News-Record.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 21, 2009

On July 2, 2008 Sen. Eddie Goodall (R- Union Mecklenburg) called for an investigation into the travel habits and expenses of Gov. Mike Easley, his family, and administration. In a letter to Attorney General Roy Cooper (attached) Sen. Goodall requested an investigation and written opinion on the legality of Gov. Easley’s use of state aircraft (See attached letter).

The state, under the Department of Commerce, owned at least three aircraft devoted to transporting the governor and other state officers on official business. Costs associated with personal or political uses must be reimbursed to the state.

A Carolina Journal article (“Taxpayers fund Easley coastal trips” Vol. 17, No. 6, pg. 1) detailed the governor’s use of the aircraft over the past four years. This investigation, as well as other news reports detailing the governor, his family, and administration’s high expense trips throughout Europe cast doubt on the legitimacy of the costs Gov. Easley incurred at the taxpayer’s expense.

Sen. Goodall said in the letter that until a thorough investigation is complete we may never know whether the law was broken. There was no response from Cooper to the July 2, 2008.

Sen. Goodall will submit the request a third time and hopes for a response from the attorney general this time. Sen. Goodall said, “With newer questions about bargain purchase coastal lots and an Easley family fleet of vehicles being driven as indefinite loaners, we have new questions but we need to resolve the old first”.

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September 10, 2008

Attorney General Roy Cooper
NC Department of Justice
9001 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-9001

Re: follow up to letter to you dated July 1, 2008

Dear Mr. Cooper:

I read today a letter by Robin Pendergraft of the SBI, in which she expressed her appreciation for your “leadership in fighting for more agents to investigate public corruption and more tools to help us root out wrongdoing, such as better financial disclosure by elected officials”.

I must admit it reminded me that I had not received an answer from you to my July 1, 2008 letter in which I requested your opinion as to whether or not there has been any inappropriate or illegal use of the state’s aircraft by Governor Easley, his family, or administration. I would also add a request that you provide me with your opinion as to the appropriateness of the “financial disclosure” of those uses.

Yours truly,

Sen. W. Eddie Goodall Jr.



July 1, 2008


Attorney General Roy Cooper
NC Department of Justice
9001 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-9001



Mr. Cooper:

I am writing today to ask you for a written opinion, under N.C.G.S. § 114-2(5). I want to know whether or not there has been any inappropriate or illegal use of the state’s planes and helicopter by Governor Easley, his family, or administration.

The governor’s travel habits have come to my attention after reading an article on the subject in the June 2008 issue of the Carolina Journal (“Taxpayers fund Easley coastal trips” Vol. 17, No. 6, pg. 1). The article reports that Gov. Easley’s use of state aircraft appears to be inconsistent with state rules regarding their use.

Using documents obtained from the Department of Commerce, which maintains the aircraft, the Carolina Journal published its findings that 62% of Gov. Easley’s trips connect to Brunswick County where the governor owns two homes. The state budget manual, to which the article makes reference, states that “circuitous routes” (i.e. round-about or indirect routes) are prohibited. In addition, the costs of using the aircraft for personal or political purposes must be reimbursed to the state.

Several actual trips are documented in the article, some of which indicate questionable use of the aircraft, for instance, to attend “an unspecified event” at the Rose Hill Conference Center in Rocky Mount on March 17, 2008. It is unknown whether this was a political or an official event.

In addition, documents demonstrate an uptick in Gov. Easley’s use of the state aircraft during campaign season. Other records reveal Easley used the aircraft on May 2nd, 3rd, and 5th on political trips in support of former Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. In January 2005, Gov. Easley had a state plane fly to Manteo to pick up Actor Andy Griffith, fly him and his wife to attend the governor’s inauguration ceremony. Mr. Griffith and his wife were flown back to Manteo the next day. Griffith had appeared in a campaign advertisement for Governor Easley during the campaign.

The indication from the article is that Gov. Easley has neglected to reimburse the state for trips that are personal or political in nature, which apparently he is required to do. As you can imagine the costs of these trips mounts up. The state’s turbo-prop is billed at $560 per hour, the jet costs $770 per hour, and the helicopter is also $770 an hour. The combined cost of the Hillary Clinton campaign related trips, for example, is over $7,000.

I understand there may be details of these trips that are unclear and without further investigation it is difficult to come to any sensible conclusion as to the appropriateness of the governor’s use of the state aircraft. However the questions raised in the Carolina Journal article are significant and I believe they warrant further investigation by your office. I ask that you please look into the matter and upon investigation issue an opinion as to whether these trips are within the law or not.



Respectfully,


Sen. W. Eddie Goodall Jr.