Former Republican House Speaker Richard Morgan has sent a letter to supporters across North Carolina asking for money to help defray legal costs in his fight with Raleigh businessman Art Pope.

"If left unchallenged, Art Pope, with his corporate millions, is a danger to the values North Carolinians hold dear," Morgan wrote in the letter. "If successful, Pope will destroy the integrity of the North Carolina House of Representatives. If given the purse strings to our state government, Pope's approach could set our state back fifty years."

Morgan said he has set up a "Richard Morgan Legal Expense Trust" that will be administered by Jack Nichols, a Raleigh attorney and a Democrat. Pope defeated Nichols in a 2000 state House race.

Morgan said he set up the legal fund after spending tens of thousands of dollar from personal funds on legal costs.

Earlier this year, Morgan brought a complaint to the State Board of Elections, challenging Pope's practice of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars -- through his companies and various committees -- to pay for advertising attacking Morgan and other Republicans who formed a power-sharing agreement with House Democrats. Morgan was defeated in the May primary.

The elections board dismissed the complaint, and Morgan is considering whether to appeal the decision to Superior Court.

Pope said he couldn't understand why Morgan needed to raise legal funds. Morgan reported having $532,000 in his campaign kitty as of June 30.

He also noted that while Morgan criticized Pope-connected committees for using corporate funds to criticize candidates, the legal expense fund expressly allows corporate contributions.

"He sounds like a Democrat running against a Republican for the state House," Pope said. "I guess that is not a surprise since he supported Jim Black, helping keep the Democrats in control for four years."

Morgan said he expected his legal battle to be "lengthy and costly." He said he may have other uses for his leftover campaign funds.

Redistricting push

The coalition of groups that helped push lobbying reforms through the legislature on Tuesday unveiled a new campaign: the creation of a nonpartisan redistricting commission.

At news conferences in Raleigh, Charlotte, Wilmington and Asheville, the N.C. Coalition for Lobbying & Government Reform called for creation of a nonpartisan commission that would draw new congressional and legislative districts as required after every census.

Former U.S. Reps. Tim Valentine, a Democrat, and Bill Cobey, a Republican, said too many districts have been so packed with voters of one party that they are no longer competitive.

"We agree that we need stronger voter choice," Cobey said.

This year, 65 of the 120 state House seats and 22 of the 50 Senate seats are uncontested.

There are 12 states with redistricting commissions. The coalition is ideologically diverse, ranging from liberal to conservative.

A Miller endorsement

The Muslim American Public Affairs Council plans to endorse Democratic U.S. Rep. Brad Miller on Saturday, in part because of his Republican challenger, Vernon Robinson.

"In light of of the disgraceful behavior of your opponent and his frenzied attacks on yourself, your family and your faith as well as his demonization of the Hispanic/Latino community, we no longer need to analyze and discuss his vicious diatribe," wrote Khodr Zaarour, the group's political director.

Robinson suggested that the Miller endorsement was connected to Robinson's support for giving intelligence agencies greater surveillance powers.

"During the debate," Robinson said, "I hammered away at Congressman Miller's votes to cut off funding for intelligence agency surveillance programs. Perhaps that was considered by the group when it decided to endorse him."

The group said there are 20,000 Muslim voters in the Triangle.

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