Easley on Black
Gov. Mike Easley, a Democrat, hasn’t been keen on talking about the troubles of his fellow Democrat, former House Speaker Jim Black. Black has plead guilty to federal and state corruption charges in the past week or so.
But at his annual shindig to roll out his budget proposal, the governor did get a couple of questions about Black.
Click here to listen to the first clip, in which he responds to a question about whether he wished he had called for Black to resign earlier. “We deal with the facts as we have them. The fact is the former Speaker plead guilty last week, not last year.”
Click here to listen to the second clip, when he responds to the question of whether he felt betrayed. “This is not so much about ethics or campaign reform. This is a criminal law that’s been in effect probably 200 years. Yeah, everybody was stunned and everybody shocked but I don’t want to turn this into a press conference on Speaker Black.”