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.
ping
Not quite as good a deal as the former football coach at K-State..
Yep. Next on the chopping block is Queen Mary Easley herself...
wow.
Another Democratic crook. Easley is a dirty word in NC.
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.
Good.
Drip ... drip ... drip.
Is that the entire article?
Guess it time, once again, to play “Name That Party” in media coverage!
Ditto that...NC has become the NJ of the south.
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.
All roads lead to Durham...
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
Ruh Roh!!
http://www.newsobserver.com/executive_privilege/story/1560419.html
Records: Mike Easley involved in hiring
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)
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/
N.C. State fires Mary Easley
http://spectator.org/blog/2009/06/08/hire-my-wife-please
Hire My Wife — Please!
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.)
All roads in North Carolina lead to Durham. Every one of them.
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