The role that lobbyists play in what becomes law in North Carolina, including the lottery enacted last year, drew the attention Wednesday of the state Senate and a federal grand jury.

The Senate moved to curb some of the ways that lobbyists influence legislation when it passed a measure to ban lobbyists and their clients from giving most gifts to lawmakers and top state officials. The bill also would prohibit lobbyists from making campaign contributions to candidates for the legislature and other state offices.

But the Democrats who control the Senate blocked an effort to ban political fundraising by lobbyists.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Jim Black's former political director, Meredith Norris, and his former right-hand man in the House, Bill Culpepper, visited the Federal Building just a few blocks away in downtown Raleigh, where a grand jury is hearing evidence involving Black's legislative and campaign activities.

Norris and her attorney, Thomas Walker of Charlotte, declined to comment on the visit. Culpepper's lawyer confirmed that Culpepper had received a subpoena to testify.

"He will testify, and he will do so truthfully," said Joseph B. Cheshire V, a Raleigh attorney. Culpepper declined to comment.

Culpepper, an Edenton Democrat, was the powerful House Rules Committee chairman before Gov. Mike Easley appointed him to fill a vacancy on the Utilities Commission late last year. Cheshire said Culpepper is only a witness and not a target of the investigation.

The news reverberated through the legislature, where the Senate was voting on reform measures.

Much of the attention was on whether to ban lobbyists from raising campaign money for legislative and Council of State races.

In a partisan maneuver by Democrats, the Senate avoided a vote on such a ban and instead adopted a ban on lobbyists' collecting campaign money for legislative and Council of State races, a practice known as bundling.

Sen. Dan Clodfelter, a Charlotte Democrat, said it would be unconstitutional to prohibit lobbyists from soliciting contributions. But he said a ban just on collecting campaign checks from multiple contributors would survive a constitutional challenge.

Senate Minority leader Phil Berger said lawmakers would not solve one of the major issues that stirred calls for reforms this year if they didn't ban fundraising by lobbyists.

"We have not dealt with the issue that created this cloud in the first place," said Berger, a Rockingham County Republican.

Berger and a leading reform advocate, Bob Phillips of Common Cause North Carolina, questioned whether the bundling ban would achieve its stated goal since it pertains only to "delivery" of contributions. Clodfelter said he would tighten the provision, if needed, in House-Senate negotiations over a final bill.

"It does improve the lobbying and ethics laws that we have in North Carolina, but it could have gone further," Phillips said.

The Senate passed the bill in a 47-1 vote.

The House also has passed ethics reforms, but there are key differences. The House measure, for example, would not ban contributions from lobbyists. Instead, it would limit campaign contributions by lobbyists to $4,000 per election.

Late Wednesday, the House voted not to concur with the Senate measure. The proposals now go to a House-Senate conference committee to work out differences.

Black said he anticipated that a compromise bill could be ready early next week, which means ethics reform could be the last issue to be dealt with before the close of the session.

Meredith Norris' role

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