What would Robert Pittenger do as lieutenant governor?

In 1988, Republican Jim Gardner was elected to gavel sessions led by a Democratic controlled legislature. They responded by stripping away much of the job's power, leading to the rise of Senate president pro tem Marc Basnight.

At a debate tonight on WUNC, Pittenger promised that he would help ensure GOP ideas were discussed in the Senate if he was elected. But with Basnight and Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand holding the parliamentary conch, that could prove tricky.

After the debate, Pittenger told Dome how he would operate.

He said that he would recognize more Republican legislators to speak on the floor, allowing them to make amendments. (Currently, some never get that chance.) To prevent those bills from being voted on, Rand would be forced to rule them out of order.

"Is he going to do that 20 times a day, four days a week?" he asked. "There is going to be a time when the iron-fisted control of the Senate is going to be so obvious. He's not going to have the coordinated effort of a lieutenant governor who's working on his behalf."

Pittenger said as a state senator he'd seen Democratic Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue stop debate to "get her marching orders" directly from Rand.

ROCKY MOUNT - Dan Gerlach, a top economic adviser to Gov. Mike Easley, today was named president of the Golden LEAF Foundation.

At a meeting in Rocky Mount, the foundation’s board approved hiring Gerlach, with a goal of having him take over Oct. 1, Jonathan Cox reports.

"He's the kind of person that's very energetic and very well-attuned to getting things done," said Tommy Bunn, Golden LEAF's chairman.

Foundation officials said they were attracted to Gerlach because he has experience in rural areas, understands the legislature and economic development.

Gerlach interviewed for the job today in a closed session. He was one of five final candidates, after Golden LEAF received about 300 applicants.

The Rocky Mount-based foundation, created in 1999, administers installments from the national legal settlement that states reached with the major tobacco companies. The money, ultimately totaling more than $2 billion, is designated to help tobacco-dependent and economically distressed communities.

The board began looking for a new president earlier this year when Valeria Lee announced she was stepping down.

Senate leader Marc Basnight said in June that Easley asked him to encourage Golden LEAF board members to consider Gerlach for the post.

The Senate has voted 39-0 to override Gov. Mike Easley's veto of a wide boats bill.

The vote, which followed brief debate, makes history as Easley's veto is the first to be overridden.

Senate leader Marc Basnight said that Easleys' protests of safety problems if too-wide boats are hauled on state roads, do not reflect the reality — that for years wide boats have been on state roads with few problems.

"If there is no problem, I see no reason for government to participate in creating a problem and to potentially damage the boat building industry is wrong," Basnight said.

Sen. Ed Jones, a retired state trooper, was the only legislator in either chamber to speak in favor of the veto.

"I felt like today the governor saw a mistake that we made by voting for this," said Jones, a Halifax County Democrat.

State Senate leader Marc Basnight wants to bring the legislature back to Raleigh to override Gov. Mike Easley’s veto of a bill allowing wider boat trailers on state roads at night.

Easley vetoed the bill on Sunday, saying it would be dangerous to let 9.5 foot wide boat and trailers travel after dark on roads and bridges as narrow as 18 feet. He warned of collisions with other wide boats, and with school buses on pre-dawn routes, reports Bruce Siceloff.

"He doesn’t impress me on this issue,” Basnight said Monday. “I would certainly be for an override. I believe the bill is valuable to the economy, and it’s a very safe, well-constructed piece of legislation.”

The measure originated in the House, so Basnight is waiting for House Speaker Joe Hackney to make the first move. A spokesman said Hackney is checking to see whether House members want to come back to Raleigh for an override vote or let the veto stand.

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Kay Hagan can thank redistricting for her budget-writing powers.

After a Republican lawsuit made its way to the Supreme Court, a Superior Court judge drew districts more favorable to the GOP that eventually put the Senate's three budget co-chairs out of office:

Sen. Aaron Plyer: After 14 terms in the Senate, the Monroe Democrat, was drawn into a district with just 35 percent Democrats. He chose not to run again and was replaced by then Rep. Fern Shubert.

Sen. Fountain Odom: A seven-term senator, Odom was drawn into a district with 32 percent Democrats. He lost an expensive race against Robert Pittenger, now a candidate for lieutenant governor.

Sen. Howard Lee: The former Chapel Hill mayor was forced to run against fellow Democratic Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, losing by 119 votes. He now heads the state Board of Education.

With the three budget writers gone, Senate leader Marc Basnight tapped three younger legislators: Hagan, Walter Dalton of Rutherfordton and Linda Garrou of Winston-Salem.

"She'll go outside of that box," Basnight said of Hagan. "She'll do a bang-up job."

North Carolina is sending more than 70 lawmakers and legislative staffers this week to the National Conference of State Legislature's annual meeting in New Orleans, where House Speaker Joe Hackney will be installed Thursday as president of the organization's executive committee.

The list includes 42 lawmakers, all but five of them House members. Senate leader Marc Basnight, a Manteo Democrat, is among the five senators, all of them Democrats. Five of the 37 House members are Republican, Dan Kane reports.

Thirty-two legislative staffers were planning to attend, though one of them, retiring Fiscal Research Director Lynn Muchmore, later decided to stay home.

Hackney's ascendancy may have drawn more interest among lawmakers to the annual meeting this year. In 2006, roughly 20 lawmakers attended the annual meeting in Nashville, and last year about 30 lawmakers went to the annual meeting in Boston, said Wesley Taylor, the legislature's financial services manager.

Expenses won't become available until after the lawmakers and staffers return and file expense reports, Taylor said.

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How is fundraising going in the lieutenant governor's race?

Campaign finance reports from both Democratic nominee Walter Dalton and Republican rival Robert Pittenger are in for the second quarter.

Here's a breakdown of the numbers:

Fundraising: Since the beginning of their campaigns, Pittenger has raised $1.9 million; Dalton, $1.5 million. But take out the $765,000 Pittenger has given his own campaign, and he only raised $1.2 million from others.

Cash on Hand: At the end of the second quarter, Pittenger had $316,000, while Dalton had $177,000. Pittenger has nearly double the money, but neither amount is all that impressive given how much TV ads are going to cost in November.

Spending: Pittenger spent $450,216 in the second quarter, while Dalton spent $637,602. Still, Dalton had more formidable opponents than Pittenger did, so this doesn't prove much. Both will need to keep their expenses down to afford TV ads.

Dalton is part of a powerful Senate clique led by Senate leader Marc Basnight, while Pittenger is sometimes forgotten by his own party's leaders. Still, neither is exactly a household name or has the kind of larger-than-life personality that will draw attention.

In a low-interest race like the lieutenant governor, that means the race may come down to who gets their name out better. For now, the numbers show a pretty even match, unless Pittenger continues to dig into his own pockets.

A campaign finance reform group has praised 21 legislators for their openness.

Democracy North Carolina identified a group of state lawmakers who are doing "a superior job" identifying occupations and employers of their donors on campaign finance forms.

Though candidates are required to make their best effort to identify all donors, many fall short, listing only names, dates and amounts.

The group singled out legislators who raised more than $15,000 and provided full information on 98 percent or more of donors, including Senate President Marc Basnight and House Speaker Joe Hackney, both Democrats.

From the House: Democrats Tricia Cotham, Jim Crawford, Margaret Dickson, Rick Glazier, Bruce Goforth, Deborah Ross, Russell Tucker, Jennifer Weiss and Verla Insko, and Republican David Lewis.

From the Senate: Democrats Charlie Albertson, Doug Berger, Linda Garrou, Clark Jenkins, A.B. Swindell and Republicans Pete Brunstetter, Neal Hunt, Richard Stevens and Jerry Tillman.

"It's crucial for the public to have the full picture about the candidates before they vote — and the pattern of where a campaign’s money comes from is an important part of that picture," said Kaitlin Stollbrink, an intern at Democracy North Carolina.

Senate leader Marc Basnight, right, and Dan Gerlach, senior budget adviser to Gov. Mike Easley, joke around in the Legislative Building while being photographed tonight after Basnight and House Speaker Joe Hackney announced in a joint news conference that  they have reached an agreement on a $21.3 billion state budget proposal.  (Staff photo by Ethan Hyman)