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Mon late: Bowles on Easley(s)
posted at 2009-06-08 23:58 | Last modified 2009-06-09 00:08
And now, for news that doesn’t revolve around tomorrow’s House tax package …
UNC system President Erskine Bowles joined NC State Board of Trustees chair Bob Jordan to announce today that the university is terminating its $850K contract with former first lady Mary Easley.
Earlier in the day, James Oblinger announced his resignation as chancellor, just hours before NCSU posted all the documents it supplied in response to a subpoena from a federal grand jury. Those docs included an email chain about Mary Easley’s job between Oblinger, then-PoliSci Chair James Svara, Easley aide Dan Gerlach, and Easley friend and then-BoT chair McQueen Campbell.
Bowles told reporters “those emails made me feel sick.”
“I don’t know anything about the governor’s involvement other than what I read in the emails. So you know everything I do. …Look, you know as much about this as I do. And I learned about the real agreement with Larry Nielsen sometime Sunday afternoon.”
But Bowles clearly did know a little something extra – namely, that Oblinger had also approached then-Humanities chair Linda Brady about finding a job for Mary Easley. (Brady is now UNCG Chancellor.) Here’s that bit from the conference.
Listen Now!
Trustees' chair Bob Jordan took a more truculent tack, defending Oblinger and attacking the N&O:
“This isn’t about Mary Easley. It isn’t about NC State. The truth of the matter, it’s about trying to get to the governor. And it’s not fair to come in here and nitpick little stuff to try to tell a story that you want to tell down the road till you get the real facts on the thing. These are good people.”
Bowles defended the contract and the pay offered to Mary Easley as appropriate. When asked how much it might cost NCSU to get out of that contract, Bowles admitted he didn’t know. "We haven't negotiated with her lawyers at all." There’s no word yet from attorney Marvin Schiller on whether Mary Easley will pursue the claim in court.
WUNC’s Dave Dewitt will have a story on this Tuesday morning. If you want to see the raw video of the whole presser, WRAL has it posted online.
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