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RALEIGH — Greensboro-area lawmakers reported flush campaign coffers in reports filed with the State Board of Elections Friday, although at least two local incumbents will likely have to file corrections to their reports.

With the three-week filing period for the 2010 elections due to open Monday, the News & Record reviewed campaign finance reports filed by local incumbents at the General Assembly.

Rep. Pricey Harrison was the most prolific fundraiser among local House members in 2009. The Greensboro Democrat reported raising $64,755.53 in the last six months of the year and had $108,368.75 to begin 2010. All of that came with just one contribution from a political action committee, the Democratic Women of Guilford County.

“I have a particular problem with the level of influence of campaign money on the debate over issues at the legislature,” Harrison said, adding that the influence of campaign cash had harmed the prospects of environmental legislation she had backed in the past.

Harrison said she has a self-imposed prohibition on taking money from committees associated with corporate or other interest groups.

“It lets me feel a little more liberated when I vote,” she said.

On the Senate side, Republican Phil Berger led the way, reporting he raised $119,295 in the last half of 2009. Berger is his party’s leader in the Senate, so it’s not unusual to see him collect contributions from across the state, which he then uses to help other GOP campaigns.

Aside from Harrison, almost any local lawmaker who raised a significant amount of money saw political action committees give to their account.

Duke Energy, Blue Cross & Blue Shield, Bank of America and various medical and development related interests were all common givers.

Rep. Earl Jones, a Greensboro Democrat, raised only $3,000 in the last half of 2009, $1,700 of that from individuals with ties to the video sweepstakes businesses.

Jones has been a vocal proponent of regulating and returning video gambling to a clearly legal status in the state.

Although stand-alone video poker machines were outlawed in 2006, a slightly different form of video-based gaming has operated

here since. Jones argues lawmakers should give the games full legal sanction and tax them.

“They have a legitimate interest in being regulated,” Jones said. “Really, to me, they’re exercising their First Amendment rights.”

Two local lawmakers will likely have to file corrections with the board of elections.

Rep. Hugh Holliman’s reports suggest he took amounts over the limits set by law. For example, Holliman reported a $4,000 contribution from the UNC booster PAC Citizens for Higher Education, but an additional notation showed that it was part of $15,000 he had received from the group during the campaign cycle — far more than $4,000 per election candidates can collect.

“We’re very careful and we don’t collect more than we’re supposed to,” Holliman said, chalking the too-high total up to a software error.

Rep. Harold Brubaker, an Asheboro Republican, did not sufficiently report how he spent $21,386.85 .

Brubaker’s two reports detailing transactions in 2009 show 13 different payments to credit card issuer Capitol One. The payments are given labels such as “legislative conference expense” or “issue overview and opinion research,” but do not detail specifically where the money is spent as required by state law.

“He’ll be ask to provide the actual vendor,” said Kim Westbrook Strach, a deputy director at the State Board of Elections who oversees campaign finance matters. That request will likely come when the board audits Brubaker’s committee.

Brubaker said Friday he thought his campaign had been reporting the spending correctly, but will be happy to furnish whatever information was requested.

“Nobody explained that to me,” said the former House speaker. “We can break it down any way they want it.”

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com