Feb 04 2010
Oh Look! Another Easley Scandal!
Former Gov. Mike Easley kept a private e-mail account that he used for state business.
Easley’s former communications director Sherri Johnson testified in a deposition that Easley kept the secret account and used it for state business. Johnson was being deposed as part of a public records lawsuit filed by The N&O, The John Locke Foundation and several other news media outlets over access to e-mail messages.
The news organizations sued after some public information officers in state government said Easley’s administration routinely deleted e-mail communication and advised other state public information officers to do the same. The state’s public records law says that e-mail messages are public records no different than other state documents.
Is anyone even surprised by this anymore?
Oh wait, this next part is kinda surprising-
The address: “Nick Danger” spelled backwards. The name was likely a reference to the fictional, satirical private eye.
::holding back snickers::
Oh wait, there’s more…
Delete all those references to former Gov. Mike Easley being weird, says former Democratic strategist Gary Pearce.
We now know that his nocturnal work habits, secrecy and hermit-like lack of public profile stem from his true vocation: espionage, as indicated by his email nom de plume, Nick Danger.
“One mystery remains. It’s the Firesign Theater connection. Back in the day on campus, listening to Firesign Theater was a favorite pastime of those who, as they used to say, “experimented” with drugs. And not the kind of experiments that went on in chem lab. I’m just saying.”
Ha ha. Ahhh, that Mike Easley. If he wasn’t such a God-awful governor he’d be a most hilarious fellow. Ditto for Mrs. Danger:
Every private eye needs a dame and Gov. Nick Danger had “sewgood.”
Johnson testified in a deposition taken in a public records lawsuit against Easley’s administration that First lady Mary Easley also had a private e-mail account. Johnson, who said she didn’t know Mary Easley well, did not recall using the address — which was something like “sewgood” — for state business.
Mike Easley
This really made me laugh Press 7. Nice job.
It also made me think.
Can’t say there’s too much difference in Governors from Louisiana to Alaska these days, or anywhere in-between. Once upon a time, being elected Governor was a fast track to the Presidency, even from a tiny little state like Arkansas.
Now, I wouldn’t trust Bev Perdue or Mark Sanford or the like to walk my dog.
[Reply]