Judge convicts lottery lobbyist

Thursday, October 26, 2006 posted 04:23 AM EDT

RALEIGH - Alan Middleton, a former lobbyist for lottery company Scientific Games, was found guilty of violating N.C. lobbying laws Wednesday. The judge found that Middleton aided Meredith Norris, political director for House Speaker Jim Black, in breaking the same laws.

The misdemeanor conviction is the fourth and latest criminal prosecution in the federal and state investigations surrounding Black's office and the creation of the N.C. lottery.

Wake County District Court Judge Paul Gessner sentenced Middleton to one year of probation, a $500 fine and banned him from lobbying in North Carolina for two years. Gessner suspended a 45-day jail sentence.

Gessner found that Middleton had lobbied legislators before he properly registered as a lobbyist in April 2005 and that he helped Norris lobby for Scientific Games when she was not registered to do so. She pleaded no contest to similar charges in August and was found guilty.

"If the lobbying laws are not followed, the public may question how the laws are passed," said Assistant District Attorney David Sherlin. Lobbying "needs to be disclosed. It needs to be above board."

Middleton's lawyer David Rudolf of Charlotte said Middleton will appeal and said in his closing arguments that prosecutors never proved any lobbying took place.

"This is pure speculation on the part of the prosecutors," Rudolf said.

Middleton did not register as a lobbyist in North Carolina until April 14, 2005. Scientific Games ultimately lost the competition to run North Carolina's lottery to rival GTECH.

Prosecutors presented e-mails from Norris discussing meetings she set up on March 2 of that year for Middleton with at least two legislators. Middleton's reply to Norris the following day read, "What a good day yesterday and last evening. It was delightful."

Rudolf said the circumstantial evidence showed, at most, that Norris set up the meetings to impress Middleton while trying to get hired as a lobbyist. He said prosecutors presented no evidence that Middleton discussed specific legislation with legislators, part of the definition of lobbying under state law. No one testified about what was discussed during any of the meetings.

Rudolf argued that Middleton had no way of knowing that Norris had not registered as a lobbyist. Several e-mails showed that Middleton put her in touch with the company's compliance officer and company compliance forms for lobbyists.

Prosecutors highlighted a previously disclosed e-mail from Norris in which she told Middleton it was best that she not register as a lobbyist, that she act as a consultant who could introduce him to legislators and let him "make the pitch."

When state prosecutors initially introduced many of the e-mails, they included the subpoena that federal investigators served on Norris last fall to collect the documents.

Prosecutors on Wednesday asked, and Gessner agreed, to seal the subpoena from public view. The Observer, along with The (Raleigh) News & Observer and two Raleigh television stations, objected to sealing the document. Gessner refused to hear arguments until after the trial.

After the trial, prosecutors allowed the news media to review the subpoena, which was virtually identical to those served on Black's office at the same time last fall. It asked for any documents related to a variety of individuals and groups, from Black's son's pest control business to Scientific Games to a Raleigh topless bar.

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