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Easley probe asked
Elections board asks Wake DA to look into case
AP Photo
Chairman Larry Leake and the rest of the State Board of Elections voted to turn over the Easley case to Wake County's district attorney.
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Published: October 31, 2009
RALEIGH
State elections officials called yesterday for a criminal investigation of former Gov. Mike Easley in the first official sanctions against him that stemmed from a series of investigations into his activities while he was governor.
The board's five members voted unanimously to ask the Wake County district attorney to examine whether crimes -- largely related to Easley's previously undisclosed airplane flights while he was a candidate and piloted by political ally McQueen Campbell -- occurred. The Easley campaign was also ordered to pay a $100,000 fine.
"There has been evidence received of election-law, campaign-finance violations that suggest that Mike Easley and others may have violated North Carolina law," said Larry Leake, the board's chairman.
The board wants prosecutors to sort out the truth concerning repairs made at Easley's home in Raleigh and overseen by Campbell. Easley and Campbell gave contradictory statements to the board during four days of testimony. Thomas Hicks, Easley's personal attorney, said after the hearing that Easley got what he wanted and that he is confident that Easley, who served two terms as governor, did nothing wrong.
In an unusual closing argument Thursday, Hicks said that prosecutors would have more resources to examine whether criminal charges are necessary.
"When I go to a tribunal and ask for it and they give me what I want, that makes me happy," Hicks told reporters.
The Wake County district attorney, Colon Willoughby, immediately asked the court system to remove him from the case because he and Easley are longtime friends. The N.C. Administrative Office of the Court agreed, and it assigned the case to the district attorney for Rowan County, Bill Kenerly.
Easley had appointed Willoughby's wife to the State Board of Education, and Easley's son is working this year as a law-school intern in Willoughby's office.
"Having a district attorney handle the case that was not connected to the former governor would instill confidence in whatever decision is made," Willoughby said.
Board members agreed that it was clear that the Mike Easley Committee failed to report flights that Campbell said he flew for Easley between 1999 and 2004. Testimony from Easley and campaign leaders suggested that no one had taken the responsibility to make sure that vendors such as Cambpell, who piloted at least 54 flight legs for Easley during that period, were in campaign reports.
The board told the Easley campaign to pay the value of the flights -- which the board determined to be $60,000 -- and to reimburse the elections board $40,000 for its investigation.
The board's decisions may diminish Easley's reputation as a former attorney general who stayed clear of wrongdoing. As a coastal prosecutor, he had forged a law-and-order persona while putting away violent drug dealers.
"It can't help but cause problems with your feelings about a guy when he was supposed to be the top cop in the state," said Andy Dedmon, a former Democratic leader in the legislature during Easley's first term. "When you're somebody who keeps getting thrown rocks at you, after a while they're going to bruise you."
Campbell's and Easley's activities already have drawn the attention of federal prosecutors, and a grand jury has been calling witnesses to testify about a coastal subdivision where Easley and his wife had bought a lot, and the hiring of former first lady Mary Easley at N.C. State University.
Mike Easley had appointed Campbell to N.C. State's board of trustees. Campbell resigned from the board this year as scrutiny over Mary Easley's post grew. She was later fired.
The N.C. Democratic Party was ordered to forfeit $9,000 in campaign funds for two donations that the Easley campaign solicited from contributors who testified that they were told that the money would pay Easley expenses. But the board didn't include the party in its request to examine potential charges.
The forfeited money from the Easley campaign and the party goes to the public schools.
The board had been examining whether Easley's campaign could freely spend money from the $2 million it had raised for the party from the 2000 and 2004 campaigns. Andrew Whalen, the party's executive director, said that the board "fully exonerated" the party of election-law violations.
The board hearing was the latest this decade involving a high-profile Democrat.
Former N.C. Agriculture Commissioner Meg Scott Phipps and former House Speaker Jim Black also received board penalties. Both ultimately went to federal prison.
As for Easley, the chairman of the N.C. Republican Party, Tom Fetzer, said yesterday that "no one should take satisfaction in this embarrassing spectacle, the net effect of which has been to reduce and diminish the citizens' confidence in their government."
Much of the case hinged on the testimony of Campbell, a Bladen County native and family friend of the governor's who testified that Easley suggested that he file invoices for flights to get reimbursed for repairs to Easley's Raleigh home. Campbell said that the cost of the repairs reached $11,000.
Easley testified that Campbell's version of events "never, ever happened." Campbell testified that he filed two bogus invoices with Easley's campaign. Campbell attorney Hill Allen declined comment Friday.
John Wallace, Easley's campaign attorney, said he doesn't believe that the campaign has enough money right now to pay the $100,000. The campaign had $164,000 as of June 30, but it has had legal fees.
The board approved a motion urging the legislature to pass a law requiring candidates to be personally liable for monetary penalties from the board if the campaign can't pay.
"If all candidates clearly understand that if their committee messed up and the (board) might be trying to get into their personal pocketbooks, I think it will make them more attentive," Leake said.
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