North Carolina’s First Lady normally keeps a relatively low profile, but she made headlines this week with two different issues linked to taxpayer spending. First, North Carolinians learned they had spent more than $100,000 to help send Mary Easley on foreign trips. John Locke Foundation President John Hood discussed the issue Tuesday morning with the WPTF Radio morning show. The next day, Carolina Journal Executive Editor Don Carrington revealed that N.C. State University had agreed to give Easley an 88 percent pay raise. Carrington’s reporting generated follow-up stories from The News & Observer (in its “Under the Dome” blog and in print), Charlotte Observer, and WRAL Television. The Associated Press pushed the story statewide, helping it reach media outlets such as WLOS Television in Asheville. The Chronicle of Higher Education also picked up on the issue. Carrington discussed Easley’s pay and the controversy over her travel expenses during an appearance on Lockwood Phillips’ “Viewpoints Radio” on WTKF.
