It was hard, personally, not to like Mike Easley – at times Easley showed a lack of pretension rare in governors which, by most reports, made him immanently likeable. But he also showed a void of interest when it came to the workings of his own government that the word ‘detached’ doesn’t begin to cover.

Take his two biggest failures: The state mental health system. And paroles. Under Easley the mental health care system fell apart. People, literally, were dying in state mental hospitals for want of care. As for paroles: Well, somehow the state lost track of thousands of criminals who, subsequently, killed over 500 people. Listening to Easley explain both problems it was easy to get the impression he was, somehow, floating in the stratosphere above state government, looking down, and his responsibility wasn’t managing (or just management) but making appointments. On paroles, he actually told the News and Observer his record was an improvement over Governor Hunt’s – because less people got killed.

Beyond that, Governor Easley presided over lesser scandals in DOT, DMV, with emails and the Lottery Commission with the same detachment.

And, then, there was his parting gift to taxpayers – Mrs. Easley’s five-year, $170,000-a-year state job at North Carolina State University.

Governor Easley was a popular governor who remained popular till the end of his term. Voters generally approved of his policies. Instead, his administration hit a rock elsewhere: On basic issues of management Mike Easley turned out to be the governor who couldn’t shoot straight.

Our new governor, Madame Perdue, has announced she is more hands on – who knows what that means? Time will tell. But a good old-fashioned the buck stops here governor might be a relief.

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