Observations from Day 1 of the Easley Hearings Posted: Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 It was fascinating watching the State Board of Elections hearings Monday. You didn’t have to be Perry Mason to see that Chairman Larry Leake and the Board were carefully crafting a web designed to catch former Governor Mike Easley. The board has obviously done its research and is well prepared.
Some have wondered why the testimony of Lanny Wilson, Nick Garrett and McQueen Campbell didn’t venture into the Mary Easley hiring, Easley’s real estate investment at Canonsgate, the renovation of the Easley home in Southport, the marina lease at Southport or other reported transgressions. My guess is that these are items under investigation by federal authorities and will be revealed later.
The mission of these hearings is to determine if Easley and his campaign violated state laws regarding the collection and reporting of campaign cash and expenditures. The State Board isn’t through. Perhaps the big bombshells have exploded, but there’s more to come before Easley himself is called to testify. This will be the high point of these hearings. The former Governor will be asked to comment on whether or not he instructed his campaign to pay for repairs to his home, thus committing insurance fraud, among other possible violations.
The State Board already has, to many minds, enough testimony to recommend the case to Wake District Attorney Colon Willoughby for prosecution. Easley’s testimony will be on the record and can be used in that action.
Irrespective of any other outcome from these hearings the one overwhelming conclusion that must be reached is the screaming need for further reform in our election laws. We must change laws that allow candidates, PACs or corporations from contributing large amounts to political parties that can then be funneled as in-kind contributions to individual candidates. The current law prohibits this practice but everyone knows it happens and merely winks at it.
Republicans should be glad their behind-the-scenes efforts to remove chairman Leake from presiding at the hearings were not successful. Leake isn’t pulling any punches in his administration of the hearings, removing any prospective charges of political favoritism.
We were amused at Tuesday’s News and Observer column bemoaning Easley’s metamorphosis from a hard-charging, crime busting DA and Attorney General to just another politician on the take. We’ve been to Southport, we’ve talked to people who live there, as well as to many others who have had contact with Mike Easley throughout his career, both at the coast and in Raleigh. They tell us he was always looking for favors, slow to pick up a check at a restaurant and willing to take advantage where he could. One politician calls him “Alligator arms,” because of his penchant for allowing others to pay the tab at meals. This is not new conduct, it is an ongoing pattern. But there is a difference between being cheap and breaking laws. That appears to be what we are hearing now.
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