RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Lawyers for the North Carolina insurance magnate charged with trying to bribe the state’s top insurance regulator say the case should be dismissed because he was exercising his right to support elected officials who were responsive to constituents.

Greg Lindberg’s lawyers this week asked a judge to dismiss the federal criminal charges.

Lindberg, former North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Robin Hayes and two other men have pleaded innocent to charges that they were part of a plan to funnel up to $2 million into the campaign treasury of state Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey, who is Republican.

Lindberg’s lawyers say his requests for Causey to replace a deputy examining his insurance companies were appropriate because he wasn’t asking for an outcome from government officials and hadn’t yet given Causey campaign money.

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