley, developer Gregg Sandreuter, Republican donor Art Pope, attorney Tom Ellis and UNC-Chapel Hill law professor Arch Allen, according to a copy of an invitation received by Dome.

Tickets to the event range from $30 for a guest to $1,000 for a host.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole's political action committee has received $848,615 in the last three years.

The Leadership Circle PAC is separate from Dole's campaign committee, so it can receive bigger contributions from donors. As a recent report and database from NPR's Marketplace shows, leadership PACs like it are booming.

Many of Dole's contributors are familiar faces.

Between December of 2004 and December of 2007, her leadership PAC received $20,000 from lieutenant governor candidate Robert Pittenger and his wife, Suzanne; $16,750 from former gubernatorial candidate Bill Graham and his wife, Shari; and $10,000 from SAS co-founder Jim Goodnight.

Other donations came from Raleigh lawyer Kieran Shanahan, CaptiveAire owner Bob Luddy, her husband Bob, Luther Hodges Jr., billionaire resort builder Kirk Kerkorian, Raleigh developer John Kane, and former Dole running mate Jack Kemp.

The Leadership Circle PAC also received money from other PACs, including the Progress Energy PAC, Wachovia Employees Good Government Fund, the N.C. Farm Bureau, and PACs for R.J. Reynolds, Lorillard Tobacco Co., Duke Energy and Federal Express.

An attorney for Richard Moore said a state worker's lawsuit was ironic.

After a hearing in Wake County Superior Court today, Raleigh attorney Kieran Shanahan said that the State Employees Association of North Carolina originally filed a public records lawsuit because it wanted to see if there was any evidence that Moore had improper dealings with pension fund managers.

But he argued that SEANC's proposal to drop the lawsuit was itself improper.

"They're claiming they started the case because somehow they're protecting against a quid pro quo, and yet they unlawfully have suggested a quid pro quo for a settlement," he told Dome.

Shanahan, a prominent Raleigh Republican, went on to attack SEANC's recent decision to affiliate with the national Service Employees International Union.

"The organization is in trouble; now they've associated with a union," he said. "Those aren't North Carolina values at all."

As for the lawsuit, Shanahan argued that Moore not only answered SEANC's request for public records, but gave them "special treatment," including a personal 90-minute presentation on the records.

How does a state workers' group pronounce its name?

At a court hearing this morning, an attorney for the State Employees Association of North Carolina took a bit of offense at a rival lawyer's pronunciation.

The group typically goes by its acronym, SEANC.

But Raleigh attorney Kieran Shanahan, a former City Council member and prominent Republican representing state Treasurer Richard Moore in a lawsuit with SEANC, repeatedly pronounced the group's name SEE-nack.

When SEANC attorney Tom Harris had a chance to speak before the judge, he corrected Shanahan.

"The State Employees Association — by the way we pronounce it SEE-nick — has long been a supporter of Treasurer Richard Moore," he said.

Update: After the hearing, Shanahan said he tries to pronounce the group's name correctly.

"I pronounce it SEE-nick," he told Dome. "It was a bad scene in court for them, however you pronounce it." 

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.