BOWTIE PASTA: Maggiano's in Durham was among the many restaurants Raleigh Rep. Ty Harrell has dined at the expense of his campaign account. Those expenditures have led to an audit by the State Board of Elections and an ethics investigation in the House. Harrell, who is being divorced by his wife, has moved in with a friend. Problem is, the friend lives outside Harrell’s district. Hint: the state-issued legislative license plate is a dead give away.

BACK AWAY FROM THE CHILDREN: President Barack Obama’s plan to give students across the nation a back-to-school pep talk generated quite a furor among parents who worried that the president was trying to indoctrinate the nation’s youth. The administration did walk back a proposed lesson plan that asked children to talk about how they could help the president. In the end, the speech was as useful for adults (set goals, take care of yourself) as it was for children.

PAGING SECRETARY MARSHALL: Secretary of State Elaine Marshall officially became a candidate for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate this week, or so we were told, since Marshall didn’t return reporters’ calls. Note to candidates: If you want to be heard, you have to speak.

IN OTHER NEWS: Leaders at the state Republican Party are in the middle of a spectacular mess, with the chairman cautioning the vice chairman not to berate the staff in public and the vice chairman accusing the chairman of racism. Gov. Beverly Perdue and key cabinet members got flu shots. U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield says campaign contributions won't affect an ethics investigation into embattled New York Rep. Charlie Rangel.

N.C. Republican Party chairman Tom Fetzer has chastised the party's vice-chairman over an incident involving a staff member.

The rebuke has prompted the vice-chairman, Timothy F. Johnson, to accuse Fetzer of trying to exclude him from party business at least in part because Johnson is black.

In a letter to Johnson dated Sept. 3, Fetzer described an Aug. 23 incident in which Fetzer says Johnson, grabbed and berated a party staff member at a Greater Greensboro Republican Women's Club event.

"You approached her, grabbed her by the hand and would not let go of it while you berated her about the performance of the staff at the NCGOP headquarters for several minutes," Fetzer wrote. "During the entire conversation, she felt 'cornered' and unable to escape. She found your attitude to be condescending and the entire encounter to be very embarrassing."

Fetzer wrote that Johnson only let go after a witness got another party staff member to intervene.

"At best, as reported to me, you exhibited extremely poor manners, and at worst, conduct unbecoming an officer of the North Carolina Republican Party," Fetzer wrote.

Johnson said Fetzer's account is inaccurate. Johnson said while he talked, the two held hands in a protracted handshake.

"I surely was not trying to be angry with her," Johnson told Dome. "I wasn't trying to control her and not allow her to walk away."

One of Johnson's complaints was that he was not receiving e-mail messages from the party, implying that he had been deleted from the mailing list.

Johnson told Dome that he is being excluded from the party. He said he has asked for an office at party headquarters and to be included in events and planning.

"I'm the first black to serve at this role, as the state vice chair, and I'm not being included," he said. "All the people he's bringing on staff are continuing to perpetuate the traditional image of the party, which is just whites. That's all we have in our headquarters is whites."

More after the jump.

   Comments (13)

* Bob Geary at the Independent Weekly raises questions about the doctorate earned by Timothy Johnson, the newly elected vice chairman of the state Republican party.

* The UNC system has no official policy on administrators maintaining multiple e-mail accounts, reports Eric Ferreri at the N&O's Campus Notes blog.

* During his eight years in office, former Gov. Mike Easley built a reputation for being reclusive and seldom seen in public. Now his official portrait is carrying on the tradition.

* Nearly six months after taking office, Gov. Beverly Perdue is among the nation's most unpopular governors.

It was an unusual scene at the state Republican convention over the weekend, when Timothy Johnson, a candidate for the GOP vice chairmanship, apologized for a past incident.

Johnson acknowledged that in 1996 he had plead guilty to an aggravated assault charge in Ohio involving his wife, reports Rob Christensen.

"Ladies, I apologize," said Johnson, who is Buncombe County GOP chairman. "I made my peace with God. I made my peace with my ex-wife."

Johnson's current wife, Latessa Johnson, gave a speech on his behalf, testifying to his personal character.  In the days before the convention, he also released a statement from his ex-wife, Ofelia Felix-Johnson, endorsing him.

Johnson, a retired Army major, expressed displeasure that a 13-year old incident had been brought up in the blogs. He said one incident should not overshadow what he has done during his entire life. He said he had plead guilty to the charge in an effort to save his earlier marriage.

He defeated the incumbent vice chairman, David Sawyer, promising to broaden the Republican Party’s efforts to reach out to young people, African-Americans and Hispanic voters.

He noted that when the North Carolina Republican Party was formed at a meeting in Raleigh in 1867 there were about 100 whites and about 40 blacks.

"This is my home," he told the convention.

The pundits may have been stumped, but three North Carolina delegates to the Republican National Convention correctly guessed the Republican vice presidential nominee: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Marshall Hurley, a Greensboro lawyer, said he saw Palin's name in the news about a year ago and began reading up on her. He listed her in a Charlotte Observer survey of delegates earlier this month when asked who John McCain should pick, reports Mark Johnson.

"I don't have any claim to clairvoyance," Hurley said, adding that he's thrilled with the new GOP ticket.

Timothy Johnson, of Weaverville, also listed the "Governor of Alaska."

Jackie Wieland, of Greensboro, said in the survey that McCain should pick someone not expected by the media and public" and offered six options: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, businessman Steve Forbes,
Sen. Joseph Lieberman and Palin.

"This really energizes the party," Wieland said Friday. "A lot of my girlfriends who were Hillary supporters were seriously thinking about McCain, so I'm hoping this will push them over (to his side)."