News-Record.com

More than two years ago, I wrote a story on the N.C. Legislative Black Caucus Foundation, a nonprofit closely tied with the legislative black caucus at the General Assembly.

It became one of several stories, posts, updates, etc... written by myself and others.

The central question in all of those stories was this: was it okay for a group of influential lawmakers to run a nonprofit that could solicit donations in unlimited amounts from folks who had business before the General Assembly.

Both of their own volition - and probably with a bit of prodding from us scruff media types - the caucus changed its practices.

One of the things we've been told repeatedly is that the caucus foundation and its legislative board members were given the all clear by the Legislative Ethics Commission. I've been waiting for that opinion to be released since it was supposedly issued in 2007.

Well, finally, here it is. It has been redacted but even a casual reader can see it involves the circumstances surrounding the black caucus foundation.

It's pretty clear from the opinion that in order to be ethically in the clear, the makeup of the board needed to change from being mostly legislators to being controlled by non-legislators. And it was pretty clear that the Legislative Ethics Committee was concerned about the appearance of something being hinky. From the report:

In addition to the issues related to direct and indirect gifts discussed above, under its duty to advise legislators on suggested standards of conduct under Chapter 120 of the General Statutes, the Committee suggests that there are circumstances where a legislator's solicitation and acceptance of a donation to the Organization from a lobbyist or lobbyist's principal could be inappropriate and could be perceived as an improper use of one's legislative position for the private benefit of either the legislator or another, namely the Organization.

For example, it would be inappropriate for a legislator who serves on the board of a 501(c)(3) organization that is controlled by the legislator or a group of legislators, such as the Organization, to solicit or accept donations on behalf of the 501(c)(3) organization from lobbyists or lobbyist's principals. It would also be inappropriate for a legislator serving on the board or executive committee of a 501(c)(3) organization, such as the Organization, where either the board or the executive committee is controlled by the legislator or a group of legislators, to participate as a member of the board or executive committee in any action that authorizes the solicitation or acceptance of donations by the 501(c)(3) organization from lobbyists or lobbyist's principals.

Click here to read the whole thing.