The state Board of Elections will call Ruffin Poole to testify next week in an aspect of its mostly concluded probe involving former Gov. Mike Easley.

The board wanted to hear from Poole in October, but Poole refused and fought the board's efforts to the state Court of Appeals. The court said he should testify, but the board's hearing had wrapped up.

Testimony in the hearing showed that Poole was involved in fundraising for Easley from a developer at the same time that Poole was a key aide to the governor in resolving permitting, board appointments and other regulatory matters. Poole was known as a fix-it man for Easley and records show he handled a wide range of issues close to the governor.

The state board will meet Thursday, Dec. 17, at 10 a.m. and the first item on the agenda will be Ruffin Poole, said elections director Gary Bartlett. The meeting will be at the board's office in downtown Raleigh.

Poole on Tuesday resigned his spot on the Golden LEAF foundation, a board the controls millions in tobacco settlement money that flows to North Carolina. 

Former Gov. Mike Easley's attorney said Easley got what he wanted for in a referral to prosectors.

"I got what I asked for," said Thomas Hicks, an attorney for Easley
Hicks surprised the Board of Elections on Thursday by asking them to refer the case to the Wake County District Attorney.

Board chairman Larry Leake mentioned Easley by name as someone who may have committed criminal acts.

Hicks told reporters that investigators should focus on Easley friend McQueen Campbell, who testified that Easley asked him to falsify invoices to pay for repairs to Easley's Raleigh home. Easley said the allegation is false.

Board chairman Larry Leake said the board had received evidence that suggests Easley or others may have committed a crime.

"This board has received evidence which, if believed, would tend to indicate
that criminal violations of our election laws and campaign finance laws have occurred on the part of Mike Easley and perhaps others," Leake said.

Easley supporter and friend McQueen Campbell testified that Easley told him to file a false invoice for campaign flights to pay for repairs done to Easley's Raleigh home.

Easley said the allegation is false.
Campbell has essentially admitted to a crime. The question is whether Easley was involved.
"I think McQueen Campbell is where the emphasis should be placed," Hicks said.

The State Board of Elections ordered former Gov. Mike Easley's campaign to pay $100,000 for failing to report campaign flights and sent Easley's case to the Wake County District Attorney's Office for a criminal review.

'Board chairman Larry Leake said the board had received evidence that suggests Easley or others may have committed a crime.

"This board has received evidence which, if believed, would tend to indicate that criminal violations of our election laws and campaign finance laws have occurred on the part of Mike Easley and perhaps others," Leake said.

Easley supporter and friend McQueen Campbell testified that Easley told him to file a false invoice for campaign flights to pay for repairs done to Easley's Raleigh home. Easley said the allegation is false.

The board also found that the Easley campaign solicited $9,000 in contributions by telling the contributors that the money would be earmarked for Easley's campaign, a violation of state law.

The board ordered the N.C. Democratic Party to surrender $9,000. The board decided that there was no evidence of other crimes committed by the party.

The State Board of Elections is looking at the N.C. Democratic Party's coordinated campaign plan for the 2000 election.

Former executive director of the party, Scott Falmlen, agreed to show the plan, which would normally be kept a closely-held secret.

Board chairman Larry Leake said the board intended to keep portions of the plan secret and to prevent the document from becoming public.
The plan presumably would spell out the Democrat's plans to get out the vote and push the Democratic ticket.

For the purposes of the State Board of Elections hearing, Falmlen offerred to produce the plan to help show that the party did not agree to funnel illegal campaign contributions for former Gov. Mike Easley.

The get-out-the-vote effort would include mailers, robocalls and election day-poll workers and door knockers.

Above: Falmlen reviews the N.C. Democratic Party's plan to win the 2000 elections. Staff photo by Shawn Rocco.

Former Gov. Mike Easley cooly answered five hours of questions Wednesday and asserted that key points of McQueen Campbell's testimony are not true.

Because of a secret reason, Ruffin Poole does not have to testify at the State Board of Elections hearings. News organizations, including The News & Observer, have challenged a judge's decision.

Easley found a renter for his Raleigh home: his campaign. Easley received $14,000 in rent payments from his campaign account.

Columnist Rob Christensen notes that Easley took a gamble with his testimony and he was playing for his reputation.

The big moment of Easley's testimony came when Board Chairman Larry Leake confronted Easley with Campbell's story.

The State Board of Elections adjourned its hearing for the day at 4 p.m. and intends to call only one more witness — former N.C. Democratic Party chairman Scott Falmlen.

After former Gov. Mike Easley testified, two witnesses testified that they had little or no involvement or recollection of anything relevant to the hearing. It wouldn't have mattered if they did, because Easley's testimony was the story of the day. Some highlights:

NOT EVER: Easley directly contradicted the story told by McQueen Campbell — that Easley wanted Campbell to pay for repairs to his home with falsified invoices for flights. Both men can't be telling the truth. It's helpful to Campbell, then, that a campaign volunteer recalls Easley urging her to pay the invoice. Easley says he thought the invoice was for future flights.

FRUGAL GUY: Easley didn't like to spend money, so it caught Board chairman Larry Leake as a little curious that Easley never asked how much all those repairs to his house were costing him.

I MADE YOU: Easley began his testimony by reminding the board that he was the one who put a bunch of them on the board in the first place.

COORDINATION: The Democratic Party's defense is going to boil down to an argument that everyone has misunderstood the concept of a coordinated campaign. Yes, Easley was helping raise money for the party, but the party got to say what to do with it, according to the argument. Donors have testified they believed their money would be funneled to Easley.

Throughout the week, campaign officials have described former Gov. Mike Easley as a reluctant fundraiser who was, well in a word, tight.

Easley didn't care to spend money and he told the State Board of Elections that he hated to see money wasted. But that testimony wasn't helpful to Easley.

Easley testified that he was only briefly involved in repairs to his rental home in Raleigh and that he trusted McQueen Campbell to handle the repairs and get paid for them.

Easley said he never asked Campbell how much the repairs were costing him.
Board chairman Larry Leake had a problem with that idea.

"The inference during the testimony is that you are a little on the tight side," Leake said.

"I am with the state's money. I don't want to see anything wasted. I didn't want to see any campaign money wasted, I didn't want to see any campaign time wasted," Easley said.

"You never inquired about how much those repairs were costing you?" Leake asked.

"I just figured it would all come out in the wash," Easley said.

Gov. Mike Easley said he believed McQueen Campbell was paid for all the flights he provided.

Easley said Campbell told him that he was reimbursed, and that Campbell should have known that he needed to submit invoices to avoid problems with the state's campaign finance reporting laws.

"He's not an imbecile," Easley said., "I'm sure he knows he has to bill the campaign...that's something he would have known."

State Board of Elections chairman Larry Leake asked Easley why he didn't check again with Campbell after news reports, particularly in The News & Observer began to highlight unpaid flights.
Easley said he was busy trying to finish his tenure as governor.

"I was trying to get things done, tie up loose ends," he said. "I wasn't out there trying to second-guess somebody I trusted who told me they had been reimbursed for everything they had done for the campaign."

Gov. Mike Easley is testifying.

On the way into the hearing room, Easley told reporters anything he would say would be from the witness chair.

"No comments. I'll make them in here," Easley said.

He was sworn at 9:33 a.m. and reminded board members that he appointed some of them.

"I do appreciate the board serving," Easley said. "Since I had the privilege of appointing some of you, I wanted to say I appreciate your service."

Board chairman Larry Leake began by asking Easley about the vehicles supplied by car dealer Robert Bleecker.

"It was sort of a loose arrangement," Easley said.  

State Board of Elections chairman Larry Leake ended Day two about an hour early because he had to meet with the board's attorneys, presumably about its appeal of Ruffin Poole's quashed subpoena.

Here's what when down on Tuesday:

THEY DON'T RECALL: Memories got a lot worse on Tuesday. Officials in Gov. Mike Easley's campaigns and donors said they couldn't remember an awful lot. Those hazy memories made for lots of unanswered questions and a refrain of "I don't recall."

STRATEGY: A memo, which the board believes was written by Easley campaign finance director Michael Hayden, outlines a concerted strategy to use the N.C. Democratic Party and other organizations to avoid campaign finance limits. Hayden doesn't remember writing the memo.

WELCOME, GOVERNOR: After testimony wrapped, Leake said there's a good chance Easley will make an appearance Wednesday.