As if the revelation of Mike “Nick Danger” Easley’s secret, private e-mail account weren’t enough. The News & Observer‘s Michael Biesecker reports that Easley orchestrated the high-tech lynching of former Health and Human Services public information officer Debbie Crane.
Easley fired Crane after a series of scathing articles in the N&O about the state of mental health services in North Carolina. Crane said that Easley and his team ordered public record e-mails be deleted.
In response, Deputy Press Secretary Seth Effron, acting as Easley’s spokesman, denied any e-mails were deleted and called Crane “dishonest, untruthful and insubordinate.”
If her deposition this week, Communications Director Sherri Johnson said Effron’s disparaging comments about Crane were actually dictated by Easley.
“The governor dictated it word for word and ordered that it be sent out. And Seth was the one who had to ? to give it out,” Johnson said. “Seth was the vehicle, but the governor is the one who ? he was the mouthpiece, but he was…not the speaker.”
Crane told Dome Wednesday she felt vindicated by testimony from Press Secretary Renee Hoffman, who said she was ordered to tell public information officers to delete e-mail messages.
“Being called a liar by Mike Easley is a badge of honor,” she said.
Oh, my.
