Norris, who was convicted of a state lobbying law violation last year, had been represented by Charlotte lawyers Thomas Walker and Mark Calloway, but Walker confirmed that she has turned to someone else. He declined further comment.

Norris also declined to comment, according to an e-mail message. She had been former House Speaker Jim Black's unpaid political director at the same time she lobbied for clients with business before the state legislature. One client that she did not disclose was lottery company Scientific Games.

That nondisclosure led to her lobbying law conviction, and federal officials have said in court that she was part of a conspiracy to have Black appoint former public relations executive Kevin Geddings to the state lottery commission in 2005. Black made the appointment, but Geddings later resigned after Scientific Games disclosed that it had hired Geddings to promote lottery legislation.

Geddings was found guilty of mail fraud in a federal trial last fall for not disclosing the business dealings to state ethics officials shortly after his appointment.

Lessons from Charlotte

Here's a puzzle for Charlotte Mayor Patrick McCrory in the wake of Hurricane Katrina: He has a dandy evacuation plan for his city's residents.

He just doesn't know where in the world they'll be going.

For all the preparations McCrory had done to shield his city from terrorist attacks or natural disasters, it was Katrina -- an event several states away -- that rattled his notion of homeland security.

McCrory took his lessons to Washington on Tuesday for a two-day homeland security seminar aimed at local officials. McCrory gave the keynote luncheon speech, outlining his suggestions for dealing with catastrophes.

He talked about the need for greater communications, for eliminating turf battles, for trusting the business community and the media.

And he talked about the lessons that keep coming.

Hours after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in August 2005, sending New Orleans into a tailspin, McCrory got a call from the White House, he recalled Tuesday.

Can you take a few planeloads of people? he was asked.

"All of a sudden, we had to create a city in Charlotte, North Carolina, for two thousand refugees with four hours' notice," McCrory said. "Our lives changed."

He had to figure out where to put the newcomers, some of them schoolchildren, alcoholics or criminals. Many, rescued from floodwaters, were without identification. He had to feed them, offer health care, calm their fears.

In the emergency operations center, he tamped down a turf scuffle between the Salvation Army (which wanted to offer a little religion) and the Red Cross (which forbids official religion in its shelters).

"I drew a line" in the shelter, McCrory said, allowing the Salvation Army some space. And he had his local emergency director deal with it.

Some 18 months later, McCrory still doesn't know exactly what would happen to the Queen City's residents if the Big One hits Charlotte.

But he knows evacuations could become an issue, just as they were for New Orleans.

McCrory, a Republican, now serves on President Bush's advisory committee for homeland security, a post that he said has given him insight into the confidential defenses the nation and large cities are wielding to protect things such as infrastructure.

It taught him that government cannot be so stingy with its secrets that the private sector is unable to protect the phone, water and electrical lines. And that government has to trust the media to help spread its message during a catastrophe.

Perhaps his most important lesson, though, he learned from another Republican, former New York City Mayor Rudi Giuliani.

People need reassurance, McCrory said. They need hope from their local government.

Miller raises money

U.S. Rep. Brad Miller, a Raleigh Democrat and member of the House Financial Services Committee, raised $30,000 at a fundraising breakfast Monday in Charlotte, the nation's second-largest financial center.

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, a friend of Miller's and chairman of the committee, headlined the breakfast with a group of financial leaders in Charlotte.