Black appeals board's ruling

Lawyers say optometrists' checks were intended for candidates, not a PAC

Attorneys for House Speaker Jim Black want a state judge to throw out State Board of Elections findings that Black violated campaign finance law by accepting campaign contribution checks upon which the payee line was left blank.

An appeal filed in Wake County Superior Court on Tuesday also said that elections hearings in February and March violated Black's right to due process because the board did not give him appropriate notice of the subject of the hearings, and denied him access to transcripts and documents.

Last week, the board found that Black and his campaign violated election law by taking more than the $4,000 limit for contributions in an election cycle.

The board said that nearly $7,000 in contributions to the Black campaign came from North Carolina optometrists' political action committee. The optometrists gave the checks to the PAC with the payee line blank, and Black deposited them in his campaign account.

Black's attorneys said that the optometrists' checks should not be counted as PAC contributions because they were intended to be forwarded to individual candidates.

"The board was simply wrong in its conclusions of law," Raleigh lawyer John Wallace said. "Wrong in its expression of the view that the checks made by individual optometrists were contributions in the name of another."

The appeal does not address the board's most serious allegation -- that Black had violated election law by taking three other checks totaling $4,200 from optometrists and making them over to Rep. Michael Decker's campaign in early 2003. Decker switched political parties and threw his support behind Black, allowing him to retain the speaker's post in a power-sharing agreement with Rep. Richard Morgan, a Moore County Republican.

Wallace said Black has no standing on that issue because the board did not assess a penalty. The board instead referred the matter to Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby for a criminal investigation.

The board's legal counsel, Don Wright, could not be reached about the appeal. Black, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, also could not be reached.