I actually had a little respect for Mary Easley. When I read in this McClatchy follow-up to Don Carrington’s CJ front-pager on her phat raise, I was glad to see that she at least acknowledged that “negative stories and exaggerations and partial stories go with the territory of public life.” I thought maybe she actually got it, quite unlike her husband.
Wrong. Neither one of them get it:
“It’s not a raise. She’s taking a new position,” Gov. Easley told WRAL. “She could go out with a law firm and make a lot more money, but she’s decided to stay with public service.”
Mary Easley said, “What people have to understand is that I bring something unique to N.C. State,” WRAL reported.
Gov. Easley, who is paid $135,854 a year, said he sensed sexism in his wife’s critics.
“If she were a man, it wouldn’t be an issue,” Easley told WRAL.
Pee-yew.
Now (here I go again) why was a I reading a McClatchy story in today’s N&R? I don’t know. Last I heard, we had a reporter down there. And not only did we get an AP story on Easley’s testy defense of the First Lady’s trip to Europe, it ran on B3. Here we have a governor unraveling after getting pressed on his wife’s travels —- that’s front-page, above the fold, man. It’s the kind of story that catches your eye when you pull the paper out of the bag.This is what people are talking about, the budget can wait.
The only thing readers can infer from such blatant lack of coverage is the story doesn’t fit with the N&R’s political views. Either that or they just have poor news judgment. I’m really not tryng to be mean here, but this seriously (again) calls the paper’s credibility into question, doesn’t it?
Update: I’m trying to be fair here, so I’m running the N&R blogs to see if I’ve missed anything. The Web site’s a little squirrely this afternoon (perhaps maintenance over the holiday weekend), so let me know if I’ve missed something.
Update II Doug Clark slams the Easleys.
