Some key officeholders are hog producers themselves. During the N.C. State - Maryland basketball game at Reynolds Coliseum on Jan. 22, Gov. Jim Hunt, left, talks with longtime friend Wendell Murphy. Murphy, a former legislator, owns the nation's biggest hog operation. Crucial decisions on several hog-related issues are forthcoming. Pork PAC helps its friends.
Candidates get money from hog industry.
Whom to contact. You don't have to look hard to spot the pork industry's connections in North Carolina politics and government. Just start at the top. U.S. Sen. Lauch Faircloth, a Republican who leads a congressional subcommittee on the environment, is a wealthy hog farmer. Democratic Gov. Jim Hunt is the top recipient of political contributions from Wendell H. Murphy, whose Duplin County hog company is the biggest in the nation.