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.
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Perdue's new high priced spin doctor
So that's at least $400,000 of the state's budget that is spent on spin control. She is certainly not leading by example as to how tight money is in Raleigh. And how convenient that this was announced after she signed the budget.
This either proves that there is still a lot of fat that can be cut from the state's budget and/or Beverly has been very ineffective in communicating with her children since becoming Governor. I wouldn't be surprised if she is less visible during her remaining 3 years and instead, depends on her high priced spin doctors to communicate her flip flops, etc. Afterall, every time she opens her own mouth, she inserts her foot.