No one outside of House Speaker Jim Black’s inner circle knows how much money corporations have given to the Speaker’s Legal Defense Fund. But the Charlotte Observer (10-16-06) has reported the name of one donor: The Teamster’s Union. According to the Federal Elections Commission, the Teamster’s PAC gave $5,000 to Black. The union didn’t offer any explanation for their donation, but The Observer reports the Teamsters are “often affected by issues before the General Assembly, including the regulation of commercial driver’s licenses for truckers.” The union also gave $4,000 directly to Black’s campaign and $20,000 to the North Carolina Democratic Caucus.

Last summer, Democrats passed legislation prohibiting lobbyists, personally, giving money to candidates; then, they proclaimed they’d cleaned up the ‘pay to play’ scandals. But that was a political flim-flam because they didn’t prohibit lobbyists raising money for them. Now, it might be interesting to know if the Teamster’s lobbyist in the General Assembly helped raise that $5,000 for Speaker Black’s Legal Defense Fund.

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