Jim Woodward | newsobserver.com projects

Martin, others want break for Black

Submitted by bniolet on June 22, 2009 - 8:13am.

Former Republican Gov. Jim Martin plans to be among those asking federal officials to move former Democratic House Speaker Jim Black to a prison closer to home or to commute his sentence.

Black's attorney says about 150 people — including interim N.C. State University Chancellor Jim Woodward and several legislators — already have written on Black's behalf. Black has been locked up since July 2007 in Lewisburg, Pa., the prison that once held union boss Jimmy Hoffa and crime boss John Gotti. Black is scheduled for release in 2012.

Black, 74, was sentenced for accepting thousands of dollars in illegal payments while speaker of the N.C. House.

Friends say not only has he become increasingly infirm, but his wife, Betty, has been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — "Lou Gehrig's Disease."

Not everybody wants Black's term cut.

"Jim Black wants our compassion today, but all we ever wanted from him was honest government," says Joe Sinsheimer, a Raleigh consultant whose research helped lead to Black's downfall. (Char-O)

Easley will not receive severance

Submitted by ryanteaguebeckwith on June 12, 2009 - 8:54am.

Tags: Jim Woodward | Mary Easley | N.C. State University | Under the Dome

Mary Easley won't be getting a severance.

The former first lady will not be getting a buyout or a severance for leaving her job at N.C. State University Wednesday.

Interim Chancellor Jim Woodward said during a news conference Thursday that he had decided she would not receive any additional pay.

Easley has not left her office, but the university will allow her a reasonable time to pack u her things, he said.

University policy seems open to interpretation as to how much notice Easley was entitled. Severance is based on total years of service, with a minimum of 30 days and a maximum of 90 days. (N&O)

Oblinger resigns over provost scandal

Submitted by ryanteaguebeckwith on June 8, 2009 - 9:35am.

NCSU Chancellor James L. Oblinger resigned this morning after days of shifting explanations about a deal he cut for former provost Larry Nielsen when Nielsen stepped down last month.

Both men are at the heart over a controversy about how former state first lady Mary Easley gained a job at the university in 2005, then an 88-percent pay hike last year to a $170,000 salary, Andy Curliss and Jay Price report.

Last month McQueen Campbell, a friend of the Easleys who Gov. Mike Easley had appointed to the NCSU board of trustees, admitted to UNC system President Erskine Bowles that he had told Oblinger that Easley was looking for work.

Nielsen, then interim provost, then hired Easley.

After Erskine called for him to resign, Campbell did. Nielsen quickly followed, citing the stress of media scrutiny of the deal.

Then came the changing stories about Nielsen's benefit package, as reported over the weekend in the N&O.

Update: Bowles says that former UNC-Charlotte Chancellor Jim Woodward will serve as interim chancellor.