Gov. Mike Easley, who last week stirred up environmentalists with his nomination of Raleigh utilities lawyer Edward Finley to the state Utilities Commission, has moved quickly to quell the opposition by performing an ideological balancing act.

One day after 17 environmental groups called on the legislature to block Finley's nomination, Easley renominated Sam J. "Jimmy" Ervin IV to a second term on the commission.

When he was first nominated in the 1990s, Ervin was strongly opposed by the power companies. They claimed that Ervin, the grandson of former U.S. Sen. Sam J. Ervin Jr., had spent his law career opposing power company rate increase requests. His nomination was initially blocked by House Republicans, and he was not confirmed until Democrats regained control of the legislature in 1999.

"Jimmy Ervin has been a dedicated and valuable member of the commission for the past eight years," Easley said in the announcement. "He has listened with care and concern to the views of consumers and environmentalists while wisely balancing the needs of the regulated utilities for the best interest of all North Carolinians."

Finley was nominated for the slot left vacant by the resignation of Jo Anne Sanford, who stepped down at the end of the year to join a law firm. The environmentalists charged that Finley was too cozy with Progress Energy.

Easley can now go to the legislature and sell Finley and Ervin as a package -- something for the power companies and something for consumers.

Poll: War remains chief concern

The Iraq war apparently trumps the corruption scandals in Raleigh. Despite the scandals surrounding former state House Speaker Jim Black, North Carolina residents are feeling better about their state than they are their nation, according to a recent statewide poll.

Tar Heel residents are evenly split, 44 percent to 42 percent, about whether the state is heading in the right direction. But the survey found strong sentiment, 62 percent to 25 percent, that the nation is headed in the wrong direction.

That is according to a statewide survey of 1,000 registered votes conducted last week the for the Civitas Institute, a Raleigh-based think tank. The survey was conducted Feb. 12-16 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percent.

Former speaker drops lawsuit

Former House Speaker Richard Morgan has dropped his lawsuit alleging that his political foes had violated campaign finance laws by running advocacy ads designed to defeat him.

Morgan had lost a complaint to the State Board of Elections last summer that alleged that a committee founded by Raleigh businessman Art Pope had violated laws by spending thousands of dollars on ads that crossed the line from advocacy to overtly political.

Morgan appealed to Wake County Superior Court but dropped the challenge when the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up a campaign finance case in which some of the same issues were to be aired, according to his attorney, Michael Weisel.

"It no longer made sense to spend Richard Morgan's money or anyone else's money to pursue this," Weisel said.

The Moore County Republican has agreed to refund the contributions to his legal fund and disband the fund, Weisel said. The fund had between $50,000 and $100,000 from 50 to 100 donors, according to Jack Nichols, the fund's attorney.