bob hall

Statement from Bob Hall, executive director of Democracy North Carolina, regarding the sentencing of former House Speaker Jim Black:

The ugly story of former Speaker Jim Black's abuse of power is not yet finished. New evidence of possible corruption involving a high-powered lobbyist linked to the video-poker industry demands the immediate and full attention of state and federal prosecutors.

From the beginning, Democracy North Carolina has pushed to hold the donors of illegal money accountable, not just the politicians. Now, with the revelation of a $500,000 "loan" from a video-poker lobbyist, we have come full circle from our original complaint in June 2004 alleging a conspiracy by the video-poker industry to funnel illegal donations into Jim Black's

 
The folks at Democracy NC have been busy. They just released a report showing that:

Lobbyists prowling the halls of the NC General Assembly received nearly $15 million from their clients in 2005, the year with the last “long session.” That amounts to $86,400 for each of the 170 legislators

According to Bob Hall, Executive Director and Research Director:

In North Carolina, interest groups actually spend more on lobbying than their PACs spend on campaign contributions to state legislators

Just last week Democracy NC announced a new campaign with a unique website called CleanUpRaleigh.com to promote "Clean, Voter Owned Elections" supporting public financing of campaigns to reduce the influence of special interest money.