No shortage of that today, for sure.  Two big stories ruled the hallways - Jim Black's sentencing, and alleged improprieties by Rep. David Almond.

He did WHAT?

The rumor mill was in overdrive today over the fate of Stanly Republican David Almond.  He's a two-term conservative who defeated Bobby Barbee in the '04 primary after Barbee apparently got too friendly with Richard Morgan. 

Anyway, rumor has it Almond will resign tomorrow as a result of an impropriety that prompted a legislative employee to quit.  There's even talk that she may be filing charges.

As to what he did - well, at this point, it's just rumor, and I'm not into libel suits, so I'm just not going there - not tonight, anyway.  If I get more solid info tomorrow, I'll post it. Let's just say if it's true, it isn't pretty.

The House GOP caucus held an emergency meeting tonight to discuss the rumors.  Caucus leader Skip Stam (R-Wake) said Almond wasn't available to speak to the caucus because he wanted to talk to his lawyer first, but the GOP leadership will meet with him tomorrow around noon to get his side of the story.

Stam says whether they'll ask Almond to resign depends on the facts, but he also says the caucus "won't tolerate" seriously improper behavior.

Stam says he first heard about the allegations Monday night, but couldn't say from whom (it may have been part of a personnel complaint, which would be protected by law). When asked whether he'd talked to the assistant in question, Stam said it wasn't really within the caucus's scope to compel anyone to testify. 

When I went by Almond's office today to ask about the allegations, it was all locked up. Guess we'll find out more tomorrow.

(Big) House Speaker

Former Speaker Jim Black was sentenced to five years, three months in federal prison today, the outcome of his February guilty plea to federal "illegal gratuity" charges. I had a story on the sentencing on air this evening - if you missed it, it's here.

In case you've forgotten, Black admitted he accepted about $29,000 - much of it cash - from state chiropractors, even while he was championing legislation that benefited his donors.   (If you're wondering what an illegal gratuity is, suffice it to say it's a suspected bribe for which prosecutors can't establish a watertight quid pro quo.)

In court today, Black's attorney Ken Bell argued the chiropractors believed they were making campaign contributions.  But If that's so, why would they agree to hand over the money in a variety of bathrooms?.  If they thought what they were doing was legal, why not just hand over the bags of cash across the table?

Black's punishment, aside from 63 months' hard time (less 9 or so for good behavior), is a $50K fine and three years' supervised release (the federal equivalent of probation) after his release.  The terms of his plea agreement preclude an appeal of the sentence as long as it falls within federal structured sentencing guidelines, which it does. 

Judge Terrence Boyle gave Black's attorney 10 days to recommend a federal prison, and said Black would be expected to report to it by July 30th.

"The investigation is ongoing"

According to federal prosecutors, the fat lady isn't even warming up yet.  At the top of the list is "The Lobbyist" who gave Black the half-million-dollar check.

In court today, Black's attorney Ken Bell explained that the $500K was a business loan.  Bell says Black was in negotiations to lease a building, but needed to increase his liquidity, so he was thinking of taking out a loan. He mentioned his quandary to said Lobbyist, who offered him, apparently unprompted, an unsecured and undocumented loan.

According to Bell, Black's office manager/treasurer inadvertently deposited the loan into Black's campaign account. Upon discovering the error, Black refunded the $500K to the Lobbyist, who then wrote Black another $500K check that ended up where it was intended - in the former Speaker's personal account.

Here's where it gets complicated. During the lease negotiations, while the money was "just sitting" in Black's account, Bell says, Black decided to loan it to his campaign to make his bottom line "look healthy." Shortly thereafter, he repaid himself for the loan, then returned the money to the Lobbyist.

Problem is, this didn't show up on his campaign reports, which is illegal. And Joe Sinsheimer pointed out today that it also isn't precisely legal to use a short-term loan to boost your liquidity to obtain a lease. On top of that, there's the tax issue of unreported income. In other words, it's a big ol' can of worms - though it's worth noting that under the rules back in 2000, what the Lobbyist did wasn't illegal.

So who's "The Lobbyist?"

From what we heard today, it's a safe bet this person's alive and kicking, so that rules out yesterday's top contender, Linwood Mercer.  Speculation has drifted over to two other lobbyists who were working for video poker back in 2000 - former Secretary of State Rufus Edmisten, and the state's top lobbyist, Don Beason.  Both were "of interest" to the grand jury investigation of Jim Black, but many say the latter is a more likely contender. 

If Don Beason isn't "The Lobbyist," you'd expect he'd be likely to say as much. But so far, according to some who've spoken to him, he hasn' t precisely done that.  And that's making some folks a little nervous on Jones St. tonight. If Beason is the person in question, and if he's working with the feds (both of which are *pure* conjecture at this point), there's no telling what might happen next.  If Don Beason doesn't know where the body's buried, then it probably isn't buried at all.

Reactions

• Here's what US Attorney George Holding, First Assistant John Bruce, et al had to say about Black's sentencing.  Notice the lack of closure.  Everyone else did.
• Michael Decker was there, too, subpoenaed by Bell to testify on the bribery charge.  He didn't need to, in the end, but it isn't at all clear whether Decker would have helped Black's case had he taken the stand. Decker's comments are here.
• And, of course, Black's nemesis Joe Sinsheimer showed up for the festivities.  He expects to be spending more time at the courthouse in the near future.  His comments are here.

See you real soon...

Today wasn't the former speaker's last day in court.  Black still awaits sentencing on state corruption charges.  That hearing could come very soon - maybe before the end of the month.  His sentence could run concurrently (my guess) or consecutively. Stay tuned.

Comments? Drop me a line.