Less than two months remain before the elections in November, and while Republicans nationally worry how scandals and spending could lessen their prospects for maintaining power in Congress, in North Carolina it’s the reverse — Democrats fear that corruption might be their undoing.

In the nation’s few — because of gerrymandering — closely contested congressional races, Democrats are focusing on scandals surrounding former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham of California. Also, GOP leaders have been criticized for pork-barrel spending, a charge that has been extended to President Bush because of his failure to veto any congressional spending measures.

Congressional races in North Carolina include the 11th District, featuring Republican Rep. Charles Taylor vs. Democrat challenger Heath Shuler.

But Democrats in Raleigh have held power since 1999, except for 2003 and 2004, when Republican Rep. Richard Morgan of Moore County shared in the House speaker’s role with Mecklenburg County’s Rep. Jim Black, a Democrat who won his first term as speaker in 1999.

The Democratic hold on the reins of power includes Dare County Sen. Marc Basnight, who became President Pro Tempore of the Senate in 1993. A Democrat has held the governorship since 1993, first Jim Hunt (until 2001) and now Mike Easley.

Under this single-party dominance, a legislative process of secretive deal making blossomed. Black and Basnight cultivated political backing for projects in their own districts, and secondarily in those from where their supportive colleagues hailed.

The General Assembly’s leaders drew massive contributions from lobbyists and business and political leaders. Legislative influence penetrated various state agencies, both large and small, in order to achieve the goals of Black, Basnight, and their supporters.

With no opponent in a position of authority to challenge decisions or actions, Democrats, and a few Republicans recently who aligned with them, over the years built a machine that was seemingly invincible. But now federal law enforcement, media scrutiny, a new Republican state auditor, and a few renegade Democrats have unveiled fissures in the party leadership’s armor. Will the tide of Democrats’ unethical behavior in state government overcome the national political trend running against Republicans?

“The question is whether the voters are going to connect their incumbent Democrat legislator with Jim Black,” said Bill Peaslee, chief of staff for the N.C. Republican Party. “He doesn’t stay in power without these incumbent Democrats.”

The big focus: Black

This year most attention on misconduct in public office has focused on Black. A federal investigation into his campaign fund-raising, his connections to lobbyists, and his efforts to hold on to the speaker position in 2002 and 2003, have already led to admissions of guilt.

Former Rep. Michael Decker Sr. of Forsyth County pleaded guilty Aug. 1 in federal court to crimes associated with efforts to elect Black to another term as speaker in 2003. After the results of the November 2002 general election left the House with 61 Republicans and 59 Democrats, Decker, then a Republican, solicited and agreed to accept $50,000 and other gifts in return for switching parties and supporting Black for speaker.

In January 2003, Decker announced he had changed his registration to Democrat. Later in 2003, Decker accepted an envelope containing $38,000 in checks and $12,000 in cash in return for his deal with Black. Also, in February 2005, Black gave a $4,000 campaign contribution to Decker, who then a day after depositing it closed his account and kept the money for his personal use.

Decker pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit extortion, honest services mail fraud, and money laundering. Black has denied that he made any quid pro quo offer to Decker in exchange for his vote.

In addition, the State Board of Elections conducted public hearings in February and March in response to a complaint filed by campaign watchdog Democracy North Carolina, which alleged illegal activity by contributors to Black’s political campaigns. The complaint was over contributions by people who had ties to the video poker industry.

After the complaint was filed, an investigation by the board’s staff also revealed that several donations to Black by optometrists and their political action committee appeared to violate campaign finance laws. Since the hearings, similar allegations have been made against Black in his relations with other businesses, including chiropractors, payday lenders, strip-club owners, and landfill operators.

Black’s attempts to help the industries have been questioned. He inserted into the 2005 budget bill a law that required all children entering kindergarten to get comprehensive eye exams. Black himself is an optometrist. He also included in the budget a provision that makes health insurance companies require the same co-payment from chiropractors as they do from physicians.

The State Board of Elections, backed by a Superior Court judge, has determined that Black must give up $6,800 that came from optometrists because their contributions exceeded legal limits. The board also referred its findings to Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby to determine whether crimes were committed. Federal investigators are still looking into Black’s fund-raising practices, while journalists and political pundits speculate about whether and when he will be indicted.

Black: Employment specialist

Black has taken a special interest in enhancing the career of Meredith Norris, who has worked for him in various roles, after beginning as one of his legislative staffers in 1999. In September 2002, after less than three years on the job, her pay more than doubled from $26,000 annually to more than $59,000.

Shortly afterward he helped her get a lobbying job for the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce. Within months she left that position and lobbied independently, and Black helped her get clients — such as the N.C. Partnership for Economic Development, a coalition of the state’s seven regional economic development agencies. Meanwhile, Norris performed campaign work for Black and also continued to use a laptop computer that belonged to his legislative office while advancing her lobbying career.

Norris also lobbied for lottery operator Scientific Games, in an effort to get the legislature to approve the games. The lottery finally passed in 2005 under a cloud of controversy, in part because Norris failed to register with the Secretary of State as a lobbyist for Scientific Games. She pleaded no contest in August for working as an unregistered lobbyist. She was sentenced to one year of unsupervised probation, a $500 fine, and 75 hours of community service.

Black also took special interest in several other associates’ employment and appointments, including:

• His legislative staff, upon whom in May 2005 he bestowed healthy raises despite the state’s budget difficulties, which kept raises for other state employees to a mininum.

• Michael Decker Jr. for whom Black promised a job as an assistant to his father as part of his deal with the elder Decker.

• The elder Decker, who lost his re-election effort in 2004 after returning to the Republican Party. Black got him a $45,000-a-year job in the Department of Cultural Resources.

• Helen Ruth Almond, wife of former Charlotte Regional Partnership President Michael Almond, who helped get Norris her job and lobbying contract with the NCPED. Mrs. Almond was given a heritage tourism officer position in western North Carolina. Mr. Almond is also one of Black’s appointees to the board of directors of Golden LEAF, which distributes half of the state’s share of the 1998 tobacco settlement agreement. The Almonds have given Black $6,500 in political contributions since 2002.

• Kevin Geddings, whom Black appointed to the N.C. Lottery Commission. However, Geddings failed to disclose that he also was a paid lobbyist (also without registering with the state) for Scientific Games before the lottery’s passage. A federal grand jury indicted Geddings in May for failure to deliver honest services. His trial was expected to start in September.

Black revealed, though, that he was also capable of punishing those who disagreed with him on policy issues, as he did in May 2005 with UNC-Charlotte economics professor John Connaughton. Department of Commerce officials wanted to hire Connaughton for $50,000 to study the economic effects of the automotive supply industry in the state. But since the professor had criticized North Carolina’s marginal tax rates as uncompetitive, Norris (with Black’s blessing) prevented the department’s contract from going to Connaughton.

Black in 2000 also backed a reduction in the number of state pest control inspection positions (within the Department of Agriculture). Department officials, according to a report in The News & Observer, believed the move was a response to the Structural Pest Control Committee’s fining of Black Pest Control, owned by the speaker’s son Jon, for improper pesticide use. Black denied the allegation.

Black’s pet projects

The speaker also has used his position to leverage state funding for his favored projects, which in turn have also persuaded businessmen to move to the state, sometimes without a written guarantee, as in the case of culinary arts school Johnson & Wales University.

In June 2002, Johnson & Wales and Charlotte officials announced a new $82 million school for downtown Charlotte to be subsidized by local tax dollars and private funds, but they made no mention of any subsidies from the state. But in November that year, The Charlotte Observer reported that the state was contributing $10 million to help lure Johnson & Wales to the city.

In a series of stories The Observer revealed that before the announcement by Basnight in June, Black and Easley wrote letters indicating their support for the project and their commitment to secure $10 million. Black’s promise was perhaps the strongest. “You have my personal commitment of support for a $10 million investment over the next five years by the State of North Carolina for this project,” Black wrote in a letter May 23, 2002, to University President John A. Yena. Basnight made a similar promise.

In an interview, Black’s then-spokesman Danny Lineberry told Carolina Journal that Black intended only to try to find the money. When asked where it would come from, he said, “Wherever they can find it. It may not come from anywhere. The speaker made a commitment to try to get it.”

Approval of the state budget in June 2003 marked the beginning of the fulfillment of Black’s $10 million promise. The budget appropriated $1 million in 2003-04 and an additional $1 million in 2004-05 from the One North Carolina Fund to Johnson & Wales.

In 2005 Black wanted to complete his commitment by selling a state-owned building in Charlotte. The building, valued at $5.25 million by a private developer, was to be sold to Johnson & Wales for $1. Easley and the Council of State, after a brief public spat with Black on the issue, chose to take the higher offer.

Black, as with jobs and political favors, also helped with pork-barrel projects for people who helped him. In June 2005, supporters of a teapot museum proposed for Sparta, N.C., gave Black $10,000 in campaign contributions. In the budget passed months later, legislators earmarked $400,000 for the museum. The museum was ridiculed across the nation as a blatant example of pork-barrel spending.

Legislative slush funds

Black, along with Basnight and former House Co-speaker Richard Morgan, a Moore County Republican, also funneled millions of dollars for more pork projects in 2003, through discretionary funds controlled by the three legislators. Ten million dollars was divided among them and distributed through the Department of Transportation. Another $14 million was split among the men and distributed through the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Cultural Resources, and the Office of State Budget and Management. The Assembly leaders used the funds to award grants to projects in the districts of other lawmakers who supported them for their leadership roles.

Black used some of his discretionary money in Cultural Resources to fund the job he had created for the elder Decker.

In the case of the DOT funds, department Secretary Lyndo Tippett postponed Spot Safety Program projects to fund projects favored by Black, Basnight, and Morgan. The contingency funds were sometimes used to pay for projects on the Spot Safety list, but many contingency fund expenditures appeared to have little or nothing to do with safety. For example, in July 2004 Tippett approved $200,000 from the speaker’s $5 million account to restore a terminal building at Wilmington Airport for a welcome center. In March 2005 he approved $50,000 from the speaker’s account for the same project.

In July 2004, the DOT Board approved two contingency fund projects in Columbus County. State Sen. R. C. Soles, D-Columbus, requested $150,000 to purchase and renovate a service station to provide a welcome center in Tabor City. Basnight approved the request, and the money was charged to Basnight’s account.

At the same board meeting $210,000 was approved to grade and pave a rural dead-end road in Columbus County. The request by Rep. Dewey Hill, D-Columbus, was approved by Black and deducted from Black’s $5 million account.

Meanwhile, one Spot Safety project in Columbus County that remained unfunded was the resurfacing and regrading of Slippery Log Road, which was estimated to cost $250,000. DOT information on the proposed project stated that in the previous three years there were 18 total accidents, 11 of which were considered preventable by the proposed improvements. Three people were killed and 13 were injured in the accidents. When asked why contingency funds were not applied to that project first, Hill said, “That’s a good question. That’s a terrible highway.”

Black and Basnight also directed some of their discretionary funds to help one of their key allies, Democratic Rep. Bill Owens of Pasquotank County. Both legislative leaders approved hundreds of thousands of dollars for a project called “Streetscape” in downtown Elizabeth City, where Owens owns buildings valued up to $5 million. Owens admitted that the street improvements increased the value of his property.

Basnight was entangled in a similar practice in 1997 with then-House Speaker Harold Brubaker, a Randolph County Republican, and with Gov. Jim Hunt. The trio at the time distributed $23 million in discretionary funds to special projects favored by political friends and supporters, which was uncovered by CJ. Caught again in 2005, Basnight told the Associated Press, “It won’t happen again. I admit I have erred.”

One of Basnight’s discretionary grants of $140,000 in 1996 went to the John A. Hyman Memorial Youth Foundation, a nonprofit drug counseling organization created and led by former state Sen. (and U.S. Rep.) Frank Ballance, a Warrenton Democrat. Basnight testified before a grand jury in December 2004 about a scandal surrounding the Hyman Foundation, saying he didn’t know about the state-funded foundation until news stories of its problems were reported in 2003.

Ballance is serving a four-year sentence in federal prison because of his personal use of state money, which he had obtained in grants for his nonprofit organization when he was a leader in the state Senate.

Despite Basnight’s previous statement, he and Black continue to control discretionary funds in DOT.

Basnight’s projects

One of Basnight’s early efforts as Senate leader was a taxpayer-funded natural-gas pipeline project for eastern North Carolina, which he facilitated through legislation that he pushed and steered to the control of his friends. In 1998 voters approved, by 51 percent to 49 percent, $200 million in bonds to extend natural-gas pipelines to 22 unserved counties in the state. The weight of Basnight’s influence enabled political allies in northeastern North Carolina to control $188.3 million of the available funds. But whichever natural-gas entity received the funds was required to repay the bond money should their project ever become economically feasible.

Political groundwork for the pipeline in the northeast was laid in 1995, when Basnight sought to get his own choices appointed to the seven-member Utilities Commission. Basnight succeeded in getting Hunt to appoint Bobby Owens, his brother-in-law, to the Utilities Commission in 1997, despite his lack of experience. “I have earned my right to the trough,” Owens said.

Over time since the 1960s, the Utilities Commission had gradually awarded exclusive franchise rights for northeastern counties to North Carolina Natural Gas Inc. But the company did not provide natural gas to 17 of the counties because they lacked a sufficient number of potential, mainly industrial, customers.

Frustrated, Basnight and fellow lawmakers moved in the early 1990s to create financing incentives for local natural-gas companies to extend service into unserved areas. The legislature also passed “use it or lose it” legislation in 1995. The bill required all franchisees to provide natural gas to at least part of the unserved counties by July 1, 1998, or else they would lose their rights to the territories.

When the three-year time limit expired in 1998, the Utilities Commission determined that NCNG’s franchise rights for the 17 counties should be revoked. Lawmakers in the summer of 1998 also approved the $200 million bond referendum. Advocates thought the funds could make service to NCNG’s formerly unserved territories more appealing.

Almost simultaneously in January 1998 a coalition of local governments in the northeast created a natural-gas district called the Albemarle Regional Energy Authority. The alliance, which subsequently became Albemarle Pamlico Economic Development Corporation, sought and gained control of the franchise rights and bond funds for their northeast gas pipeline project, which was strongly backed by Basnight. But without experience, expertise, or other financial backing to operate the gas business, AREA/APEC needed a business partner, and Carolina Power & Light (now Progress Energy) joined in. Together they created Eastern North Carolina Natural Gas.

But the Utilities Commission required ENCNG to separate its northeast operations from the rest of CP&L’s business, exposing how vulnerable the ENCNG project was. Nearly all the $188.3 million in bonds, plus $22.5 million kicked in by Piedmont, was used to build the pipeline, leaving little to absorb years of expected operating losses. Taxpayers were on the hook for a long-term liability that no private company alone was willing to tackle.

In his pursuit to build ethanol plants in northeastern North Carolina, William Horton, president of DFI Group, said he unwittingly got on the wrong side of the person many call the most powerful politician in the state: Basnight.

Economic developers’ enthusiasm over Horton’s promise to bring jobs and a market for locally grown farm products was tempered by his deals with outsiders to deliver natural gas to his proposed plants in the northeast.

Horton attempted to work with other gas companies to deliver liquefied natural gas to the plants. Meanwhile, Basnight promoted friends at the Albemarle Pamlico Economic Development Corporation in their effort to get the $200 million in taxpayer-funded bond money to build the gas pipeline in the east. Basnight considered Horton’s project a threat to the senator’s efforts to build the pipeline.

Northeast Partnership

Horton’s project threatened the North Carolina’s Northeast Partnership, one of the state’s seven regional economic development agencies and one strongly influenced by Basnight. Partnership President Rick Watson led efforts by farming and business associates to manipulate a hostile takeover of Horton’s ethanol business.

Through the Partnership, Watson often sought either a personal investment stake or other benefits from the businesses he had tried to help locate in northeastern North Carolina. State law prohibits public funding that benefits a government employee, or a private organization in which the employee is involved.

In 2001 and 2002, Watson, with support from Basnight’s office, proposed that biotechnology company CropTech give ownership equity to the Partnership in exchange for helping the now-defunct business get financial incentives. The partnership would put up little, if any, of its own money in exchange for a significant ownership stake. CropTech rejected the proposal.

In a series of articles in The Daily Advance of Elizabeth City in May 2003, officials of DataCraft Solutions alleged that Partnership representatives tried to get a 15 percent stake in their company in exchange for services from their side business. The DataCraft executives said they were told that Watson owned 50 percent of the side business and would “close deals” for DataCraft, which would have been an apparent violation of Watson’s contract with the Partnership.

Last year CJ reported that Watson was an investor in a fingerprint technology company that received funding from the state’s Tobacco Trust Fund, according to sources with direct knowledge of the project. Watson worked on obtaining the funds, again with help from Basnight’s office, for Privaris Inc., despite his personal financial stake in the company.

This year Watson planned to work both for the Partnership and Moonlight Bandit Productions, a company led by country musician Randy Parton that is building an entertainment theater in Roanoke Rapids.

According to a report in The Daily Advance, Watson helped draft legislation that got $500,000 in state money for the promotion of Parton’s theater project. The newspaper said Watson planned to work for both the Partnership and Parton for 18 months, until he became fully employed by Parton.

The arrangement led to the undoing of Watson’s relationship with the Partnership. In April, State Auditor Les Merritt released a scathing report on the activities of the Partnership, alleging that the organization’s board of directors “relinquished too much authority” and insufficiently exercised “their fiduciary responsibilities.” The audit found that Watson had a conflict of interest “by any reasonable person’s definition” in working for the economic development agency while planning future employment with one of his clients, the Randy Parton Theater.

Bonuses, termed “significant” by the auditor, also were paid to Watson and other employees. The report said no pre-determined, documented criteria served as a basis for the payments, which totaled $572,000 over a three-year period.

A former economic developer in northeastern North Carolina told CJ in 2004 that the Partnership, if asked for help, all too often took over a project and decided where in its 16-county region a business would locate. The developer said the Partnership, and the entire region, is controlled by Basnight and by R.V. Owens III. Owens is Basnight’s nephew and chief fund-raiser, as well as the son of former Utilities Commissioner Bobby Owens.

The Currituck Ferry

Basnight was also the driving force behind the General Assembly’s appropriation of $834,000 in June 2003 for a new ferry service across the Currituck Sound that was scheduled to begin in May 2004. In June 2004, the state Division of Coastal Management issued a notice of violation to DOT after a Ferry Division boat and crew dug an illegal channel near Corolla.

Although proponents of the ferry said it was needed to transport schoolchildren from the Outer Banks to the Currituck mainland, documents suggest that the service was intended to transport resort workers and tourists. The proposed route would have been about 12 miles across the shallow Currituck Sound from the Currituck community to the Corolla community.

“The proposed ferry service is feasible, assuming the appropriate permits can be obtained,” Ferry Division Director Jerry Gaskill concluded in a study. But he failed to address two previous unsuccessful attempts by Currituck County to obtain a dredging permit for the shallow Corolla location.

In June, a jury convicted Gaskill of making a material false statement to a federal agency in connection with an investigation of the illegal dredging. Four other Ferry Division employees had pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the dredging incident before Gaskill’s trial.

Abuse of privileges?

In July, state and local public officials used another state ferry for personal use, hopping aboard the Floyd Lupton for a lavish cruise at the Tall Ships Festival in Beaufort.

Several state legislators, both Republican and Democrat, as well as cabinet members in Easley’s administration took the two-hour tour. It featured a sumptuous feast, an open bar, and a steel-drum band. The News & Observer of Raleigh reported that the cruise cost more than $30,000.

Easley condemned the Ports Authority-sponsored cruise, but the governor himself has not been averse to using state transportation vehicles for his personal use. Reports both in CJ and in The News & Observer in recent years showed that Easley regularly uses either a state airplane or helicopter to drop him off in Brunswick County or nearby Wilmington at the end of a week, or to pick him up there on a Monday or Tuesday. Easley has a residence in Southport in Brunswick County.

Nearly all the trips have been to promote Easley’s agenda. Many excursions were to the locations of new or expanding businesses in the state, for the purpose of announcing Easley’s disbursement of targeted economic development incentives to the companies. Other reasons given for the air travel were ribbon cuttings, troop deployments, highway dedications, and bill signings. On some occasions in 2004 journeys to Southport were added to trips as far-flung as Asheville, for a jobs announcement for Jacob Holm Industries, or to Concord, where Easley and son Michael traveled to promote the state back-to-school shopping tax holiday in August.

Southport Marina/Cannonsgate

Easley has also failed to disclose a personal business relationship — a $250,000 home-remodeling contract — with Wilmington developer Charles “Nick” Garrett Jr. before calling for a Council of State vote to approve a lease of the state-owned Southport Marina to Garrett and his associates. Garrett denies being part of the new ownership group, despite his name’s presence on documents that identify him as an owner. The contract was for a substantial remodeling of Easley’s Southport home in 2001.

The new 15-year lease with Southport Marina Inc. contains extensions that would tie up the property through 2040. The lease requires that the company pay the state $160,000 in rent yearly, with an annual increase of as much as 3 percent. Two Southport residents called the new lease a “sweetheart deal” for Easley’s friends.

Garrett has built several luxury condominiums across the street from the marina. He also told the Wilmington Star-News that he was going to be the contractor for a new restaurant at the marina. Garrett has tried to acquire adjacent property and attempted to buy the marina in 2005.

In addition to involvement in the marina and the remodeling of Easley’s Southport home, the well-connected Garrett managed to get a plum automobile license tag franchise in Wilmington from the N.C. Department of Transportation despite a recommendation by a DOT official against granting the franchise.

In another transaction, Easley in December 2005 purchased a lot in the exclusive Cannonsgate community on Bogue Sound in Carteret County. Public records indicate that Easley paid $549,880 for the lot on the corner of the Intracoastal Waterway and a new marina. Carolina Journal and Charlotte Observer analyses indicate the lot could have sold for much more. Who set the price, and how the lot was reserved for Easley, is not clear.

Easley bought the lot from R. A. North Development Inc. of Matthews, controlled by brothers Gary Allen and Randy Allen. Easley appointed Randy Allen to the Wildlife Resources Commission about the same time his lot purchase was pending. Real estate investor Lanny Wilson of Wilmington, through his company Cannonsgate Investments LLC, provided $12.5 million in financing for the project. Wilson’s Deed of Trust to the developer is dated July 8, 2005.

Wilson is a major political donor to Easley and other Democrats. Easley appointed him to the Real Estate Commission and to the N.C. Board of Transportation.
Easley’s lot acquisition took place at the same time he orchestrated the new lease for the other new owners of the Southport Marina.

Garrett and Wilson share a Wilmington office and are business partners in the development of condominiums adjacent to the Southport Marina. Garrett also is a major political donor to Easley and other Democrats.

The Charlotte Observer reported in August that Easley administration officials forced Garrett to step down from the Clean Water Management Trust Fund board over an apparent conflict of interest involving land in Caldwell County.
What effect will it have?

Former Agriculture Commissioner Meg Scott Phipps and Ballance are serving sentences in federal prison for political corruption. Federal officials are investigating possible wrongdoing by other Democrats.

What will it portend for the party in November?

“I think it’s a very strong issue,” Peaslee said. “I don’t know that it’s the number one issue.”

Wherever it ranks in the minds of voters, state Republicans plan to play it up this fall. The party has established a Web site — www.democratcorruption.com — to showcase their opponents’ scandals.

“It could easily be said that we have the most corrupt state government in the nation,” Peaslee said.

State Democrat leaders expect that ethics and corruption will represent the GOP’s entire campaign this year, but the Democratic Party’s communications director, Schorr Johnson, said he thinks North Carolinians are smart enough to recognize that Republicans have no other issues to play up.

“There are some serious concerns [about the investigations],” Johnson said, “but Democrats have a positive record to run on.” He cited an increase in the state’s minimum wage, lobbying and ethics reform, “historic levels” of education funding, and a balanced budget among his party’s achievements. He also said the state Democratic Party would emphasize the GOP’s own ethics scandals on the national level.

“Republicans want to run North Carolina like they’ve been running Washington,” Johnson said. “I’d rather be in our shoes than their shoes this year.”

Thad Beyle, professor of political science at the University of North Carolina, said any negative effects caused by ethics and scandals in the state legislature are unlikely to overcome the disapproval ratings of Bush and the way most Americans feel about the war in Iraq. Those issues are “weighing on the voters” more than state scandals, he said.

“The only thing is you can look at the state polls,” to determine where voters might stand, Beyle said.

One poll, from the Raleigh-based Civitas Institute, a research organization that promotes conservative ideals, seemed to back Beyle’s assertions on the scandals. In an August poll, 40 percent of respondents said they would vote Democrat if the 2006 election were held then, while 36 percent said they would vote Republican. Forty-four percent in August said they approved of the job performance of the state legislature; 42 percent disapproved.

In March, 40 percent had said they approved, while 45 percent said they disapproved. This was despite the fact that more North Carolinians responding to the poll demonstrated an increasing awareness of the Black scandal.

Meanwhile, Bush’s disapproval ratings in the Civitas poll have consistently remained above 50 percent this year. Jack Hawke, president of Civitas and a former campaign director for various Republicans, said the scandals are unlikely to affect Democrat candidates negatively across the board. He said if Republicans were to capitalize, it would have to be done “candidate by candidate, race by race.”

He predicted that Democrat House members in close, “swing” districts would soon call on Black to resign from the speaker’s position in order to blunt attacks from GOP opposition. By CJ’s publication time, Reps. Lorene Coates of Salisbury, Pricey Harrison of Greensboro, and Alice Graham Underhill of New Bern were the only Democrats publicly to have asked Black to step down.

This year, Hawke said, the GOP will do well to “just hold on.”

“North Carolina as a general rule follows the national trend,” Hawke said, “and that is a problem for the Republicans.”

Don Carrington, executive editor of Carolina Journal and Paul Chesser, associate editor of Carolina Journal, contributed to this story.