House limits lobbyists' gifts

In a preliminary vote, House members agree to downsize perks; penalize violators

Rep. Bill Culpepper was a popular lawmaker when the U.S. Open golf championship came to Pinehurst in June 2005.

He got free tickets worth more than $100 each from three of North Carolina's biggest utilities -- BellSouth, Duke Energy and Progress Energy -- and admission to the posh, air-conditioned corporate tents they set up to provide food and drink to VIPs.

Today, those companies could not give such perks to Culpepper. That would be a conflict of interest in his new job as a member of the N.C. Utilities Commission, which regulates telephone, electric and other utilities.

But they were free to do it when Culpepper, an Edenton Democrat, sat on the House committee that handled utilities legislation, and while he was the powerful House Rules chairman.

If a vote Thursday on the House floor is a sign, however, the days of such gifts could be ending.

By a nearly unanimous vote, 106-3, House members tentatively banned lobbyists and their clients from giving big gifts to legislators. Violators could face a misdemeanor charge, a two-year ban on lobbying and a civil fine of up to $5,000 per violation.

Three Democrats opposed the bill: Larry Bell of Sampson County, Beverly Earle of Charlotte and Thomas Wright of Wilmington. Earle had said during the debate that she was concerned how the bill would affect nonprofits.

If the bill becomes law, North Carolina would join a majority of states that ban or limit gifts from lobbyists.

Bob Phillips, executive director for Common Cause North Carolina, a public interest group, said that would be a much needed change for state government.

"The whole thing about gifts is they provide access," Phillips said. "Those who can give are going to get access that the rest of us are not able to have."

The legislation also would prohibit lobbyists and their clients from offering gifts to legislative employees, the governor and other statewide elected officials, and to executive branch officials. Lobbyists also would see their campaign spending limited to a cumulative $4,000 per election for candidates in state and local races.

House members said little during an hourlong debate about why the legislation was needed, but it follows a state investigation that led to misdemeanor charges against Meredith Norris, House Speaker Jim Black's former unpaid political director, and two others who worked for lottery vendor Scientific Games.

The three are accused of violating the state's lobbying laws by not disclosing that Norris and Kevin Geddings, a public relations executive, had been under contract to influence lawmakers to pass the state lottery last year.

Norris alone spent $3,800 wining and dining lawmakers, but did not register as a lobbyist for the company. She has said she did not lobby lawmakers. Geddings has said he is innocent of the charge.

No one spoke of the criminal case on the House floor Thursday. Some said the legislation had come before them not because of a real problem, but because of a perceived one.

"The perception is that we are down here and we are for sale and lobbyists are buying us ... and the fact is it's not so," said Rep. Pryor Gibson, an Anson County Democrat who sponsored the bill.

House members, by a 63-46 vote, weakened the bill by removing a proposed one-year prohibition on lawmakers, statewide elected officials and state agency heads from becoming lobbyists. Last year, lawmakers passed a six-month prohibition, and House members said they didn't want to lengthen it.

The bill took a hit previously in a House judiciary committee, where lawmakers dropped a provision prohibiting lobbyists from raising campaign money.

Gibson and Rep. John Blust, a Greensboro Republican, plan to try to restore that provision when the legislation comes up for a second vote Monday night.

The lobbying legislation is one of several reform bills the House has taken up to address concerns about lobbying, campaign finance and ethics laws. Much of the legislation stems from controversies surrounding Black's campaign and legislative activities.

Black, a Mecklenburg Democrat, launched special committees before the start of the legislative session to help develop the reform bills and has voted for all of them.

While the House has passed many of the bills, the full Senate has yet to take up any.

But House Majority Leader Joe Hackney, a Chapel Hill Democrat who has shepherded the bills in the House, said Senate leaders are talking about wrapping much of the legislation into one bill that could clear the General Assembly next week.