The Sparks Fly Upwards
June 9, 2009 - by
Well, the next time a governor asks the Chancellor at North Carolina State University to hire his wife for $875,000 the Chancellor will either whip out a gun and start shooting or hightail it for the hills.
Nobody with any sense really believed the professors at State College thought up hiring Governor Easley’s wife on their own – but it took a lot of straining (most of it done single-handedly by the News and Observer) and a Grand Jury subpoena to prove it.
What the Grand Jury subpoenaed were emails between the politicians and the scholars and when the scholars filed their response it went right into the public file out at State and that’s where the News and Observer found it.
I can’t recall Governor Easley ever saying a word about his wife’s hiring – except the one time he said that opposing her was sexism.
The Chancellor’s been saying he had nothing or almost nothing to do with Mrs. Easley’s hiring either – and that whatever it was he might have done he’d long since forgotten.
The Provost had to admit he did know but added empathically it sure as blazes had nothing to do with her being the Governor’s wife.
A rogue trustee – who a blind man could see was the Governors’ hand-picked man on the college Board – said at first he had nothing to do with it, then admitted, Well, maybe, he’d mentioned it once to the Chancellor in passing.
What really happened?
The Governor’s known for years he was string pulling to get his wife the job – and said nothing.
The Chancellor (there’s no polite way to say it) more or less flat-out lied. So did the rogue trustee. And the Provost.
When it all hit the press, yesterday, the President of the University of North Carolina drove over to Raleigh, sat down with the State Board and five minutes after he walked out of the room fired just about every top official at State but the basketball coach.
But there is one peculiar rub in all this.
The Chancellor, after misleading everyone for four years, is getting half-a-years salary as severance pay – about $200,000. Then he’ll return to the university as a professor.
The Provost, right now, will receive $300,000 severance pay (though it looks like the UNC President can do something about that and means too). Then he’ll return to his old job as a professor.
They misled everyone, didn’t fess up until a Grand Jury grabbed ahold of them, and walk away with $500,000. Nobody likes to kick a fellow when he’s down but you just can’t help feeling something’s not right.
The other shoe that’s about to fall is how Mrs. Easley’s lawyer is going to take all this. Last week Lawyer Schiller opined the facts were indisputable: Mrs. Easley was hired for her talents – not her husbands’ political influence. Now the question is will he figure out a way to get a payment for Mrs. Easley too?
Since she got her job (and five year contract) due to political string pulling, it seems her getting a couple of hundred thousand dollars severance pay would be like enjoying the benefits of the poison fruit – but her lawyer may not see it that way.
There’s one last odd twist: No one’s heard a peep out of the new Governor. Or the Senate President. Or the House Speaker. It’s like they left the state.
But, a guess is, by dawn this mare’s nest will land on their doorstep;—for weeks they’ve been pooh-poohing all the reports of influence peddling and avoiding the legislature or the Governor doing any investigating or being troubled to lift a finger to find out what happened.
Now it’s pretty clear, politically, that was a blunder that’s going to come home to haunt them; plus there’re the questions about former Governor Easley’s free vacations, free airplane flights, free automobiles and his sister-in-laws job (and promotion just before the Governor left office) in state government.
So, maybe, this will be enough to jolt even the most stubborn, partisan Democrat into action.
After all, the next election is getting closer every day and, right now, about the only State Senator or Representative who’s done anything to try to get to the bottom of these scandals is Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger;—so, maybe, when Governor Perdue finally shows up she’ll stop logrolling long enough to appoint the Special Prosecutor she’s dodged naming for months.
To order Spirits of the Air – A Mystery by Carter Wrenn Click Here.
Posted in General, North Carolina - Democrats
The Sparks Fly Upwards
June 9, 2009/
Well, the next time a governor asks the Chancellor at North Carolina State University to hire his wife for $875,000 the Chancellor will either whip out a gun and start shooting or hightail it for the hills.
Nobody with any sense really believed the professors at State College thought up hiring Governor Easley’s wife on their own – but it took a lot of straining (most of it done single-handedly by the News and Observer) and a Grand Jury subpoena to prove it.
What the Grand Jury subpoenaed were emails between the politicians and the scholars and when the scholars filed their response it went right into the public file out at State and that’s where the News and Observer found it.
I can’t recall Governor Easley ever saying a word about his wife’s hiring – except the one time he said that opposing her was sexism.
The Chancellor’s been saying he had nothing or almost nothing to do with Mrs. Easley’s hiring either – and that whatever it was he might have done he’d long since forgotten.
The Provost had to admit he did know but added empathically it sure as blazes had nothing to do with her being the Governor’s wife.
A rogue trustee – who a blind man could see was the Governors’ hand-picked man on the college Board – said at first he had nothing to do with it, then admitted, Well, maybe, he’d mentioned it once to the Chancellor in passing.
What really happened?
The Governor’s known for years he was string pulling to get his wife the job – and said nothing.
The Chancellor (there’s no polite way to say it) more or less flat-out lied. So did the rogue trustee. And the Provost.
When it all hit the press, yesterday, the President of the University of North Carolina drove over to Raleigh, sat down with the State Board and five minutes after he walked out of the room fired just about every top official at State but the basketball coach.
But there is one peculiar rub in all this.
The Chancellor, after misleading everyone for four years, is getting half-a-years salary as severance pay – about $200,000. Then he’ll return to the university as a professor.
The Provost, right now, will receive $300,000 severance pay (though it looks like the UNC President can do something about that and means too). Then he’ll return to his old job as a professor.
They misled everyone, didn’t fess up until a Grand Jury grabbed ahold of them, and walk away with $500,000. Nobody likes to kick a fellow when he’s down but you just can’t help feeling something’s not right.
The other shoe that’s about to fall is how Mrs. Easley’s lawyer is going to take all this. Last week Lawyer Schiller opined the facts were indisputable: Mrs. Easley was hired for her talents – not her husbands’ political influence. Now the question is will he figure out a way to get a payment for Mrs. Easley too?
Since she got her job (and five year contract) due to political string pulling, it seems her getting a couple of hundred thousand dollars severance pay would be like enjoying the benefits of the poison fruit – but her lawyer may not see it that way.
There’s one last odd twist: No one’s heard a peep out of the new Governor. Or the Senate President. Or the House Speaker. It’s like they left the state.
But, a guess is, by dawn this mare’s nest will land on their doorstep;—for weeks they’ve been pooh-poohing all the reports of influence peddling and avoiding the legislature or the Governor doing any investigating or being troubled to lift a finger to find out what happened.
Now it’s pretty clear, politically, that was a blunder that’s going to come home to haunt them; plus there’re the questions about former Governor Easley’s free vacations, free airplane flights, free automobiles and his sister-in-laws job (and promotion just before the Governor left office) in state government.
So, maybe, this will be enough to jolt even the most stubborn, partisan Democrat into action.
After all, the next election is getting closer every day and, right now, about the only State Senator or Representative who’s done anything to try to get to the bottom of these scandals is Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger;—so, maybe, when Governor Perdue finally shows up she’ll stop logrolling long enough to appoint the Special Prosecutor she’s dodged naming for months.
To order Spirits of the Air – A Mystery by Carter Wrenn Click Here.
Posted in General, North Carolina - Democrats