Another morning, another front page embarrassment for Oblinger, NC State

It’s another morning in the Carolinas, so that can only mean that there is another development in the “NC State-Mary Easley case.”

Today’s front page story – Feds probe Easley hiring – is particularly damning because it represents an inquiry directly into ‘official’ dealings between the University.

Federal prosecutors Tuesday ordered the chancellor and provost at N.C. State University to appear before a grand jury this week, making it clear that investigators have opened a wide-ranging criminal probe of dealings surrounding former Gov. Mike Easley.

The FBI served subpoenas to Chancellor James Oblinger on Tuesday afternoon as he left the main administration building, Holladay Hall, to appear at an event across campus.

“This university will do everything to cooperate fully,” Oblinger said.

Investigators want to talk with Oblinger and Provost Larry Nielsen about the hiring, promotion and salary of former first lady Mary Easley, according to the court documents.

Sheesh. How embarrassing can it get? Our Chancellor was publicly served a federal subpoena at the administrative buildings of our University. Just allow that to sink in for a minute.

You really can’t read this entry with reading this one where we provide our commentary and the community engages in a fantastic conversation.

Additionally, this editorial was printed in the Charlotte Observer this morning (so, I presume it was also in the News & Observer). It gives a nice, quick rundown while leaving out the part where Easley’s pay went from about $80,000 a year to $170,000 a year during her employment.

This whole deal, like others swirling around it, smells bad. The governor’s wife lands a high-paying job to run a campus speaker series and public safety center. The interim provost who gives her the job suddenly becomes permanent provost despite not being a candidate for the job. And the school’s board chairman is a buddy of then-Gov. Mike Easley’s who does favors for the governor and gets help from the Easley administration around the time Mrs. Easley is landing the job.

The provost, Larry Nielsen, and the chairman, McQueen Campbell, have resigned. Mary Easley must do the same – now. Her continued presence can only hurt N.C. State.

That won’t end this mess, though. Questions remain for Oblinger. He and Nielsen have been summoned to testify before a federal grand jury. Campbell says he told Oblinger about Mary Easley’s interest in changing jobs, Bowles says, but Oblinger claims not to remember anything about it. And it’s becoming apparent that Bowles didn’t ask enough questions when Mrs. Easley was hired, when he fully supported the arrangement.

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61 Responses to Another morning, another front page embarrassment for Oblinger, NC State

  1. BJD95 05/20/2009 at 9:50 AM #

    His dumb and/or lying ass needs to retire while he’s still eligible for his pension.

    Another proud week for NC State. When you say your prayers tonight, remember to thank God for Tom O’Brien.

  2. jbpackfan 05/20/2009 at 9:58 AM #

    Seriously- it’s time to clean house in the Administration. What a laughing stock. I cannot believe how dysfunctional this university really is.

  3. primacyone 05/20/2009 at 9:59 AM #

    That’s just sad.

  4. packof81 05/20/2009 at 10:18 AM #

    Oblinger, are you still here? Get out most ricky-tick and take Fowler with you!

    What class! What integrity! This asshat is willing to drag down the university with him. The very least he could have done would have been to quietly step aside and accept responsibility, sparing the university at least some negative publicity. He probably won’t be able to squirm out of this anyway. Irksome Bowels will see to it that Oblinger takes the fall.

    I imagine Oblinger has a pucker factor now if he didn’t before.

  5. thekind 05/20/2009 at 10:23 AM #

    The real winner in this deal is Fowl-up. The finger gets pointed conveniently at others, while he sips his wine quietly at the lake.

    Fowl-up…you are still the worst AD in the country.

  6. drhammondo 05/20/2009 at 10:25 AM #

    I think that one of the most frustrating aspects of this situation is that we actually have some OUTSTANDING leaders at our University in many colleges and departments. But none of them have been given a chance to make their marks on the University as a whole, they’ve been consistently marginalized and pigeon-holed in their one or two areas.

    If only someone had done that to Oblinger before they promoted him to Chancellor out of nowhere!

  7. StateFans 05/20/2009 at 10:25 AM #

    ^ No disagreements from us. In the short term, Fooler can hide in the smoke. But, in the long term, if REAL new blood is brought in he may find that the shift in winds works against him.

  8. Paramarine 05/20/2009 at 10:26 AM #

    How sad is is that the blog now has a tag for “FBI”?

  9. Classof89 05/20/2009 at 11:02 AM #

    I think Oblinger is toast…his ability to lead has been seriouslly undermined by this (if he ever had any such ability to start with…)

  10. Bubba 05/20/2009 at 11:05 AM #

    IMO. nothing more will come of this with the exception of Easley finally stepping down.

  11. packalum44 05/20/2009 at 11:07 AM #

    Sorry but I’m still trying to figure out what the hell is going on with this. So pretty much what happened is Governor Easley was wined and dined by Campbell who in turn got Campbell on the BOD who in turn landed Mary Easley a job she WAS highly qualified for? Sounds like everyday business to me.

    If this is the worst Oblinger and NC State has done I can sleep well at night. The real issue isn’t about NC State…this is about Governor Easley. For years he has enjoyed certain perks as governor that are borderline ethical. Its been cumulative as he and his wife have been reprimanded by the media for years (notably Mary traveling to Europe on taxpayer’s dime). Having friends who work on the Hill and hearing their stories, this is a joke. Know how many Senators get wined and dined on a weekly basis and ride in private jets and take trips to Europe for special assignments and sit in suites at the Verizon Center and Nationals Stadium?

    IMO, these are fringe benefits. Many politicians take HUGE pay cuts to work as public servants and these perks mitigate the pay cut to a large degree. If you want qualified and competent politicians, either double or triple the pay scale to compete with corporate America or accept a responsible level of these perks.

  12. GAWolf 05/20/2009 at 11:08 AM #

    “The University will do everything to cooperate fully.”

    At some point individuals who work for an entity and act outside of the permitted scope of their authority no longer represent the entity. I would prefer Oblinger say: “I’ll cooperate fully.” That is assuming, of course, the federal subpoena was served on him to testify personally.

  13. howlie 05/20/2009 at 11:09 AM #

    Just wondering–WHEN Chancellor ‘changes’ are made… is it a vote from the Board of Trustees; or, is it a ‘directive’ from the Board of Directors of the 16-campus UNC University System?

    Contact for change to appropriate parties needs to NOT BE THE ISSUE. Rather, there needs to be ‘lead time’ to suggest prospect names for consideration of who might be considered as the next chancellor… and to whom and through what process they should be submitted.
    We are at the point in time when the ‘Peter Principle’ cannot be thrown at us yet again. Fool us 17 times; shame on them. Fool us 48, shame on us.

    INFO on these things would be appreciated.

  14. GAWolf 05/20/2009 at 11:20 AM #

    Packalum44: I’m torn here as well. I see both sides to this and recognize your point as being a very valid one. I don’t like that Oblinger threw Mary Easley under the bus so to speak. If she’s qualified for the job, let her keep the job. It’s the giant pay raise that is most suspicious. And then of course, the actions of those surrounding the event brings more attention to it. I think Oblinger’s reaction to throw Easley to the wolves reeks of an attempt at self-cleansing. And that’s where you have the biggest discrepancy between professors acting as politicians and those well-versed in dealing with media probes and political scandal. Oblinger really made a huge mistake, in my opinion, in 1) making statements about the issue drawing attention to himself and what he calls “The University”, and 2) subsequently making the knee-jerk reaction of calling for her resignation publicly when it became openly clear that Oblinger knew more than he previously and publicly announced. His mouth was better left shut on the issue until everything else came to light. And in that you have the evidence that he is likely unfit to be our Chancellor.

    The similarities between the styles of Fowler and Oblinger are frighteningly obvious.

  15. wufpup76 05/20/2009 at 11:58 AM #

    Just blame it all on Valvano and the basketball program.

  16. GoldenChain 05/20/2009 at 12:06 PM #

    I’ve been reading all these stories out of The Daily Tarhole, Southern Edition, as well.
    I agree that the whole thing is about Sleazly using political influence to get what he wants, free transportation , cheap prime property, parlay a high paying job for his wife.
    The biggest mistake all along was for well meaning but misguided Wolfpackers (Campbell, Oblinger, Nielsen) somehow thinking that dealing with holes (Bowles, Sleazly) would lead somewhere ther than perdition!

    But after all, these people were state employees. The 2 term governor and the head of the BoG wants you to do them a favor, what are you gonna do?

    And I keep hearing how wonderfully qualified Ms. Sleazly is however she is a Wake educated attorney and I don’t know how that qualifies one for a staff job at a major university, one, BTW, which was not opened for public posting so competitive candidates could apply.

  17. StateFans 05/20/2009 at 12:09 PM #

    ^ Don’t worry. It is probably happening somewhere.

  18. BJD95 05/20/2009 at 12:20 PM #

    I’m told that Fowler and Oblinger are very similar in that they react poorly under pressure.

  19. StateFans 05/20/2009 at 12:22 PM #

    How sad is is that the blog now has a tag for “FBI”?

    SFN: You need to come on board as an author for the site. I swear to you that I had that observation this morning and was going to save it for a comment later in the day. Couldn’t agree more.

  20. old13 05/20/2009 at 12:28 PM #

    I’m told that Fowler and Oblinger are very similar in that they react poorly under pressure.

    It appears to me that neither one of them even acts when under pressure! They’re frozen by fear.

  21. WolftownVA81 05/20/2009 at 12:31 PM #

    Packalum44, while these may be standard business practices, they are illegal for Federal Government and most State Government employees. As far as doling out jobs, patronage has been illegal for some time. I have no idea whether Ms. Easly is qualified or not; however, due to how she was hired and given a huge pay raise does raise many red flags. For Obie, I recommend he not tell the Grand Jury “I can’t remember”. It didn’t work for the watergate dudes and it won’t work for him either. I hope he resigns very quickly and I certainly hope the University is not stuck with a huge legal bill since these guys acted outside the law (as it appears now).

  22. WolftownVA81 05/20/2009 at 12:35 PM #

    Of all the schools in the UNC system, why did this have to happen to us? Can’t we get some leaders who can protect the good name of NCSU and insulate us from all the political crap in Raleigh? Hopefully this incident will refocus the school and bring a more balance view of what is important to the entire University community. Note to the eggheads, it’s not only athletics that can bring down a school. We will be a long time living this down.

  23. wufpup76 05/20/2009 at 12:35 PM #

    “For Obie, I recommend he not tell the Grand Jury “I can’t remember”.”

    ^But if he uses the term “misremember” he’ll be all set. Clemens HOF!

  24. packalum44 05/20/2009 at 12:39 PM #

    What surprises me more than anything is that the local media and other Tarheels (Bowles) are going for the jugular regarding Mike Easley. Just under the surface this looks like nothing more than a good ole’ fashioned family feud. Mike must have pissed in too many bowls of cornflakes.

    While we’re all on this self righteous crusade starting with John Edwards, then the Easley’s and now NC State…why stop there? I think the next stop should be Franklin St. How did Mike’s son get accepted into that school so easily? Certainly an admissions department wouldn’t favor the son of a Governor would they? In fact, all admission departments should get rid of the arcane and unfair practice of Letters of Recommendations altogether. Just because you network and know people who are powerful and respected doesn’t mean you should be favored!

    Also, NC State should give back Centennial Campus to the state of NC. I mean, we did try to hire the man who gave it to us, Jim Hunt, after his governorship. I’m sure when he handed it over in the 80s he gave us a wink and the secret Skulls Fraternity handshake. Land grant university…what in the hell does that even mean? Shame on NC State. Better yet we’ll just leave the punishment to us. We are a sadistic bunch and can defile ourselves more effectively than others.

  25. pman27 05/20/2009 at 12:46 PM #

    Should have hired Hansbrough’s mom instead . . .

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