Published: Saturday, January 7th, 2012 @ 9:40 am
By: Beaufort Observer Editorial Team   ( More Entries )

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

    MMike Easley has cut yet another deal. This time it was not to avoid prison but rather to get his law license back in another year. The Raleigh News & Observer is reporting that Easley's attorneys have negotiated an agreement with the N. C. Bar Association for a three year suspencion, two of which he has already completed. As the N&O reports, "Typically, a felony conviction for a lawyer leads to more severe punishment, often disbarment. In a complaint, Jean and the chairman of the bar's grievance committee said that Easley had shown professional unfitness as a lawyer and was subject to some level of discipline as a result of the conviction."

    The report says that the bar was swayed by the fact that Easley himself did not file the illegal reports but rather than his staff did.

   The News and Observer further reports:

    "At the time, Kenerly had said a state law seemed to grant immunity to Easley because he testified in a state elections board hearing. Kenerly said that was a "major factor" in his reaching a plea deal.

    At that elections hearing, a longtime friend of Easley's, former N.C. State board of trustees chairman McQueen Campbell, had testified that he had arranged for repairs on Easley's personal residence and billed the cost to Easley's campaign at the direction of the governor. Easley denied any wrongdoing.

    The elections board fined Easley's campaign $100,000 and referred the issues to a state prosecutor.

    By then, reports in The N&O had also shown that, among other issues, Easley received a $137,000 discount on a lot at a coastal development and that Easley was involved in getting his wife, Mary, a job at N.C. State. Mary Easley was later fired. Campbell resigned from the NCSU board. The controversy also led to the departure of Chancellor James Oblinger, who records showed was involved in the hiring of the first lady but had said he could not recall any of it.

    Kenerly said at the time that "distasteful" behavior didn't always mean that a crime occurred.

    The federal prosecutor at the time, George Holding, said a change in the federal "honest services" law, which had ensnared numerous politicians and businessmen, also made a prosecution of Easley unlikely.

    "The standard of proof for a scandal is different than the standard of proof for an indictment," Holding said after Easley's plea. "

   Commentary

    Maybe so Mr. Holding, maybe so. But what Mike Easley did was wrong and it should be illegal with serious time in the Big House. That it is not is an indictment of the corrupt state of politics in North Carolina as much as it is anything else. Passing the blame to underlings is simple cheap self-serving act on Easley's part and a terrible illustration of the fact that North Carolina's standards for elected officials are so low.

    Many people in this state have no respect for lawyers. Many believe them to be corrupt as a matter of practice. This action by the bar does nothing to help that, and in fact simply amplifies the cynicism the public holds for lawyers.

    This was not a "typical" felony committed by one who knew better. It was an egregious violation of Easley's public trust to the People of North Carolina and to the Office of Governor.

    It is a sad, sad day for North Carolina.

    To read more click here.

    All of this comes on top of the public learning just recently that Jim Black cut a sweet deal also.

    Remember, he was fined a million dollars as a part of his sentence on corruption charges. He cut a deal to swap a piece of land in Mecklenburg County he owned for half of that fine. The lot will be sold next week for less than $250,000. Not a bad gig if you can get it.