Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

N.C. State chancellor resigns
Raleigh News & Observer ^ | June 8, 2009 | JAY PRICE AND J. ANDREW CURLISS

Posted on 06/08/2009 7:29:23 AM PDT by abb

NCSU Chancellor James L. Oblinger resigned this morning after days of shifting explanations about a deal he cut for former provost Larry Nielsen when Nielsen stepped down last month.

Both men are at the heart over a controversy about how former state first lady Mary Easley gained a job at the university in 2005, then an 88-percent pay hike last year to a $170,000 salary.

Last month McQueen Campbell, a friend of the Easleys who Gov. Mike Easley had appointed to the NCSU board of trustees, admitted to UNC system President Erskine Bowles that he had told Oblinger that Easley was looking for work.

Nielsen, then interim provost, then hired Easley.

After Bowles called for him to resign, Campbell did. Nielsen quickly followed, citing the stress of media scrutiny of the deal.

Then came the changing stories about Nielsen's benefit package. Last week Oblinger said that he had given Nielsen a six-month study leave at the full provost pay and that his pay would fall to $156,000 then return to teaching. The deal, which he described as typical in academia, had been part of Nielsen's contract when he got the job in 2005, Oblinger said.

Then, on Saturday, university officials changed the story, saying that Nielsen's payout at the higher salary would be spread over 18 months. Hours later, they changed the story again, saying it actually would be over three years.

On Sunday, the university released documents that showed Oblinger sweetened the deal on the day before Nielsen quit in apparent violation of university rules.

According to the documents, the deal in Nielsen's original contract was a six-month leave at full pay, but only if he kept the job at least 5 years. He was in the post about four.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; News/Current Events; US: North Carolina
KEYWORDS: easley; ncstate; northcarolina
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-29 next last
This just in...
1 posted on 06/08/2009 7:29:23 AM PDT by abb
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: abner; Alia; beyondashadow; Bitter Bierce; bjc; Bogeygolfer; BossLady; Brytani; bwteim; Carling; ..

ping


2 posted on 06/08/2009 7:30:23 AM PDT by abb ("What ISN'T in the news is often more important than what IS." Ed Biersmith, 1942 -)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: abb

Not quite as good a deal as the former football coach at K-State..


3 posted on 06/08/2009 7:31:59 AM PDT by ken5050
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: abb

Yep. Next on the chopping block is Queen Mary Easley herself...


4 posted on 06/08/2009 7:32:20 AM PDT by GOPRaleigh (It's gonna be a loooonnnggg 4 years...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: abb

wow.


5 posted on 06/08/2009 7:32:29 AM PDT by Perdogg (Sarah Palin-Jim DeMint 2012 - Liz Cheney for Sec of State)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Perdogg

Another Democratic crook. Easley is a dirty word in NC.


6 posted on 06/08/2009 7:33:40 AM PDT by Free America52 (I just want it to be the way it always has been.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: GOPRaleigh

I want (W)Easley. I want his head on the chopping block.

After the DukeLax Frame, I want the entire North Carolina Politcal/Legal axis to suffer. And suffer a lot.


7 posted on 06/08/2009 7:34:50 AM PDT by abb ("What ISN'T in the news is often more important than what IS." Ed Biersmith, 1942 -)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: abb

Good.

Drip ... drip ... drip.


8 posted on 06/08/2009 7:43:54 AM PDT by maggief (I)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: abb; PJ-Comix

Is that the entire article?

Guess it time, once again, to play “Name That Party” in media coverage!


9 posted on 06/08/2009 8:23:59 AM PDT by Cletus.D.Yokel (FreepMail me if you want on the Bourbon ping list!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: abb
I want (W)Easley. I want his head on the chopping block. After the DukeLax Frame, I want the entire North Carolina Politcal/Legal axis to suffer. And suffer a lot.

Ditto that...NC has become the NJ of the south.

10 posted on 06/08/2009 8:44:54 AM PDT by Niteranger68 (Have you punished an 0bama supporter today?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: GOPRaleigh
Next on the chopping block is Queen Mary Easley herself...

As you know, being in Raleigh, but as others on this thread may not know, both Oblinger and UNC System President Erskine Bowles (former Clinton Cabinet member and two-time U.S. Senate election loser) have "asked" Mrs. Easley to resign. She is waging a fight through her attorney (Queen Mary herself does not deign to speak on the matter) to keep her job. Or at least, that's the public story. I suspect negotiations for a contract buyout (read: big golden parachute) are ongoing. All of the "resignations" (firings) are reducing whatever leverage Mrs. Easley might have had.

What continues to baffle me is the fact that Bowles continues to get a pass in the press and in the State Legislature. Clearly he was complicit in the decision to hire Mrs. Easley, and to grossly inflate her taxpayer-funded paycheck, back when hubby was Gov.

11 posted on 06/08/2009 9:02:57 AM PDT by southernnorthcarolina (UNC: The University of National Champions 1957-1982-1993-2005-2009)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: southernnorthcarolina

All roads lead to Durham...


12 posted on 06/08/2009 9:44:42 AM PDT by abb ("What ISN'T in the news is often more important than what IS." Ed Biersmith, 1942 -)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: abb

Not to restate the obvious or have a moment that would cause someone to inference feces and a certain fictional british detective by the name of Holmes....
However,

Can anyone find party affiliation ..anywhere...?
Easley....mrs easley.....anything?

Raleigh is scum...NC is scum


13 posted on 06/08/2009 9:55:37 AM PDT by wheresmycheckbarry?
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Perdogg; maggief

Ruh Roh!!

http://www.newsobserver.com/executive_privilege/story/1560419.html

Records: Mike Easley involved in hiring


14 posted on 06/08/2009 12:04:25 PM PDT by abb ("What ISN'T in the news is often more important than what IS." Ed Biersmith, 1942 -)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: abb

FLASHBACK:

http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/display_exclusive.html?id=4709

Media Sue Easley Over Public Records
Carolina Journal and nine other media members join in the lawsuit

By Mitch Kokai

April 15, 2008

RALEIGH — Carolina Journal and nine other North Carolina news organizations filed a civil lawsuit against Gov. Mike Easley on Monday, claiming multiple and “systematic” violations of the N.C. Public Records Law.

The plaintiffs asked a judge to “enter a judgment declaring that policies and procedures promulgated and implemented on behalf of the defendant [Easley] and the actions taken by him as alleged … violate the Public Records Law,” according to the complaint filed in Wake County Superior Court.

Joining CJ in the complaint were The News & Observer of Raleigh, The Charlotte Observer, The Fayetteville Observer, The Associated Press, and the N.C. Press Association. Other plaintiffs were: Media General Operations, which publishes 10 N.C. newspapers, including the Winston-Salem Journal; Freedom Communications and Freedom Eastern North Carolina Communications, which together publish seven N.C. newspapers; The Wilson Daily Times; and Boney Publishers, which publishes The Alamance News.

“Our position is that the policies of the governor and of those who act at his direction or under his authority violate the Public Records Law as it relates to retention of documents — in this case, most frequently e-mail documents — but other documents as well,” said Amanda Martin, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers.

The suit contends Easley and his staff violated the state’s Public Records Law by: mandating that certain e-mail records be destroyed, destroying at least one written document, devising e-mail retention policies that deviated from the law, and failing to provide for preservation of public records.

(snip)


15 posted on 06/08/2009 12:25:59 PM PDT by maggief (I)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: abb

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/
N.C. State fires Mary Easley


16 posted on 06/08/2009 12:29:00 PM PDT by abb ("What ISN'T in the news is often more important than what IS." Ed Biersmith, 1942 -)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: maggief

http://spectator.org/blog/2009/06/08/hire-my-wife-please
Hire My Wife — Please!


17 posted on 06/08/2009 12:31:06 PM PDT by abb ("What ISN'T in the news is often more important than what IS." Ed Biersmith, 1942 -)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: abb
(Former President) Clinton waived his typical fee, appearing this year in exchange for travel expenses and other costs that totaled more than $15,000. The Easleys campaigned for Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 2008 election.

X42 doesn't do anything for FREE.

(I won't hold my breath waiting for a similar investigation into MO's job at University of Chicago Medical Center.)

18 posted on 06/08/2009 12:38:41 PM PDT by maggief (I)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: maggief

All roads in North Carolina lead to Durham. Every one of them.


19 posted on 06/08/2009 12:42:58 PM PDT by abb ("What ISN'T in the news is often more important than what IS." Ed Biersmith, 1942 -)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: 100%FEDUP; 2ndMostConservativeBrdMember; ~Vor~; a4drvr; Adder; Aegedius; Afronaut; alethia; ...

NC *Ping*

Please FRmail MitchellC if you want to be added to or removed from this North Carolina ping list.
20 posted on 06/08/2009 12:48:32 PM PDT by MitchellC
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-29 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson