Here’s what I’m pulling from Mary Easley’s globetrotting at taxpayers’ expense:
In May 2007, Mary Easley and an executive assistant traveled to Paris and Compiegne, France, “to see the ambassador and to visit major museums for sister city cultural arts” exchanges, according to the expense report filed with the state.
Once there, Easley had a round-the-clock chauffeured Mercedes-Benz that cost taxpayers more than $27,000. Taxpayers paid another $8,900 for Easley, her executive assistant and a state trooper — along for security — to stay in a hotel and participate in a Monet-themed tour. The trip was five months after the Monet exhibit closed at the N.C. Museum of Art.
In May 2008, Easley went to St. Petersburg and Tallinn, Estonia, with a delegation of the state’s arts officials. The trip was intended to begin a relationship with museum officials in those two countries, which could someday lead to a loan of their exhibits, said Larry Wheeler, director of the N.C. Museum of Art and a delegation member.
…..The trooper, C.H. Alford, mostly stuck to the state’s limits on spending. He typically billed the $7.50 for breakfast, $9.75 for lunch and $19 for dinner allowed under the state’s policy.
Alford joined the delegation at Palkin.
“He didn’t eat much,” Wheeler said.
I spoke with a friend of mine who knows about these things and it’s his belief that troopers going on these trips with the governor and the first lady for “security” are not armed. So what’s the point? Besides, I wouldn’t say that the Easleys are hot assassination targets.
Nice vacations, basically. I guess give Trooper Alford credit for sticking to the spending limits.
