Pearse Edwards, Gov. Beverly Perdue's newly hired senior communications and policy adviser, will be paid $136,000 a year.

Edwards is slated to start Sept. 14 but will not join the communications staff.

He "will be advising not only communications but policy and government relations," said Tim Crowley, Perdue's deputy communications director.

Edwards' job is a new position, but Crowley said the salary still fits within the budget for the governor's office, which was trimmed this year along with other agencies. The new hire and six-figure salary, however, come a week after the legislature approved a budget that raised $1 billion in new taxes and trimmed spending to at least minimize layoffs of teachers.

Edwards, a North Carolina native, currently serves as chief spokesman for Gov. Christine Gregoire, of Washington. Gregoire and Perdue are both Democrats.

Edwards, the new communications adviser, did not return a phone call to Dome Wednesday evening.

Gov. Beverly Perdue has hired a new adviser on communications.

Pearse Edwards, currently chief spokesman for Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire, is slated to join Perdue's staff in September as senior communications and policy adviser.

No one is leaving the staff, according to Perdue's Deputy Communications Director, Tim Crowley. He said there is money in Perdue's office budget to cover Edwards' salary, but the exact salary figure will not be available until tomorrow. Edwards makes $125,000 working for Gregoire, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer web site. Perdue's office budget was cut this year along with other agencies.

Perdue's current communications lineup includes, in addition to Crowley, Communications Director David Kochman and Press Secretary Chrissy Pearson.

Edwards is a North Carolina native and has served as Gregoire's communications and external relations director since January 2008, according to the P-I. He previously worked for Microsoft and former Washington Gov. Gary Locke, who is now U.S. Secretary of Commerce.

Gov. Beverly Perdue does not plan to attend the inauguration.

Perdue will be in Washington, D.C., on Sunday for an EMILY's List luncheon, but she does not currently plan to stick around for Tuesday's swearing-in ceremony for President-elect Barack Obama.

Spokesman Tim Crowley said he did not know what Perdue would do instead that day.

"I haven't seen the calendar," he said.

The National Governors Association invited its members to attend the inauguration.

Some are; some are not. Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire of Washington will attend, while embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is not.

The state's payroll has added nine people since Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue began picking people to run her transition to power.

One of the first of what Dome promises will be many, many public records requests to the Perdue administration was for a list of transition team members who are paid by the state and how much they are making.

For comparison's sake, the monthly salary figure is followed by an annual rate in parenthesis.

Christy Agner: transition aide, $4,650 ($55,800)

Meghan Brown: transition aide, $2,650 ($31,800)

Tim Crowley: Communications Director, Inauguration, $6,125 ($73,500)

Justin Guillory: transition aide, $2,900 ($34,800)

David Kochman: Communications Director, $9,600 ($115,200)

Jackie Kohler: human resources, $4,000 ($48,000)

Kennetha Smith: transition aide, $2,650 ($31,800)

Bradford Sneeden: transition aide, $2,500 ($30,000)

Maggie Stewart: transition aide, $2,500 ($30,000)

Beverly Perdue's media strategy is focusing for the moment on the Charlotte media market — the only market where an anti-Pat McCrory ad did not run.

The Republican gubernatorial nominee says that's a sign of possible coordination between his Democratic rival and the Alliance for North Carolina, the so-called "issue advocacy" group that is running a TV campaign attacking McCrory, David Ingram reports.

"Negative Bev is back in full force," McCrory spokeswoman Amy Auth said in an e-mail to Dome. "She has one very negative attack ad and another ad that is well-coordinated with two negative ads from a group funded by labor unions."

Perdue's campaign released its "Leader" ad Tuesday, telling reporters in a news release that it was adding Charlotte to its media buy. According to numbers gathered by the McCrory campaign, Perdue had placed a buy for $69,000 in the Charlotte market and $71,000 in the rest of the state combined.

In an interview, Perdue spokesman Tim Crowley said the campaign is on the air statewide with two ads, but he would not comment on spending from market to market.

"There's absolutely no coordination," Crowley said. "Bev Perdue's campaign had all intentions of having Bev's message up in every TV market in North Carolina, and that's what we're doing."

Beverly Perdue has a new spokesman.

The Democratic gubernatorial nominee announced today that she has hired Tim Crowley, who previously served a similar function for her at the lieutenant governor's office.

Crowley is a former journalist who hosted Legislative Week in Review on UNC-TV and was a statehouse reporter for the N.C. Public Radio Association.

"I look forward to helping Bev Perdue become the next governor of North Carolina," he said. "I've seen firsthand how hard she works on behalf of our state and know that her vision is right for North Carolina's working families."

Beverly Perdue says Julie White did not act alone.

A spokesman for the lieutenant governor said others working for state Treasurer Richard Moore were involved in a public records request. 

“It’s clear from the documents that others in the office were involved and that the problem was more widespread," said communications director Tim Crowley. "The Treasurer owes a deeper explanation than what has been given so far."

Earlier, Crowley said Moore's counter-claim to state Auditor Les Merritt was a "campaign stunt." 

Previously: Moore will discipline White.