State releases lottery papers

The records show the basis for charges facing three who worked for a major lottery company

The N.C. Secretary of State's office released 2,000 pages of documents Friday that shed light on why lobbying violations were filed this week against three people who worked for a major lottery company.

Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby this week charged lobbyist Meredith Norris, former lottery commissioner Kevin Geddings and former lottery executive Alan Middleton with misdemeanor counts of breaking lobbying laws.

Norris had been House Speaker Jim Black's unpaid political director until he let her go last fall as details of her lobbying work began to emerge.

Norris, Geddings and Middleton all worked in varying capacities for Scientific Games. Middleton submitted lottery language to the House and Senate that ended up word for word in the state's lottery law.

Black late last year appointed Geddings to the lottery commission, a board overseeing all aspects of the games. Middleton, who was Scientific Games' chief lobbyist, paid Geddings $9,500 after the appointment was made.

Federal prosecutors, who say an investigation is ongoing, have charged Geddings with mail and wire fraud in connection with taking the lottery board seat without disclosing his ties to the company. He denies the charges.

The new records provide a basis for the state charges.

Willoughby has not publicly detailed what led to the charges. All three are due in court in late June.

State law requires that people and companies seeking to influence legislators and laws register publicly with the state. The secretary of state oversees that compliance.

Among the details released Friday:

* Norris' contract with Scientific Games says, "You will be responsible for registering as a lobbyist for Scientific Games in accordance with North Carolina law." She did not register, and has said she did not lobby.

The reports include receipts for a number of dinners she arranged with Black and other lawmakers, who dined on lamb, stuffed shrimp, swordfish and steaks, and drank liquor and wine on Scientific Games' tab at fine restaurants across Raleigh.

* In May, Norris sent an e-mail message with lottery information to pro-lottery legislators under the name of Middleton. In June, she arranged a dinner party attended by at least two legislators and Middleton, and paid for half of the $585 meal. A payday lending lobbyist picked up the other half, the report says.

* Geddings helped prepare Sen. Tony Rand, a Fayetteville Democrat, for a lottery debate in May 2005. That preparation "constitutes influencing or attempting to influence legislative action," the reports says.

Geddings maintains that media and political consultants do similar activities all the time without registering as lobbyists.

* Middleton was in Raleigh prior to when he officially registered to lobby, and he incurred expenses "on behalf of his ... employer for the purpose of lobbying" prior to registering, the report says. The report also says he aided Norris' "unlawful lobbying activities by providing access to his email account."

Middleton, through his lawyer, has called the charges "absurd."

* Investigators did not get much information on the work Norris performed for SCANA Corp., a public utility that is the parent company of PSNC Energy.

The company provided only a contract. It was not included in the records, but the secretary of state's office produced it in a follow-up request from The News & Observer.

It shows that SCANA paid Norris $2,500 a month to "provide general advice and advocacy" on behalf of the company. The contract ran from March 2005 through February 2006 for a total of $30,000.

SCANA lawyer Joseph B. Cheshire V said Friday that Norris' contract was the only document that SCANA had to share with state officials regarding her work.

"She was just a consultant," Cheshire said. "She was kind of on standby if they needed her for something. There's really nothing else to it."