Senate leader Marc Basnight is a fan of his counterpart in the House, Speaker Joe Hackney. But Basnight doesn't relish negotiating a $20 billion budget with him. Basnight, and, for that matter, Gov. Mike Easley, have ideas about how to get the budget impasse resolved. Hackney, in his first term as speaker, listens carefully. He's polite, plain-spoken and open to their ideas. But then he respectfully declines to cut a deal.

Easley calls Hackney the "Iceman."

"Because," he said, "you can't get him rattled and you can't get him hurried up."

Hackney, an Orange County Democrat, became speaker in January, succeeding Jim Black, who held the post for a record-tying eight years before being convicted earlier this year on a federal public corruption charge. Black is scheduled to be sentenced next week.

Hackney, 61, had the disadvantage of being labeled a "Chapel Hill liberal" in a legislature that typically steers more toward the middle of the road. But Hackney also is one of the chamber's longest-serving members, and he has a strong reputation for integrity, having co-authored a package of ethics, campaign finance and lobbying reforms in response to the scandal that swirled about Black.

So far, those strengths are paying off. Colleagues and political observers say Hackney has returned the House to the business of passing laws and crafting budgets, and away from the problems that dogged the legislature during the final years of Black's tenure.

"The fact that Hackney is known as Mr. Clean, and that ethics are important for him, that sets the tone for the House," said Ran Coble, executive director of the N.C. Center for Public Policy Research, a nonpartisan group that examines state government's effectiveness. "And that has not been easy given all that's gone on in the session, much less before the session."

Black, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, protected special interests such as video poker operators and fellow optometrists who helped him raise money for political purposes during his four terms as speaker, and let lobbyists pick up the tab for his wining and dining at upscale restaurants.

Hackney showed he was serious about members' behavior when the State Board of Elections called for a criminal investigation of Rep. Thomas Wright, a Wilmington Democrat.

Board hearings in May found that Wright had failed to report roughly $220,000 in campaign contributions that went toward personal expenses and had used his position to get a state official to write a false letter to help close a real estate deal. Hackney stripped Wright of his committee chairmanships, stopped nearly all of his bills and called for him to resign.

"I've tried to set a tone where we go by the rules and try to run the House in a way that people could look to it with pride," Hackney said. "I think I've done that."

Hackney has also questioned the practices of the Legislative Black Caucus, which operates a foundation that has given college scholarship money to relatives of five of its members. He has not, so far, called for the caucus foundation to open its books to the public.

Hackney has pledged to not push his legislative agenda as speaker, and so far, colleagues and other observers say, the House remains pretty centrist politically. He put rivals in key leadership posts, in some cases to the disappointment of supporters who expected they would win those assignments. Rep. Jim Crawford, an Oxford Democrat with conservative credentials, nearly beat out Hackney for the speakership, but he held his position as a chief budget writer.

"Once the speaker's contest is over, the number one priority is running the place in a productive, effective way and to do that ... you need the cooperation of every Democratic member, and as many Republicans too as you can have a good relationship with," Hackney said. "So my goal was to unify the caucus. I think and believe it had that effect."

In the first six months of Hackney's leadership, the House has rejected bans on smoking in the workplace and on corporal punishment in the schools, while passing legislation that would create a database to inform sheriffs if applicants for gun permits have a history of mental problems. There have been no attempts to kill the death penalty, as some conservatives feared, though executions have been stalled by a dispute over whether doctors can legally participate.

"There are some things that are clearly happening just to pacify their left wing," said House Minority Leader Paul Stam, an Apex Republican, "but it has not been a constant thing."

One example, Stam said, was when Hackney prevented legislation proposing a constitutional ban on gay marriage from reaching the House floor. Republicans had succeeded in passing it out of the House Rules Committee. The next step normally would have meant a floor vote, but Hackney sent the bill to another committee that likely won't take it up.

Hackney said the legislation represented a "far right" agenda. But he let another big piece of the Republican agenda move through the House. That bill would give voters the right to change the constitution to ban government from taking private property for economic development purposes and it passed overwhelmingly. Stam is one of the bill's chief sponsors.

Stam criticized Hackney for allowing Democrats to shut down debate on some legislation. It happened recently when House Republicans wanted to advocate for the Senate's budget proposal, which called for ending two temporary tax increases that have been on the books since 2001. But even there, Stam said, other House speakers limited debate more than Hackney has.

Hackney has handed over more heavy lifting to committee chairmen, requiring most legislation to go through at least two committees so that most problems are ironed out before the legislation comes to the floor for a vote. Coble said the requirement has slowed legislation and could result in a flurry of bills coming up for final passage before lawmakers adjourn.

One thing that hasn't changed is Hackney's persona. He still walks the halls with a somber look on his face, and rarely engages in small talk with the legions of lobbyists roaming the building. They say he is willing to listen to their concerns.

Hackney faces one other challenge as speaker as the legislative session hits its most critical juncture -- resolution of a state budget. Lawmakers have missed getting the budget done by July 1, the start of the fiscal year, and the negotiations have become bogged down over a very complicated issue -- trying to help counties struggling with rising Medicaid bills.

Last week, legislative leaders said they were close to resolving the impasse, but Senate Democrats could not go along with a budget provision that allowed counties to offer, following a voter referendum, a land transfer tax. Urban counties have been seeking the tax to help raise money for new schools and other infrastructure needs.

The real estate and home building industries have been lobbying heavily to persuade lawmakers to give up the idea. But Hackney and other House leaders continue to push for it.

For Basnight, a Manteo Democrat, that means more time sitting across the table from a methodical, unflappable lawmaker with a good poker face.

"He's a very tough negotiator in that he's honest with you," Basnight said, "but he will not show you how far he will go."

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