The Pork PAC gives to Democrats and Republicans, to members of Congress, to candidates for governor and lieutenant governor, to most members of the Council of State and to county commission candidates in Eastern North Carolina. But the contribution didn't help Easley much, said the attorney general and Walter W. Cherry, executive director of the N.C. Pork Producers Association. Given the size of the industry, that's a lot. The industries that give the most to legislative candidates are health, utilities and lawyers. Legislators have the power to hurt, or help, the pork industry with laws relating to taxes, zoning, environmental regulation, truck weight limits, dead hog disposal and odor nuisance suits.
Nobody gets a lot of money, but almost everybody gets something.
If a legislator didn't get money, the pork producers at least chipped in to send him or her a ham.