N.C. House votes to remove Democrat

A lawmaker accused of mishandling $340,000 in loans and contributions was removed from office by an overwhelming vote Thursday, the first expulsion of a lawmaker from North Carolina's General Assembly in 128 years.

The House voted 109-5 to boot Rep. Thomas Wright, a Wilmington Democrat. At least 80 votes were needed.

Wright was immediately escorted from the chamber by the House sergeants-at-arms. Moments later, as he hugged his crying legislative assistant, he said he wasn't even going to pack up his belongings.

"They can mail it to me," he said.

Wright, who faces trial this month on charges of hiding or mishandling funds, had asked his colleagues not to expel him, arguing that he couldn't adequately defend himself against their accusations without revealing his defense strategy to prosecutors.

"I am innocent of the criminal charges before me," Wright said. "However, I need an opportunity to prove that. This is less than the appropriate setting to do that."

His attorney, Irving Joyner, promised a legal challenge.

Rep. Rick Glazier, chairman of the ethics committee, told his colleagues before the vote that Wright was given ample opportunity to present evidence during the hearing. Glazier said Wright filed 22 incorrect campaign reports since 2000 and failed to fix any of them.

"Forty percent of the dollars Rep. Wright received for seven years was not reported," Glazier said. "In the end, there is nary a substantive (campaign finance reporting law) in the statutes that was not violated repeatedly by Rep. Wright."

Before voting to expel Wright, the House rejected a motion to censure him instead.

Only about a dozen lawmakers have been booted from office in state history going back to Colonial times, the most recent being Rep. Josiah Turner in 1880. The last to face major ethics accusations, former House Speaker Jim Black, chose to resign last year before prosecutors closed in during a corruption investigation that ultimately sent him to federal prison.