We were joking this morning that Gov. Bev Perdue rewarded former Democratic U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge with a sinecure. In case you don’t know, a sinecure is a job with little authority or responsibility. We learned later in the day just how accurate that was.

The Associated Press reported, in a story in The News & Observer and other AP client papers, that Etheridge had been appointed to head the Office of Economic Recovery and Investment, a position that Dempsey Benton left in November, and which has been running fine for two months without Etheridge. The position calls for the former congressman to, according to AP, “oversee North Carolina’s share of the federal stimulus program.”

And also according to AP, that job was mostly completed by Benton before he left the position:

Money will go through the program through at least 2012, but nearly 80 percent of the recovery funds have already been spent. Etheridge will oversee how the money is dispersed and make sure projects under contract are getting done.

The fact that only 20 percent of the stimulus money remains to be disbursed might make a reasonable person wonder why the position was being filled in the first place. Let an intern do it and save some money. But, giving the governor the benefit of the doubt, we figured she’s got a lot on her plate and needs Etheridge’s help in this monumental task.

But then Carolina Journal Executive Editor Don Carrington remembered something he read in the N&O in November (emphasis added):

Benton said about 95 percent of the state’s $6 billion allotment either has been spent or is already dedicated to be spent.

Hiring a defeated Democratic congressman for a salary of nearly $100,000 a year to do what amounts to the remaining one-twentieth of the job Dempsey Benton had already nearly completed two months ago would seem truly to qualify as a sinecure. Some might even see it as a payoff.

Speaking of the N.C. Office of Economic Recovery and Investment, Benton announced in November that the staff had dwindled to less than half of the 15 that were there when the program began. It’s impossible to know how many staff remain to be managed by Etheridge because the “STAFF” link on the agency’s website goes nowhere.