Among Triangle Congressmen, Rep. Bob Etheridge has the deepest pockets.

Etheridge, a Democrat from Lillington, has $895,137 on hand, according to the latest report filed with the Federal Election Commission. Etheridge had raised $326,561 during the first six months of the year, including $212,164 from political committees, reports Rob Christensen.

Among Etheridge’s major donors are the International Union of Operating Engineers, Smithfield Foods, the trial lawyers, Farm Credit association, Wyrick Robbins Yates law firm, McGuire Wood law firm, Progress Energy, beer wholesalers, Committee for Rural Electrification, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Committee for the Advancement of Southeast Cotton, Wine and Spirits Wholesalers, and Becton Dickenson.

Rep. Brad Miller, a Democrat from Raleigh, reported having $70,654 on hand. During the past six months he raised $119,704 including $62,700 from PACs. Among his larger donors was the American Association for Justice, Farm Credit Association, the United Auto Workers, United Association (building tradesmen) Raytheon Corp, National Community Pharmacists and the Airline Pilots.

Rep. David Price, a Democrat from Chapel Hill, reported having $271,619 on hand. He reported raising $59,631 during the first months including $52,000 from PACs. Those included United Parcel, John Deere, Airline Pilots Association, the trial lawyers, Honeywell International, Motorola, Deloitte & Touche and CSX Transportation.

Attorney General Roy Cooper raised $2.8 million in his successful re-election campaign.

Cooper, a Democrat, reported raising $282,193 from Oct. 19 to the end of the year, according to campaign finance disclosures.

Cooper's largest contributors for the quarter included Charles Barker, chief executive of Concord-based ACN, Inc., a telecommunications company; Thomas Belk, chief executive of the Belk department store, Jim and Ann Goodnight; and Michael DeMayo, a Charlotte lawyer.

Cooper also received significant contributions from committees affiliated with Citigroup, GlaxoSmithKline and Smithfield Foods.

Cooper spent $2.5 million on his run for Attorney General. He has $367,000 left in his campaign account.

Will Smithfield hams get pulled from the shelves? 

The Washington, D.C., City Council today will talk about whether to ask area supermarkets to stop stocking bacon, ham and other foods from a North Carolina company that some say mistreats its workers.

Eight members of the 13-member council plan to introduce a Sense of the Council resolution accusing Smithfield Foods of creating an environment of “intimidation and fear for workers who desperately want a voice on the job” at its slaughterhouse and meat-packing plant in Tar Heel, N.C., Barb Barrett reports.

The City Council resolution will be referred to committee, which will later hold a hearing before casting a vote.

The resolution is part of a continuing public relations effort by the United Food and Commercial Workers union to criticize Smithfield. The union has been trying to organize the plant in Tar Heel for years and has been publicizing worker injuries and what it calls intimidation practices against workers there.

A similar resolution passed last fall in Prince George's County, Md., a Washington suburb. The union also has launched a $200,000 advertising campaign against Smithfield with ads on area buses and in the subway.

Smithfield defends its record and says it is the union, not the company, that has intimidated workers.

The company also owns a meat-packing plant in nearby Landover, Md., which is unionized.

Richard Moore received $105,965 from political action committees since 2005.

According to campaign finance reports filed since his 2004 re-election as state treasurer, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate received donations from 45 PACs.

He received $4,000 apiece from ACS, Bank of America, BB&T, Wachovia, Central Carolina Radioloigsts, Coca-Cola, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the Harnett Citizens PAC, Kennedy Covington, the N.C. Hospital Association, Replacements Ltd., Southeastern Radiology Organization, the Nationwide Carolina Political Participation Fund, the National Good Government Fund.

He received $3,965 from the Pike Electric PAC, $3,500 from the Capital Area Radiologic Association, $3,000 apiece from Corning employees' PAC and Genworth Financial, and $2,200 from Piedmont Stone Center.

He received $2,000 from the Ashland/APAC North Carolina PAC, CCHTA, GlaxoSmithKline, the N.C. Automobile Dealers Association, the N.C. Realtors Association, Pfizer, Sandhills Anesthesiologists, PBSJ Corp., the South Financial Group, United Health Services and Wal-Mart. 

He received $1,500 from Piedmont Natural Gas.

Other donors included Duke Energy, First Citizens Bank, Marqim, the N.C. Association of Convenience Stores, Smithfield Foods, the N.C. Bar Association and the N.C. Beer and Wine Wholesalers Association. 

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards took on pork giant Smithfield Foods today, calling the company an abuser of its North Carolina employees.

Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, said management at the company's plant in Tar Heel, in Bladen County, denies its workers clean water, forces them to work in dangerous conditions and quashes their attempts to organize as part of a union, reports Kristin Collins.

Edwards stood in front of a group of Tar Heel plant employees. He spent the morning talking with the workers in a closed meeting.

"When workers are organized, when they speak with one voice, the kinds of conditions I've heard about today don't exist," Edwards said.

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards plans to meet Thursday with workers who are trying to organize a union at Smithfield Foods.

The former North Carolina senator is scheduled to meet privately with the workers to support their effort to organize.

Edwards has courted labor leaders in his campaign. Smithfield, whose pork slaughterhouse in Bladen County is the world's largest, has faced criticism about working conditions.

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union has been trying to organize workers at the plant for several years.