Debbie Crane rejected an order to lie to a reporter in 2003.

According to a story by veteran N&O reporter Pat Stith today, he met with Crane and a top staffer at the state Department of Health and Human Services five years ago on a story.

A source had tipped Stith that the department had mistakenly sent Medicaid payments worth $200 million to hospitals that did not qualify and would now have to repay the money.

At first, the official, Gary Fuquay, said he did not have the information. Then, Crane took Stith aside and said the governor's office had ordered him to lie. She said they would not and told Fuquay to give Stith the information.

Crane's admission about the governor's office was off the record then. But she was fired Tuesday by Gov. Mike Easley, who, she said, sent word to DHHS Secretary Dempsey Benton that he had "lost confidence" in her. I now have Crane's permission to tell the story.

Fuquay, now retired, said whatever directions he had been given came from Crane.