Wake County school board candidate Jim Martin has a more than 4-to-1 fundraising edge over Cynthia Matson in the District 5 race.

According to Martin's latest campaign report posted today, he's raised $26,688.18 as of Aug. 30 and has $23,623.61 on hand. Matson''s latest report showed she had raised $6,027.10 as of Aug. 30 with $3,112.20 on hand.

The biggest donor in Martin's new report is Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker, who has contributed $1,100. Meeker's wife, Wake school board member Anne McLaurin, has donated $600. He also got $500 from Ron McFarlane, the husband of Raleigh mayoral candidate Nancy McFarlane.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST

Joe Sinsheimer, a former Democratic consultant who is a leading advocate for openness in government in North Carolina and who has played a role in past cases in the state, has become a go-to commentator on the John Edwards case.

He was quoted in recent reports in The New York Times and on NBC's Today show. ABC News has quoted him in its coverage, too.

Sinsheimer said that today's news of Edwards hiring super lawyer Gregory Craig should concern the public. In today's article, Craig said his advocacy on behalf of Edwards is within cooling-off rules that apply to him as a former White House counsel.

Sinsheimer said: "Gregory Craig's involvement in this case is disturbing. It raises the question of whether political influence can be bought and sold in Washington D.C. even in criminal inquiries. In this instance, Mr. Craig, is using the relationships he formed as White House legal counsel to try to manipulate a criminal investigation. While Mr. Craig's actions may be technically legal, they violate the spirit of the law which requires a two-year cooling off period before government officials can seek to influence their old colleagues. The decision to hire Mr. Craig looks like another example of John Edwards doing and saying anything to cover-up his actions.

"Mr. Edwards' attorneys repeatedly argue that there has been 'no violation of the law' and that federal prosecutors are breaking new ground. Nothing could be farther than truth. Federal law may not have anticipated a presidential candidate using over a half million dollars of political donors' money to hide his mistress from public view during a campaign, but that doesn't mean federal prosecutors shouldn't investigate. The very integrity of our federal campaign system is at stake." 

-- J. Andrew Curliss

Political watchdog Joe Sinsheimer has been sounding the alarm regarding investment advisers who give campaign contributions to the elected officials who award contracts to manage public pensions, so he was quick to tell us about new rules to curb the practice.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday voted to place strict limits on those campaign contributions to no more than $350 per election, Bloomberg reports. Investment advisers and others connected to them also would be prohibited from fundraising or steering political action committee money to those officials. Violators would be prohibited from managing those pension funds for two years.

"North Carolina invests incredible power in its state treasurer, making the office sole trustee of a $60 billion pension fund," Sinsheimer said. "The SEC decision will allow those decisions to be made without the corrupting influence of campaign contributions from money managers."

He added that the new rules help "take the sting out of the state Senate's cowardly reversal" on including the state treasurer among the elected offices eligible for public financing. The provision was dropped from an omnibus ethics bill moving through the state Senate over the past two weeks.

Former state Treasurer Richard Moore took heat for receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from employees of firms doing business with the state's pension funds.

Absent any action, talk about ethics reforms continues.

Rob Schofield at N.C. Policy Watch weighed in this week, saying reforms are essential.

Joe Sinsheimer says in a radio interview the "mess of corruption" in North Carolina in recent years demands state-level investigative grand juries. But lawmakers are "terrified," he says. 

North Carolina's personnel law also extends its secrecy to appointees to state boards and commissions, including powerful ones such as the N.C. Board of Transportation and the UNC Board of Governors.

The law, one of the most secretive among the 50 states, treats these appointees as employees even though they are not paid to serve. As a result, information that might help explain why these people were appointed, such as recommendation letters, is closed off to the public.

Joe Sinsheimer, a Democratic consultant turned government watchdog, said the personnel law's restrictions protect a "pay to play" mentality in state government.

"The formula for getting an appointment to a state board is to raise money for the governor and/or a leader of the legislature," Sinsheimer said. "That formula has been there for 20 years and we are suffering the consequences of inbreeding, because it's the same people over and over getting appointed to the same positions."

Last week, the News & Observer ran Keeping Secrets, a three-part series on the personnel law. It has prompted one lawmaker to draft legislation to make more personnel information public.