Libba Evans, head of the state cultural agency, has been on unpaid leave since May 1 — which means she wasn't on the clock when she participated in a trip to Russia and Estonia.

Evans was a member of a five-person cultural exchange trip in May to Russia and Estonia that cost taxpayers more than $56,000. The delegation also included first lady Mary Easley.

Evans, the secretary of the state Department of Cultural Resources, initiated the leave to take care of "personal business," said Staci Meyer, general counsel and chief deputy for the department.

"She initiated it and we discussed it and decided that was the appropriate thing to do as she dealt with some personal business," Meyer said.

Evans had already committed to participating in the trip and she was not paid as a state employee during the trip, Meyer said.

Meyer said she could not comment on the nature of Evans' personal business.

Evans salary when she went on leave is $117,142. The figure would increase upon her return because the legislature approved a pay raise.

Meyer has been running the department. She now makes $119,000.

Laura Leslie puts Mary Easley's trip into perspective.

The WUNC reporter writes on her blog Isaac Hunter's Tavern that the $109,000 spent by the first lady on trips to Estonia, Russia and France is a drop in the state budget's bucket.

But it would be worth a lot as arts spending.

Just for context's sake, here’s a few of the House’s proposed cuts to operational program budgets in the Dept of Cultural Resources - the agency that paid the $109K bill:

Basic Grants Program – loses $42K
Grassroots Arts Program- loses $29K
NC Symphony Society – loses $11K
Lost Colony – loses $2500
NC Shakespeare Festival – loses $2500
Quiz Bowl – loses $3000
CSS Neuse – loses $1500
Maritime Museum – loses $1500
Vagabond School of Drama – loses $465
Charlotte Hawkins Brown Memorial – loses $500

Leslie notes that adds up to $94,000 worth of cuts to groups that employ North Carolina artists and cultural experts. Though some may get funding from other sources, she notes most will end up with a net loss from the cuts.

The N&O and nine other North Carolina news organizations sued Gov. Mike Easley Monday.

The lawsuit contends that Easley's administration systematically deleted, destroyed and concealed e-mail messages sent or received by the Governor's office in violation of public records law.

It also accuses the state Department of Cultural Resources of establishing an illegal policy permitting government workers to delete e-mail messages they decide are of "short-term value."

In addition, it accuses Easley himself of violating the law last month by discarding a handwritten note from Carmen Hooker Odom about her views of the failure of mental health reform.

Based on Easley's other public statements, the lawsuit contends that he has probably discarded additional public records.

"They are taking this step reluctantly after not getting any indication from Governor Easley that he is willing to admit that the law has been violated, or to fix the violations," said the lead attorney in the lawsuit, Hugh Stevens. (N&O) 

Why might Gov. Mike Easley's office have been skittish about e-mail?

Over the weekend, notes were released that seem to indicate that Easley's staff were concerned about public records requests — including from blogs — related to e-mails to and from the governor's office and public information officers.

Dome checked our records, and it turns out that we made just such a request around that time for e-mails related to a history book on North Carolina governors that the press office helped edit.

Here's the sequence of events in 2007:

March 20: Jack Betts writes on "This Old State" blog that a chapter on Easley is "spread a little thick."

April 6: Dome requests any e-mails between the governor's office and the Department of Cultural Resources related to the book.

April 16: Under the Dome blog launches.

May 29: A public information officer writes about "more & more public records requests" for e-mails — including blogs — in notes during meeting with governor's press office.

June 16: Article published about governor's office's editing of the book.

The governor's press office was particularly upset about that story, calling Dome and Dome's direct editor to complain before it even ran.

Hampton Dellinger says that government e-mail should not be deleted automatically.

At a press conference outside the legislature today, the candidate for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor said that an independent agency staffed by reporters and others should set the policy on the retention of public records.

E-mails have been a source of controversy lately, with Gov. Mike Easley taking heat for the fact that employees of the executive branch have deleted e-mails.

As a legal aide to Easley, Dellinger helped write the policy on the retention of those records. He said he consulted with "career officials" with the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources and Attorney General Roy Cooper's office when giving advice.

"I don't recall the specifics of what Cultural Resources and the attorney general's office presented to the governor's office and other agencies," he said. "As (a candidate for) lieutenant governor, my position is that records ought to be permanent and they ought to be public."

He said he did not know whether the deleted e-mails were a result of a poorly written policy or a poor implentation of the policy.

"I think the policy should have reflected — and I think it did reflect — a presumption towards permanence and having items be open," he said.

Gov. Mike Easley and his lawyer defended his public records policy.

Debbie Crane, a former spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Human Services, said that Easley's press office instructed her to delete all e-mails from them.

At a press conference Tuesday, Easley said his legal staff had reviewed his administration's policies on the retention of public records.

"What we're doing is consistent with policy," he said.

On Nov. 12, 2001, Easley and Department of Cultural Resources Secretary Lisbeth C. Evans signed a records retention policy that affirms e-mails are public records but says they may be deleted when their "reference or administrative value" ends.

"E-mail of ephemeral or rapidly diminishing value may be erased or destroyed when the user has determined that its reference value has ended," the policy states. (N&O)

Richard Moore called for a more open budget process.

The Democratic gubernatorial candidate proposed opening all budget meetings at the legislature and requiring at least one week to review the budget before a final vote.

He also called for giving line-item veto power on the budget to the governor with a ballot referendum.

"Significant state budget decisions are often made behind closed doors by a select group of legislators," he said in a statement. "The next governor can help end pork barrel spending with sunshine and accountability."

The state treasurer said that the two measures would help reduce pork, citing two special provisions authored by Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue.

The first, in 1996, was for a $21.3 million reserve fund for repairs and renovations. The second was a 1997 provision for $8 million for the Secretary of Cultural Resources.