Mike Easley: High-flying governor

If you missed the weekend series "Executive Privilege: The Perks of Power" in the News & Observer and the Charlotte Observer Saturday and Sunday, be sure to take a look online. Written by Andrew Curliss and edited by the veteran Steve Riley, it is an eye-opening account of what happens when a powerful politician forgets his roots and enjoys the perquisites that come with high power and well-heeled friends. In this case, it's about former Gov. Mike Easley, who grew up in Eastern N.C. and cut his political eyeteeth prosecuting corrupt politicians in the 1970s and 80s in Southeastern N.C., then became N.C. attorney general and finally governor for eight years.

Somewhere along the way, it appears Easley lost his sense of proportion and started enjoying the high life. He accepted a lot of favors from friends that he ought to have kept more distance from, and failed to appreciate that ordinary North Carolinians would wonder how he could get so far above his raisin'. He doled out appointments to close friends who seemed to do him favors, and who then boosted their business by bragging on their connections. He took aircraft flights here, there and yonder while the state Highway Patrol protected his travels from public scrutiny. His wife got a lucrative job at N.C. State University under strange circumstances. And he bought a pricey lot on the coast at a cost many investors would have loved to have gotten -- at the time.

No one knows how far this story is going or what it might produce, but at a minimum it is clear that an investigation is in order, if for nothing more than to clear the air. The U.S. Attorney's office in Raleigh has declined to say whether it is investigating, although it seems evident the justice department is interested. So is the N.C. Board of Elections. If these two agencies aren't spooling up for a full-fledged investigation, the question is: why not?