Aug 10, 2007
Gov. Easley signs ethics bills
Gary D. Robertson - Charlotte Observer

Gov. Mike Easley signed three bills into law Thursday that he and other supporters said will make the actions of elected officials more transparent and build confidence among North Carolina citizens. 
Two bills change the ethics and lobbying laws, in part by making investigative hearings of ethics panels open when executive branch officials and General Assembly members are accused in credible complaints of ethics violations. A third requires more disclosure of legal expense funds created for elected officials. 
 
"People ought to know what accusations are being made against public officials," Easley said. "But I think it's more important for the public officials ...because it gives the public the chance to see the official did not do anything wrong. The official gets to tell his side of it." 
 
The old State Board of Ethics used to have open hearings against executive branch members and appointees to state panels. But the 2006 rewrite of ethics and lobbying rules made those meetings of the reconstituted State Ethics Commission confidential, while the Legislative Ethics Committee, which handles complaints against lawmakers, remained closed. 
 
The confidentiality meant that citizens might never learn the details of a complaint, unless the elected or appointed official received a public sanction or censure. Most of the documents in the hearings will now be open for public inspection. 
 
The ethics bills make small changes to the 2006 laws that supporters say will provide more disclosure to the public while attempting to keep private the personal lives of elected officials and their families. 
 
The legal fund regulations require quarterly reporting to the State Board of Elections of donations and expenditures of these funds, which may be created for an elected official who faces litigation. 
 
Individual donations to these funds will remain unlimited, but donations by corporations, unions and trade associations are now capped at $4,000 per year to limit the perception that these groups are seeking to influence the official. 
 
The laws signed Thursday, combined with last year's ethics changes, were created in part in response to ethical questions involving Black, who is now serving a five-year federal prison sentence for taking illegal contributions from chiropractors while pushing their agenda at the General Assembly.