Black pleads ignorance to Geddings' dealings

A spokeswoman for House Speaker Jim Black said Tuesday that no one recommended he pick Charlotte public relations consultant Kevin Geddings for the state lottery commission.

Black, she said, discovered Geddings by himself.

Black "remembered that Kevin Geddings had prior experience in [South Carolina] with their lottery and thought that he would bring much-needed experience to the table based on his work in [South Carolina] several years ago," said Julie Robinson, Black's press secretary.

Geddings resigned from the commission last week, just hours before lottery company Scientific Games disclosed that it had paid Geddings $24,500 this year, much of it for behind-the-scenes work he did to push the lottery's passage.

Robinson said she suggested Geddings for the commission several months ago when Geddings was considering a run for Charlotte mayor.

Black originally wanted Charlotte attorney Bob Cordle for the position, and had offered it to him four days before the commission was announced. But in that time, Gov. Mike Easley told Black that he wanted Cordle to stay on the State Board of Elections, which meant Black needed to pick someone else.

Easley said in a news conference Tuesday that he never suggested Geddings.

"My only statement to [Black] was, look, if you want somebody from Charlotte, there are 500,000 people in Charlotte. You can surely find somebody other than Bob Cordle who would be good," Easley said.

Robinson said Black did not know that Geddings was working for Scientific Games at the time.

Another consultant hired by Scientific Games this year was Black's unpaid political director, lobbyist Meredith Norris.

Scientific Games also disclosed last week that she spent more than $3,800 wining and dining lawmakers during the legislative session, with Black as a chief beneficiary.

Robinson said that Black wanted Geddings to resign from the commission shortly after The News & Observer reported his past business relationship with Alan Middleton, a Scientific Games vice president, but he did not have the legal authority to tell him to resign.

State investigators are now looking to see if Geddings, Norris, Middleton and Scientific Games violated lobbying laws by failing to disclose their efforts with lawmakers.

Black has repeatedly declined to talk to The News & Observer about Geddings, Norris or Scientific Games.

Diebold ducks deadline

One of the companies looking to win state approval to sell voting equipment to counties won a few extra days to file its paperwork.

The proposals were due Friday. But on that day, Wake County Superior Court Judge Howard E. Manning Jr. gave Diebold Election Systems Inc. until Monday to respond to the state's request for proposals.

Four other companies met the Friday deadline.

State Elections Director Gary Bartlett said he didn't know whether the extra time gave Diebold an advantage over other companies.

"Certainly, we abide by what the judge says," Bartlett said.

Bartlett referred questions to the state Information Technology Services office. Officials there declined to comment.

As counties are required to upgrade their voting machines to meet state and federal guidelines, the state is trying to gain more control over what kinds of equipment voters use. Until now, counties were free to purchase a wide range of equipment, which has led to a hodgepodge of voting systems throughout the state.

In their filing with the court, Diebold lawyers said the company could not comply with a section of a new state law that requires companies to identify programmers responsible for creating voting software or provide some other detailed information about their systems.

Companies that don't provide the information could be fined or held criminally liable.

Manning's order says that companies won't be punished for not meeting all the law's disclosure requirements relating to their software.

The State Board of Elections is scheduled to select the winners Dec. 1.