N.C. House Speaker Jim Black wanted to end the practice of optometrists sending blank checks for political campaign contributions back in 1991.
That’s according to a newspaper article quote read this afternoon during the N.C. Board of Elections hearing into the practice.
In the Charlotte Observer article, Black said he would push his colleagues to form a political action committee and stop the practice of contributing checks with signatures and dollar amounts — but no date or “payee” name.
Black admitted making the statement 15 years ago. He also admitted saying at another time that he believed the practice violated “the spirit of the law.”
Now Black says he believes optometrists did not violate the spirit of the law.
