Mar 16, 2007
State officials file their ethics reports
Gary Roberton - Associated Press

Elected and appointed state officials scrambled Thursday to complete new economic disclosure statements for an ethics panel that legislators made more powerful last year after examples of its weaknesses.  
 
Thursday was the deadline for more than 4,000 people in positions now covered by the state's comprehensive ethics law -- including the governor, judges, General Assembly members, Cabinet-level officials and appointees to boards and commissions -- to fill out the disclosure form.  
 
At the N.C. State Ethics Commission office in Raleigh, lawmakers and other officials dropped off their statements and employees processed foot-tall piles of documents.  
 
"We've been inundated with papers," said Perry Newson, the commission's executive director. "It's all we can do to keep up with the mail, stamp it and enter it into the database."  
 
About 1,800 people were bound by Gov. Mike Easley's executive order on ethics, which also required that they provide details of personal finances. The 2006 overhaul of ethics and lobbying regulations also toughened punishments against people who don't answer the forms truthfully.  
 
Now the forms come with a new warning: failing to disclose information is a misdemeanor, while lying is a low-grade felony.  
 
"You want to be as honest and straightforward as you can," said Rep. Bonner Stiller, R-Brunswick. "I think most people were [already] being conscientious in filling these out these forms."  
 
It could take several months before commission staff review each filing to determine whether possible conflicts of interest exist.  
 
Among the state's top elected leaders, Easley, Senate leader Marc Basnight and House Speaker Joe Hackney had filed their disclosures by Thursday afternoon.  
 
Easley's report cited that he and his wife, Mary, had ownership interest of at least $10,000 each in four tracts of real estate, including his home in Southport and land in Carteret County. They also own half-interest in a house on Bald Head Island with his brother.  
 
Neither Hackney, of Orange County, nor Basnight, of Dare County, both Democrats, listed security holdings above $10,000. But they listed investments in non-public companies: Hackney in a farm, law firm and other partnerships and Basnight in the family's restaurant and construction company.  
 
Asked to provide any other information, Basnight noted that he has "met thousands of people" in more than 20 years in public service.  
 
"I do not feel that my relationships pose a conflict, but I do take care to consistently take stock of all my personal and business relationships in order to make sure that I avoid any potential for conflict," he said.