The North Carolina General Assembly has not necessarily fallen in love with big boats riding down the highways.

They just don’t like Mike Easley.

That’s what the override of his veto was about. It was one last chance to give a lame duck a swift kick on the way out.

Legislators have never liked Easley. Well, maybe they did at the beginning. After eight years of Jim Hunt calling them day and night, wearing them out, they welcomed Easley at first.

Then they began to resent his detachment. They realized he had no instinct or interest in the give-and-take they had come to expect with the governor’s office. They even thought Easley was more interested in showing them up than working with him.

Most of all, they regretted passing the veto back in 1996.

So it was payback time for Easley. The legislators decided they have a bigger boat than he does now.

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