Black drops out of speaker race

House Speaker Jim Black, tarnished by scandal, will not seek another term in the powerful position.

Black, who has served eight years as speaker, confirmed the decision Tuesday night after announcing it at a closed dinner with roughly 20 House Democrats and several lobbyists at Vinnie's Steak House & Tavern in Raleigh. He declined to speak further with a News & Observer reporter.

"I've been speaker for four terms," Black told The Associated Press. "This is, again, not about me. I don't have any need for me to be speaker forever."

Black told The Associated Press he had no plans to leave his Mecklenburg County legislative seat, and he denied that he had decided to leave the speaker's race because he was worried about a possible indictment. For more than a year, a federal grand jury has looked into the Democrat's campaign finances and connections to the lottery and video poker industries.

"I have no more reason to think today that I'll be indicted than I did a year ago," The Associated Press quoted Black as saying.

He is at the end of a record-tying fourth term as speaker, one of the state's most powerful public positions. The speaker controls what legislation moves through the House and appoints members to committees that weigh and write bills.

The House members at the meeting declined to talk to reporters. Others not at the meeting praised Black for his service, but said the House would have had a difficult time functioning had he won a fifth term.

"Now that we know which way the winds are blowing, I think we can move forward a lot faster," said Rep. Mickey Michaux, a Durham Democrat who is among seven speaker candidates. As the House Democrats' most senior member, he has the job of setting up caucus meetings to select a new speaker. He said he hoped to hold a meeting before year's end.

A series of disclosures over the past two years - and state and federal probes under way - diminished support for Black. The troubles were widespread:

-The state lottery: Black threw his support behind the lottery last year, helping to make it law. But his appointee to the lottery commission was also working for a lottery company and purposely sought to hide those financial ties.

The appointee, Kevin Geddings, formerly of Charlotte, was found guilty in October on five counts of mail fraud for failing to disclose the connection.

-A key aide who was also a lobbyist: Black's political director, Raleigh lobbyist Meredith Norris, was not paid by his campaign. But she secured jobs lobbying for interests with key legislation before Black, earning more than $100,000 from those entities.

The speaker has said allowing the dual roles was a mistake.

Norris was found guilty this year of lobbying for lottery company Scientific Games without registering to do so.

Federal prosecutors have asked in court about the nature of Black's and Norris' "personal relationship," saying it affected public business. Black has said the relationship is no different than others he has with employees.

-Jobs: Black helped arrange a state tourism job for former Rep. Michael Decker, a Republican who helped keep him in power in a tight 2003 vote. Black also helped Decker's son get a state job.

Decker since has pleaded guilty to a conspiracy that includes accepting a bribe of $50,000 for his vote. Decker has named Black a co-conspirator, a claim Black denies.

In addition, Black helped create a tourism job for Helen Ruth Almond, the wife of a former Charlotte executive who is a close friend. E-mail messages show that the arrangements for the job occurred around the time the Almonds made donations to Black's campaign.

In recent days, The News & Observer disclosed that Black created a new job for the House page program's coordinator: House historian. Black created the $50,000-a-year position for Ann Lassiter after learning she had arranged for some teenage pages to stay with her son, a drug felon.

-Video poker: For years, Black stopped legislation that could hurt the video poker industry. An investigation by Democracy North Carolina, a campaign finance watchdog group, raised questions about donations from the industry.

-Entanglements with optometrists: State elections officials discovered that Black, an optometrist, helped channel checks from the state optometrists' political action committee to other candidates. The payee lines were blank.

The state Board of Elections found that Black and his campaign violated election laws, and the board referred its probe to county prosecutors. Wake District Attorney Colon Willoughby has said the matter is under review.

The issues gave Republicans ammunition for last month's election, but the troubles appeared to have little effect beyond one race: Black's own.

Facing a political novice, he won by only 30 votes.

Black had announced that he would run for a fifth speaker term.

House Republican Whip Mitch Gillespie said Black had no chance of winning. He said Black's decision to step aside should let the House begin rebuilding trust among voters.

"I think he's done the right thing by stepping down," said Gillespie of McDowell County. "What this will do, it gives the legislature a chance to shed some of the image that's been put on us in the past year or so, so that we're not constantly looked upon as being corrupt."