Jim Black: A Black Mark on the Legislature

Updated March 2, 2010

A few weeks later, Black told reporters that the legislature's reputation had sunk so low that he was considering turning in the special license plate identifying him as a member of the General Assembly.

Fast forward nine years, and Jim Black had become the poster child for political corruption.  Currently serving 63 months in a federal penitentiary, he took $29,000 from chiropractors while helping them pass legislation to benefit their own industry. In the words of U. S. Attorney George Holding, "He earned every day of it. Jim Black took corruption to a new level in North Carolina." (News & Observer 7/11/07).

He also earns top billing in the Capitol Monitor's Hall of Shame.

Legislative Insider
Former Governor Mike Easley first called him "the mumbler," but his lazy speech patterns didn't stop Jim Black from developing into an effective legislative insider. First elected from Mecklenburg County in 1980, Black served two terms until he was defeated in 1984.  He bounced back in 1990 and continued to serve until his sad resignation on February 14, 2007.

The press noted that he wasn't known for important legislation. For example, Black once sponsored a bill creating a state boxing commission (which also created a job for a former House member). But the Charlotte optometrist, who counted the CEOs of Wachovia and Bank of America as patients at his optometric practice, excelled at fundraising. In 1994, after Republicans won control of the House, Black's colleagues voted to make him the first Democrat Minority Leader in the 20th century.  

Jim Black had begun to build his empire.

Coalition Fails
After the 1996 elections, Republicans held a slim 61-59 advantage in the House, giving Black a chance at power if he could acquire two Republican votes. Dangling the House Speaker pro-tem position (and the fatter pension benefits it carries), he unsuccessfully tried to persuade eighteen-year veteran Republican Robert Brawley to switch parties.  

The bid ultimately collapsed and Republicans held on to the chamber.  But the ambitious minority leader seems to have learned an important lesson from the experience - next time, offer more.

Fair Except When It Mattered
Jim Black didn't stay in the minority for very long. In 1998, with Democrats back in control, Black overcame a challenge from former Speaker Dan Blue to win election as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Freedom Newspapers columnist Barry Smith explained Jim Black's style of leadership. "Sometimes former House Speaker Jim Black could be the fairest person in politics. He would give his opposition plenty of time for floor debate, almost to an excruciatingly painful degree," Smith wrote.  The open debate early in Black's tenure as Speaker stood in stark contrast to Senate floor activity, which was (and is) strictly controlled by the Democratic leadership, which regularly cuts off debate and tables amendments.

Smith went on to write, "Then [Black] could be as unfair and one-sided as you could imagine."  During the 2001 floor debate on redistricting, the Speaker initially allowed floor amendments, most of which were offered by Republicans.  But Black became nervous when Democrats joined in attempts to tinker with his carefully crafted redistricting plan, which was designed to elect a significant Democratic majority in the House for the next decade. Fearing that his plan was at risk of falling apart, Black began to rule amendments "out-of-order," refusing to explain why he wouldn't allow a parliamentary body to debate this legitimate and critical issue (Burlington Times News 5/9/07).

In other words, Speaker Black was fair - except for when it really counted.

The Blitz
As House Speaker, Black routinely raised a million dollars for elections, helping to bring sophisticated campaigning to legislative races. Combined with gerrymandering, it was a potent force.

Republican House member Wayne Sexton soundly defeated every opponent during his 24-year political career in Rockingham County, from the school board to the legislature - until he faced the full fury of Black's organization.  House leaders, controlled by Black, had drawn a new Democratic-leaning district, forcing Sexton to run against Nelson Cole, a Democratic incumbent. Cole outspent Sexton roughly 10-1, in part using money raised by Black.  As voters' mailboxes filled with glossy literature denouncing Sexton and extolling Cole's virtues, Black upped the ante by visiting the district several times on Cole's behalf during the campaign.

In the end, it was too much for Sexton.  He lost to Cole 53 to 47-percent in a district that President Bush carried with 61 percent of the vote.  "It was big money and the machine that came after me," Sexton said.

The campaigning and the money served another purpose beyond just winning elections - it helped bind House Democrats in loyalty to Black.  "People are impressed when the Speaker of the House comes to their community and promotes a local boy," said Democratic Rep. Russell Tucker of Duplin County (News & Observer 3/27/05).

Of course, campaigning took big money and Jim Black was a master of using legislation to raise cash, the very tactic he once said brought disrepute on the House during the 1998 Republican hog farming scandal. No one will ever know exactly how much he raised via the promise of legislative action (or enforced inaction) but the News & Observer detailed how the National Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, with Black as its finance chair, got $50,000 from Reynolds Tobacco on November 28, 2003.  Two weeks later, in a special legislative session, Black steered a $126 million tax loophole for Reynolds into law. While receiving $92,000 from phone companies, Black helped provide regulatory relief. Even the drug companies, Merck in particular, feasted at the trough, getting $39 million in tax breaks while giving $24,000 to Black's committee.

Such maneuvers were vital for Black to retain his power.

Coalition Holds Power
When the 2001 elections returned the Republicans to power in the House by a slim 61-59 majority, Jim Black fell back on the old 1997 coalition scenario. During his state criminal trial, Black testified that Republican Michael Decker had offered to sell his vote in 1997, but Black claimed that he'd walked away - not for ethical reasons, but because he suspected that Decker might be wearing a wire. That changed in 2001, when Jim Black paid Decker cold, hard cash to switch political parties, enabling the Speaker to keep his powerful post.

The Lobbyists
Speaker Black maintained a symbiotic relationship with lobbyists, dispensing favors, taking campaign contributions and sometimes more.

Perhaps most notably, video poker lobbyist Don Beason let Black use his credit card on various occasions and later loaned him half a million dollars. Though Black denied any connection, he blocked attempts to ban video poker, and Democracy NC reported that Black was the leading recipient of video poker contributions.

In 2005, after the lottery bill was shoved through the legislature, Black appointed Democratic media consultant Kevin Geddings to the Lottery Commission. That move exploded when a filing by lottery equipment company Scientific Games revealed that Geddings was on their payroll, creating a blatant conflict of interest as the commission chose vendors for the North Carolina games.  Black claimed he had no knowledge of these connections, but they were confirmed in voluminous e-mail communications that were turned over to prosecutors during Black's investigation.  It was later revealed that, in what points to a scheme by Geddings to influence lottery contracts, Geddings had personally contacted Black seeking the appointment.  

Geddings ended up in a federal prison serving four years for mail fraud for the fiasco.

And The Babe
She drove a sports car, dined with the Speaker in Raleigh's toniest restaurants, and used her position to bring in a slew of clients for her lobbying business. Once a staff assistant in the Speaker's office, she retained a position as Jim Black's unpaid political director after resigning to become a lobbyist.  He even provided her with a taxpayer-paid computer after she left his employ.  

Of course, according to Meredith Norris, her close relationship with Black was all for the best of feminist motives. "He sees females, and also just young people in general, as facing a lot of disadvantages," she said (News & Observer 11/24/06).  But whispers about their association lingered over the years.  The two resided in condos right across the street from one another, and Norris was frequently seen emerging from Black's apartment.

When one Black staffer complained about her influence on the Speaker, Norris snapped back in an email, "My job to the Speaker also involves public/external relations and you knew that [when] you were hired ... (News & Observer 11/24/06).

The e-mail trails left by both Black and Norris left little question about the extraordinary influence Norris had on the Speaker, nearly 50 years her senior.  Norris was on the payroll of Scientific Games when she encouraged Black to appoint Geddings to the lottery commission position.  Norris had initially approached Scientific Games with a proposal to serve as their lobbyist for $60,000 per annum.  

She would later plead guilty to violating lobbying laws and ironically, served her community service time in a blindness prevention program.

Slush and the Bathroom Flush
Speaker Black also controlled a $14 million pot of taxpayer money to dispense favors - money that he had written into the budget. As the News & Observer reported, "Shortly before November's election, House Speaker Jim Black called Rep. Mickey Michaux with good news: He had $50,000 in taxpayers' money to offer for a writing program at N.C. Central University in Durham."
 
Michaux told Black the program didn't need the money, but he knew of others that could use it. So according to both legislators, Black simply turned the money over to Michaux to spend as he saw fit in his Durham district.  Michaux gave $10,000 each to a charter school, a senior center, a domestic violence prevention group, and a child-care center, none of which had asked for state money.  A fifth nonprofit, the Durham Rescue Mission, refused the remaining $10,000.

"It was something that I could do for folks in Durham and, yeah, I took advantage of it," said Michaux, a 13-term Democratic legislator (News & Observer 3/20/05).  The cash no doubt helped Michaux win his re-election bid - and may have also influenced him to help bring the black caucus into Jim Black's fold.

Michaux is among a number of lawmakers who got money from "reserve funds" controlled by Black, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, and Richard Morgan, a Moore County Republican during the time the two shared the podium as co-Speakers of the House.  The reserve funds were routed through several state agencies -- the Office of State Budget & Management, the Department of Cultural Resources and the Department of Health & Human Services - but their distribution was determined by Black and Morgan.

The slush funds were legal. What happened in the bathroom was illegal. That's where he took payoffs.

According to his plea agreement in a federal court in 2007, Black was convicted of taking $29,000 in cash from chiropractors during hush-hush meetings in restaurant bathrooms.  In return, Black used his position to insert a budget provision which increased patient co-payments for chiropractors.

Guilty Pleas
Despite the growing public furor as Jim Black's corrupt actions began to come to light, the embattled Speaker clung to his seat - and to his denials of any wrongdoing - for months on end.  Eventually, he caved to the inevitable and resigned - but not before doing everything possible to influence the 2007 election for Speaker.

Black continued to insist on his innocence right up to his trial, where he entered an Alford plea - a legal maneuver that allows a defendant to deny guilt, admitting only that the evidence against him would likely result in a guilty verdict.

The charges were clearly based on a mountain of information gained through discovery and through a parade of witnesses who testified before a federal grand jury.  According to court documents, Black willingly and repeatedly solicited for his own benefit "things of value" from members of the chiropractic profession in exchange for favorable legislative treatment.  Most of it was in the form of cash exchanges made in restaurant bathrooms across the state.  He was also convicted of bribing Michael Decker to switch political parties in order to achieve a 60-60 balance of Republicans to Democrats in the House, resulting in the historic co-speakership arrangement between Black and Republican Richard Morgan.

Black was sentenced to spend most of the next decade in a federal penitentiary, along with a $1 million fine, half of which he paid in June of 2008.  The remainder of the fine was satisfied through a controversial deal, in which Black contributed an overvalued plot of land he owned to fulfill the obligation.

The System
Jim Black was a corrupt man, but the system in which he thrived - rules which allow one man to squelch debate, gerrymandered districts which restrict election competition, selective tax breaks for a favored few, slush funds and special provisions inserted into the budget without debate - made his corrupt actions easy to achieve.

In the wake of Black's conviction, legislators passed a new lobbying law which requires additional disclosures and bans campaign contributions by lobbyists.  While the new law is weak - lobbyists with links to political action committees (PACs) and economic development advocates get a pass, and lawmakers removed themselves from similar reporting requirements - it represents a framework of real reform, should lawmakers ever find the stomach to do the necessary hard work.

Even the strongest of lobbying reforms wouldn't have stopped Jim Black, however.  That's because integrity can't be legislated.  But even in prison captivity, Black wasn't done seeking special favors.  In 2009, he sought clemency from the newly elected Democratic President Barack Obama, asking either to be set free or be moved closer to his home in Matthews.  To boost his position, the former Speaker collected hundreds of letters of support from those whom he'd previously helped, even while attempting to settle out $500,000 of his $1 million cash fine by transferring property with a tax value of less than $150,000, according to the Carolina Journal.

Black was ultimately transferred to a prison in Jesup, GA, where he may have run into his old pal Kevin Geddings, who was residing at the same facility.  He is scheduled for early release in March of 2010.

Anyone for leadership term limits?