Papers detail Norris’ lobbying
Monday, May 29th, 2006
By Chris Fitzsimon
Report links speaker’s aide to e-mail written under lobbyist’s name
MARK JOHNSON
mjohnson@charlotteobserver.com
RALEIGH - Meredith Norris signed an agreement last year to lobby and register as a lobbyist for lottery company Scientific Games while she worked as House Speaker Jim Black’s political director, even though she publicly maintained she was only a consultant for the company.
Norris crafted a pro-lottery e-mail to legislators under another Scientific Games lobbyist’s address and formatted the messages so that replies went to the other lobbyist, according to a report by the Secretary of State’s Office. Norris then deleted the e-mail account she used, the report said.
She also is believed to have sent an e-mail under Black’s name to his legal counsel ordering changes in a proposed lottery bill and referring questions about the changes to a Scientific Games lobbyist.
The report was among 2,000 pages of documents the Secretary of State’s office released Friday. The materials were sent last fall to state prosecutors who this week charged Norris, 32, and two others with lobbying law violations.
The documents strengthen a depiction of Norris, an aide to Black for most of the past seven years, as a statehouse charmer who intertwined her roles as lobbyist and adviser to the Mecklenburg Democrat. (more…)
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