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May 22nd / 24th

"Easleys’ Tangled Web Coming Unraveled"

Last week, North Carolina State University Provost Larry Nielsen and Chairman of the Trustees McQueen Campbell both tendered their resignations. Normally this news would have had little or no impact outside the campus walls, but these particular farewells have far reaching implications, and serve as a reminder of an Administration we’d rather forget.

Nielsen had been hired under strange circumstances. As interim Provost he was never on the list of candidates for the permanent post, but in June of 2005 Nielsen was unexpectedly given the position. He then coincidentally created a high paying job for former first lady Mary Easley, and just months before her husband left office, Nielsen engineered an 88% raise for Queen Mary, bumping her salary to $850,000 for five years. According to the Greensboro News & Record, Mrs. Easley was initially hired to “oversee a lecture series and teach three courses”. Later, Nielsen justified the first lady’s monumental pay hike, saying that she was taking on additional duties, like working with the Center for Public Safety Leadership and Strategic Legal Partnership. Of course we all know how some of these egghead think tanks operate when it comes to naming high profile people to be involved. Take for instance John Edwards who agreed to head up the Poverty center at UNC. According to one source I spoke with, Edwards was hardly ever at the Center. Even so, he was only paid $40,000. Mary Easley was merely associated with the CPSLSLP, and yet she rakes in over $170,000 per year.

Meanwhile, McQueen Campbell, who worked closely with Nielsen, had been appointed to the University Trustees by his political crony, former Governor Mike Easley. According to the Raleigh News & Observer, Campbell frequently bragged about his influence with the Governor, so it is not hard to understand why we lowly voters might assume that the job for Mary Easley, like the appointments of Nielsen and Campbell, were all part of a chummy scheme, funded by taxpayer dollars. But the saga gets worse and more sordid.

Last week while Campbell and Nielsen were throwing in the towel, the media was getting its first look at Mike Easley’s travel records, which Bev Perdue had ordered to be released. The result was information that has triggered investigations by the State Board of Elections and the convening of a Federal Grand Jury.

Pouring over long hidden Easley documents, the Raleigh News & Observer found that the Governor spent so much time at his Southport beach home, the Troopers assigned to his security detail had to rent a house to be near him.

That rental cost taxpayers $72,000. Other expenses for the State Troopers exceeded $40,000, and the cost of transporting the Easleys back and forth to the beach was over $60,000.

The Governor’s records also reveal that he had frequently denied many of his trips to Southport, and that he had failed to report a number of free campaign related excursions as well. That has the SBE looking into possible violations of campaign finance laws. Meanwhile, another matter being investigated is how Easley was able to purchase a $1.2 million dollar marina lot in Carteret County for a mere $555,000. The broker of that sweetheart deal was none other than McQueen Campbell.

The NCSU resignations and the Federal and State probes are giving us a better glimpse into the Easley’s lifestyle and excesses. And it reveals the lengths to which their political cronies went to serve the royal couple.

Neither Nielsen nor Campbell admit any wrongdoing, but I particularly liked Nielsen’s rationale for resigning as Provost. He said that scrutiny of the Mary Easley hiring has become an “embarrassing distraction” for him.

That’s the best line I’ve heard since the Menendez brothers murdered their parents, then asked the Jury for sympathy because they had no Mom and Dad.

At worst, the former Governor and his buddies could do jail time. At the very least, they were guilty of abusing their office. Those issues will be sorted out by the appropriate agencies. What isn’t being addressed is how the Easleys and their servants were allowed to operate in a vacuum.

Some in the media are now criticizing the State Auditor and the SBE for not monitoring and questioning Easley’s activities. But news folk should understand that state employees, whether appointed or hired, don’t want to rock the boat and risk losing their job. It is a cowardly existence to be sure, but one that is not without company from the media itself which frequently gave Easley a pass on his missteps.

In the end, the Easley scandals should be a wake up call for all of us. The media needs to do a better job. The public should demand more transparency in government. And state employees should have better incentives and protections in place to help them blow the whistle on high ranking perps. Meanwhile, Erskine Bowles should vacate Mary Easley’s contract, and the Feds should freeze all of Mike Easley’s assets until a full accounting can be made of his use of tax payer resources for personal use.

Politicians like Easley pay a high price to obtain power. Now it’s only fair they should pay a high price for abusing it.