Black to plead guilty

Former speaker will admit a felony corruption charge, lawyer says

Former House Speaker Jim Black is expected to plead guilty to a public corruption charge in federal court in Raleigh on Thursday, ending the career of North Carolina's most powerful speaker of the modern political era.

Under the deal, Black is expected to plead guilty to one count of accepting illegal gratuities, according to his lawyer. The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

In response to questions from The Charlotte Observer, Black's attorney, Charlotte lawyer Kenneth Bell, confirmed Black's plans.

"Since somebody is talking who shouldn't have and has leaked what's happened, I will confirm that Dr. Black will enter a guilty plea to accepting illegal gratuities in federal court on Thursday," he said Tuesday.

Black, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, will also have to resign his House seat, as the N.C. Constitution bars felons from holding office.

Black did not return messages left at his office and on his phone.

"It's unfortunate that this is the ending that comes to a man who has spent so much of his career serving the people of North Carolina," N.C. Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Meek said Tuesday night.

Black began his career in the House at age 45, serving two terms in the early 1980s before losing three straight elections. He was elected in 1990 and steadily built a base of support that led to his election as Democratic leader and then speaker. His most serious election challenge came last year, when Republican Hal Jordan lost by 30 votes.

Jordan said many political insiders were expecting an indictment against Black.

"The question was whether he was going to enter a plea or fight it," Jordan said.

During his tenure as speaker, Black presided over budgets that steadily boosted education funding and engineered a crucial vote to pass the state lottery.

Black elevated the office into a political power center through consensus building and fundraising. He held together a usually slim Democratic majority.

The speaker determines which legislation reaches the House floor for a vote and appoints members to dozens of state commissions and boards.

The court action will end a nearly two-year federal and state investigation that has rattled the state's political establishment and has led to five associates of Black being found guilty in federal or state courts.

The long-running probe forced Black from the speaker's office in December and paraded lawmakers, legislative staffers, political contributors and public officials in front of a federal grand jury.

The investigation, conducted by federal and state agents, fanned in several directions, revealing, among other transgressions, a cash-for-vote deal transacted at a pancake house that kept Black in power. The former lawmaker who admitted to taking the $50,000 bribe, Michael Decker of Forsyth County, pleaded guilty in August to a federal charge of conspiracy.

The State Board of Elections ruled that Black was involved in illegal campaign contributions from optometrists who bundled partially blank checks from colleagues.

The Mecklenburg County Democratic Party's executive committee will meet and recommend a replacement for Black's seat, whom Gov. Mike Easley will then appoint. Easley could not be reached Tuesday night.

(Charlotte Observer writer Jim Morrill contributed to this report.)