Gov. Mike Easley has nominated Bryan Beatty to the N.C. Utilities Commission.

Beatty has served as secretary of the N.C. Department of Crime Control and Public Safety under Easley since 2001, overseeing the State Highway Patrol, the Division of Alcohol Law Enforcement and the Emergency Management Division, among other agencies.

"Bryan Beatty's dedication and integrity is unmatched in government," Easley said in a statement. "No matter what job he has held, he has always put the best interests of the state of North Carolina and her people first. I know he will continue to do so as a member of this commission."

Beatty had been angling to continue as secretary or in another position under Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue, but recently announced that he would instead leave for a new post.

The Utilities Commission regulates the rates and services of the state's public utilities, including telephone, electric, natural gas, wastewater, buses and ferryboats.

The governor appoints all seven members to eight-year terms, but they must be confirmed by the legislature. Other members appointed by Easley are Howard Lee, Bill Culpepper, Lorinzo Little Joyner, Sam Ervin IV, Robert Owens, and Chairman Edward Finley.

The appointment will fill one of two openings on the board.

Ervin will leave the board to join the N.C. Court of Appeals on Dec. 31. Jim Kerr left the board on Aug. 31.

N.C. Court of Appeals candidate Kristin Ruth said today that she has returned roughly $13,000 in public money given to her campaign through a quirk in the state's election laws.

"This was an unintended consequence of North Carolina's excellent system of public financing that led to an unnecessary expenditure of public money," Ruth said in a news release.

Ruth, a Wake County District Court judge, called on her opponent in the election, Sam Ervin IV to also return an equal sum given to him, Dan Kane reports. Ervin, a Morganton lawyer and utilities commissioner, could not be immediately reached for comment.

Both candidates are Democrats vying for one of five contested appeals court seats. The races are supposed to be nonpartisan and nearly all of the candidates have opted for public financing. Judges are supposed to be impartial, so the nonpartisan, publicly funded campaigns are intended to take the focus away from politics and remove the possibility of judges being beholden to campaign donors.

But last week, the N.C. Democratic Party decided to jump into the races by spending roughly $13,000 on the Democratic candidates for the appeals court and the N.C. Supreme Court. The money went towards a widely distributed mailer and advertising in newspapers that predominately serve African-American readers.

Such outside expenditures trigger what are known as public "rescue" funds to the opponents to prevent an unfair advantage. But since Ruth and Ervin oppose each other, they received the rescue funds, even though equally benefited from the party's spending.

That means the public would have been spending $26,000 unnecessarily. Ruth's decision cuts that amount by half.

"In keeping with my years of working to save money within the court system, I am returning these funds to the taxpayers," she said.

Update: Ervin later today said he too would not accept the rescue funds.

He added that he is also turning down another $3,000 in rescue funds that election officials had told him were on the way.

He was unsure what triggered those funds.

"I received a call from a reporter today saying that my opponent has apparently decided to return the rescue funds that our campaigns received last week," Ervin said. "I intend to do the same. Also, my campaign was notified this afternoon that the state is dispersing another check to my campaign for about $3,000 in additional rescue funds. I have instructed my campaign to return the check as soon as we receive it." 

The recent payment of roughly $13,000 each in public "rescue funds" to six state appellate court judicial candidates exposed a quirk in the public financing laws.

Spending by the N.C. Democratic Party for mailers and newspaper ads triggered the spending. The races are nonpartisan and nearly all the candidates have opted for public financing. That means outside spending triggers the rescue funds to prevent a competitive disadvantage, Dan Kane reports.

The quirk is that two of the judicial candidates who received the rescue funds — Kristin Ruth and Sam Ervin IV — benefited from the Democratic Party's spending. But since they face each other for an N.C. Court of Appeals seat, state law requires they each receive the rescue funds to make up for the party's spending on the opponent.

That means roughly $26,000 in public money is being spent to aid two candidates who had received the same benefit from the Democratic Party.

State election officials said they were only following the law in providing the funds, but they said lawmakers ought to give the provision a second look.

Rep. Deborah Ross, a Raleigh Democrat and vice chairwoman of the House Election Law and Campaign Finance Reform Committee, agreed.

"I think that the rescue provision was not written with the intent to provide additional money to candidates who are facing each other and who have both benefited by the positive, identical message paid for by the same third party," she said.

The N.C. Police Benevolent Association has made its primary endorsements.

The group, which represents law enforcement officers around the state, has endorsed Beverly Perdue for governor, Hampton Dellinger for lieutenant governor and Janet Cowell for state treasurer.

In judicial races, it endorsed Associate Justice Bob Edmunds for re-election to his Supreme Court seat, Cheri Beasley, Linda Stephens, Sam J. Ervin IV, Jim Wynn and John Arrowood for the state Court of Appeals.

In Congressional races, it endorsed U.S. Reps. Walter Jones and Brad Miller.

Endorsements were made after a recent screening of 25 candidates.

"The candidates were asked questions on issues vitally important to the law enforcement profession and public safety," the group wrote in a press release. "Many outstanding candidates were in attendance."