The creator of the Web site jimblackmustgo.com, citing his belief that House Speaker Jim Black will be indicted as a result of ongoing investigations, has announced that he will remove his site from the Internet at the end of this month.

Joe Sinsheimer, a Democratic consultant, announced the move a day after he said he hand-delivered a letter addressed to Gov. Mike Easley, asking him to call upon House Speaker Jim Black to resign.

Sinsheimer started the Web site late last year to put pressure on Black to step down because of ethics problems. He had said when he first posted the Web site that he would not take it down until Black resigned, or was removed, from his leadership post. Sinsheimer had not demanded that Black leave the state House altogether.

But Sinsheimer said his change of heart came with the developments in a federal investigation looking into the creation of a lottery in North Carolina, and Black’s role in it. Last week a former Lottery Commission appointee of Black’s, Kevin Geddings, was convicted for lying about his previous ties to a lottery company on a financial disclosure form. Next week the trial of Alan Middleton begins in Wake County, addressing a misdemeanor charge of failing to register as a lobbyist in the state for the same lottery company, Scientific Games. Earlier this year former Rep. Michael Decker of Forsyth County pleaded guilty to accepting $50,000 in checks and cash in exchange for switching political parties and supporting Black for speaker in 2003.

All three cases relate to actions taken by Black or by his surrogates.

“I believe there is a strong chance that Black will get indicted based on prosecutors’ statements during the Geddings trial and the Decker plea agreement,” Sinsheimer told Carolina Journal in an e-mail.

In his letter, Sinsheimer asked Easley to push for what he says is the inevitable.

“We both know that this story only has one ending: Jim Black will be forced to resign his office in disgrace,” Sinsheimer wrote. “The only question left is when.”

Sinsheimer also requested that the governor rescind his nomination of former Rep. Bill Culpepper, an Edenton Democrat, to the state Utilities Commission. Culpepper, who worked closely with Black up until earlier this year when he was the House Rules Committee chairman, helped with the creation of lottery legislation before his departure from the General Assembly. He also accepted a $2,000 campaign contribution from BellSouth after Easley nominated him to the Utilities Commission. Telephone companies like BellSouth are regulated by the commission.

Sinsheimer also called for the governor to “conduct a top-to-bottom review of ethics in state government with a goal of eliminating, or at least greatly reducing, the ‘pay-to-play’ culture” that exists throughout the legislature and state government.

“Gubernatorial leadership, as well as further changes to our state’s campaign finance laws, will help alleviate this problem,” Sinsheimer wrote.

Sinsheimer said in the letter he is proud of his advocacy work with the Web site, which caused some consternation in the state Democratic Party. Most elected leaders in the party have, at least publicly, maintained their loyalty to Black.

But Sinsheimer noted that 26 newspaper editorial boards in the state, including the 10 largest, have called for Black’s resignation. Two Democratic House members, Alice Graham Underhill of New Bern and Lorene Coates of Salisbury, have also announced their desire for Black to step down.

“I have had my say and my role in this fight is finished,” Sinsheimer wrote to Easley. “The gravity of events dictates that we need more than citizen advocacy on this issue. What we need is executive action.”

Paul Chesser ([email protected]) is associate editor of Carolina Journal.