CORRECTION

An article Sunday on the City & State section front about efforts to change how campaigns are funded in North Carolina incorrectly characterized the goals of Democracy North Carolina, a campaign watchdog organization. The group wants to encourage a system in which candidates collect small checks from individual voters. Those checks then would qualify the candidate for ample public funds to run for office. The aim is to create an alternative to campaigns financed by special interests.

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Bob Hall trained a bulky video camera on the witness stand and watched optometrists from across the state come forward, compelled to talk under oath about money they funneled to House Speaker Jim Black and his allies.

The nervous eye doctors, as well as Black, were brought there in large part because of Hall, a one-time civil rights activist turned crusader for changes in how money dominates politics.

It was a formal complaint by Hall, as research director of a Carrboro campaign watchdog group called Democracy North Carolina, that led to the hearings last week by the State Board of Elections.

By the end of three days of testimony, an elections board investigator had outlined multiple violations of state elections laws involving Black, one of the most powerful political figures in the state, and his fellow optometrists.

And there was the beginning of talk within the state's political ranks about one of Hall's favorite subjects: The need for reforms.

Black, a Mecklenburg County Democrat who is in his fourth term as speaker, said as much even as he defended his own actions, which a state election official later said were not lawful.

"I expect when the General Assembly finishes with this, we'll be doing it differently," Black said during nearly two hours of testimony.

Within four hours of the first witness taking the stand, a broad coalition of groups calling itself the N.C. Coalition for Lobbying Reform had issued a news release.

"The longstanding, unpublicized practice of how lobbyists solicit big bucks for legislative campaigns has been brought to light," it said, pushing for a ban on campaign contributions by lobbyists.

By the next day, Black indicated it could be a big year for reform in Raleigh, with lobbying, ethics and campaign finances at the top of the agenda when the legislature convenes in May.

The changes are sparked by controversies about the state lottery's startup, the creation of state jobs, the entertaining of lawmakers and last week's testimony on campaign finances.

Politics and money

On Thursday, Black talked under oath about how vast amounts of money are needed in elections. Cash for a campaign, Black told elections officials, scares off competitors, rewards close friends and finances victory.

Black said everything he does takes into account a coming election -- either for his House seat or to retain the speakership.

Hall, 61, said he felt sad watching Black defend his actions.

"I admire him as a political leader," Hall said. "And I had the feeling there, well, I just felt like it is a system that is corrupting good people. ... When you are put into that environment, I think it's chewing up good people."

Black's office hasn't always spoken so warmly about Hall.

After Hall issued a news release in December detailing thousands of dollars that Black received from video poker interests and referred to Black as the industry's "grand protector," Black's press secretary, Julie Robinson, responded bluntly.

"It must be fund-raising time again for Bob Hall and his organization since he's issued yet another inaccurate press release that attacks the video poker industry," she said in an e-mail message.

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