The fall of a North Carolina political machine

News that House Speaker Jim Black (D) of North Carolina will plead guilty to federal corruption charges tomorrow marks the final chapter in the downfall of one of the most powerful political empires in the state's history. The Raleigh News & Observer reports:

Former House Speaker Jim Black is expected to plead guilty to a public corruption charge in federal court in Raleigh on Thursday, ending the career of North Carolina's most powerful speaker of the modern political era.

Under the deal, Black is expected to plead guilty to one count of accepting illegal gratuities, according to his lawyer. The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

After serving two terms in the 1980s, Black was elected in 1990 and steadily built a machine that raised and dispensed millions of dollars to wield power. Five members of his circle have already plead or been found guilty for various lobbying and campaign finance violations, many linked to the push for a lottery in N.C.

The corruption of the Black political machine would have gone unchallenged had it not been for pro-democracy reformers like Democracy North Carolina. They were the group that first filed a complaint in 2004 about illegal contributions from video-poker operators, another special interest close to Black.

Bob Hall of Democracy North Carolina (and a long-time staff member of the Institute for Southern Studies) issued this statement about the latest chapter of the scandal -- and why the problem goes beyond Black, and instead points to the damage to democracy caused by "pay to play" politics:

Statement from Bob Hall, Democracy North Carolina

The image of "strings attached" runs through the sad and not-yet-finished story of House Speaker Jim Black's fall from power. Investigators at the State Board of Elections began pulling on a string connected to one group of Black's political donors soon after Democracy North Carolina filed a complaint in June 2004 about the illegal donations to his campaign from video-poker operators. That string led investigators to a host of other problems. Meanwhile, another ball of string connected to gambling, namely the proposed state lottery, began unraveling and revealing attachments between Speaker Black and other problem areas, including what eventually emerged as illegal lobbying and fraud.

Federal and state investigators following the strings kept finding new tangles and entanglements. It was only a matter of time before a clearly illegal quid-pro-quo attachment sealed the fate of House Speaker Jim Black. This story is not over, however. We would hope that Black assists investigators in punishing the money suppliers involved in illegal activities. Corruption cuts at the heart of our fundamental system of self-government, which relies on open debate and honest representation of the people for the public good. Corruption is a crime against the people, against democracy itself. It should be rooted out and defeated.

Unfortunately, the danger today is more than one person committing a crime. Jim Black illustrates that even well intentioned, conscientious public servants can get caught up in a system that leads people to make bad choices. In search of money to stay in power, they follow the wrong strings and become entangled in attachments that eventually smother them. As the state has become more competitive and campaign costs have risen, the demand for political donations has soared.

More than four times as much money moved through the 2006 state legislative campaigns as did just a dozen years ago. And too much of that money comes with strings attached. The money chase in North Carolina today clearly threatens the integrity of fair elections, free from corrupting influences.

That's why Democracy North Carolina and a host of others recommend providing candidates with a new supply of clean money, attached only to the voters' interests and conditioned on the candidates satisfying certain public-trust conditions. There is no complete solution, but without tackling the root cause of corruption, we can expect to see another politician endure the same fate as Jim Black - and Meg Scott Phipps - in the not too distant future.

And we the people suffer the consequences.