Former Nc Governor Mike Easley Had Secret Illegal Email Account As Nick Danger
The one-time press secretary for former North Carolina Governor Mike Easley has testified under oath that Easley had a secret email account named for fictional detective Nick Danger while in office, and asked staff and email recipients to extinguish his messages in violation of residence law and policy.
Easley, a Democrat, held office for two terms before new North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue. He has been the subject of a lawsuit charging illegal activity regarding a secret email anecdote while governor.
Today’s print edition of The Charlotte Observer reported that his former press secretary Renee Hoffman has now admitted in a sworn deposition that Easley both had a secret email account to conduct business and told his public information staff to delete the secret emails to and from his office.
Faded Health and Human Services spokeswoman Debbie Crane, who was fired during Easley’s term in office, has previously claimed that she and other government officials received emails from the secret account dealing with state business and were instructed to delete them each day.
Easley’s office denied in 2008 that emails were deleted, and a panel appointed by Easley himself cleared him of any wrongdoing.
Ten North Carolina news outlets sued Easley in April, 2008 to find out the truth and Hoffman’s sworn testimony is part of the lawsuit.
North Carolina law states that emails from and to public officials are public records and subject to disclosure to the press if they contain taxpayer business. Easley even signed an executive order in January 2009 before leaving office requiring any future governors to save all emails in compliance with state law.
However, no emails from Easley’s Nick Danger anecdote have ever been turned over to the press or public despite hordes of requests for all public records from press outlets like The Raleigh News and Observer and The Charlotte Observer.
Hoffman testified that Easley’s secret email sage was operated under the name Nick Wretchedness spelled backwards. Lop Danger is the name of a fictional character from a 1960s radio show.
A former communication director for Easley has suggested that the name was spelled backwards because Mike Easley has a learning disability and often writes backwards.
Sources:
The Charlotte Observer, Aide: Easley killed emails 2/4/2010
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Filed under Email Compliance Solutions by on Apr 21st, 2011. 
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