Mary Easley: It's time to say goodbye
Let’s see ... your boss wants you to resign.
Your boss’s boss wants you to resign.
You’ve had a job created for you at N.C. State University under some (to be kind) suspicious circumstances.
Questions continue to mount about how and why you received a five-year, $850,000 contract that more than doubled your previous salary while your husband was serving as governor.
State Chancellor James Oblinger has said you should resign.
UNC system president Erskine Bowles has said you should resign.
Your Board of Trustees chairman and the man who hired you both have themselves resigned because of their connections to you.
And you’re not budging?
Former first lady Mary Easley, it’s time to call it a day, give it up, say “no mas,” step away.
You’d be doing N.C. State a favor. And you’d be doing yourself a favor.
Comments (7)
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Oh Good Lord.
Allen where were any of you tough, brave newspapermen when people were screaming about THE SMELL surrounding her getting hired?
Why you-all were sucking up to the Governor and his fat-cat cronies, and letting all this stuff slide - until he was out of office and you could suck up to someone else. Beverly Perdue wants this off the table (it's embarrassing), and by God the newspapers are going to help out.
There isn't any wonder now why I could not get the time of day for my criminal case against two lying, cheating non-profit executives in Asheboro.
EVERYBODY I was begging for help was a LIAR & CHEAT too!
Posted on May 19, 2009 9:47 PM
Dr. Johnson:
Here is what we wrote on July 16, 2008:
N.C. State missed the memo: Unusually fat pay raises must be approved by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors.
The fattest and most unusual surely was the $80,000 pay boost recently awarded to Mary Easley, North Carolina’s first lady, an executive-in-residence in Provost Larry Nielsen’s office. Her approximately $90,000 salary jumped to $170,000 — more than the 15 percent bump allowed before a higher authority’s endorsement is required.
Nielsen belatedly pledged to abide by the rule, which should delay Easley’s raise until the next Board of Governors meeting in September, yet he contends she really didn’t get a pay hike but a promotion to a new job — even though her title didn’t change. The “new job” was not advertised, either, and no other candidates were considered. The same was true when she was hired for her old job in 2005. It was created just for her because of her special qualifications. In addition to her professional credentials as a lawyer, Easley’s status as first lady obviously makes her a unique and attractive employee.
It’s just those circumstances, however, that explain why Board of Governors review is appropriate. Scrutiny by an outside authority makes it more difficult for campus leaders to give sweet deals to people with political or family connections. At a public university, hiring and pay practices should be guided by merit, and the reasons for granting extraordinary increases in salary or benefits should be explained openly.
It apparently wasn’t N.C. State’s plan to seek Board of Governors permission to place the first lady in a “new,” higher-paying position or to announce the move publicly. It only did so in response to media inquiries. The university would be more forthcoming if it promoted a football coach; why so reticent about the first lady?
The Board of Governors, to avoid humiliation for everyone, probably has no choice but to approve the pay raise retroactively. But it should make sure N.C. State officials understand that the rules apply to everyone, even the governor’s wife.
Posted on May 20, 2009 9:09 AM
Hmmm..let's see...Dem. Erskine Bowles, former Chief of Staff for Dem. Bill Clinton, does big favor for Dem. Mary Easley, wife of Dem. Governor Mike Easley, by making sure she has a job (wink, wink) at an outrageous salary in the UNC System controlled by Bowles.
Boy, I'm glad the Dems are leading the fight against the Culture of Corruption.
Posted on May 20, 2009 10:16 AM
In fairness to Bowles, he didn't get Mary Easley the job, but he initially approved of it.
But you are right about the Democrats. The hits just keep on coming: Meg Scott Phipps, Jim Black, Thomas Wright ...
Posted on May 20, 2009 10:25 AM
Bowles runs the joint. The buck stops on his desk.
Posted on May 20, 2009 10:45 AM
Mr. Robinson, if you will re-read my comment, you will note that I asked you where the newspapers were when she was given her job (i.e. when her job was CREATED for her - much like the Poverty Center was CREATED as a vehicle/stepping stone for John Edwards when left office) . . . NOT when Queen Easley got her raise.
And/so, now people like me - like Jaycee - are "right" about the Democrats - the very Democrats I've been BEGGING for help for six years?
What does that say about the judgments the N&R has made about me and my story-of-public-service-woe not being relevant to anything in our "culture of corruption"?
It seems I've been wasting my time writing CRIMINALS to help me prosecute their friends for CRIMES.
I'll just bet all the e-mails I sent Sleazley about that were deleted. The Feds won't find a thing there.
And yes, Jaycee, our Erskin is knee-deep in this slime.
Posted on May 20, 2009 12:28 PM
You are right. The job that gave Mary Easley the 88 percent raise was the one that raised our hackles.
Posted on May 20, 2009 2:21 PM