State Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler doesn't want department employees taking gifts from contractors, either.

The agriculture department intends to "comply with the spirit and intent" of the executive order Gov. Beverly Perdue signed Thursday, said Brian Long, a department spokesman.

The department is going to tell employees not to take gifts, but some of the details Perdue laid out in her order, such as getting everyone to certify in writing that they know about the ban, may present logistical problems and take time to accomplish, Long said.

"The intent of the order is certainly something we're going to comply with," Long said. "Certainly, we should not be taking gifts."

The N.C. Agriculture Department allowed a deputy director to use a state vehicle to commute to Raleigh from Reidsville, without reimbursement, for three years, according to the State Auditor's Office.

A management letter from auditor Beth Wood, a Democrat, found that Patrick Jones, a deputy director of the Pesticide Section was driving his state car to Raleigh four days a week, a financial benefit of $36,546. Wood's office was tipped about the car though the office's anonymous hotline.

State workers are allowed commuting privileges if the employee works from home. For that designation, and its exemption from having to pay back the state to apply, the employee cannot drive to Raleigh more than twice a week.

Wood's letter recommended that Jones be required to repay the state.

In a response, Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler, a Republican, downplayed the case, saying that Jones and his supervisor intended for Jones to rarely drive to Raleigh. But the department's involvement in the Ag-Mart pesticide case required him to be in Raleigh more often.

More after the jump.

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N.C. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler wants Republicans to use the recent tobacco regulation votes to unseat Democrats.

Troxler, a Republican, told his state party's convention that Democrats, who control both the state legislature and Congress, were to blame for recent votes in Raleigh in favor of raising cigarette taxes and banning smoking in restaurants and bars, as well as a congressional vote to let the Food and Drug Administration regulate the golden leaf, Rob Christensen reports.

"These things don't happen," Troxler told the crowd, "if you elect consevative people to office."

Steve Troxler is not calling it "swine flu."

The state agriculture commissioner has told staff that he thinks the name for the influenza virus currently being tracked by health officials is a "misnomer."

"At this point, we've not found any evidence of it being in swine," said assistant director Andrea Ashby.

Internally, the state Department of Agriculture is referring to the official name of the virus, H1N1.

In a press release Monday, it called it the "swine influenza virus H1N1."

But a summary on the department's home page refers only to its technical name.

"At this time, no pigs in the United States have been found to be infected or sick with the H1N1 flu virus," the message reads.

Previously: N.C. Pork Council doesn't like "swine" flu.

Every state politician who submitted a bracket won.

Since the six state politicians — and President Obama — picked Carolina to win the NCAA championship, they all get points.

Still, they all got the No. 2 team wrong, choosing either Louisville, Memphis or Connecticut to also make it to the final game, instead of Michigan State.

Their bracket scores (out of 193):

Gov. Beverly Perdue: 135
Secretary of State Elaine Marshall: 134
Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin: 124
Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton: 121
Sen. Richard Burr: 118
Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler: 64

Obama and Sen. Kay Hagan also picked Carolina to win.

Tobacco growers told Congress their industry is under siege.

State Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler joined a chorus of North Carolina farmers who said that tobacco manufacturing jobs are "under siege" from tax increases at a hearing in the House agriculture committee.

"The last thing North Carolina, or any state, needs right now is more lost jobs," Troxler said.

The state's tobacco crop was worth $686 million last year, and the industry pumped $24 billion into the economy with more than 10,000 jobs.

The farmers oppose a bill that would give the Food and Drug Administration oversight over tobacco. They back an alternative proposed by Sens. Kay Hagan and Richard Burr that would create a new agency. 

Rep. Mike McIntyre said the goal is to keep regulators off farms.

"The last thing we want is for government bureaucrats to be coming on the farm," he said. (Char-O)

Steve Troxler will speak to Congress Thursday.

The Republican state agriculture commissioner will testify before the House Subcommittee on Rural Development about the potential impact of federal regulation of tobacco on farmers.

He was invited by U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre, a Lumberton Democrat who chairs the subcommittee.

Congress is considering a bill to allow the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco. An alternative proposed by Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan would create a new agency.

Troxler will speak at 10 a.m.

The brackets are in.

After the success of last year's gubernatorial March Madness, we at Dome asked all of North Carolina's statewide elected officials to submit brackets.

Several turned them in, while others said they ran out of time.

* Gov. Beverly Perdue picked Carolina over Louisville, 88-81, in the men's tournament, and Carolina over Connecticut, 84-83, in the women's tournament.

* U.S. Sen. Richard Burr picked Carolina over Memphis, 84-78, in the men's tournament.

* Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton picked Carolina over Memphis, 92-84, in the men's tournament.

* Secretary of State Elaine Marshall picked Carolina over Connecticut, 86-81, in the men's tournament.

* Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler picked Pittsburgh over Memphis, 72-68, in the men's tournament.

* Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin picked Carolina over Louisville, 84-81, in the men's tournament.

Previously: Obama picks Carolina over Louisville.

Correction: Perdue's bracket picks from last year were mistakenly listed in an earlier version of this post.

Update: In radio interviews today, Sen. Kay Hagan picked Carolina, Wake Forest, Duke and Connecticut for the Final Four, with the Tar Heels winning the championship.

It is perhaps North Carolina's folksiest cliche: Don't eat your seed corn.

After its latest appearance in Gov. Beverly Perdue's State of the State speech tonight, Dome did a little research in state newspaper archives on the saying.

The cliche refers to the corn used for seeds for next year's crop — it might be tasty now, but you would starve tomorrow. It is generally used by state pols to refer to foolishly cutting a program that will be needed in the future.

A few recent examples:

* In February, Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler called agricultural research the "seed corn" of the industry.

* In January, community college president Scott Ralls used it while telling the story of a nursing instructor who quit teaching to go back to work.

* In November, Wachovia CEO Bob Steel told Perdue at a public forum that education is the "seed corn for everything that's needed for the future."

Among other things, basic research funding has been called the seed corn for future technology; recruits in Iraq and Afghanistan, the future military; open space, future tourism; principal in the escheats fund, future scholarship money; freshmen footballers, future ACC eligible players; fish harvested before reproducing, future food supply; copyright law, future artistic endeavors; and Central Piedmont Community College, the future labor force.

Still, education and agriculture seem to be the most popular references.

In fact, Gov. Mike Easley used the same line in his 2007 State of the State speech.

"Progress is not always about planting new crops, it is often about tending the current harvest and increasing the yield," he said. "Now, having said that, I did bring a little seed corn with me tonight, just in case."

The Council of State members can drop the "elect" now.

In order of the creation of their offices, the nine statewide elected officials took their oaths of office: Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin, Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry, Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler, Attorney General Roy Cooper, Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson, Treasurer Janet Cowell, Auditor Beth Wood, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and Lieutenant Governor Walter Dalton.