Business wonders who is the true Blue.

• Author: Whittington, Dennis
• Position: Daniel T. Blue Jr.'s formation of North Carolina Forum for Research and Economic Education to boost business

It's nearly 5 p.m. on a busy Friday, but North Carolina House Speaker Daniel T. Blue Jr. says he'll take as much time as needed to rebut the accusation that the House of Representatives is anti-business.

It's a charge that clearly irritates the 43-year-old civil lawyer, who was unopposed for re-election last year. Business lobbyists get the same audience with House leaders as anyone else, he says, while stressing that his job is to represent all the people, not just special-interest groups. And he readily lumps the state's business community into that category. "If anyone thinks they're going to come up here and play every tune and call every shot, they're as wrong as wrong can be."

To John Davis, however, the record shows that Blue's leadership is increasingly playing off-key on issues important to business. Since founding the North Carolina Forum for Research and Economic Education -- N.C. FREE -- in 1985, Davis has tracked General Assembly votes on business-related issues chosen as most critical by his group's members. Then he issues report cards for each legislator.

N.C. FREE's 300 members -- from such giants as R.J. Reynolds and Duke Power down to local businesses such as Charlotte beer distributor Bealer Wholesale -- typically use the information when deciding whether to contribute to a legislator's re-election campaign. "N.C. FREE is the only organization which gives us the extra information needed to make fully informed decisions about political candidates," John Boatwright, president of NationsBank of North Carolina, says in the group's membership brochure. Annual contributions made by members range from $350 to $10,000, while the five-employee group's budget totals $375,000.

Davis says his research showed only four of the 28 committee chairmen Blue appointed in 1991 scored 75 or better on a scale of 100 in last year's session. That made them "base voters" in Davis' lexicon. Those with averages of 55 to 74 were considered "swing voters," who might go either way on business issues. Those with scores below 55 were called "occasional allies."

Blue scored a 53, 85th in the 120-member House. Of the four House chairmen, all of them Democrats, with scores of 75 or better last year, only Vernon James, from Pasquotank, is still there. Sam Hunt III of Alamance and Barney Paul Woodard of Wake retired last year. John "Pete" Hasty, Robeson, was defeated in the primary.

The result of Blue's selections, Davis tells audiences around the state, is...