Lawyer wants Bar to act against Cooper over 2000 election

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – A Raleigh lawyer says his lawsuit attacking Attorney General Roy Cooper is the final phase of a controversy dating back to his first campaign for the job 15 years ago.

The complaint by Gene Boyce in Wake County Superior Court says the North Carolina State Bar has not investigated Cooper’s professional conduct because it’s represented by the attorney general’s office and has a conflict.

Cooper’s spokeswoman referred questions Tuesday to gubernatorial campaign spokesman Jamal Little, who called the dispute a settled issue. Cooper is seeking the Democratic Party nomination to challenge Republican Gov. Pat McCrory in November.

Boyce’s son was the Republican candidate for attorney general who lost to Cooper in 2000. The two sides in 2014 settled a long-running lawsuit about a television commercial Cooper aired in that campaign.

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The story has been corrected to show the last night of the spokesman as Little rather than Hill.

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