Score one for State!

NC State, that is.

We in North Carolina are blessed to have several Division I colleges who have enjoyed a great deal of success on the field and in the arena, for many years. One does not have to look far for a school to pull for any given Saturday afternoon, or winter evening when roundball season is underway.

When I was a kid, NC State was enjoying a great deal of success, and me and several of my friends became fans of players like Thompson, Towe, Burleson, and a coach named Sloan. Later when I was in high school, a crazy Italian coach with more ties to New York than Tobacco Road led a bunch of role players all the way to victory in the NCAA tournament, over a team from Houston that included two future NBA hall of famers. It was the stuff dreams are made of.

The last several years have been lean for State's big time sports programs, that is until today. The Chancellor, of all people, hit the equivalent of a three point shot when the chips were down, to score a victory for all of us!

In case you are not from North Carolina, and or do not follow politics like it was sport, let me fill you in: Several months ago the First Lady of North Carolina, Mary Easley, was awarded a $170,000 a year job a NC State. Her husband, the governor, was on his way out, having enjoyed his two terms as NC governor with such perks as tax payer paid trips to Italy and Europe, and, a personal real estate deal on the coast, in which he paid a price for a water front lot which was well below tax value, and well below what the people on either side of him paid for theirs. The posting, search, and hiring process for the job the First Lady filled was not handled exactly the way policy requires. The First Lady's job appeared to be a clear case of political pandering.

Fortunately for us the tax payers and other fans of doing the right thing, several newspapers have not let go of this story. Helping fuel their fire has been rumors, now confirmed, that the ex-governor is now under a Federal grand jury probe for multiple irregularities. My hunch is he will be ultimately convicted of tax evasion for the benefit of free travel, but that is a long way out.

Anyway, the newspapers are actually doing their job on this one, and last week two people, not one but two people close to this situation resigned from their taxpayer supported positions as a result of the Mary Easley hiring. The individual who hired Mary Easley resigned, and, the chairman of the NCSU Board of Trustees also resigned.


Those are two resignations that should proably have happened, but we are at least one resignation short: Mary Easley's. In a move that I and I'm sure others cheer today, the Chancellor of the university, James Oblinger, called for Mary Easley to resign, "in the best interest of the University". Way to go James, score one for State, and those of us who are paying the bills!

Look, I do not have a thing against Mary Easley. Maybe she was the best candidate for that job (she actually was the best candidate, since they didn't post it which made her the ONLY candidate!). Seriously, she should resign. If the position is actually necessary, and is going to be filled, let her post along with everyone else who might want a $170k a year state job with benefits.

If you think the Chancellor did the right thing today, do a favor and let him know with an email, or a call to his office. I'm sure the information to do that is on NC State's web site. When people in politics do the right thing, and the Chancellor's position at a major university is certainly a political position, we need to let them know we appreciate it.