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Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue says it looks like someone is doing opposition research on her campaign from a state computer. Of course, that someone seems to be working for State Treasurer Richard Moore, her rival in the Democratic primary for governor next spring.

For those not imbued in the political arts, opposition research is what one campaign does to find facts, figures and, yes, sometimes just good ol' mud to sling against an opponent.

In a letter (Click here to read, along with various backup material. It's a PDF.) to the state auditor's office, Perdue outlines the following:

• Someone sent her office several request for public information regarding The Task Force for a Healthier North Carolina, a committee that operates under the Health and Wellness Trust Fund, which is chaired by Perdue.
• Those requests ask that material be sent to Moore's campaign office.
• The requests themselves seem to have been generated from a state computer, or at least a state IP address, at the Treasurer's official office.
• Perdue says she has complied with the requests.

Now, the state auditor is Republican Les Merritt, who is himself running for re-election. So here you have a request for a Republican to mediate a political tiff between two high-profile Democrats.

Of course, it's entirely possible that Perdue's office sent the letter to the State Auditor just to create a public record, which could then be disseminated to the media, via the official state computers at the Lt. Governor's office, but I'm sure that's neither here nor there.

I have a couple calls and e-mails in to see if we can sluice through this latest dust up.

Update: Moore's campaign responds. From campaign manager Jay Reiff:

The Lt. Governor's attack today is the height of hypocrisy and phoniness. Everyone knows Beverly Perdue's chief of staff has been running her unofficial gubernatorial campaign for the last two and a half years. This is a political stunt designed to keep people from looking into the fact that he just now started working full-time for her campaign. Additionally, Perdue's campaign chair Robert Zaytoun, who is also a member of her Health and Wellness Trust Fund Commission, recently submitted multiple extensive records requests of the Department of State Treasurer.

In an attached letter, we are asking the State Auditor to look into the use of state resources for political purposes out of the Lieutenant Governor's Office. Treasurer Moore will look into whether anyone in the Department of State Treasurer has used state resources inappropriately. We call on the Lieutenant Governor to do the same thing.

Click here for the afore mentioned letter.

Glad we're having a nice clean campaign, focused on the issues.

Update: From the State Treasurer's office:

"The Department of State Treasurer takes these allegations seriously and will look into them. Political motivations are clearly the basis for these actions."

Update: The Treasurer's office updates us again, this time with a quote from Stacey Phipps, the department's chief of staff:

"It was brought to my attention this afternoon that Julie White, an employee of our Department, sent public records requests using a private email account from a state computer under the name of one of her relatives. To our knowledge, no laws were broken. However, Ms. White has violated departmental policies. Appropriate disciplinary action will be taken."