GOING CHILLY: Former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin didn't appreciate having to share a campaign bus with U.S. Sen. Richard Burr when she was stumping the state. Palin is scheduled to appear at Ft. Bragg next week to promote her book, which could make for an awkward moment if Burr shows to get a book signed.

POLITICAL PRENUP: Presidential candidate John Edwards offered to quit his campaign and endorse President Barack Obama in exchange for a guaranteed spot on the ticket. Hillary Clinton got the same offer. This reminds us of a time when Edwards' political value meant more than a cheap joke, such as this one.

LIGHTWEIGHT GOVERNOR: At a women's health conference, Gov. Bev Perdue shared stories about her days as a lawmaker when she would scarf a whole bag of Doritos. On a stage in front of a crowd, Perdue challenged her transportation secretary, Gene Conti, to slim down. Woe to any Perdue cabinet members who still smoke.

IN OTHER NEWS: Former Gov. Mike Easley's campaign manager appeared before a federal grand jury this week. Members of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission are heavy political contributors. An African American artist unveiled a portrait of U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms.

For all the hours they devote to hunting, fishing and other outdoors matters, many members of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission also give generously to their political patrons.

The commission's 19 current members and their spouses have donated $263,187 to the governors and state House and Senate leaders who appointed or reappointed them to their seats, a Charlotte Observer analysis of state campaign finance records found. They gave an additional $31,303 to the N.C. Democratic Party.

That's 16 times more than the $18,225 contributed by the 19 members of an arguably more powerful board, the Environmental Management Commission, who are appointed by the same political leaders. 

The question of "pay-to-play" politics on the wildlife commission, whose seats are among the most prized in the state, came up two weeks ago at a state elections board hearing on former Gov. Mike Easley's campaign.

A conservation group is asking Gov. Bev Perdue to investigate whether political campaign contributions and influence played a part in how members of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission got their seats.

The N.C. Wildlife Federation said testimony during the State Board of Elections hearing into former Gov. Mike Easley suggested that former commission member Gary Allen might have offered big donations to the N.C. Democratic Party. in exchange for keeping his seat on the commission, which regulates hunting and fishing.

"If these allegations prove true," said Tim Gestwicki, executive director of the federation, "We call upon Governor Perdue to immediately demand the resignations of any individuals who were appointed under such inappropriate circumstances. She should then appoint duly qualified, representative citizens to serve out any replaced terms."

The first day of the State Board of Elections hearing included plenty of big moments.

Here are four highlights of today's testimony.

HOUSE WORK: Gov. Mike Easley had problems with the renters in his Raleigh home. He asked his friend and political supporter, McQueen Campbell to take care of it. Twice Campbell fixed up the house at a cost of $11,000 or more. Campbell testified that when he asked Easley for money, he understood the governor wanted him to file a false invoice for a flight.

WASN'T ME: Easley's defense may be geared around putting blame on others. Easley's lawyer took pains to point out that Easley never told Campbell to falsify invoices and that Easley's campaign didn't pay for flights because Campbell never submitted invoices for them.

WISH LIST: Fundraiser Lanny Wilson briefed Easley on a host of helpful facts to get him ready for his meeting with Gary Allen, a Charlotte fundraiser. Easley needed to know that Allen wanted to keep his seat on the Wildlife Commission and was trying to get a permit for a boat dock. The meeting went well. Allen gave $50,000 to the N.C. Democratic Party.

PARTY MAN: Easley fundraisers said they were told by Easley's campaign that big checks given to the party would go to the Easley campaign. The message was delivered Wilson said, by Easley attorney and aide Ruffin Poole.

A eastern North Carolina developer, fundraiser and Board of Transportation member testified that he gave checks to the Democratic Party that he expected to be in turn given to former Gov. Mike Easley's campaign.

Lanny Wilson said he and his wife wrote checks to the Easley campaign and were told to re-write the checks for the N.C. Democratic Party.

"It was my understanding that they would flow through the state Democratic Party and the Easley Committee would pay expenses," Wilson said.

Wilson said representatives of the Easley campaign told him it was legal to write checks to the party that were meant for Easley.

State law limits contributions to a candidate to $4,000 per election cycle. There is no limit on contributions to a political party, but checks cannot be designated for a specific purpose.

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Joan Troy, who tangled with state wildlife commissioners when she was a state employee, lost her job last week due to budget cuts.

Troy, who worked 16 years for the state, including nine for the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, said she saw her RIF coming, because she had been marginalized at the office since the wildlife commissioners tried to fire her two years ago. 

"They wanted to bury me and make sure I had no contact with anyone," Troy said from her Raleigh home. "I was actually the only employee banned from attending commission meetings. I was expecting the RIF."

Gordon Myers, the commission's executive director, said there was no plan to oust Troy - that her's was one of 7.5 filled jobs the office had to eliminate because of a $4 million budget cut. In addition, 15 vacant positions were eliminated, he said. Division directors at the agency made the decisions, Myers said, and commissioners had no say in them. 

 In 2007, Troy's conflicts with commission members lead to the forced resignation of her boss, former executive director Dick Hamilton. 

Troy, whose job it was to propose and help implement the agency's rules, disagreed with commissioners on whether to ban boating within 100 feet of dams at nine lakes in the western part of the state. 

Commissioners failed in their attempts to fire her in 2007. Troy returned to the commission office, but she said her job description was rewritten. 

Gov. Beverly Perdue has sent a letter to her appointees on state boards and commissions reminding them that they must comply with the Open Meetings law.

The letter was sent just days after news stories concerning whether the Wildlife Resources Commission is obligated to hold its meetings in public, Rob Christensen reports.

Perdue writes that she has promised to operate her administration "under the umbrella of openness."

"I expect every state board and commission to set the same standard of openness and transparency and to fully comply with North Carolina's Open Meetings Act," Perdue said in a letter dated April 16th.

Included with the letter is a question and answer sheet on the Open Meetings Law prepared by the office of Attorney General Roy Cooper.

Perdue issued the letter just days after the N.C. Bowhunters Association complained about its lack of access to meetings of the wildlife commission, which governs hunting and fishing in the state.

Federal authorities are looking into a former land deal by Gov. Mike Easley, according to the company that marketed the property.

Easley purchased a lot in the Cannonsgate development for $549,880 at the end of 2005, according to property records. It was assessed at a tax value of $1.2 million a year later, though it would sell for less today.

Separate reports in 2006 by the Charlotte Observer and the Carolina Journal, a publication of the John Locke Foundation in Raleigh, compared the Easley sale with others nearby and concluded that he got a good deal.

The project was developed and marketed by brothers Randy and William Allen, whom Easley appointed to the state Wildlife Resources Commission. Another Easley appointee, transportation board member Lanny Wilson, helped finance the project with a $12.5 million loan.

All three were major campaign contributors to Easley. (N&O) 

Members of the state Wildlife Resources Commission discussed closing committee meetings to the public because they did not like what a bowhunting group was saying about the meetings.

Commission chairman Wes Seegars said Tuesday that the commission has always been committed to openness. But members did not appreciate what the N.C. Bowhunters Association had told its members about a proposal to alter the rules of deer hunting season.

"Our concern has just always been disseminate the correct information," Seegars said. "We don't have a problem with anybody sitting in and being a part of it."

The commission regulates hunting and fishing. Seegars said the state has some 800,000 licensed sportsmen and sportswomen.

Committee meetings, Seegars said, allow an open exchange, and discussion at a meeting doesn't necessarily mean an idea will become a change to the rules.

"Committee meetings are where we thrash around a lot of ideas," Seegars said.

After members of one of the commission's committees discussed extending gun hunting season into what had traditionally been bow hunting season, bowhunters flooded the commission with comments.

Seegars said that episode prompted commisison members to discuss closing committee meetings off to invited guests only. The discussion died down, Seegars said.

More after the jump.

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The N.C. Bowhunters Association and members of the state Wildlife Resources Commission have been in a feud about access to meetings.

The bowhunters group, which has about 1,400 members, wants to be assured of access to the commission's committee meetings. Commission members and staff have previously said that those committee meetings are not covered by the state open meetings law and that committee chairmen have the discretion to invite visitors.

But the commission has apparently now reversed itself. A person who has submitted public comments to the commission forwarded an e-mail message sent Thursday to "Wildlife Stakeholders," in which commission chairman Wes Seegars said that all committee meetings will be announced publicly.

It's at those committee meetings, said Ramon Bell, president of the bowhunters association, where the decisions are really made.

"When they have these committee of the whole meetings and commission meetings, generally, they just have a show of hands. It's not really a meeting," Bell said. "It's already pretty much engraved in stone at that point."

Earlier this week, Seegars told The Insider, a state government news service, that he only tried to make association members understand that some of their tactics damaged their credibility. "Anytime we had a disagreement with them, they would take it personally," Seegars told The Insider. "They have been incensed over this stuff and I don't know why."

More after the jump.

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