A security consultant hired by N.C. State University says that e-mails deleted from former Chancellor James Oblinger's account were gone within a few months of the hiring of former first lady Mary Easley.
The consultant was hired to recover missing e-mails from Oblinger's account during the months surrounding Easley's hiring in 2005, but said that they were likely gone forever, according to documents released by the university yesterday.
The e-mails deleted from a secondary Oblinger e-mail account covered the period that he took over as the university's top administrator in January 2005 until June 11, 2005. Former Gov. Mike Easley's wife, Mary, was hired by N.C. State that May.
The e-mails had been deleted by Sept. 3, 2005, reported Risk Management Associates Inc., a Raleigh security consultant hired by N.C. State.
A subpoena that federal prosecutors issued Monday demanded records showing who deleted the e-mails from Oblinger's second, high-priority N.C. State e-mail account and when.
Risk Management's letter states that its workers couldn't recover the Oblinger e-mails, and that university staffers had done all they could to find them. A university attorney said in a note to the U.S. Attorney's Office last month that the e-mails may have been deleted "as part of routine mailbox cleanup."
Oblinger's attorney said that the consultant's report shows that the former head of North Carolina's largest university wasn't trying to hide his role in Mary Easley's hiring.
"I think the timing is significant because it shows that whatever the cause of the deletions, it wasn't anyone's deliberate attempt to delete e-mails on this issue because, of course, this was not an issue at that time," attorney Press Millen said.
Oblinger testified before a federal grand jury last month. He resigned in June as the university released a first batch of e-mails showing that he had played a role in Mary Easley's hiring. He said he did not recall his contribution until reading the e-mails, and said that the hiring involved no impropriety and no coercion.
Mary Easley was hired in 2005 to run a speakers series. She received more duties and a salary boost up to $170,000 per year last summer. N.C. State Interim Chancellor James Woodward terminated her contract last month, he said, because funding problems forced the university to cut many of the programs she was operating.
Since Mike Easley left office in January, federal prosecutors have issued several subpoenas seeking information about the Easleys. Investigators have probed the family's travels, a marina renovation, and the N.C. State job for which e-mails indicate that the former governor played a role in helping his wife secure.
A separate subpoena issued this week seeks copies of eight years worth of communication between the former governor's top aides and the state Division of Motor Vehicles, the Raleigh News & Observer reported yesterday.
Those named in the subpoena included McQueen Campbell, a former N.C. State board chairman and Easley supporter; his father, former Board of Transportation member Mac Campbell; and his brother, Brian Campbell, a current member of the state aeronautics board.
The newspaper previously reported that violations at an auto-inspection station owned by McQueen Campbell were set aside by DMV officials. The federal agents specifically asked for information on the resolution of citations issued against his station.
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