I actually had a little respect for Mary Easley. When I read in this McClatchy follow-up to Don Carrington’s CJ front-pager on her phat raise, I was glad to see that she at least acknowledged that “negative stories and exaggerations and partial stories go with the territory of public life.” I thought maybe she actually got it, quite unlike her husband.

Wrong. Neither one of them get it:

“It’s not a raise. She’s taking a new position,” Gov. Easley told WRAL. “She could go out with a law firm and make a lot more money, but she’s decided to stay with public service.”

Mary Easley said, “What people have to understand is that I bring something unique to N.C. State,” WRAL reported.

Gov. Easley, who is paid $135,854 a year, said he sensed sexism in his wife’s critics.

“If she were a man, it wouldn’t be an issue,” Easley told WRAL.

Pee-yew.

Now (here I go again) why was a I reading a McClatchy story in today’s N&R? I don’t know. Last I heard, we had a reporter down there. And not only did we get an AP story on Easley’s testy defense of the First Lady’s trip to Europe, it ran on B3. Here we have a governor unraveling after getting pressed on his wife’s travels —- that’s front-page, above the fold, man. It’s the kind of story that catches your eye when you pull the paper out of the bag.This is what people are talking about, the budget can wait.

The only thing readers can infer from such blatant lack of coverage is the story doesn’t fit with the N&R’s political views. Either that or they just have poor news judgment. I’m really not tryng to be mean here, but this seriously (again) calls the paper’s credibility into question, doesn’t it?

Update: I’m trying to be fair here, so I’m running the N&R blogs to see if I’ve missed anything. The Web site’s a little squirrely this afternoon (perhaps maintenance over the holiday weekend), so let me know if I’ve missed something.

Update II Doug Clark slams the Easleys.

Here’s an interesting letter to the editor in today’s N&R on the Dole-Hagan Senate race, in its entirety:

Strap in! The GOP slime machine is cranked up and ready to go. Prepare for Elizabeth Dole, George Bush, John McCain and others to tell us how Sen. Kay Hagan will take away our guns, have tea with terrorists, blast open our southern border and let gay people marry!

In a nutshell, it is the same stuff that put Bush in office. Fear! Fear! Fear! That’s all they have to peddle after the past eight years.

“Giddy” Dole has been nothing short of a lap dog for George Bush, showing up in North Carolina just months before the election, after being totally absent for over five-and-a-half years! Her ads are slick, but she can’t pull the wool over this state twice. She is a pitiful excuse for a senator.
Kay Hagan, my family stands with you!

John Graham
Greensboro

Meanwhile (via Locker Room), Hagan argues for stronger veterans’ benefits:

Throughout the next few months, I’ll be holding veterans town halls across the state. In a recent town hall in Greensboro, we attracted a diverse crowd of veterans and discussed the challenges they have faced trying to navigate a system that should work seamlessly and reward their service to our country. There were some success stories, and those should not be forgotten, but the number of those who still needed help far outnumbered those who had been receiving it.

We must make our veterans and their families a priority, not an afterthought.

Hagan mentions her role in increasing pensions for N.C. National Guard members as a budget writer in state Senate. But read the editorial and please tell me if it’s not lacking in details? Voters are hungry for details.

For some reason, Gov. Easley was in a —-let’s see, what word should I use —- testy mood when he met with reporters yesterday to discuss his plan to help struggling homeowners.

From the N&O:

Easley was testy with reporters, limiting some to a single question and admonishing one not to interrupt him. Reporters pressed Easley on specific high-dollar bills such as a chauffeured Mercedes. A vehicle and driver for Mary Easley’s trip to France cost more than $27,000. A similar arrangement for two Mercedes-Benzes in Italy cost more than $50,000.

From Capital Beat:

(Easley) got a little testy with reporters asking about the travel expenses, saying that the trips have value and help recruit foreign travelers and investment to North Carolina.

From Isaac Hunter’s Tavern:

The Gov. got testy with with a couple of reporters (one from television who earned it, and another from AP who didn’t) when pressed on details like the chauffered Mercedes.

I can’t help but notice that Laura Leslie gave the First Lady a pass, saying “everyone involved seemed to agree Mary Easley had little say in the planning.”

JLF policy analyst Daren Bakst is quoted in part two of the N&R’s series on the end of cheap oil, which (admittedly) is more balanced than part one.

(It dawned on me the other day that, given the N&R’s eminent sale, people down on East Market Street are probably putting out resumes, and taking on big oil looks good on a resume, right?)

Bakst says —-gasp— people should decide for themselves whether or not they can afford oil:

“What should North Carolina do?” Bakst asked. “Nothing. The government doesn’t need to do anything.”

Except perhaps pressure the federal government to lift restrictions on offshore drilling, Bakst added.

Meanwhile, N&R casts the new PART routes in a more favorable light than the High Point Enterprise did yesterday:

There were few riders on the route’s first two days but, like many good things, PART’s newest commuter service probably needs a little time to hit its stride.

Give it several months for word to spread about how much money and exasperation commuters in Randolph County can save by climbing aboard, said Scott Rhine, programs manager for the Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation.

….The battle to get commuters out of their single-occupant cars and onto a regional bus is being won one motorist at a time, he said.

“It’s just a matter of giving it a try, just once,” Rhine said. “You see how convenient it is. … ”

Here’s what I’m pulling from Mary Easley’s globetrotting at taxpayers’ expense:

In May 2007, Mary Easley and an executive assistant traveled to Paris and Compiegne, France, “to see the ambassador and to visit major museums for sister city cultural arts” exchanges, according to the expense report filed with the state.

Once there, Easley had a round-the-clock chauffeured Mercedes-Benz that cost taxpayers more than $27,000. Taxpayers paid another $8,900 for Easley, her executive assistant and a state trooper — along for security – to stay in a hotel and participate in a Monet-themed tour. The trip was five months after the Monet exhibit closed at the N.C. Museum of Art.

In May 2008, Easley went to St. Petersburg and Tallinn, Estonia, with a delegation of the state’s arts officials. The trip was intended to begin a relationship with museum officials in those two countries, which could someday lead to a loan of their exhibits, said Larry Wheeler, director of the N.C. Museum of Art and a delegation member.

…..The trooper, C.H. Alford, mostly stuck to the state’s limits on spending. He typically billed the $7.50 for breakfast, $9.75 for lunch and $19 for dinner allowed under the state’s policy.

Alford joined the delegation at Palkin.

“He didn’t eat much,” Wheeler said.

I spoke with a friend of mine who knows about these things and it’s his belief that troopers going on these trips with the governor and the first lady for “security” are not armed. So what’s the point? Besides, I wouldn’t say that the Easleys are hot assassination targets.

Nice vacations, basically. I guess give Trooper Alford credit for sticking to the spending limits.

We can at least say here in Guilford County that we weren’t presented with a county and a city bond package aren’t on the same ballot, as they might be down in Charlotte. But having one on the primary ballot and another on the general ballot is still too close for my comfort.

The Meck Deck’s Jeff Taylor takes a look at the debt bomb waiting to explode down there. Take heed, Greensboro’s voters, especially when you consider the haphazard way in which the city’s bond package apparently was put together.

By the way, it’s no coincidence that Guilford County, deeper and deeper in bond debt and desperate for funding sources, decides to tax pharmaceutical samples. In an N&R op-ed, Dr. Dennis Kohut responds:

At the risk of raising the ire of the Guilford County Tax Department and placing my practice on the radar screen for an audit, I would like to offer the following commentary on the interpretation of North Carolina statute G.S. 105-273 (8a), dated May 26, 2006. Based on this N.C. Department of Revenue interpretation, county auditors have chosen to tax the drug samples in the offices of the Guilford County physicians.

I believe the basic premise of this statute is flawed. Let me remind everyone, the samples are given to the physicians free and in turn are given to our patients free! What is the tax value of “free”? Not since our county has chosen to tax the “free” rain (Google: N.C. rain tax) have I seen the likes of this.

I can’t help it, but the exchange on today’s episode of All in the Family is too good not to mention because, once again, it touches on issues we face today.

A little background. It’s Archie’s birthday, and they’re all set to yell surprise when Archie gets home promptly at six. Only Archie gets home at five, effectively ruining the surprise.

Archie says his early arrival is an act of God, because their was a power failure down at the plant.

“Then it was act of ConEdison,” Gloria said.

“Who do you think runs ConEdison?” Archie said.

“Well then God must be raising fuel prices,” Meathead said.

“Of course not,” Archie said. “That’s your Arabs.”

Not exactly a rousing start for PART’s new Davidson County route:

Just three vehicles sat for most of the day in the park-and-ride lot off N.C. 109 in Thomasville: a small sedan, SUV and minivan. Similar low numbers were reported at other stops in Lexington and Midway.

Evidently, residents haven’t completely changed their way of thinking:

Officials with PART could not be reached for comment on Monday afternoon. However, leaders previously have acknowledged the challenges in introducing public transportation to areas not accustomed to the service.

“A society that has never had the option of using a mass transit system has to look at their daily lives from a much different thought process,” said Brent McKinney, executive director for PART, in an interview last May.

Meanwhile, in an (unposted) story on GTA’s new fares, the N&R caught up with Jann Lund of Lexington, one of the few riders taking advantage of the route:

“It’s only $4 for a round trip, and that’s a gallon of gas,” said Lund, who works at the Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard law firm. “Paying for gas last month was like making an extra car payment. By doing this, it’s saving me $200 a month.”

Lund must make one concession. “I’m not a morning person, and I’m having to get up a lot earlier,” she said. “The bus leaves Lexington at 7 o’clock, and a trip that used to take me 40 minutes now takes an hour and 20 minutes with stops. That’s a trade-off.”

I can’t help but wonder how long the trade-off will continue to be worth it.

I seem to be hitting on a theme today.

The City of Winston-Salem is considering an ordinance for residential development that would be tougher than the city’s existing zoning ordinance.

Note the comment from alert reader John G:

Planning committees. Who else had planning committees? Oh yeah, the Soviets. They loved them. In a country that prides itself on being the ‘land of the free’ you would think you could do what you want with your property. But you cant. Whatever you do must be approved by the state. Of course who really owns the property when you have to pay the state rent in the for of tax every year.

From Greensboro City Council member Mike Barber’s memo to City Manager Mitchell Johnson questioning fellow council member Robbie Perkins’ role in the Pilot Life land deal:

“Last Tuesday night, we entered the closed session and were told that Robbie Perkins could not join us because he stood to benefit financially from the pending sale of the property, subject to the incentives approval. Jim Westmoreland, and only Jim Westmoreland, began to present the proposal. When Jim was asked who brought the proposal to the City, he hesitated and said, ‘a representative.’ When pressed he said, ‘Robbie Perkins.’ When asked why Dan Lynch or others were not presenting this proposal, you [Mitch] responded, ‘We thought we would let Jim run with this one.’

This is the way our city government operates.