You cannot read the accounts of how Mike and Mary Easley spent their days on the public payroll and conclude otherwise. They simply expected to be enriched by public office and set about to make that happen. The rich have lotsa leisure time, so the Easleys made sure they had plenty. Powerful, vain royalty has been showered with gifts since the dawn of time. The Easleys loved gifts from their supporters and had no qualms about rewarding such affection with state office, another hallmark of royal governance.
Let’s cut to the chase: Does North Carolina’s political class have to stomach to prosecute one or both of these sluggards should the facts warrant? I seriously doubt it. Maybe the feds will force the issue, but that is not typically how these things work.
That’s why I already see the outlines of a de facto settlement. Mary Easley drops her protest of her firing from NCSU while the Easley campaign coughs up additional thousands to refunds. The intent will be to make eight years of abusing the public’s trust go away. It won’t, but it just might work.
This is North Carolina, afterall.
Update: Not even German Social Democrats understand the limo across Europe thing. The German health minister had her limo stolen in Spain, resulting in howls of outrage.
