OK, Mike, you got it: Easley wants proscutor's opinion? Well, give it to him.

How sad that more time has to be wasted on the saga of former Gov. Mike Easley and his continuing campaign drama.

At a time when tax dollars are tight, now we have to use budget money for the investigation and hearings concerning the former governor's use of campaign donations.

And now Easley has called for the Wake prosecutor to take a look at the evidence, suggesting that the Board of Elections should take the case to another authority if its members still think the governor behaved inappropriately.

Cha-ching, there goes a little more money away from the state's schools and infrastructure.

But even though we can ill-afford another useless expenditure and most of us want to forget we ever heard the name "Easley," his idea of turning this case over to the Wake prosecutor isn't a bad one.

This way, the prosecutor can tell us what many of us suspect we already know -- Mike Easley might have pummeled personal ethics and skated along the shady, but it seems that proving he violated the state's campaign finance laws is going to be very, very tricky.

In other words, even if the case continues, it is possible that the former governor will skate away from this unscathed.

But Easley's suggestion is a good idea for another reason -- it will show us exactly what we need to insist on adding to state law to make sure there are no more loopholes, that no other candidate can manipulate our laws to pay his bills.

And then we can apply for some more stimulus money -- to build a special prison for all the politicians who think they are above the law.

Published in Editorials on October 30, 2009 10:28 AM