THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 1, 1994 TAG: 9412010448
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Short : 38 lines
State Senate leader Marc Basnight will use campaign funds - not tax dollars - to pay for a mailing he sent out defending himself against allegations that he interfered with enforcement of fishing regulations.
The mailing, which cost $1,386 in postage and supplies, was a response to a story in The News & Observer of Raleigh that quoted enforcement officers and a former director of the Division of Marine Fisheries as saying Basnight's influence had kept low the number of citations enforcing fishing regulations in his district.
On Tuesday, Basnight press aide Bret Kinsella said the mailing was considered official General Assembly business.
Later, however, Kinsella said Basnight decided he would pay for the mailing since he was defending himself.
``As a matter of fact, Senator Basnight had a check cut either today or yesterday to pay for the mailing,'' Kinsella said Wednesday. The money would come out of Basnight's campaign funds.
Basnight, a Democrat from Manteo, contended in the mailing that the story's sources were not credible. He also offered his statistics to explain the low number of citations.
``This whole article has been fabricated to attack me personally,'' Basnight said in his letter.
Current and former state officials have come to Basnight's defense.
Bill Godley, eastern regional director for the State Bureau of Investigation, said that he had never had an indication that Basnight had interfered with an investigation. by CNB