I take back what I said yesterday about Mike Easley. There is nothing loveable about the governor. He’s the slickest con man since Harold Hill descended on River City or Flem Snopes rode out of the backwoods.

First, he spends $269,000 on three trips to Italy, France and Russia – including $77,000 to rent Mercedes limousines for two weeks – then Mrs. Easley finagles an $80,000 pay raise (from $90,000 to $170,000) to be something called an “executive in residence” at North Carolina State University.

The governor has grabbed for the loot – but not just another $80,000 a year. Mrs. Easley’s new five-year agreement with N.C.S.U. means her state pension will double – so taxpayers could still be paying for the governor’s piece of artful footwork twenty years from now.

A howl went up from the newspapers, but the governor had a pat answer. He looked the reporters in the eye and said with a straight face the folks who oppose paying his wife $170,000 a year are sexists. “If she were a man, it wouldn’t be an issue.” The legislature should take his wife’s $170,000 salary and pay it to two female professors at N.C.S.U.

Here’s a hint to Pat McCrory. It isn’t every day an issue like this comes along.

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