Ethics and Lobbying Reform for North Carolina

Today's Charlotte Observer covers a bill signed by Gov. Mike Easley (D-NC) that revamps ethics oversight for the three branches of government and restricts transactions between lobbyists and lawmakers.

The bill ends the practice of lobbyists giving legislators dinners, campaign donations and other perks.
It also creates a broader state ethics commission that can investigate all three branches of government, although its probes would largely be hidden from the public and referred to other panels when judges and legislators are involved.

Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives Jim Black is currently under fire for questionable campagin contributions he received coinciding with the passage of an education lottery.