Former Republican Rep. Steve Wood says he never saw or knew about the nine checks written to his campaign that have been highlighted today during testimony before the N.C. Board of Elections.
Wood spent a little over five minutes on the witness stand. Board chairman Larry Leake closed questioning after nailing down some of the specifics of Wood’s interaction with House Speaker Jim Black in January 2003.
Wood testified that he spoke to Black after the 2002 election about arrangements that could help Black maintain at least some power within the new General Assembly.
Wood said Black did not make any promises to induce Wood to cast his vote to support Black’s bid for the speaker’s job.
Leake: At the time that those discussions were ongoing, were they relative to you supporting him for speaker, or more along the lines of whether or not there could be a partnership or joint effort of leadership between he and you or those he and you felt comfortable with from your respective parties?
Wood: The latter would be an accurate representation.
Leake: After Rep. Decker announced that he was switching parties, did that — in essence — end those discussions, change the dynamcs and essentially terminate those discussions?
Wood: Yes, sir.
Leake: Do you have any explanation or knowledge as to what might have become of the nine checks that were intended to go to you by folks that had signed their names on them but never made it to you?
Wood: No, sir, I do not.
Wood had cast his speaker’s vote for Black in 1999. It was a decision that helped lead the N.C. House Republicans to boot him from their caucus. Wood switched to the Reform Party and eventually lost a re-election bid in 2000.
He earned an eighth term in the 2002 election. In the 2003 votes for speaker, he consistently cast his ballot for Republican nominee George Holmes.
Meanwhile, fellow Republican Rep. Michael Decker announced in January 2003 plans to switch his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat. Decker consistently voted for Black during the 2003 speaker’s race. He eventually supported the power-sharing agreement between Black and Republican Rep. Richard Morgan.
A series of witnesses this afternoon testified that they had written campaign checks for Decker and Wood in January 2003. In each case, the checks to Decker were cashed. The checks to Wood were not cashed.
