RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - A Wake County judge has cleared former lobbyist Don Beason, saying parts of North Carolina's 2007 lobbying reform law are ambiguous and the secretary of state overreached her authority in fining him.
Secretary of State Elaine Marshall fined Beason $110,000 in 2010 for failing to tell regulators about companies he was representing. An administrative law judge reduced the fine to $6,000. But Marshall raised the fine back to $30,000 last spring. Beason appealed. The state Coalition for Lobbying and Government reform says the law clearly needs tweaking. Ridgeway noted the law defines a lobbyist as someone who communicates directly with legislators, but contact through partners isn't illegal. ___
Information from: The News & Observer,http://www.newsobserver.com(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
The News & Observer of Raleigh reports (http://bit.ly/x95WW0 ) that Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway ruled Beason doesn't have to pay his $30,000 fine.
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