Perdue gives speech at NARAL fundraiser

It's not quite Anthony Bourdain at a vegan convention, but Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue's speech at a NARAL fundraiser Tuesday could have caused a few double takes.

Perdue hasn't always agreed with NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina on abortion rights. As a state House member in 1989, Perdue co-sponsored a bill that would require parental consent for minors seeking abortions and voted for a successful consent bill as a senator.

On a 1996 questionnaire sponsored by a national voter education group, Perdue said she supported abortions only in cases of incest, rape or when the woman's life is in jeopardy.

Melissa Reed, the group's executive director, said Perdue's career also includes support for laws NARAL supports, such as a measure requiring private insurers to cover contraceptives and another making it illegal to block the doors to health clinics or threaten people going inside.

Reed said Perdue told her she supported parental-notification bills as a compromise, to keep more restrictive laws from passing.

Perdue, a likely Democratic candidate for governor, said her record should be viewed in the context of her life, growing up a Baptist in a small Virginia town and representing conservative districts.

Perdue said she thought a lot about the issue in the mid- to late 1990s, as the mother of two sons. She now has two young granddaughters and calls herself "strongly pro-choice."

"Millions of people have had the same struggle in their head," she said.

End near for Black measure

A law that former House Speaker Jim Black quietly engineered on behalf of chiropractors and their patients is now a signature away from biting the dust.

The Senate unanimously voted Tuesday to end the law Black had slipped into the 2005 budget that spares patients from having to pay higher insurance co-payments to see chiropractors.

Lawmakers in both chambers have now voted to undo the measure, which Black got passed while he was receiving $29,000 in cash and a check from three chiropractors.

Black, a Mecklenburg County Democrat who resigned from the House at the start of the session, has since pleaded guilty to a federal charge of corruptly accepting things of value and state charges of bribery and obstruction of justice.

It now goes to Gov. Mike Easley for his signature. A spokesman said Tuesday that Easley intends to sign it.

Pushing for a tax break

Some groups used the final day to file taxes to argue that more North Carolinians should be getting money back.

More than 20 representatives of advocacy groups met at the Capitol Post Office in downtown Raleigh on Tuesday to argue for a state Earned Income Tax Credit.

The credit would piggyback on the federal program, which offsets payroll and income taxes for low-wage workers and provides some with a refund.

Democratic Reps. Alma Adams of Greensboro and William Wainwright of Havelock spoke in favor of their bill, which would give 5 percent of the federal EITC, or $235 for a family receiving the maximum federal credit of $4,716.

But Marybe McMillan of the AFL-CIO said the EITC campaign will call for a 10 percent match worth $472 for the same family. That would cost the state about $134 million.

Security costly for tall ships

Among the findings in a state audit of the tall ships fiasco at Beaufort and a related land deal was this: Security costs for the event were more than $373,000. That was part of the $2 million loss posted by the event, which was supposed to raise money for the N.C. Maritime Museum.

The audit says organizers "noted excess security was obtained due to inaccurate attendance estimates, the decision to hold the event at three sites, and the insistence by the Beaufort Police Chief that security levels be maintained in order for the town to provide necessary permits."

The News & Observer reported last year that the state provided two patrol boats to escort a party cruise for legislators and dignitaries. The purpose of that, according to an e-mail message, was to provide "security protection from waterside threats and assist ... the ferry through the crowded waterway."

Organizers said in a written response to the audit that something good came of the security.

The executive director and president of the Friends of the Museum, a private nonprofit that assists the museum, wrote that the festival allowed various public safety agencies to get "practice in mutual cooperation that will prove invaluable in the event of a disaster in the region."