N.C. Spin has heard some of the same gossip as Dome.

The weekly politics newsletter seconds some of the names we've heard tossed around for Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue's administration.

(Those would be Bryan Beatty and Scott Thomas for Crime Control; Crandall Bowles at Commerce; Clark Jenkins, Gene Conti and Lanny Wilson at Transportation; and Dempsey Benton, Bill Ross and Britt Cobb to stay.)

They also toss out some new names:

Cultural Resources: Kay Myers, wife of former state transportation board member and Democratic fundraiser Gordon Myers of Asheville.

Education: Howard Lee to remain chair of the board of education and J.B. Buxton to remain advisor to the governor on education.

Commerce: Former deputy Tony Copeland, now working for Longistics in Raleigh.

Environment and Natural Resources: Current assistant secretary Robin Smith, Richard Rogers and former UNC-Wilmington chancellor Jim Leutze.

Administration: Rep. Alma Adams of Greensboro.

Employment Security Commission: Current head Harry Payne to remain.

Office of State Personnel: Rep. Linda Coleman of Knightdale.

The usual caveat applies that the above names are just gossip. The Perdue transition team says the governor-elect has not made any decisions.

Richard Rogers, an assistant secretary at the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, was hired Monday as the new executive director of the Clean Water Management Trust Fund.

Rogers succeeds Bill Holman, who left in December to be a visiting scholar at Duke University. Rogers will start Aug. 1 and receive a salary of $125,000 a year, Wade Rawlins reports.

The trust fund, an independent state agency, awards $100 million a year in grants to help finance projects statewide that enhance or restore degraded waters and protect unpolluted waters.

Rogers has worked at the department for 13 years in various roles from legislative analyst to lobbyist to director of conservation and community affairs.

"Richard has demonstrated leadership in protection of North Carolina's natural resources through his work with the land trust community, local governments and of course state agencies," said Phil Baddour, chairman of the trust fund.