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.

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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