The president of Public Policy Polling is a reliable Democratic donor.

In recent years, Dean Debnam has given thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates for state legislature, governor and U.S. Senate, according to campaign finance records.

His money has gone to local candidates for state office and some Democratic leaders.

He's given $2,000 apiece to state Sen. Janet Cowell and state House candidate Greer Beaty; $1,500 to state Rep. Deborah Ross; $1,250 to state House candidate Ed Ridpath; and $1,000 to Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight and state Rep. Grier Martin, among other donations.

He's also made sizable donations in years past to Govs. Mike Easley and Jim Hunt, U.S. Sen. John Edwards, Attorney General Roy Cooper and state House speaker Jim Black. 

In all, he's given at least $14,400 to state candidates in the past decade. (Figures in city and county races were not readily available.)

Debnam started the Democratic polling firm in 2002 as a side business. His regular job is as the chief executive officer at Workplace Options, a Raleigh consulting firm.