I am sure Gerlach rationalized in his mind that he was not conducting official state business — he was just helping the wife of his friend (who just so happened to be his boss as well) the governor get a job. So having made that determination, he hopped onto his handy Hotmail account and got the ball rolling with NCSU political science chairman Jim Svara.
Another curiosity is that Gerlach sent emails from his personal account to either Svara or McQueen Campbell at 10:05 a.m., 11:18 a.m., and 1:44 p.m. during workdays in the last week of April 2005. Also there was one morning (April 25) where Gerlach had spoken to Svara about a position for Mrs. Easley before 11:00 a.m. So since this was not official state business, he must have been conducting it during his legally-allowed 15-minute coffee/smoke breaks.
Anyone care to request emails that circulated about how Gerlach got his Golden LEAF job? I would think that in certain peoples’ minds — maybe even his — that that would not fall under the “official state business” category either. Or am I nitpicking?
