Beason’s Clients

The big revelation thus far today in the Jim Black state court sentencing hearing was the identity of the heretofore unnamed lobbyist who had provided the former Speaker with a loan of half a million bucks back in the summer of 2000: Don Beason.

According to Black, the loan was a "business" loan that was, among other things, inadvertently deposited in Black's campaign account for a couple of days. Beason, of course, was once an aide to two Republican governors and is today of the most powerful lobbyists in Raleigh. Here is a list of his current lobbying clients according to the Secretary of State (you can read all of his clients going back to the 1993-'94 session — including the 2000 session – on the SOS website):

• Albemarle Mental Health Center
• Association of Health Information Outsourcing Services by Multistate Associates, Inc.
• BB&T
• Bellsouth Telecommunications, Inc., d/b/a AT&T, North Carolina
• Carolina Ballet, Incorporated
• Catawba County
• City of Hickory
• Colonial Life & Accident insurance Company
• Dale Earnhardt, Inc.
• International Business Machines ("IBM")
• North Carolina Railroad Company
• Progress Energy
• S&M Brands, Incorporated
• Sigma Corporation
• The Association of Settlement Companies by Multistate Associates, Inc.