Pat McCrory opposes making community college free.

During the Democratic gubernatorial primary, state Treasurer Richard Moore proposed offering North Carolina's high-school graduates two years of community college free.

His rival, Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, later announced a plan to expand existing grants for community college students to essentially provide free tuition.

Immediately after the primary, McCrory countered Perdue, saying he would not offer free community college tuition, according to a May 8 article in the Charlotte Observer:

"Nothing is free. The teachers aren't going to work for free. The building's not free. The textbook's aren't free. I'm going to tell the truth. What I'm going to do is put together an education program that tries to get people jobs."

McCrory again criticized the plan while touring a Charlotte business.

A recent ad by a Democratic group attacked McCrory for not supporting the proposal, citing the Charlotte article.

Beverly Perdue has opened up a wider lead.

According to a recent survey by Democratic firm Public Policy Polling, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee had 46 percent support, Republican Pat McCrory had 37 percent and Libertarian Mike Munger had six percent.

Eleven percent were undecided.

Perdue's support was higher than in previous polls by the firm and others, where she has barely edged McCrory. Pollsters said that could be due to former rival Richard Moore's recent endorsement.

"Some of Richard Moore’s former supporters who may have contemplated crossing over to support McCrory appear to be heading back toward the Democratic camp," said president Dean Debnam.

The autoamted survey of 823 likely voters was taken July 23-27. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

It's not exactly signing up with the enemy.

But the former deputy campaign manager for unsuccessful Democratic gubernatorial candidate Richard Moore has taken a new job with some unusual connections.

Julie White, best known among reporters for her hard-driving persuasive efforts and her fact-finding efforts at work, is joining the N.C. Metropolitan Coalition.

The advocacy group was founded in the late 1990s, but was notably revitalized in 2000 by Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory and others.

Who, it almost goes without saying, is running for governor against Moore's old rival, Beverly Perdue.

"Ms. White's energy, enthusiasm, and experience will be of great benefit to the Coalition as we advocate for livable, environmentally sound, and economically viable urban areas," said Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy in a statement.

White starts Aug. 18. 

More than half of Democratic senators gave to Beverly Perdue.

According to campaign finance reports, 18 of the 31 state senators from the gubernatorial nominee's party have made donations to her since her re-election in 2004. They range from $250 to several thousand dollars.

In all, she received $33,210 from Democratic senators.

The donations are significant because as lieutenant governor, Perdue runs the state Senate. Among North Carolina Democrats, state senators have seen her in action the most.

Most gave from their campaign committees. 

The biggest donor was Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, who gave a total of $8,000. Sen. Dan Clodfelter gave $4,500, Sen. Clark Jenkins gave $4,000, Sens. Julia Boseman and Linda Garrou gave $3,000, and Sen. William Purcell gave $2,000.

More after the jump.

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A judge has dismissed a public records lawsuit against Richard Moore.

Superior Court Judge Jim Hardin entered a dismissal motion Monday in Wake County Superior Court on the lawsuit, which alleged that Moore had withheld public records, the Associated Press reports.

The suit was filed by the State Employees Association of North Carolina during the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Moore called the lawsuit politically motivated and said he had provided all the requested documents.

Hardin wrote that the group failed to state the elements of its claim under the public records law.

Last month, Moore's attorney accused SEANC of attempting to bribe him in return for dropping the lawsuit. SEANC's lawyers said that accusation was preposterous.

Moore lost the May 6 primary, and endorsed Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue on Wednesday.

Update: SEANC Executive Director Dana Cope said the organization's governing board will decide what to do next. Cope said he will recommend an appeal.

"We'll always continue to advocate for state employees' retirement security and open government and holding our state officials accountable," Cope said.

 Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated the reason for Hardin's dismissal.

Richard Moore has endorsed Beverly Perdue.

In an e-mail to supporters today, the former candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor endorsed his opponent. 

"As you know, Bev Perdue and I had a tough, spirited primary campaign," he said in the e-mail. "And while the outcome was not what we had hoped for, one thing is clear: the differences between Bev Perdue and me pale in comparison to our differences with Pat McCrory." 

Arguing the state is "at a crossroads," he says Perdue will work for better public schools, health care for "every child in the state" and energy security. The e-mail includes a link to Perdue's site, where donations can be made.

The e-mail came 71 days after the May 6 primary, 70 days after Gov. Mike Easley endorsed Perdue and the failed Republican candidates endorsed GOP nominee Pat McCrory, and 36 days after Moore told reporters he would support her campaign.

Moore has also taken down his YouTube channel, which featured negative videos of Perdue. 

The State Employees Association of North Carolina has taken its case to the newspapers, again.

In a full-page color ad in the front section of today's N&O, the state workers group promotes a House bill that would transfer control of the state pension away from the state treasurer to a board appointed by the governor and legislative leaders.

"Q: Why does the North Carolina retirement system need reform?" the ad says, above a photo of a mournful-looking couple. "A: $4 billion lost in 4 months."

The ad cites a May 30 story in the Triangle Business Journal that noted the value of the pension fund for state workers and teachers dropped from $43 to $38 billion in the first quarter of 2008 due to the drop in the stock market.

In an interview, SEANC spokeswoman Toni Davis would not say whether the pension fund lost value because of mismanagement by Moore or just a poor economy.

"All that we are saying with that ad is that we woud like for the General Assembly to consider legislation that would have an investment board rather than a state treasurer," she said.

State Treasurer Richard Moore's office said that the ad was "irresponsible scare tactics."

"It is unfortunate that SEANC continues to scare retirees and public workers about their pension fund," said spokeswoman Sara Lang in a statement. "North Carolina's pension fund is one of the best in the country, and our conservative investment strategy means that members can count on their benefits to be there for them."

It cost around $9,500 to run the ad.

The head of a state workers' group said claims of bribery are "crazy allegations."

Dana Cope, president of the State Employees Association of North Carolina, told Dome after a hearing today that he was involved in an offer by attorney Tom Harris to drop a public records lawsuit if state Treasurer Richard Moore would back a bill.

He said that the records request was directly related to the bill, which would transfer the treasurer's role in managing the state pension fund to a board of trustees.

"The only reason why we sought the public information request is to make an independent determination is there a pay-for-play going on," he said. "If that is true, that would help us obtain a statutory change that we filed last legislative session in order to reform the system like every other state in the country."

He said Moore's attorney, Kieran Shanahan, was trying to "take the public's eye off the ball."

"Shanahan shenanigans are in play here," he said.

Judge Jim Hardin did not make a ruling on the allegation or the motion to dismiss the case today.

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.