North Carolina State falling apart

[Caliga]

NC State fires former governor's wife
By MARTHA WAGGONER – 30 minutes ago

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The wife of former North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley has been fired from her $170,000-a-year position at N.C. State University.

UNC system president Erskine Bowles announced Mary Easley's termination Monday, hours after the school's chancellor resigned over the controversy.

Meanwhile, e-mails released by N.C. State indicate the former governor was involved in the school's hiring of his wife, who had refused to step down despite calls from top university officials.

Mary Easley ran a speakers series and an academic center dealing with law enforcement training. She began at the university as a teacher.

The e-mails were released as Chancellor James Oblinger became the third school official to leave a post in the flap over Mary Easley's job.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A top North Carolina education official has resigned amid questions about his role in the controversial hiring of a former first lady for a university post.

North Carolina State University Chancellor James Oblinger said in a statement released Monday by the university that he is stepping down because the scrutiny of a job given to former first lady Mary Easley is a distraction for the school. Easley was hired when her husband, Mike Easley, was governor.

Oblinger had asked Easley to resign her position, but she hasn't.

N.C. State has been under fire because of a severance package Oblinger gave to the official who hired Easley and because of the salary Easley received. The official, former provost Larry Nielsen, resigned last month.

So the President, Provost, and governor's wife with a fake job are all out within a month.

I wonder what Hansie thinks about all this.

[Hansmeister]

It was my old think tank that exposed all this. 

[Caliga]

Elaborate.

[Strix]

If North Carolina got rid of all the 'fake" jobs there would be very few people left working in the Capital. 

[Caliga]

If North Carolina got rid of all the 'fake" jobs there would be very few people left working in the Capital. 

Like New York? 

[saskganesh]

It's always good to trim fat, cut pork and eliminate waste. perhaps Hansmeister will be  next.

[Strix]

If North Carolina got rid of all the 'fake" jobs there would be very few people left working in the Capital. 

Like New York? 

I am not sure how bad New York is in comparison. 

In North Carolina I worked in the Capital and saw a lot of the waste and "fake" jobs in person. In our department headquarters for the whole State they'd set up in office in the back of the building each year so that those people with "fake" jobs could get their pictures taken. These people would arrive with a box containing some personal items (pictures, trophies, etc, and so on) and enter the "fake" office where they would set up their stuff like they worked there on a regular basis. A photographer would come in and take photos and than the person would gather their stuff and the next person would come in. Once everyone was finished, they'd head back to their normal lives, get their very real checks, and come back again next year. Meanwhile, all the stuff in the office would be sent back to storage.

It was a great job if you could get in Easley's (and Hunt before him) inner circle.

[Valmy]

Dang what is this?  North Carolina or Louisiana?

[alfred russel]

Yay for states rights? 

[Caliga]

I assume they are all "telecommuting".