RALEIGH
Former Gov. Mike Easley and his wife accepted a $137,000 discount on a waterfront lot in 2005, a Raleigh newspaper reported yesterday, citing settlement papers that appear to contradict what the Democrat's aides have previously stated.
Closing documents reviewed by the News & Observer show that the Easleys got a 25 percent "seller discount" for the property on Bogue Sound in Carteret County. The deed registered with the county doesn't include the discount, recording the price as $549,880.
In 2006, a spokeswoman for Easley had said that the governor paid the nonnegotiable asking price for the lot.
Ace Smith, a political consultant now working with the Easleys, told the newspaper that it would be "ridiculous" to suggest that the discount was a gift.
"He was assured he received the same offer as everyone else," Smith said. Wade Byrd, an attorney for the former governor, threatened legal action against the newspaper, contending that the documents were confidential.
Gifts of more than $200 would have to be reported on state ethics forms.
Several men involved in the subdivision project were Easley allies and campaign donors, including McQueen Campbell, whose name has repeatedly been listed on subpoenas that federal authorities have issued as part of a wide-ranging probe looking at Easley's travel and his wife's work. Campbell, who has since resigned from his position as chairman of the N.C. State University Board of Trustees, helped Mary Easley get a job at the campus.
Beaufort Mayor Richard Stanley, who served as the closing attorney on Easley's land deal, told the News & Observer that he doesn't think that failing to factor in the discount when reporting the sale price to the county broke any rules.
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