Helping a company get incentives?

You don't necessarily have to register as a lobbyist.

A spokeswoman for the N.C. Department of Commerce said that under their reading of state laws, lobbying does not include assisting companies applying for financial incentives with the One North Carolina or JDIG programs.

"'Lobbying' is the attempt to influence legislative or executive action," Kathy Neal wrote in an e-mail to Dome. "'Executive action' specifically does not include a person (or the person's consultant) communicating with a public servant with respect to applying for a determination of eligibility (such as for incentives), or making an inquiry about or asserting a benefit, claim, right, entitlement, payment, etc."

The N.C. Secretary of State's office, which is the arbiter for lobbying registration, said that it would depend on the consultant's role. In some cases, the registration would not become public until after the incentives are approved.

That interpretation did not sit well with Bob Orr, a former state Supreme Court justice who is fighting the state's incentives system through the N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law.

"If they don't have to register as a lobbyist, they ought to," he said.  "It would seem to me if you're negotiating to get taxpayer money from a government agency, then that's lobbying."

Campbell University is moving its law school to downtown Raleigh.

The Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law will move to 225 Hillsborough St., a building owned by a company held by former state legislator Art Pope, according to a letter from Jimmy Barnes of NAI Carolantic Realty to tenants.

Campbell President Jerry M. Wallace visited the building this afternoon, along with other school officials and a photographer, tenants said.

Current tenants include the N.C. Sheriff's Association, the N.C. Technology Association, the Bob Orr gubernatorial campaign and several nonprofits that Pope helps fund: the N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law, the Civitas Institute and Americans for Prosperity's state chapter.

According to the letter, the sale is expected to be final by early March, and renovations will begin next summer.

Bob Orr thinks the Highway Trust Fund should just be used for transportation.

The former Supreme Court justice, who is running for the Republican nomination for governor, said he opposes the annual transfer of $170 million from the trust fund to the state's general fund.

"You don't call it a trust fund for nothing," he said. "I don't think any of that money should be used for anything other than transportation."

As head of the N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law, Orr helped persuade the state Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling that taxpayers did not have standing to challenge the constitutionality of the transfer of funds.

He said Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beverly Perdue's recent opposition to the transfer in a TV interview is a little late.

"Frankly, the lieutenant governor's comment comes about seven years too late," he said.

Previously: Perdue says she would end the annual transfer; Richard Moore says that alternatives should be found if the money is taken out of the general fund.

Bob Orr has raised more than $100,000 since January.

But he's also spent much of it on consulting fees and staff salaries, according to his most recent campaign finance report on the State Board of Elections Web site.

In his fundraising, the former Supreme Court justice has tapped a number of lawyers, including former Supreme Court Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake, UNC-Chapel Hill law professor Ronald Link and prominent Cary attorney Brent Barringer.

Former state legislator Art Pope, who helped start the advocacy group where Orr used to work, gave $2,000, and his wife, Katherine, gave $3,000.

But Orr has also spent $79,500, including $25,000 to a Raleigh firm owned by E. Whitney Jones for advice on fundraising and $12,800 to Keyes Management of Asheboro.

That left him with $27,726 on hand at the end of the June reporting period.

The Eight Ball is magic, but its warranty is limited.

So we won't haul it out to test this claim on former N&O columnist Dan Gearino's new blog:

Eventually, one of the challenges to industry-recruitment incentives will succeed.

Gearino predicts that the N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law's challenge to Google incentives will fail, as did its challenge to Dell, "because courts are all about precedent."

But, "at some point," Gearino writes that the "social gag reflex" will kick in and "a court somewhere" will decide that huge tax breaks for corporations violate the spirit of equal protection under the law.

That may be, but it's beyond the power of the Eight Ball to test. That's Harry Potter magic.

Clarification: The Dell suit is still on appeal. 

A Raleigh group is suing over Google.

The N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law filed a lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court alleging that tax breaks given to the California-based company violate the state constitution.

Google will receive an estimated $90 million over 30 years for locating a server farm in Caldwell County. (N&O)

In May, a Wake Superior Court judge dismissed a similar lawsuit by the nonprofit over tax incentives for the Dell computer company.

The lawsuit has reverberations for the governor's race. The former head of the institute, former Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr, is running for the Republican nomination. (TBJ)

And the lawsuit was filed on behalf of Mike Munger, a Duke University political science professor seeking the Libertarian nomination; Barbara Howe, a former Libertarian gubernatorial candidate, and concerned citizen Mark Cares. (Char-O)

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly named the county.