News-Record.com

Honestly, why should she resign? Why should she think that anyone really cares about good old boy corruption? What would make her think that? Hasn't it gone on for years and years with the same old Democrats--I mean, politicians--getting elected?

Also: I give up trying to teach basic grammar. From the article:

"We believe the university should keep it's promise to Mary Easley," he said.

On the one hand, it takes a lot of nerve for Mary Easley to so publicly refuse requests for her resignation from N.C. State Chancellor James Oblinger and UNC President Erskine Bowles.* Doug

Not nerve! She is excising her consitutional right to defend her contract with her lawyer? Contracts are made to be broken and the Courts decide who is the individual or institutions that broke the contract.....How many unconstitutional freaks demanded that we invade Iraq with the former Bush and Cheney agenda under their lies?

I agree Mrs. Easley is not as dangerous as Dick Cheney.

brian, never give up!

I find myself more or less agreeing with those who are wondering why Mary Easley's promotion was left alone (by the media, by government watchdogs, by the Republicans) when it happened. If it's so obvious now that it was political favoritism, why wasn't it then? It wasn't like the contract wasn't reported at the time.

I'm afraid that I were in Mary Easley's shoes, I'd tell NCSU that if you want me gone, then let's talk settlement. If I had a contract for $850K over 5 years, I'd be willing to go away... but not for nothing.

And brian444, good on ya. Keep up the good work, and I'll try to do the same. I sigh more often than I used to when I read the N&R. But hey, when you fire scads of people, this is what happens. One that sticks out recently is the headline from a couple of weeks ago about someone being rescued by "the Calvary."

There was some flak about Mrs. Easley's raise last year ...

http://blog.news-record.com/staff/offtherecord/archives/2008/07/it_must_be_gran.shtml

Agreeing with Andrew (yet again),it wasn't a huge deal at the time for whatever personnel reasons the N&R has or because it just didn't seem that out of place. Historically, pols get perks and this was one. In the olden days, we envied the perks; nowadays, we need someone fired. (Resigning doesn't satisfy our post-1994 killer instinct for retribution.)

I thought that part of her salary was tied to the money she raised; if that's the case, who cares how much she makes? It's a win-win without morals and requiring no second sight.

And then, perhaps, it's that she's good at her job no matter who her husband is but I'm too old to delude myself into believing that skills and talent are what matters.

Sue,

I've never seen anything about her salary tied to her fundraising or that fundraising was part of her job. Where does that come from? If she has a five-year deal for a fixed salary, where is the tie-in to any fundraising? Would that be a bonus on top of her guaranteed salary?

Here's the N&O's original report on her "new job" with the big pay increase last year:

http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/1129052.html

Notice that Gov. Easley blamed the criticism on "sexism" -- "If she were a man, it wouldn't be an issue."

I guess if Gov. Easley were married to a man, that would be another issue.

OK, Sue, I found something on this.

From Tom Campbell at NC Spin:

"WRAL revealed an important element in this unfolding saga several days ago. When the UNC Board of Governors reviewed Mary Easley’s new pay arrangement, they tried some damage control by saying that she would have to go out to raise the funds to pay for part of her salary. Nobody really said much about it but it’s for sure nobody really thought this through very well.

"Where was Mary going to get the money? Who would be willing to fund a start-up program that was unproven? As it turns out AT&T, Progress Energy and Blue Cross were willing to contribute big bucks. Each of these corporations does plenty of business with, is regulated by, and curries favor with the Governor, the state and the University. This whole affair doesn’t pass the smell test. There are conflicts of interest all over this that need investigation. We put a House Speaker in jail for “pay for play” activities. How different is this?"

http://www.ncspin.com/