Just before bringing the hammer down on former Gov. Mike Easley, the State Board of Elections found no wrongdoing by the N.C. Democratic Party.
The board said Friday that it found no evidence that the Democratic Party schemed with the Easley campaign to skirt contribution limits.
Instead, the evidence showed that the Easley campaign evaded the $4,000 limit on contributions on two occasions by directing additional contributions to the party.
"Representatives of the Easley campaign solicited $9,000 in contributions when the donors were advised and were of the belief that the $9,000 solicited for the North Carolina Democratic Party would be ... earmarked for the Easley committee," said Larry Leake, chairman of the State Board of Elections.
That violates North Carolina law, Leake said.
Because the contributions were illegal, the Democratic Party must give up the $9,000 to the state school system, Leake said.
The contributions were from Wilmington developers Nick Garrett and Lanny Wilson.
"The board absolved the party of any wrongdoing," said Andrew Whalen, executive director of the state Democratic Party. "Any misrepresentations made were not made by employees of the party."
Joe Sinsheimer, a political consultant who has become an advocate for campaign finance reform, cautioned against giving a broad reading to the board's narrow finding.
Hunting for money
To fund elections, the Democratic Party has increasingly turned to big donors with pending business before the government, Sinsheimer said.
"Even though the Democratic Party escaped any major penalties today, I think the party needs to look inside its own soul and say, 'We've become the party of pay to play,'" Sinsheimer said.
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