Charlotte's elected and business leaders have turned to Mohammad Jenatian to rally the city's tourism industry around public projects such as the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Then-House Speaker Jim Black had also turned to Jenatian, who is president of the Greater Charlotte Hospitality and Tourism Alliance, as a liaison -- for strip club money.

Jenatian helped establish ties between Black and the topless bar industry, a seemingly odd pairing of a demure Matthews optometrist and the racy, neon-lighted adult businesses. Jenatian's Tourism Political Action Committee, which supported Black with political donations, was often in the middle.

State elections officials and law enforcement agents have been examining Black's financial connections to the adult entertainment business. The inquiry stems from an investigation that started with the video poker industry and ultimately brought down the former speaker with a guilty plea to corruption charges in February.

"Our investigation led us from video poker to Jim Black, and the Tourism PAC is directly related to Jim Black," said Gary Bartlett, executive director of the State Board of Elections. "We're going wherever the evidence takes us."

A federal grand jury questioned Jenatian in 2006 about how he funneled a strip club owner's unreported contribution through the Tourism PAC and then to Black the previous year. Now investigators are pursuing Black's testimony that the same topless bar owner, who is a board member for Jenatian's hospitality and tourism alliance, also handed Black $2,000 in cash.

During Black's tenure, the adult entertainment industry was looking for influence in the General Assembly as state regulators sought more control over topless bars.

The Tourism PAC gave $12,250 to Black over the past decade, according to campaign finance records. It also gave contributions to an assortment of other state and local candidates from both major parties.

Jenatian (pronounced gin-a-TEE-un), is an ever-present spokesman for Charlotte hotels, bars and restaurants, lobbyist for their causes and gladhander at their grand openings. He backs politicians whose common denominator is power, not party, building relationships with both Black, a Democrat, and Mayor Pat McCrory, a Republican.

In an interview, Jenatian challenged any criticism of his role in routing money from strip-club owners to politicians. He noted that the Observer accepts advertising from topless bars and is a member of the hospitality and tourism alliance, along with strip club owners.

"If it's not an illegal business, I can't discriminate against any businesses," he said. "And I don't have to answer any questions just because some people don't like it."

In recent years, Jenatian gave $3,300 in personal money to Black's campaign. And, when Black rounded up campaign donations for then-Rep. Michael Decker in 2004, Jenatian pitched in $250.

Decker later pleaded guilty to accepting a bribe from Black, and both are now in federal prison.

"I would do anything I could do to help somebody who helps Jim Black," Jenatian told the Observer before the Decker bribe was disclosed.

He said the alliance operates separately from the Tourism PAC, but he is a top officer in both and acknowledged that alliance members provide the PAC's funding.

Campaign finance activists say the connections between Black and strip club money are another example of how North Carolina politicians rely on special-interest money to stay competitive.

Bob Hall, research director of Democracy North Carolina, a campaign finance watchdog, said Black repeatedly turned to fringe commerce, such as strip club owners, payday lenders and video poker operators.

"Every election, he needed a couple million dollars. He didn't have the deep connections to the good-old-boy network of eastern North Carolina," Hall said. "If you look at his campaign reports, he was very dependent on the Charlotte and Raleigh business community and those on the margins of what others saw as legitimate business interests."