| Viewing Single Post From: Blog and Media Roundup - Tuesday, June 30, 2009 | |
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| abb | Jun 30 2009, 04:58 AM |
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http://www.newsobserver.com/executive_privilege/story/1589069.html Published: Jun 30, 2009 05:44 AM Modified: Jun 30, 2009 05:45 AM Mary Easley to fight termination The former first lady says in a letter to NCSU that she will appeal her firing. BY ERIC FERRERI, Staff Writer Former first lady Mary Easley's hiring left a trail of dethroned N.C. State officials, but she has notified the university that she doesn't plan to join them. Easley indicated in a letter delivered to the university Monday that she will appeal her firing earlier this month. Her attorney, Marvin Schiller, declined to comment further. In the letter, he wrote that Easley plans to file a formal grievance through NCSU related both to her termination and "with respect to any severance, notice or hearing which she may be due under NCSU's policies, regulations and rules." NCSU did not offer Easley a severance package. "Programs that Mrs. Easley was hired to administer or participate in are among those that are being eliminated or reduced -- specifically the Center for Public Safety Leadership and the Millennium Seminar Series," said James Woodward, who became NCSU's interim chancellor after James Oblinger resigned over the Easley issue earlier this month. "With this substantial loss of job responsibilities and on the advice of the N.C. State Board of Trustees, I terminated Mrs. Easley's contract. Mrs. Easley may, of course, pursue whatever grievance process or legal action she now deems appropriate." Easley had come under pressure last year when she was given a five-year, $850,000 contract to run a speakers series and create a public safety leadership center. But controversy then erupted amid disclosures about her job in The News & Observer's two-part series, "Executive Privilege." The newspaper's reporting showed that her job was pushed by her husband, former Gov. Mike Easley, and orchestrated at the highest levels of state government. Though complimentary of Easley's abilities, NCSU and UNC system officials had urged her to resign from her post voluntarily, citing the distraction that her salary issue caused. In addition, Mike Easley is now the subject of a probe by federal investigators into several aspects of his time as governor, including a coastal land purchase in which he bought a lot at a favorable price and his family's use of vehicles from car dealers. Hannah Gage, chairwoman of the UNC system's Board of Governors, which oversees all public universities including NCSU, declined to discuss the specifics of Easley's appeal. "We have budget cuts and 215,000 students to educate, and our plate is too full to spend any more time wringing our hands over this story," she said. Monday's appeal letter was Easley's second public indication that she plans to fight for her job. The first came during a late May news conference when Schiller, her attorney, announced that Easley would not voluntarily leave her NCSU post. Easley attended that news conference but did not speak. How it all began Easley was first hired in May 2005 by Larry Nielsen, then the interim NCSU provost who was about to be replaced. Though Nielsen wasn't at first a candidate for the permanent position, he got the job. For months, officials said Nielsen alone hired Easley. But McQueen Campbell, a longtime friend of the Easleys and chairman of the N.C. State Board of Trustees, told Bowles in May that he told Oblinger that Mary Easley would be available. Campbell, a real-estate broker, businessman and private pilot, flew the governor in his plane often while Mike Easley was a candidate and at other times. He also flew two people for the speaker series that Mary Easley ran at NCSU. Campbell got help from the Easley administration about the time the first lady's job was created. The state permits for a real-estate deal that Campbell was involved in were approved in what Campbell said was nearly half the normal time; he credited political contacts he would not reveal. And the Division of Motor Vehicles set aside two investigations involving a vehicle inspection station Campbell owned. Both Nielsen and Campbell have resigned their positions with the university over their roles in Mary Easley's hiring. eric.ferreri@newsobserver.com or 919-932-2008 |
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| Blog and Media Roundup - Tuesday, June 30, 2009 · DUKE LACROSSE - Liestoppers | |
1:55 PM Nov 28
