There is nothing quite like a newspaper headline to get a political reaction from Governor Easley.

Via his minions at the Department of Transportation, the Governor hired a $2.5 million consultant to do a study of DOT, then didn’t require a written report (that way there’s no messy list of DOT foibles for the press to scrutinize).

And that’s where things stood until the News and Observer ran the headline – Consultant’s Review of DOT Under Wraps – in a front page story.

Then, in the blink of an eye, the Governor dished his subordinates at DOT (of course he had nothing to do with their decision, he’s just the Governor) and waxed eloquent about how DOT should release everything, just everything.

This is par for the course. The Easley Administration went one way (hiding the study) originally, it backfired, then the Governor panned his subordinates and announced he was straightening out the mess – as if he had nothing to do with it in the first place.

And what happened to the DOT employees the Governor says acted improperly? Did heads roll? No. Nothing happened – except the Governor danced the political two-step and dodged the blame.

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