Some of the state election law violations alleged this morning are tied to a $4,000 check that headed from a Murfreesboro optometrist to N.C. House Speaker Jim Black, then to Rep. Michael Decker in 2003.
N.C. elections board investigator Kim Westbrook Strach says the optometrist — M. Scott Edwards — wrote a personal $4,000 check after Black asked him for help in raising money for Decker.
Strach says Edwards told her he left the “payee” line blank on the check and gave the check to Black’s campaign — to do with as he saw fit.
Strach says that constitutes a contribution from Edwards to the Black campaign. That contribution was never disclosed on Black’s report.
Black has admitted filling Decker’s name on the “payee” line himself and passing the check along to Decker.
