Kevorkian lawyer and Edwards backer fined by FEC

The Federal Elections Commission closed another chapter on John Edwards' 2004 presidential campaign today when a Michigan attorney and his law firm agreed to pay a $131,000 fine for violating campaign finance laws in Edwards' 2004 presidential campaign.

The FEC found probable cause of campaign finance violations against the attorney, his firm and his law partner. A settlement was reached in October.

Fieger, who once represented assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian, and his partner were acquitted in federal court last year of illegally funneling money into Edwards' 2004 campaign.

They were indicted on charges of illegally funneling $127,000 to Edwards' campaign by recruiting 64 people, known as straw donors, to give the then-maximum allowable amount of $2,000 per donor. According to the Associated Press, Fieger testified that the donors were reimbursed, but the payments to his staffers were bonuses and any employee contributions to Edwards were voluntary.

Jurors said they found Fieger not guilty because the government failed to prove he knew he was breaking the law.

Hackney's advice to Foxx and Lassiter

Whatever their differences, Charlotte's mayoral candidates agree on one thing: the city needs a better relationship with Raleigh. Not surprisingly, both Democrat Anthony Foxx and Republican John Lassiter think they would have a better shot at making that happen.

So I asked House Speaker Joe Hackney when the Orange County Democrat was in town this week: How could Charlotte improve its standing in Raleigh?

"The key to that is a closer relationship with the legislative delegation," said Hackney. "The second thing that's important is achieving partisan unity on the issues that are important."

When Mecklenburg has achieved things in Raleigh, he said, it's usually because local officials are united.

Help is right up the road -- on I-495

Speaking to a group of Uptown Charlotte Democrats today, House Speaker Joe Hackney tried to mollify concerns that Raleigh lawmakers don't show a lot of love to Mecklenburg County.

"There's often a perception in Mecklenburg, I am told, that nobody cares about Mecklenburg," he said.

"I can assure you I keep up with it. I know all about 495 ... " People in the audience quickly corrected him that it's completion of the I-485 beltway that is a concern to Charlotteans.

"485, same thing," Hackney said quickly.

Meanwhile the Chapel Hill Democrat blasted Republican legislators for "trying to fight against us at every turn" during the last legislative session. He outlined the difficulty of balancing a state budget that had a $4.6 billion shortfall. The Democratic controlled General Assembly used a package of cuts and tax hikes and federal stimulus money to balance the budget.

"We did what we had to do to protect education and our universities," he said, adding that Republicans did nothing but ridicule Democratic proposals. "This session (they) were not serious about government ... It's a national trend."

FRIDAY UPDATE
My colleague Ben Niolet posted this from the N.C. Republican Party:

N.C. Republican Party Chairman Tom Fetzer couldn't resist poking fun at a gaffe House Speaker Joe Hackney made while trying to show he is knowledgable about issues related to Charlotte.
Hackney mistakenly referred to Charlotte's incomplete Interstate 485 as "495."
"Despite his selfless attention to Charlotte’s roads, Hackney struck an oratorical pothole when he didn’t know which road he was talking about, and had to be corrected by the audience," Fetzer said. "Speaker Hackney went to Charlotte to demonstrate his awareness of the Queen City’s needs and laid an egg. Let’s hope he didn’t take the wrong road home to Chapel Hill.
"The Speaker should know his roads. And not just the ones that curve sharply to the left,” Fetzer said.

Outtakes from the Bill Belk hearing

Some points that didn't make the paper from Mecklenburg Judge Bill Belk's hearing before the N.C. Judicial Standards Commission Wednesday:

-- Over two days of hearing, Belk had blasted Paul Ross, the commission's executive director. Wednesday he accused him of bullying, being the source of leaks and acting in a way that was "not civilized." He also seemed to imply Ross was involved in a cover-up. Ross had previously described a February confrontation in which Belk accused him "of being a liar."

During a break Wednesday, Belk walked up to Ross. "I hope someday we could have a good relationship," he said. Though I couldn't hear all of Ross's response, he told him he'd offered "a lot of misinformation." He didn't look ready to add the judge to his Christmas card list.

-- At some points, it was hard to tell who was hard to tell who was on trial: Belk or The Observer. He criticized the paper for publishing stories as far back as January about his apparent conflict in staying on the board of Sonic Automotive, and listing his annual compensation from Sonic ($143,502.)

He accused the paper of "character assassination" and trying to foment "class warfare."

-- He pointed to an editorial after his November election that suggested judges be appointed, not elected. "A lot of people have used me as the poster boy of why we should have appointment of of judges," he said.

-- Belk insisted serving on the board of Sonic is no conflict. If Sonic ever showed up in court, he said, he would simply recuse himself. "I recuse myself from cases of shoplifting at Belk's," he said, "because I would probably try to hang them."

-- Belk seemed very confident that Sonic, run by his friend Bruton Smith, would provide him with health insurance when his current policy with Monroe Hardware expires in May. A Sonic spokesman said while there have been discussions, the company doesn't offer insurance to directors. "It has not been established yet," Belk acknowledged. "Should not be a problem."

-- Despite three opinions -- including one from the state Supreme Court --- that the Code of Judicial Conduct bars service on corporate boards, Belk seemed confident that it doesn't really. "All the case law is in my favor," he told the commission.... Let's be realistic. I did the research.... All I did was do my homework. How can you penalize somebody for knowledge?"

-- Belk tried to turn a prosecution witness into a character witness. Supreme Court Clerk Christie Speir Cameron testified about a letter she sent Belk on behalf of the court. "How long have we known each other?" Belk began. Cameron said she had only seen him "three or four times" in college.

-- District Judge Rebecca Knight, who helped coach new judges at a workshop in December, said she couldn't uunderstand why Belk had so many questions at the time about his membership on the board of Sonic. "I couldn't figure out why he wanted to be on the board of a hamburger restaurant," she said.

-- Belk said he suspected early that Chief Judge Lisa Bell didn't like him. "A dog knows when somebody doesn't like them," he said. "So does a human being."

Playing chicken in Charlotte's mayoral race

Around lunchtime today, someone came into John Lassiter's campaign headquarters and asked Perry Lucas a question: What's with the chicken?"

Lucas, Lassiter's campaign manager, went out to find a person in a yellow chicken suit parading in front of their Morehead Street office carrying a sign.

"Just Debate! Foxx is no chicken," it said.

The reference was to Monday's cancellation of a planned Oct. 27 League of Women Voters' debate between Lassiter, a Republican, and Democrat Anthony Foxx. It was to be televised on WTVI and WSOC. The League cancelled the hour-long debate when Lassiter wouldn't agree to six rebuttals, saying he wanted only three.

The person in the chicken suit -- a widespread tradition in debate politics --- was a volunteer for the Foxx campaign.

"This whole thing ... was just so ridiculous the way John was trying to take control of the conversation," said Foxx campaign manager Bruce Clark. "We thought this (chicken) was a way for the story to live on."

Said Lucas: "It was hysterical, but I was like, I cannot believe they're actually doing that it seemed a little below where I thought we'd be by now."

Pharmeceutical interests leave it to Beaver

When the Partnership for Prescription Assistance “Help is Here” Express pulls into Eastland Mall next week, it will have a special guest -- Jerry Mathers, aka The Beaver.

The Partnership is an outreach effort of an industry trade group known as PhRMA. The program is designed to raise awareness of programs that help patients with prescription needs.

State Rep. Tricia Cotham, a Charlotte Democrat, helped organize the visit. She says people can bring their current prescriptions for free advice or to see if they qualify for assistance. The tour is visiting areas hard hit by unemployment and the the recession.

The bus will be at the mall from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Mathers, who suffers from diabetes, will appear at 2.

PhRMA and its CEO, former Republican U.S. Rep. Billy Tauzin of Louisiana, have come under fire from Republicans for supporting President Obama's health care reform efforts. The group has said it's willing to $150 million on a pro-health care-reform advertising campaign.

House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio accused Tauzin and his group of "appeasement" and bowing to Democrats.

Poll says no N.C. politician very popular

With raucous debates over health care and a bevy of new state tax hikes, we know it's a tough market out there for N.C. politicians. But a new poll shows just how tough.

The survey by Raleigh's Public Policy Polling, a Democratic-leaning firm, shows neither of the state's two U.S. senators or the governor tops 40 percent in new approval ratings.

Republican Sen. Richard Burr came in at 38 percent while his Democratic counterpart Kay Hagan's approval stands at 32 percent. And Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue? Her approval is at 27 percent.

Of the 14 states in which the company has polled -- including Illinois, Ohio and Louisiana -- North Carolina has the lowest average approval rating for its senators and governor.

"North Carolinians like their politicians less than any other state we've polled this year," said company spokesman Tom Jensen. "All of the rest had at least one with an approval rating in the 40s....

"It will be interesting to see if a Jim Hunt or Jesse Helms arrives on the scene any time soon and is able to retain the affection of a majority- even a bare majority- of North Carolina voters for an extended period of time."

Huckabee helping Dole retire campaign debt

Two months ago Republican Elizabeth Dole was in Charlotte for a fundraiser for groups associated with Mike Huckabee. Now the former Arkansas governor and GOP presidential candidate is repaying the favor.

Huckabee is helping Dole retire a $356,000 debt from her unsuccessful re-election bid. North Carolina's former U.S. senator loaned her campaign more than $2.1 million.

"The Nation lost a great hard working advocate for conservative values when her race was swept up in the Obama tide," Huckabee wrote in a fundraising e-mail this week. "I believe it would be a travesty if she were left with a debt after all her hard work as a public servant."

Huckabee is expected to run for president again in 2012.

GOP health forum Tuesday is (almost) invitation only

Hospital staff and invited guests are expected to make up the crowd Tuesday morning when Republican Sens. Richard Burr, John McCain and Mitch McConnell host a health care forum in Charlotte.

The three GOP senators will tour the Levine Children's Hospital at Carolinas Medical Center at 8:30 a.m. and meet with employees, doctors and patients until 10. The event is nominally open but will take place in the hospital auditorium, which can seat only about 250 people.

"We have tremendous interest from our employees," said hospital spokeswoman Gail Rosenburg. "We are such dominant players in this whole issue of reform that we're pleased to be able to have this event for our employees."

McCain and McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, are doing a similar even in Kansas City today with Missouri Sen. Kit Bond. Bond, like Burr, is up for election next year.

Missouri Democrats criticized the invitation-only event in their state. Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, who has held a series of town meetings on health care, took a dig at the Republicans on Twitter last week.

"More townhalls on Monday. West Plains and Springfield. Open to public. Sens Bond and McConnell having one in KC Mon but invitation only," she tweeted.

N.C. Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan has held no town halls this recess.

Pat McCrory is eyeing a rematch in 2012

Days after denying interest in a congressional run, Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory has opened the door to a rematch with Democratic Gov. Bev. Perdue.

In a Q&A with Raleigh's WRAL, McCrory, a Republican, was asked whether he would consider running for governor again or even the Senate.

"Yes," he replied. "Running a state-wide race was a great experience (except for election night!!!) and I am proud of the campaign we ran. We participated in (and most believe we won) every debate and proved that a candidate can run an effective, positive campaign. We lived within our fundraising means, didn’t take any loans, and ended the campaign without any debt, just in the same manner I promised I would govern."

McCrory never addressed a possible Senate run, presumably against Democrat Kay Hagan in 2014. But he was critical of Perdue who, he said, "has done an about face on about everything she promised during our campaign."

"I definitely haven't closed the door on any future political options up to and including governor," McCrory told me this morning. "I think I'd be foolish to close doors."

Last week, after opting not to run for Congress from the 8th District, McCrory didn't want to talk about his political future. "Right now my total focus is on completing my term," he said.

Reality TV comes to Charlotte city elections

In the Amazing Race for an at-large city council seat, Tariq Scott Bokhari hopes to be a Survivor, not the Biggest Loser, so he's doing something no other candidate has done in The Real World -- turn to reality TV.

Bohkari, a 29-year-old Republican, has launched the first episode of a three-part reality series called "Campaign, the road to city council." Friend and producer Brian Dickerson calls it "a real and raw look inside Tariq’s approach to our city needs."

Filmed in real time, the first episode lasts just over seven minutes. It's part biography, part documentary, part campaign platform. One scene shows apparently random people at The Square holding handmade signs with a word or two that taken together, spell out part of Bohkari's message.

Bokhari, who helped organize a health care forum this month that drew more than 100 people, says its hard to candidates to distinguish themselves at forums and in the media. So he's trying other ways. His released his first Webisode Friday through Facebook, Twitter and email.

"We're just trying to do anything we can to increase the visibility into our campaign and what we stand for and what we're doing," Bokhari said this morning. "We try to keep our thinking outside the box to use a little cliche."

8th District update: Is Hayes running again?

Is Republican Robin Hayes planning a rematch with the guy who took his Congressional seat?

Depends who you ask.

U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican and top recruiter for the National Republican Congressional Committee, is in North Carolina this week checking out potential GOP candidates for several House seats held by Democrats. That includes the 8th District, which Democrat Larry Kissell won from Hayes last November.

"I don't believe Robin's going to run again," McCarthy told me this morning. "I would not rule that out (but) Robin's been very helpful in helping us find somebody."

Reached by email, Hayes sent back a quick response about his plans from his BlackBerry: "As yet, undetermined."

Hayes, who held the seat for five terms, could be Kissell's worst nightmare. In 2008 the wealthy textile heir spent $3.8 million on the race to Kissell's $1.5 million. And in an off-year, Kissell won't have a Barack Obama tailwind like he did last year.

"I believe the climate is going to be much different than the last two election cycles," McCarthy said. "You look at town hall meetings and others, there's a frustration out there. People are looking for new faces, fresh ideas."

Enquirer: DNA tests show Edwards is the daddy

The National Enquirer, which has been all over the John Edwards' story since breaking it over a year ago, today claims DNA tests have proven that the former Democratic presidential candidate is the father of his mistress's baby.

In what the tabloid calls a BOMBSHELL WORLD EXCLUSIVE!, it says Edwards has secretly undergone a paternity test, and that it proves he's the father of Frances Quinn Hunter, Rielle Hunter's daughter who was born in February 2008.

The paper says lawyers for Edwards are "privately hammering out" child support payments. It cites "multiple sources" that they don't name.

Rielle Hunter, with daughter in tow, appeared before a grand jury in Raleigh on Aug. 6. Prosecutors are looking at whether Edwards misused campaign funds in any payments that may have been used as hush money.

A lawyer for Edwards could not be reached this morning. [UPDATE: Raleigh attorney Wade Smith, among those representing Edwards, declined to comment.]

Edwards has denied he's the father. In a statement last year, he wrote he had "not been engaged in any activity of any description that requested, agreed to or supported payments of any kind to the woman or to the apparent father of the baby."

The Enquirer last year published photos it alleged showed Edwards holding the baby at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Charlotte candidates meet voters tonight

Charlotte's leading mayoral candidates as well as 20 city council candidates will meet voters tonight at separate events.

-- Democrat Anthony Foxx and Republican John Lassiter have been invited to speak to the Third Ward neighborhood organization. They'll discuss uptown issues from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Gateway YMCA, 900 W. Trade Street, Suite 100. It's unclear whether Republican mayoral candidates Jack Stratton and Martin Davis also will appear.

-- At-large council candidates and those from Districts 1, 4 and 5 will talk about East Charlotte at Hickory Grove Recreation Center Gymnasium, 6709 Pence Rd. The forum starts at 6:30 p.m. The forum is sponsored by Charlotte East Community Partners.

Foxx-Lassiter: Who's ahead depends on the poll

Republican mayoral candidate John Lassiter found some good news in a recent poll. But how good was it?

Cornerstone Solutions, a Raleigh-based polling firm, found that Lassiter leads Democrat Anthony Foxx, 42 percent to 26 percent, with 32 percent undecided. The findings are based on an automated phone survey of 401 Charlotteans.

A poll for Foxx, meanwhile, shows the race a dead heat.

Rule number 1: Be wary of polls done by a campaign for their candidate. Rule number 2: Be wary of all political polls, especially without several to go by and compare.

Cornerstone is a Republican consulting firm that also does polling. "We have no horse in this race," says partner Chris Sinclair of Raleigh.

Foxx campaign manager Bruce Clark questions Cornerstone's methodology. For example, while 34 percent of Charlotte voters are black, less than 14 percent of those in the Cornerstone survey identified themselves as African American. Almost 12 percent refused to disclose their race. Black voters are more likely to vote Democratic.

"Our poll," says Clark, "more accurately represents the breakdown of voters in the city."

Sinclair stands by his sample. He says part of the discrepancy could lie with those who refused to answer the race question. And he says his statisticians weighted the results based on the number of registered voters.

"We weighted it appropriately and feel good about the outcomes," he says.

One advantage of sites like realclearpolitics.com is that they present a number of polls on the same race over time, showing patterns.

MAYORAL FORUM TUESDAY

Foxx and Lassiter will talk about their views of uotown Tuesday night at the Third Ward neighborhood meeting at the Gateway YMCA, 900 W. Trade St. It starts at 7 p.m.

Free Market Warrior still fighting

The Free Market Warrior is getting more attention for going out of business than it got for going in.

Loren Spivack says officials at Concord Mills mall have terminated the lease on his kiosk effective at the end of next week. Called the Free Market Warrior, it sells conservative merchandise including "Impeach Obama" bumper-stickers. Mall officials have declined to talk about their decision.

But conservative blogs and some national news outlets haven't shied away.

Fox Business is hoping to put Spivack on the air today. The Drudge Report has linked to the story.

Spivack blames politics and notes mall owner Mel Simon is a big Democratic contributor. In an effort to show the mall tolerates other merchandise a lot of people might find offensive, he's posted photos online.

Sex, lies -- and videotape?

More news today on the Carolinas' resident bad boys.

-- S.C. Republican Gov. Mark Sanford continues to fend off calls for his resignation following his admission of an affair with an Argentine woman and his use of state money to visit her a few years ago. Now a York County Republican says he's planning a tea party-size rally next week if the governor is still there.

Glenn McCall, chairman of the York County GOP and one of the state's two national party committeemen, says he wants GOP legislators to rise up and demand Sanford's resignation. If the governor refuses, McCall and others have already talked about organizing a rally at the Capitol next week to pressure him to step down.

"We’re just calling on our elected officials to be statesmen," he says, "and let's stop playing politics and do the right thing for the state of South Carolina and for the Republican Party.... It's not about the governor anymore. It's bigger. It's about the state of South Carolina."

-- Five years to the day after being picked to be John Kerry's 2004 running mate, former N.C. Sen. John Edwards was back in the news -- for an alleged sex tape.

Last year former aide Andrew Young claimed to be the father of Edwards' mistress Rielle Hunter's baby. He has been peddling a book to N.Y. publishers. Monday the New York Daily News reported that Young's book will claim that not only is Edwards the baby's father, but that
Young found a purported sex tape involving the former Democratic presidential candidate.

Stay tuned. Or not.

Sanford: 'What I did was wrong.'

S.C. Mark Sanford, often mentioned as a possible Republican presidential, explained his mysterious six-day absence by acknowledging an affair with an Argentinian woman who he called "a dear, dear friend."

Hours after a reporter for The State spotted him in Atlanta getting off a plane from Argentina, Sanford held one of the most candid political news conferences in memory. He admitted his infidelity.

"The bottom line is I've been unfaithful to my wife," he said, his voice occasionally breaking. "I developed a relationship with a dear, dear friend from Argentina....

"I've let down a lot of people. Let me first of all apologize to my wife, Jenny,...and my boys ... who I've let down in a profound way. This is the first step on what will be a very long process on that front."

Sanford said he met the woman eight years ago and their friendship started on a casual basis but developed into more about a year ago. Asked if his wife knew about the affair, he said they had been "working through this thing for about the last five months."

He said he and the woman realized the affair couldn't last. "I spent the last five days of my life crying in Argentina."

Want to weigh in on Jim Black? Here's how.

Judging from emails, phone calls and online comments, a lot of people have opinions about our story today on the effort to reduce Jim Black's prison sentence or move him closer to home.

Lawyers for the former N.C. House speaker, who is serving five years for corruption in Lewisburg, Pa., have organized a letter-writing campaign to commute his sentence or at least get him moved back to North Carolina. They cite his ailments as well as his wife's recent diagnosis with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease.

About 150 people have written in support of Black. Not everybody is sympathetic.

"The key piece to remember is that Jim Black had a chance to get a shorter prison sentence," says Bob Hall of Democracy North Carolina, whose research into Black's campaign contributions helped set the stage for his prosecution. "There was a considerable period of time between his conviction and his sentencing when prosecutors sought his cooperation in their investigation of corruption, but he gave them no help....

"So if he wants a reduced prison time now, does that mean he's changed his mind and is ready to tell the truth about the full extent of pay-to-play politics in North Carolina?"

How do you feel about Black's sentence?

To argue for or against the commutation of his sentence, write:

Ronald L. Rodgers

Pardon Attorney

Department of Justice

1425 New York Ave., Suite 11000

Washington, D.C. 20530

Re: James Boyce Black

Reg. No. 50655-056

To write for or against moving Black closer to home, write:

Harley Lappin

Director, U.S. Bureau of Prisons

320 1st St., NW

Washington, D.C. 20534

Re: James Boyce Black
Reg. No. 50655-056

Vinroots pledge $1 million for UNC

Former Charlotte Mayor Richard Vinroot and his wife Judy have pledged $1 million to UNC Chapel Hill's School of Government to honor of his friend and former law partner, Bob Bradshaw Jr.

The university announced the gift this afternoon. It's the largest gift ever to the School of Government.

"Judy and Richard Vinroot have shown extraordinary generosity and thoughtfulness in creating this new professorship and fellowship," Mike Smith, the school's dean said in a statement.

Bradshaw, now retired, was a GOP leader in Mecklenburg County who went on to become chairman of the state party. Vinroot, one of his proteges, served two terms as mayor and ran for governor.

Of the money, $666,000 will be matched by a state fund to create the $1 million Robert W. Bradshaw Jr. Distinguished Professorship. Another $334,000 will establish the Robert W. Bradshaw Jr. Public Administration Fellowship.

"Bob Bradshaw spent many years encouraging good people to enter public service, and then mentoring them once they did so," Vinroot said in a statement. "Wonderful examples of this are former Gov. Jim Martin and 9th District Congressman Alex McMillan, both of whom are among Bob's protégés.

"I'm most grateful for what Bob did for me personally, but more so for what he's done for everyone in North Carolina throughout his professional life. Accordingly, Judy and I can think of no better way to honor Bob than at the School of Government, where public service is the essence of their mission."