WTVD-TV has the answer:
Last month, the North Carolina State Board of Elections slapped former Governor Mike Easley with a $100,000 fine and referred his case to a prosecutor after investigating flights Easley took on the private planes of supporters.
$60,000 of that was for the flights, the other $40,000 was to help taxpayers reclaim the cost of doing the investigation. But Easley is not on the hook for the money. His campaign is, and the campaign is broke.
“The Easley Committee is struggling,” explained Easley Committee Attorney John Wallace after the Board’s hearing.
But the campaign started the year with $427,000 in the bank, so where did the money go?
Campaign finance reports show Wallace’s law firm Wallace and Nordan collected almost $73,000 from the Easley Committee in the first six months alone – that was four months before the State Board of Elections held its hearing on Easley.
A law firm in Greensboro collected another $50,000, and the firm of Poynter Spruill got $100,000 in legal retainers.
Oh, this looks baaad.
