An attorney on Monday filed notice of his intent to sue Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue and her campaign on behalf of an insurance broker caught in the crossfire between Perdue and her rival for the Democratic nomination for governor, state Treasurer Richard Moore.

Raleigh attorney Gene Boyce said his client, State Insurance Services, is seeking unspecified monetary damages for defamation and unfair trade practices, Dan Kane reports.

Perdue's campaign ran a television ad for several days earlier this month alleging that State Insurance Services had won a contract from Moore's office to market insurance policies to retirees because the company's principals had given "huge" contributions to Moore's campaigns. The ad also said that retirees were overcharged for the policies.

The company said it won the business through a competitive request for proposals seven years ago, and that a small percentage of retirees were overcharged in cases of mistaken billings that were later cleared up.

Perdue's campaign could not be reached for comment. The campaign ended the TV ad by Wednesday, shortly after Boyce complained about it, but a campaign spokesman continued to stand by its claims. The next day Perdue said she would not run any more negative ads for the remainder of the primary contest.

Boyce said no lawsuit would have been filed if the Perdue campaign had retracted the TV ad and apologized for its claims.

"I don't know why they never responded to me," he said.

Previously: Fact-checking Perdue's ad.

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that Boyce had already filed a lawsuit.

Update: David Kochman, a spokesman for Perdue's campaign, said this afternoon: "We stand by the content of our ad, and will review any of the legal documents they send to us."

State Insurance Services is demanding Beverly Perdue pull a TV ad.

In the ad, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate says that state Treasurer Richard Moore awarded a contract to allow the company to market insurance products to state and local government retirees because its principals have raised money for his campaign.

The ad also says that retirees are being overcharged.

"It goes so far beyond being just misleading," said Allen Thomas, a Wilson lawyer and a principal of State Insurance Services. "I haven't found very much in here that's accurate." 

The company's attorney sent a "cease and desist" letter to Perdue's campaign Friday. They responded in an e-mail that the ad's run would end "early next week," but spokesman David Kochman said the campaign stands behind it.

"Richard Moore gave a sweetheart deal to his political contributors -- that's what this is about," he said. (N&O)

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beverly Perdue's latest ad attacks rival Richard Moore for giving a private company access to information about state retirees, Dan Kane reports.

What the ad says: "It's a scandal. Richard Moore gave the private addresses of state retirees to an insurance broker. Moore even used government stationery to endorse their product. Seniors got overcharged. The insurance broker got rich. And Moore got huge campaign contributions. The honest choice for Democrats is Bev Perdue. She's endorsed by teachers, nurses, sheriffs, police and law enforcement because she’s for us."

The background: The ad evolves from a story by The News & Observer on Feb. 23 that reported how State Insurance Services continued to get the names of retirees from the State Treasurer's Office after a new state law had closed off that information to nearly everyone else. Moore said the insurance broker was entitled to the list because it won the right to market insurance products to retirees through a competitive process seven years ago. As a result, he has a duty to inform retirees of those products. Officials with State Insurance Services say they paid for the letters. After the story, Moore stopped giving the list to the company.

Perdue does not prove that State Insurance Services "got rich" from this contract. E-mail messages from the Treasurer's Office indicate that a small percentage of retirees were erroneously overcharged. The e-mail messages also show that the retirees have been reimbursed.

Perdue's campaign says that Moore has received $60,000 in campaign contributions since 2000 from people associated with State Insurance Services. Moore's campaign says his gubernatorial campaign has received $15,500 in contributions from people affiliated with the company.

State Insurance Services is owned by several people who have made contributions and or raised money for Moore in past campaigns. One of the company's principals, Wilson County Sheriff Wayne Gay, is a fundraiser for Moore’s gubernatorial campaign. Moore has not disclosed how much Gay has raised.

Is the ad accurate? Though some facts are correct, others are unproven or exaggerated.

It's a subjective call whether the issue qualifies as a scandal. It’s not clear that State Insurance Services "got rich."

The ad also suggests that Moore did something out of the ordinary in providing the addresses of state retirees to an insurance broker. That only became an issue when a poorly worded law took effect. Though it's routine for state agencies to select preferred insurance providers through a competitive process, Moore has provided little information showing how State Insurance Services won the contract.

Richard Moore said today that he has shut off a politically-connected insurance broker's access to the addresses of state and local government retirees after other companies and employee associations complained about their lack of access.

The state treasurer said in a statement that he suspended providing State Insurance Services of Raleigh with the lists on Friday, the same day that he wrote a letter to the attorney general asking for clarification on a recent change to the personnel law that affected the treasurer's ability to release pension information, Dan Kane reports.

An assistant attorney general had determined that the new law prevented the release of retirees' addresses unless it was to a vendor that does business with the Treasurer's Office.

State Insurance Services won the right to offer supplemental insurance products in 2001 after an internal committee evaluated several brokers, said Michael Dupree, a former Butner Public Safety director and state trooper who served on the committee. Dupree now works part time for the Treasurer's Office.

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State Treasurer Richard Moore said today that he has asked the Attorney General's office to take a second look at a new law that has led to the "unintended consequence" of just one insurance company having access to the addresses of roughly 200,000 state and local retirees to sell supplemental insurance policies.

That firm, State Insurance Services of Raleigh, is a politically-connected company that includes two men who have raised money for Moore in previous election campaigns, and a third who is a fundraiser for him in his bid for governor, reports Dan Kane. Moore made his plans official today by filling out the necessary paperwork with the State Board of Elections.

"We've already asked them specifically to look at the address pieces to say are you sure we can't give out addresses to anybody that wants them or to a broader list of folks, and we await their answer," Moore said.

Read more after the jump.

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