4:45 p.m. – Hearing adjourned until 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.

4:40 p.m. – Under questioning by Democratic Party lawyer Jim Cooney, Garrett says no one ever talked to him about campaign finance laws.

4:30 p.m. – Wilmington developer Nick Garrett says he worked with Lanny Wilson to raise money for the Easley campaign. He said he also wrote checks to the Democratic Party, one of which included a notation "Easley campaign." He says it was his understanding that the money would be used by the campaign.

"We all got together, and we thought it was a way to get money to the campaign," Garrett said, adding that all the money he gave to the party was to benefit Easley.

Garrett said he never talked to Democratic Party officials about his donations.

"I don't recall any other (Democratic candidates) that I wanted to support," he said.

4:20 p.m. – Under questioning from Democratic Party lawyer Jim Cooney, Wilson says he's contributed to the party for more than a decade. He says most donations were unrelated to Easley's campaigns.

Wilson says he doesn't know if the Easley expenses he thought were being paid through his donation was part of a "coordinated campaign" effort in which Easley and other Democratic candidates worked together to get elected.

4:15 p.m. – Wilson says representatives from Easley campaign told him that it was legal to write checks to the Democratic Party to help pay Easley campaign expenses.

4:05 p.m. – Under questioning from elections board members, Wilson said the Democratic Party has a "special account" and that Ruffin Poole told him to write checks to that account.

Wilson says that he invested in some of Gary Allen's developments. He said he doesn't recall talking with Allen about donations to the Democratic Party but says it's his opinion that Allen was donating to benefit the Easley campaign.

"I'm sure I encouraged him to contribute," Wilson says.

3:50 p.m. – Lanny Wilson, a former DOT board member, says he provided maximum allowable contribution to Easley campaign in 2003 and was then asked to donate more money to the Democratic Party.

"It was my understanding that they would flow through the Democratic Party and would pay for expenses with the Easley campaign," Wilson said.

State law prohibits contributions to a political party to benefit a single candidate.

Wilson says he paid $10,000 to the Democratic Party in 2006 to pay for various House races. He said he now knows the check was sent to a P.O. box that was rented by the Easley campaign committee.

Charlotte developer Gary Allen gave money to the Democratic Party, likely to benefit the Easley campaign, Wilson says.

Wilson said he told Easley staffers that Allen's position on the Wildlife Resources Commission and provided background on other issues to staffers so Easley could meet with Allen and possibly solicit a donation.

3:45 p.m. – Chairman Larry Leake announced that a Superior Court judge has quashed a subpoena for Ruffin Poole, a former Easley lawyer. Poole wanted the subpoena blocked because of attorney-client privilege. Leake asked the Attorney General's Office to immediately appeal the ruling.

3:30 p.m. – Witness Grace Ramsey says she doesn't consider herself a Democrat and says she doesn't know how her name came up in the investigation. She said she agreed to pay for some "trinkets" for Easley's 2005 inauguration and was told it was a contribution to Easley's campaign.

The invoice provided by the State Board of Elections is inaccurate, she says. She produced an for $3,280 to a Morehead City company, not the $3,119 shown on the elections board's invoice. She cannot account for the discrepancy.

"Something crazy has happened along the way," Ramsey says, noting that she made the contribution in 2004 but that it appears on some records as being done in 2003.

The only reason Ramsey made the contribution is because both she and Mary Easley are of Greek descent, she says.

3:25 p.m. – Under questioning from board members, McGhee said Easley wouldn't normally review invoices before she saw them. She also said that the law firm where she worked never billed the campaign for her time until state ethics laws were changed.

McGhee said she spoke with Easley sporadically during the campaigns.

3:15 p.m. – Rebecca McGhee, a former Easley campaign staffer, says she paid invoices for the campaign. She received an invoice from McQueen Campbell's company in August 2005 with no supporting documentation, and Easley told to go ahead and pay it. Invoice said only "various flights from November to April."

Democratic Party sent memo about in-kind contributions to campaign of about $6,000 in air travel and $3,000 in Christmas ornaments.

2:11 p.m. – The hearing is in recess until 3 p.m.

2:08 p.m. – Easley campaign attorney John Wallace asks Bleecker about earlier deals the dealership had with Easley. There was no lease documents for any of the deals, he says.

1:55 p.m. – Bleecker says he transferred title of the Yukon to Easley in March when Mary Easley paid about $6,900 for it, which Bleecker said was the market value of the vehicle. Bleecker said he and the governor initially discussed settling up on the deal in November 2008.

Under questioning from elections board member Charles Winfree, Bleecker says that Easley's campaign also sent in a payment of more than $16,000 in April for usage of the SUV.

One of Bleecker's dealerships paid the taxes on the SUV. He says the check from the campaign reimbursed them for the taxes.

"I expected to get paid in full," he says

1:45 p.m. – Fayetteville car dealer Bobby Bleecker has been called as a witness. He provided a used GMC Yukon to Easley's son in 2003 with the understanding that the governor would eventually pay for it when he was done using it.

Bleecker said Easley had used the relationship two previous times. He says it was treated as a lease, although there was no paperwork to that effect. The value of the SUV was $16,000, he says.

"There was just an understanding that (Easley) would pay me," Bleecker said.

Bleecker says he's never given anyone else a similar deal. The dealership maintained insurance on the vehicle, but that was because of a clerical error, he says.

1:44 p.m. – Ruffin Poole and his attorney appear at the hearing but are allowed to leave for a 2:30 p.m. hearing in Superior Court about Poole's suit to block the subpoena.

1:25 p.m. – Jim Cooney, the attorney for the state Democratic Party, questioned Campbell about the flights and whether they would be personal contributions or contributions from his firm that owns the planes. Campbell says he never told any party officials that the flights weren't personal contributions.

Campbell tells board member Robert Cordle that he volunteered his time as pilot to the campaign.

1:15 p.m. – Under questioning by Hicks, Campbell says Easley never asked him to file a false invoice to his campaign. "But I understood what he meant," he said. The response was in regards to Campbell's billing of the Easley campaign for repairs that he paid for at Easley's private home in Raleigh.

Campbell got a bit testy when asked about his role in Mary Easley's hiring at N.C. State and Campbell's decision in May to resign as chairman of the university's Board of Trustees. He says he never made any false statements about his involvement in her hiring and promotion.

1 p.m. – Easley attorney Thomas Hicks questions Campbell about why he never invoiced Easley or his campaign for flights. He says he never told Easley he wasn't being reimbursed for the flights.

"At the time, I don't remember thinking much about it," he says, again stating that he thought the campaign would handle the legal reporting requirements.

Easley never asked Campbell for the complete list of flights on Campbell's private plane. Campbell says some of the campaign-related flights were for appearances Easley made on behalf of other Democratic candidates.

Campbell says he didn't realize until this year that none of the flights had been reported. "You assume because Gov. Easley was sitting in the back of the plane that he was reporting these flights to the campaign?" Hicks asks. "Yes, sir," Campbell responds.

12:45 p.m. – Campbell says he helped raise money for Easley's campaign, but he doesn't recall any conversations about donors giving to the state Democratic Party after they had "maxed out" on contributions to the governor. State law limits individual donors to $4,000 to a candidate during an election cycle.

12:35 p.m. – Leake questions Campbell about his knowledge of state campaign finance laws. Campbell says he's learned more about campaign issues over time, but he says he was naive early on and just wanted to help Easley.

"I don't remember thinking much about the details. I just assumed someone with the campaign would be handling the reporting," he said.

Campbell's firm billed Easley's campaign for more than $4,700 and another $6,300 in 2005. But Campbell says he's never been paid for the $87,000 in campaign-related travel. The two checks were to pay for repairs Campbell made to Easley's house in Raleigh while Easley lived in the Governor's Mansion.

Campbell says a conversation with Easley led him to believe that Easley wanted Campbell to bill the campaign for flights to offset the cost of the home repairs.

12:25 p.m. – At the elections board's request, Campbell said he put together a complete list of flights provided to Easley, from 2000 to the present. From March 2000 to October 2006, he flew Easley on flights totaling $14,200, according to the document. The value of political-related flights were $87,800.

12:20 p.m. – Campbell counts 61 flights from October 1998 to February 2005. He doesn't have a cost breakdown of the trips, but Campbell says the value of the trips totaled $61,810. He says the value would be the amount Easley would have paid if he had chartered the plane.

Not all of the flights were campaign-related, he says, citing one trip to Charlotte for a Carolina Panthers game.

12:10 p.m. – Campbell says he's volunteered his time for Easley more than a decade ago, beginning when Easley was attorney general. He flew him in his private plane during the 2000 campaign, and campaign staffers would request the use of Campbell's plane.

Campbell also flew Easley around during the 2004 campaign. "I don't ever recall a specific conversation with (Easley) asking me. It was almost always someone working with the campaign."

Easley asked him in 2005 to keep a log of the flights, Campbell said. He doesn't know the precise reason for the request.

12:07 p.m. – McQueen Campbell is the first witness called by Chairman Larry Leake. He's a commercial pilot, along with being a real estate broker and businessman.

12:05 p.m. – Poole will show up for the hearing this afternoon. Hicks said he spoke to Poole's attorney to try to resolve the attorney-client privilege issues.

11:53 a.m. – Former Easley aide Ruffin Poole has filed a lawsuit, seeking to quash the elections board's subpoena. Easley attorney Thomas Hicks has been given a few minutes to sort out the situation. Once again, we're in a holding pattern.

11 a.m. – The elections board is going into closed session for about a half hour to handle some administrative questions about the hearing, which Chairman Larry Leake termed a "criminal investigation," much to the chagrin of lawyers for the Easley campaign.

10:50 a.m. – McQueen Campbell, who quit his job as N.C. State's board chairman over questions about his role in the university hiring Mary Easley four years ago, just walked into the hearing room. He has admitted flying Mike Easley on his private plane several times, but none of the flights were noted in the former governor's campaign finance reports. The hearing would begin with a bang if he's among the first witnesses called.

10:15 a.m. – After much reconfiguring this morning of the Clambake and Four Sisters rooms inside the Clarion Hotel in downtown Raleigh, we appear set to begin the State Board of Elections' historic hearing into the campaign finances of Gov. Mike Easley in about an hour. There's plenty of buzz in the hearing room, with reporters and elections board staff accounting for about 90 percent of the people here right now

WRAL.com will be starting our live video stream at 11 a.m., although we hear the elections board might hold a brief session to address the possibility of a runoff election for a seat on the Wake County school board.

As part of the live feed, WRAL News anchor David Crabtree and political observers will be answering questions about the proceedings and the testimony. Feel free to use the comment section on the blog to send in questions.