Mike Easley
Michael Francis Easley (born March 23, 1950) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 72nd governor of North Carolina from 2001 to 2009. He is the first[1][2] governor of North Carolina to have been convicted of a felony.[3] The conviction was later expunged by the Chief Judge of the Superior Court of Wake County. [4] A member of the Democratic Party, Easley was North Carolina's second Catholic governor.[5]
Mike Easley
Early life and education[edit]
Mike Easley was born on March 23, 1950, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, to Henry Alexander Easley and Huldah Marie Easley. He grew up on his family's 60-acre farm in Nash County and was one of seven children in a large Irish Catholic family.[6] Easley attended a local Catholic school before transferring and later graduating from Rocky Mount Senior High School in 1968.[7][6] Easley attended Belmont Abbey College for two years before transferring to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he earned a degree with honors in political science in 1972.[6] While at UNC he was a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. He then attended the North Carolina Central University School of Law, earning his J.D. degree, with honors, in 1976.[8] While a law student, Easley served as managing editor of the school's Law Review.[6]
Family[edit]
Easley is married to Mary Easley (née Pipines), who worked in the Provost's Office at North Carolina State University until June 8, 2009. She is a former law professor at North Carolina Central University and also worked for ten years as a prosecutor. The two have one son, Michael F. Easley Jr.
Political positions[edit]
During the 2004 Democratic primaries, he supported North Carolina Senator John Edwards.
In the 2008 campaigns, Easley initially endorsed the presidential candidacy of Senator Hillary Clinton on April 28, 2008. After Senator Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination, Easley endorsed him against Republican nominee John McCain.[27]
Controversies and campaign finance lawsuit[edit]
Easley was faced with controversies in 2006 stemming from campaign and overseas travel.[22][28][29] Easley's wife, Mary Easley, took two trips out of the country, one to France and one to Russia and Estonia, for cultural exchanges. Republican critics called the trips overly lavish in a time of economic downturn for the state.[29] However, the director of the North Carolina Museum of Art defended Mary Easley's trips as having helped the museum receive loaned art items from The Hermitage in St. Petersburg. Mrs. Easley's efforts also resulted in the North Carolina Museum of Art's obtaining a collection of Auguste Rodin's work valued at $35 million,[30] and in the construction of a new Greek art wing for the museum.[31]
More controversy surfaced months after Easley left office in January 2009. According to Raleigh's News & Observer, the Federal Bureau of Investigation ordered the North Carolina Highway Patrol to produce all records involving private air travel for Easley and his family. The newspaper reported that Easley may have violated campaign laws.[32]
The North Carolina State Board of Elections opened hearings into Easley's conduct on October 26, 2009.[33]
Following a two-year federal and state investigation into campaign finance irregularities, Easley entered an Alford plea to a single felony violation of state campaign finance law, accepting responsibility for his campaign's failure to report that he took a $1,600 helicopter ride with a supporter in October 2006. While Easley did not admit guilt, he "acknowledged there was sufficient evidence to convict him of a crime."[34] He pled guilty by entering an Alford plea to a single state campaign finance violation. He paid a $1,000 "community penalty."[35]
He became the first
[1]
[2]
governor of North Carolina to have been convicted of a felony.[36]
Federal officials ended their investigation because of the plea.[34]
Following the conviction, Easley's law license was suspended but formally restored on appeal in January 2013.[1]
On January 4, 2013, the Senior Resident Superior Court Judge for Wake County granted Easley a Certificate of relief from disabilities.[37] The conviction was later expunged by the Chief Judge of the Superior Court of Wake County. [38]
Current activities[edit]
Easley is a practicing attorney in North Carolina. He represents businesses and corporations and has been involved in several significant civil trials. Politically, in 2018, he joined former North Carolina Governors in successfully opposing state constitutional amendments that would have weakened the powers of the governor.[39] He also joined in the filing of amicus briefs to oppose gerrymandered congressional and legislative districts in North Carolina.[40]
Personal life[edit]
Easley is a fan of NASCAR. He was involved in a crash at Lowe's Motor Speedway near Concord, North Carolina, in 2003. He was behind the wheel of Jimmie Johnson's #48 Lowe's Chevrolet Monte Carlo, when it hit a retaining wall going 120 mph. He was not seriously injured, since he was wearing a head-and-neck restraint at the time.[41][42] He is also a fan of the cartoon King of the Hill, and while governor, instructed his pollster to separate the state's voters into those who watch the show and those who don't.[43] Easley reasoned that his constituents ideologies were similar to characters on the show, and would base the explanation of his issues on whether or not the King of the Hill characters would understand them or not.[44]
Easley is also an avid amateur woodworker, and appeared on an episode of The Woodwright's Shop where he made a walnut table.[45]