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North Carolina Investigates Poker Donations
An investigation in Raleigh, North Carolina is underway as officials try to
determine if illegal campaign contributions were made by the video poker
industry. The formal public inquiry has been delayed by the State Board of
Elections for nearly two weeks while investigators from the board continue
to sift through the evidence.
Originally, the board had scheduled the hearings to commence on Thursday for
two days of testimony gathering and gathering of evidence for its
investigation. House Speaker Jim Black and Michael Decker were among the
largest recipients of money from the video poker industry to their campaigns
in years. The investigation has come about as a result of a complaint in
2004 by the campaign finance reform group Democracy North Carolina, which
alleges that donations made by the video poker industry exceeded legal
limits.
A board investigator has stated that it appears as if Black’s campaign, the
political action committee, PAC leader M. Scott Edwards, and Decker violated
campaign finance laws by accepting or making illegal donations. There has
been no decision yet on proceedings for the optometric PAC or Black’s
campaign, but the board has forwarded the cases involving Edwards and Decker
to the Wake County prosecutors.
Optometrists testified last month they wrote incomplete checks - often $100
apiece - and sent them to Edwards. Records show the payee's name and date
were often added months later. Some of those checks ended up in the personal
accounts of Decker and Hunter, according to records. The board could issue
penalties up to three times the amount of an illegal contribution, issue a
public rebuke, forward potential criminal activity to prosecutors, or find
that no wrongdoing occurred.
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