N.C. Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, D-Dare, has been one of the most powerful individuals in state government since the early 1990s, but his long reign as the Senate's top leader appears to be at an end.
With an Anti-Incumbent mood running among voters in legislative elections, Democrats in North Carolina who dominated the General Assembly in the 20th and so far the 21st centuries will surely find Raleigh a far different place when the General Assembly reconvenes in 2011.
Democrat Bev Perdue will still be Governor for at least another two years, of course, but many things are likely to change
Republicans who have been thwarted in their legislative efforts will find a different atmosphere. The electoral change would open up new leadership opportunities for Republicans such as Sen. Bob Rucho of Charlotte and Rep. Thom Tillis of Mecklenburg.
The Senate changes include the biennial drafting of the state budget, for which Republicans have been laying plans for months to trim more than $3 billion from the state's roughly $20 billion operating budget. Some plans envision cutting up to 20 percent to make ends meet.
Perhaps just as important is the redrawing of congressional and legislative districts for the upcoming decade. Those districts must be revised every 10 years following the Census, and Republicans will have the chance to guide redistricting committees through the process for the first time in modern state history.
Also important to Republicans is Court of Appeals Judge Barbara Jackson's lead over Democratic Court of Appeals Judge Bob Hunter for the N.C. Supreme Court seat held by outgoing justice Ed Brady. Although these seats are nonpartisan, it's no secret that Jackson is a Republican, as is Brady. And her election would not only preserve a 4-3 Republican-Democrat split on the court, it will also give the N.C. court a majority of female justices. It's foolish to predict how justices will vote based on their political party, but it will comfort Republicans in redistricting lawsuits that the numbers at least appear to be on their side.
Democrats no doubt will now have second thoughts about their refusal to go along with Republican proposals in past years to create a nonpartisan commission to study demographic changes and draft new districts for the state's 13 congressional districts and 170 legislative districts. It will be another decade before districts could be redrawn, and Democrats will have time to ponder their lost opportunities - apparently from the back bench.
The network built by Rusty Carter for giving campaign contributions was made possible by his company money, according to Carter's lawyers and a prosecutor who handled his guilty plea on Tuesday.
The N&O's analysis of the Carter network's giving since 1999 shows that Senate leader Marc Basnight has benefitted the most, getting more than $100,000 in campaign money over the years, J. Andrew Curliss reports on the Investigations blog.
In 2008, Carter gave the state Democratic Party $50,000. It is not clear if officials examined where that money came from.
Here's a breakdown of the giving that totals more than $10,000 total from Carter, his wife, Susan, and his employees.
N.C. Senate leader Marc Basnight forfeited $84,000 that his campaign received from contributors associated with Rusty Carter.
Carter, who runs a Wilmington packaging company, pleaded guilty today to charges related to accusations that he gave money to friends and employees to give to candidates, a violation of state law.
In his letter to the State Board of Elections, Basnight said he was not aware of Carter's scheme. The prosecutor handling the case said authorities do not believe the candidates were in on it, J. Andrew Curliss reports on the Investigations blog.
Basnight said in his letter that campaigns do not have the ability or authority to vet contributions such as those connected to Carter.
My campaign has always fully complied with our elections laws, and it has always been my expectation (and hopefully, the expectation of every candidate for office) that anyone who contributes to my campaign does so transparently, legally, and in good faith.
While it is a campaign’s responsibility to report every donation it receives, it is not in a campaign’s ability or authority to initiate investigations on the motives or actions of donors. That is why the Board of Elections is such an important resource for candidates and officeholders – and such a critical part of ensuring the integrity of our elections.
UPDATE:
During Carter's plea hearing, it came out that Perdue, who has already forfeited $48,000 of contributions related to Carter, received an additional $16,000 from contributors connected to Carter. A spokesman for Perdue's campaign said the campaign intended to forfeit that money as well.
A major Democratic fundraiser illegally funneled about $150,000 into the campaigns of Gov. Bev Perdue and Senate leader Marc Basnight, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Rusty Carter, who owns the Atlantic Packaging Corp. of Wilmington and who was on the UNC Chapel Hill board of trustees, struck a deal with prosecutors and entered an Alford plea to three misdemeanor counts of giving illegal donations.
Such a plea allows defendants to assert innocence while acknowledging the evidence is against them.
Carter said in a statement after Tuesday's court hearing that he has "accepted responsibility" for the violations.
Judge John J. Carroll III of New Hanover County accepted the deal. He ordered that Carter pay a $5,000 fine - an amount specified in the plea agreement - and prohibited Carter from making campaign donations for the next two years. A 30-day jail sentence was suspended.
Carter, 61, became a heavy hitter in political circles by raising large sums. He served for years on the UNC Chapel Hill board, an appointment he secured through his old fraternity brother, former Gov. Mike Easley.
His wife, Susan, was appointed by Perdue to the UNC Wilmington board of trustees last year; she resigned recently as news of the questionable contributions first surfaced.
Carter channeled money through some of his employees. He gave them bonuses from company accounts and directed the employees to use the money for political donations, according to his lawyers and a prosecutor.
It's illegal to give money to someone else for the purpose of evading the state's $4,000 per person contribution limit. Violations are a class 2 misdemeanor, the equivalent of failing to yield for an emergency vehicle.
It is also illegal in North Carolina for corporations to give money directly to a candidate - and Carter's lawyers acknowledged in an interview that federal tax implications still loom.
A lawyer for Carter, David Long of Raleigh, said there are tax questions related to the employee bonuses being used for political donations. But he said he could not comment.
Once the employees had the bonuses, they and some of their wives gave the maximum allowed contribution of $4,000 for an election campaign over and over - 24 times to Perdue and Basnight since 2006, records show.
Prosecutors and Carter's lawyers said that Carter came up with the method of giving to candidates on his own and that none of the candidates knew Carter was bypassing election laws.
Perdue, who was lieutenant governor before being elected governor in 2008, received $64,000 from Carter employees since 2005. Basnight, a Manteo Democrat who rules the Senate, took in $84,000.
Basnight forfeited the money Tuesday to state elections officials, saying the illegal aspects had been "unbeknownst to me."
Perdue has already forfeited $48,000 she identified as being questionable. A spokesman said Perdue's campaign would return the rest of the illegal money soon.
The campaign of N.C. Gov. Bev Perdue on Friday forfeited $48,000 for what it said were questionable campaign contributions from nine donors who all work for or are related to a major Democratic fundraiser.
The campaign of Perdue, a Democrat, said in a statement it was "concerned that some or all of the contributors involved may have been reimbursed by their employer." It is illegal in North Carolina for someone to provide another person with money to give to a campaign, or to pay them back for a donation.
The contributors are all linked to Rusty Carter, who owns the Atlantic Corp., a packaging company in Wilmington.
A review of campaign finance reports shows that the same nine people also made similar donations, totaling $44,500 in 2008, to the campaign of influential Senate leader Marc Basnight, a Manteo Democrat.
Basnight's chief of staff, Amy Fulk, said in an e-mail message that Basnight is seeking guidance from elections regulators on the contributions to him and whether they "were made unlawfully."
"If any such donations are found to have been unlawfully given, Senator Basnight will of course take the appropriate measures to remove them from his account," Fulk wrote.
The prohibition against "giving in the name of another" is aimed at ensuring that campaign contribution limits are followed and that the actual donors to a candidate are fully disclosed. Openness is a major goal of modern campaign laws.
It is also illegal for a corporation to make direct contributions to a candidate.
Efforts to reach Carter were unsuccessful. A lawyer for Carter's company said he and Carter were working to make full disclosures.
"We have already contacted the relevant authorities and offered to fully cooperate," lawyer Michael Murchison wrote in an e-mail message.
Murchison declined to answer questions about how the donations came about, how they were delivered to the campaign, or who organized the donations. "I'm not at liberty to discuss it," he said.
Most of the contributions to Perdue and Basnight were in 2008, though some are from 2005. Many of the donors, who were identified as being part of the management team at Atlantic Corp., have also given to other local and statewide candidates in the past decade.
The Atlantic Corp. has some business dealings with state government, but Murchison did not detail the scope, calling it "trivial."
State Board of Elections officials said they were aware of the developments, but declined comment.
Carter's connections
Carter has been a major campaign money-raiser for years, at times working closely with Wilmington developer Lanny Wilson to host fundraisers and bring in the tens of thousands of dollars that candidates need to finance statewide campaigns.
There are no requirements under state law for such people to disclose how much they raise for candidates, other than for members of the state Board of Transportation.
Wilson testified to making illegal contributions under questioning in an elections hearing last year that examined the campaign of former Gov. Mike Easley.
Carter, a fraternity brother of Easley's when they attended UNC-Chapel Hill, was also subpoenaed to testify at the hearing, but he was not called upon. A week before the hearing, the Easley campaign forfeited money related to a flight in 2004 on a plane owned by Carter.
Easley twice appointed Carter as a trustee at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Perdue appointed Carter's wife, Susan, to the board of trustees at UNC-Wilmington last year.
Examining the gifts
Perdue's campaign said it was "unable to make a firm factual determination" about what happened but that it made the forfeiture "because we have become concerned about the integrity of these contributions."
In recent months, Perdue's campaign has made similar disclosures about what it believed were questionable campaign receipts, mostly centering on flights Perdue took but that her campaign said had not been properly accounted for. Elections officials have been probing the campaign's reports, and Republicans have been demanding a thorough investigation.
In a news release Friday, Perdue's campaign officials said the latest forfeiture was not the result of the elections inquiry.
Rather, it said, the matter first came up through a news conference conducted by the Republican Party in which the coordinated contributions were highlighted.
"Their remarks about these contributions raised some questions which we felt needed to be examined," the Perdue committee said in the release. "At no time during the campaign were we aware of - nor would we have condoned - any efforts by any contributor to circumvent compliance."
Traffic jams still cut as a campaign issue in Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, even in an election year focused on jobs. And Republicans have noticed.
John Aneralla, a GOP N.C. state Senate candidate, plans to pound his Democratic opponent over the county's need for road money.
"As I sit in traffic on I-77 - knowing that's one of the roads that should have been widened years ago and I-485 should have been finished years ago - absolutely I'm going to use that issue," said Aneralla, the lone Republican candidate for the seat held by Sen. Malcolm Graham, a Charlotte Democrat.
GOP candidates already have political momentum behind them, given the anti-establishment tenor of many voters. Now Republican legislative candidates in Mecklenburg are starting to argue that incumbent Democrats who control the state legislature haven't gotten enough road money funneled to the city - a contention that resonates with voters weary of staring at four lanes of brake lights.
An Observer report last month revealed how Charlotte-Mecklenburg County ranked 89th out of 100 counties in per capita road spending by the state.
The difficulty for the GOP, Jensen said, is that Charlotte-Mecklenburg offers perhaps only one competitive district among the county's five Senate and 10 House seats, that of retiring Rep. Jim Gulley, a Republican. The rest are drawn to safely elect either a Democrat or Republican.
Democrats are playing defense, too.
Malcolm Graham organized a town hall-style meeting at Mallard Creek High School last week, less than a month before the primary, to talk with his constituents about the forthcoming completion of Interstate 485. State transportation officials are in the process of selecting a contractor.
Graham, whose district has a solid Democratic voting history, co-chairs a Budget committee on Transportation Funding and emphasized that he is pushing to change the not-so-aptly-named state equity formula for road funding.
Many Urban leaders criticize the formula as shortchanging the cities. Graham and urban legislators in both parties want the formula to include traffic congestion in determining where the money goes.
"I don't think people care about Democrats or Republicans with respect to transportation," Graham said. "They just want the roads built."
Rep. Thom Tillis, a Huntersville Republican, holds a relatively safe GOP seat, but he's helping other Republican House candidates in hopes of winning a majority.
If that happens, Tillis is widely expected to run for speaker. His advice: "Needle Democrats on the lack of road funding".
"It falls behind Jobs and the Tax issue (with voters)," Tillis said. "But it's right up there after that."
Urban and Rural Funding
Republican candidates are expected to accuse local Democrats of following legislative leaders from the eastern half of the state who treat Charlotte as an afterthought.
When Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, a Democrat from the Outer Banks, held a Charlotte fundraiser in January, former Sen. Robert Pittenger, a Charlotte Republican, dispatched a mailing to a dozen of the 44 invitees.
The packet included a copy of a letter Basnight sent to four Democratic senators on the coast last fall, talking about legislative battles in which he helped protect the interests of Eastern North Carolina communities.
"Our urban areas are congested, yes," Basnight wrote on transportation funding, for example, "but they also are home to major employers and economic sectors that benefit their local economies. Improving infrastructure in our rural areas will help businesses and economic growth to our communities, too."
Sen. Bob Rucho, a Charlotte Republican, is encouraging GOP candidates to deploy road funding as campaign ammunition.
He questioned why Charlotte donors would help Basnight maintain a Democratic majority in the Senate when Rucho says Basnight is pumping state money into rural areas devoid of road congestion.
"People in the Charlotte area and the business community need to know that Marc Basnight is not working for their best interests," Rucho said.
Basnight said he supports the current equity formula for road funding but that urban and rural communities alike need money. Roads are what draw businesses and jobs, he said, arguing that a change in the formula takes money away from low income communities in the mountains and in the east.
"Would it stop economic development in the east and west?" he said. "I don't believe the people of Charlotte want (that)."
A Greenville state Senate candidate who has made an issue of the state's overpayment of mental health claims is himself on the hook for $4.2 million in Medicaid overcharges for services provided by his family's company.
Frankie Bordeaux and his wife, Hattie Faye Hardy Bordeaux, signed a settlement with the state in February that included a two-year repayment plan for money improperly collected by Cambridge Behavioral Health Services in Greenville. The first monthly payment, $241,296, was due this month.
An investigation of Cambridge by the state Medicaid office found hundreds of cases of incomplete patient records, "several instances of potential fraud," duplicate or "canned" notes, and unqualified staff delivering care, according to the settlement.
Of 476 records reviewed, the office found 428 cases in which patients were served at unauthorized sites, 366 instances in which the staff was not qualified to provide the service offered, and hundreds of other discrepancies with their records. The review found problems with nearly 95 percent of the company's claims.
Groups under scrutiny
For the last several years, the state has been cracking down on providers of a mental health service called community support.
Companies came under scrutiny when government auditors found they were treating people who did not need help and were billing for work they didn't do. Legislators last year decided to phase out most of that program.
The $4.2 million deal with Cambridge is the second-highest settlement with a mental health company in the last four years, according to the Medicaid office.
The case was sent to the Medicaid Investigations Unit in the state attorney general's office. An investigation is under way.
Bordeaux said he is not an example of the mess he has pledged to clean up.
"I am not part of the problem," Bordeaux said. "While my name is associated, tied to it, it has nothing to do with me running for this seat."
Bordeaux, who incorporated the company that became Cambridge with his wife, is not an owner, his lawyer said. Bordeaux said he is now the administrative director, in charge of human resources and the business office.
Fighting NC Corruption
Bordeaux, a Democrat, is challenging incumbent Sen. Clark Jenkins in a primary in the district covering Edgecombe, Martin and Pitt counties.
He has made fighting government corruption a cornerstone of his campaign, even criticizing the state Department of Health and Human Services for its overpayments to companies such as his that offer community mental health services.
"Like most citizens, I am growing weary of news headlines documenting public corruption and scandal in our state government," says a statement on his campaign Web site.
"Graft, corruption and scandal are not acceptable and politicians and bureaucrats who personally benefit from their service - need to be prosecuted and punished," the statement continues. "Furthermore, we must do more to hold bureaucrats and government officials accountable for their actions."
Jenkins, who is seeking a fifth term, has always faced a Democratic primary opponent.
Bordeaux has tried to paint Jenkins, a longtime friend of Senate leader Marc Basnight and a former state Department of Transportation member, as out of touch with the district.
The wrong location
Bordeaux said most of Cambridge's problems resulted from the company's serving clients in unauthorized offices.
Cambridge was serving patients from offices in Rocky Mount before the company discovered it needed clearance from the local mental health office to operate from those locations, Bordeaux said.
Local mental health offices must endorse providers and their locations.
Each location gets a separate billing number, so that local offices can track which providers are working in their regions.
In October 2008, a local mental health office in Rocky Mount reviewed Cambridge's records and directed the company to stop taking new patients from its area. But Cambridge continued to do so through December 2009, according to a letter from the local office.
The legal settlement says that Cambridge presented bills for the patients as though they were being treated from the Greenville office, rather than from Rocky Mount.
Not the owner
James Jorgensen, a Raleigh lawyer representing Cambridge, said situation was the result of poor communication between the company and the local mental health office, which is called the Beacon Center. "I think Cambridge misunderstood what the Beacon Center requested of them," he said.
Jorgensen wanted to make it clear that Frankie Bordeaux does not own the company.
Only Bordeaux's wife is listed on the most recent business incorporation papers. She holds the title of manager. Bordeaux signed earlier versions of the business filings and was an incorporator, with his wife, of Cambridge Behavioral Health's precursor, Child & Adolescent Counseling Services Inc.
Cambridge denied in the settlement that it committed abuse or fraud.
"If we had litigated, we could have shown a lot of things that could have been rebutted," Jorgensen said.
Brad Crone, head of the Raleigh campaign firm Bordeaux hired, said Jenkins tried use the settlement to push Bordeaux out of the race.
Jenkins said he never used the settlement to pressure Bordeaux not to run.
"I do not intend to get in the mud with that," Jenkins said. "I did not do it."
During the days when legislators could legally enjoy Raleigh's nightlife on lobbyists' credit cards, Sen. Marc Basnight would rarely participate. More likely, Basnight and his entourage would eat at an out-of-the-way restaurant, usually rotating the tab among themselves.
Basnight told the Journal several years ago that he preferred to eat dinner less stressfully with his friends, most of them senators or folks from home. These were his buddies.
The Dare County Democrat and Senate president pro tem is losing those dinner buddies quickly these days. Sens. David Weinstein and Tony Rand are taking state jobs, thus leaving the Senate. Sen. David Hoyle won't run for re-election. Sen. R.C. Soles is in legal trouble at home and may not run. Several of his other political allies also won't be returning.
This would be a good time for Basnight to say goodbye, too.
He's done much good, even pushing forward in the last few years after learning he has a rare degenerative nerve disease.
But Basnight has spent 25 years in the Senate, 17 of them running the chamber. That is enough time for any one person to control the legislature, especially in light of the pre-1980s North Carolina tradition of limiting the length and scope of any one legislator's control over a chamber.
That tradition started because political leaders wanted the power of the top offices spread around the map. Typically, a speaker, lieutenant governor or governor from the east would be followed by one from the west or the Piedmont.
With Basnight controlling the Senate for so long, the coastal counties have had disproportionate political influence. Much pork has flowed to his district, and some necessary reforms stalled because of coastal opposition. For example, it took years to reform Beach Plan insurance simply because Basnight could stop it. After the plan was rewritten this year, some lobbyists calculated that Basnight took the best change he could get knowing his time in Raleigh was limited.
It is time for another part of the state to enjoy the benefits that derive from having a president pro tem. Should an urban senator get the job, for example, it might be easier to shift road-construction funding formulas to give cities and suburbs a more share proportional to their populations. (Give Basnight credit for one thing: He's made it easier to drive to the beach.)
It is also time for another senator, with other ideas and priorities, to wield the pro tem's powers. There's plenty of talent in the chamber.
In this state's legislative power structure, the Senate president pro tem has enjoyed enormous influence since 1989 when the Senate shifted to the office duties previously assigned to the lieutenant governor.
Many political observers felt that Basnight, elected in one district with almost no opposition for the past two decades, had more political sway than former Gov. Mike Easley, who was four times elected statewide. (Two of Easley's four statewide wins came as attorney general.) Certainly, Gov. Bev Perdue, an old Basnight ally and friend, must pay close attention to his wishes before making any legislative moves. Only former Gov. Jim Hunt, from 1993 to 2001, surpassed Basnight's influence.
That's not right. Although the legislature must be a co-equal branch of government, one legislator should not accrue as much power as Basnight has during his prolonged tenure.
When Basnight is finally replaced, the Senate should develop a new tradition. Its presidents pro tem should serve for no more than two consecutive terms.
Basnight has been a good Senate leader. He has steered the state on a generally progressive path while maintaining the state's strong business climate. The University of North Carolina system has probably never had a stronger and more powerful advocate in the General Assembly.
Basnight has also had his failings, however. Paramount among these is his penchant for secrecy in the budget process. During the Basnight years, too much substantive legislation simply got stuffed into the budget at the last moment. There, it did not get either full and fair debate or the up-or-down vote it deserved.
In his nine terms at the Senate helm, he has lost a number of political allies who have either run for other offices, retired or died. But never in his prolonged ascendancy has he suffered so many losses all at once. And never has he looked so vulnerable to his political challengers, both inside the Democratic caucus and out.
It's time for Basnight to take his curtain call and return home. He deserves the gratitude of the people of North Carolina for his good works. But it's time for new leadership in the Senate.
Martin Nesbitt isn't known for toeing the party line. Over nearly three decades in the House and Senate, he has been a loyal lieutenant of some Democratic leaders and a thorn in the side of others.
But in his new job, the Asheville senator will try to keep 30 Senate Democrats speaking with one voice.
“I'm changing roles right now. I've been a warrior,” Nesbitt said, emerging from the room where Democratic senators voted unanimously Tuesday to name him Senate majority leader.
The new post is the highest a mountain legislator has risen to since Nesbitt was a top House budget writer in the early 1990s and perhaps since the days of the late House Speaker Liston Ramsey, of Madison County.
In the Senate's No. 2 job — in recent years, one of the most powerful in the state — Nesbitt will take the lead in deciding what's on Senate Democrats' agenda headed into their most important election in a decade.
“It carries a lot of weight with it,” said Ran Coble, executive director of the nonpartisan N.C. Center for Public Policy Research. “I think it means that the issues that are of interest to people in the mountains will always get a hearing and probably will get high attention from the Senate.”
Nesbitt said the new post will change nothing about his willingness to say what's on his mind.
“Pouring concrete on me won't fix that,” he said. “But at the end of the day I'm going to be trying to help this caucus get to where it wants to go.”
Time will tell how Nesbitt's confrontational style will mesh with the leadership of Senate leader Marc Basnight, who endorsed him to be his top lieutenant.
Basnight has guided the Senate's path since 1993, mostly with Sen. Tony Rand at his side. It has tended to be more tightly controlled than the House and more likely to side with business.
Rand is leaving the Senate to chair the state Parole Board. His replacement as majority leader is a populist whose arguments frequently focus on how government can help the poor and less fortunate.
Defending the underdog
Nesbitt has cultivated a reputation as a mountain populist, echoing mentors like Ramsey.
It's a philosophy that centers on trying to help the average Joe, a perspective Nesbitt delivers in a distinctive baritone and peppers with folksy turns of phrase.
“I've heard him, time after time, talk about the working man or the little man in budget debates,” said Chris Fitzsimon, executive director of the liberal N.C. Policy Watch.
That attitude and the issues he has supported have made Nesbitt a favorite of some liberal groups, though Nesbitt himself says liberal and conservative labels are outdated.
He helped shepherd a bill through the Senate this year that will allow for more explicit sex education in schools. He has sought unsuccessfully to fund programs giving clean needles to intravenous drug users.
In the Senate, Nesbitt has focused most of his attention on the mental health system.
He dived into the issue as it became clear that a reform effort by legislators and former Gov. Mike Easley's administration had gone awry, leaving patients struggling to find care.
“He's got a crackerjack mind, and he has a lot of compassion. I'd say he's looking out for the underdog,” said former Rep. Marie Colton, of Asheville, another Nesbitt mentor who sat next to his mother, Mary, and then her son on the House floor.
Shifting Senate
John Hood, president of the conservative John Locke Foundation, said he expects business lobbies to have a harder time preventing legislation on economic issues like taxes, labor and health care from receiving a hearing.
Nesbitt “is simply closer to the left of the Democratic Party than Tony Rand was,” he said.
Whatever the label, Nesbitt's ascension to leadership is another sign the Senate has shifted as the old guard is gradually replaced.
“It's like a rebirth,” Nesbitt said. “We've retooled, we're ready to go forward, and everybody's on board.”
Observers like Hood and Fitzsimon predicted more of the Senate's business might happen in the open.
Under Basnight and Rand, key decisions about the state budget have been made in private.
In his role as Rules Committee chairman, it was common for Rand to prevent votes on Republican amendments that might embarrass Democrats come election time. Democrats, including Nesbitt, voted to support Rand's parliamentary maneuvers.
A new rules chairman has not been named, and Nesbitt won't get the job. But he is likely to play a role in the budget negotiations. Fitzsimon, who as an aide to then-Speaker Dan Blue watched Nesbitt write budgets, said he pushed the process toward openness.
Hammering out agreement
One of Nesbitt's biggest accomplishments came with 2002 passage of the Clean Smokestacks Act, forcing power plants to cut down on toxic emissions.
Former Sen. Steve Metcalf, a Weaverville Democrat who was Nesbitt's partner on the smokestacks legislation, said he could tell during their push that Nesbitt loves the legislative process and has mastered it.
“He was very good at bringing folks in to the room, sitting down and saying, ‘We need a bill out of this, fellas,'” Metcalf said.
Two years of such negotiations won support from business interests, Nesbitt said.
That kind of practical politics is the reason the public policy center ranked Nesbitt in the top 25 most effective of 120 House members in every term after his first one and among the 15 most effective of 50 senators.
When he's not in Raleigh or at his Asheville law firm, he can be found on the track as crew chief for his son Mart's stock car racing team.
The role has led to political headaches. His opponents and a former state auditor questioned if having Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina as the team's former sponsor was a conflict of interest, given the insurer's business with the state.
But it could be good experience now that he's in a role that might be described as crew chief for Senate Democrats heading into the 2010 elections, which will decide which party redraws legislative and Congressional districts.
In the meantime, he'll spend plenty more time on the 250-mile drive to Raleigh.
He's put 210,000 miles on his 1999 Cadillac DeVille.
“My biggest problem is, I've got to buy another car,” he said.
Senate Democrats elected Sen. Martin Nesbitt, a racing crew chief and self-described mountain populist from Asheville, as their new majority leader today.
Nesbitt quickly tried to quell any fears – or hopes, depending on the perspective – that he would steer the Senate down a more liberal course.
"I’m changing roles now," Nesbitt said after his unanimous election. "I’ve been a warrior…I’ll still have my opinions, and I’ll express them…but at the end of the day I’ll be about trying to help this caucus get where it wants to go."
Nesbitt’s tenure in the legislature started in 1979 and was interrupted once, when he lost his House seat in 1994 during the Republican tide that year. The GOP has hopes of riding voter discontent to a similar sweep next year, and Nesbitt said the lessons learned from 15 years ago will be invaluable as he helps Democrats prepare.
"There are very few things that I’m the most qualified for," he said, "but getting us through this election is one of them."
Martin Nesbitt, a Lawyer, also runs the racing operations for his son, Mart, who races in the USAR Pro Cup series.
Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight's endorsement of Sen. Martin Nesbitt, of Asheville, for majority leader has left Sen. Dan Clodfelter, of Charlotte, with few directions to go to pursue the job.
Basnight, of Manteo, wrote to his Democratic colleagues on Friday encouraging them to support Nesbitt to replace outgoing Majority Leader Tony Rand, of Fayetteville.
"For our state to endure these difficult economic times, we need to focus all of our energies and efforts on creating jobs, improving education and health care, and giving everyone in North Carolina a chance at success," Basnight wrote. "Martin Nesbitt has fought for these important priorities throughout his decades of public service."
Several Democratic senators last week said Clodfelter was running for the majority leader's job, but the same day Basnight's letter appeared, Clodfelter refused to say whether he was a candidate.
The difficulty for him is that Nesbitt carries considerable loyalty among the more liberal wing of the Democratic caucus, while the more conservative and business-oriented side of the party remains loyal to Basnight. Those obstacles, along with Clodfelter's history of irritating colleagues with his brusque manner, leave a limited number of senators from whom Clodfelter might gain support.
The shuffle to fill what is effectively the No. 2 post in the N.C. Senate has left Sen. Dan Clodfelter of Charlotte with few directions to pursue the job.
Senate Democrats are tentatively scheduled to meet next Tuesday to elect a new majority leader.
Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight endorsed Asheville Sen. Martin Nesbitt for Senate majority leader in a letter to his fellow Democratic senators on Friday.
Basnight, of Manteo, praised Nesbitt as a replacement for outgoing Majority Leader Tony Rand of Fayetteville, who last week announced plans to resign.
Several Democratic senators last week said Clodfelter was running for the majority leader's job. The same day Basnight's letter appeared, Clodfelter urged senators not to move quickly to fill the majority leader's post, but he wavered as to whether he was a candidate.
"I'm not at that point," Clodfelter told the Asheville Citizen-Times, before adding: "I'm not telling you I'm not a candidate."
He has not returned repeated phone calls and e-mails from the Observer
The difficulty for Clodfelter is that Nesbitt carries considerable loyalty among the more liberal wing of the Democratic caucus, while the more conservative side remains loyal to Basnight.
Those obstacles, along with Clodfelter's history of irritating colleagues with his brusque manner, leave a limited number of senators from whom Clodfelter might gain support.
Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight's endorsement of Sen. Martin Nesbitt, of Asheville, for majority leader has left Sen. Dan Clodfelter, of Charlotte (right), with few directions to go to pursue the job.
Basnight, of Manteo, wrote to his Democratic colleagues (see link below) on Friday encouraging them to support Nesbitt to replace outgoing Majority Leader Tony Rand, of Fayetteville.
"For our state to endure these difficult economic times, we need to focus all of our energies and efforts on creating jobs, improving education and health care, and giving everyone in North Carolina a chance at success," Basnight wrote. "Martin Nesbitt has fought for these important priorities throughout his decades of public service."
Several Democratic senators last week said Clodfelter was running for the majority leader's job, but the same day Basnight's letter appeared, Clodfelter refused to say whether he was a candidate.
The difficulty for him is that Nesbitt carries considerable loyalty among the more liberal wing of the Democratic caucus, while the more conservative and business-oriented side of the party remains loyal to Basnight. Those obstacles, along with Clodfelter's history of irritating colleagues with his brusque manner, leave a limited number of senators from whom Clodfelter might gain support.
The shuffle to fill what is effectively the No. 2 post in the N.C. Senate has left Sen. Dan Clodfelter of Charlotte with few directions to pursue the job.
Senate Democrats are tentatively scheduled to meet next Tuesday to elect a new majority leader.
Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight endorsed Asheville Sen. Martin Nesbitt for Senate majority leader in a letter to his fellow Democratic senators on Friday.
Basnight, of Manteo, praised Nesbitt as a replacement for outgoing Majority Leader Tony Rand of Fayetteville, who last week announced plans to resign.
Several Democratic senators last week said Clodfelter was running for the majority leader's job. The same day Basnight's letter appeared, Clodfelter urged senators not to move quickly to fill the majority leader's post, but he wavered as to whether he was a candidate.
"I'm not at that point," Clodfelter told the Asheville Citizen-Times, before adding: "I'm not telling you I'm not a candidate."
He has not returned repeated phone calls and e-mails from the Observer
The difficulty for Clodfelter is that Nesbitt carries considerable loyalty among the more liberal wing of the Democratic caucus, while the more conservative side remains loyal to Basnight.
Those obstacles, along with Clodfelter's history of irritating colleagues with his brusque manner, leave a limited number of senators from whom Clodfelter might gain support.
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