Former N.C. Gov. Easley pleads guilty to campaign charges

RALEIGH — Mike Easley, North Carolina's governor from 2001 to 2009, became a convicted felon today when he entered a plea to violating state campaign finance laws.

He will not serve time but will pay a $1,000 fine.

Superior Court Judge Osmond Smith endorsed the deal shortly after noon during a hearing at the Wake County courthouse. It ends nearly two years of state and federal probes that had surrounded Easley, a Democrat who served two terms as governor and two terms as attorney general.

Easley, 60, entered an Alford plea of guilty to violating campaign finance laws, a felony. An Alford plea means that Easley is not admitting guilt, but he acknowledges there was sufficient evidence to convict him of a crime.

"Our campaigns over the years have made financial errors," Easley said. "We've tried to correct them when we could. However, as a candidate, I have to take responsibility for what the campaign does. The buck has to stop somewhere and it stops with me."

The plea is specifically tied to a helicopter flight Easley took in October 2006 with longtime ally McQueen Campbell, the former chairman of the board of trustees at N.C. State University. It is valued at $1,600.

At the time of the flight, Easley's campaign did not disclose it as required on campaign disclosure forms. Then, last year, following a report in The News & Observer about a vehicle that Easley's son had been driving for years, the Easley campaign amended its 2006 report and said that the SUV had been a campaign vehicle at that time.

But the helicopter flight again was not disclosed, which made it either an in-kind campaign contribution or an unreported campaign expense, according to prosecutor William Kenerly of Salisbury.

To read the complete article, visit www.newsobserver.com.

This story was originally published November 23, 2010 at 7:25 AM with the headline "Former N.C. Gov. Easley pleads guilty to campaign charges."