News

Easley lacks flashy style, but not results

January 27th, 2006

Approach differs from predecessor’s, yet many of his proposals pass

Charlotte Observer
January, 27 2006

Raleigh - State lawmakers have grumbled for five years about how Gov. Mike Easley is distant or unengaged, but then they turned and voted for his education programs, his lottery and his tax increase.

For all the criticisms of his style, Easley has proven at least as successful at getting his proposals through the General Assembly as his predecessor, Jim Hunt, who routinely backslapped and cajoled legislators.

“He’s either real good or real lucky,” N.C. Sen. Jim Forrester of Gaston County, a Senate Republican leader, said of Easley.

Easley heads into his last three years in office aiming to improve on gains he already made: constitutionally restricting lottery money to education, building his early-college high schools to reduce the dropout rate and increasing university funding.

Next week, Easley is expected to meet with representatives of the National Education Association, a major teachers organization, to hear a report on drawing teachers to struggling schools. The report is expected to highlight some steps already taken in North Carolina.

During his first five years, Democrats grumbled about Easley’s seeming eccentricities, that he skipped party events and fundraisers or asked them to make tough votes with no promise of political payback. Republicans charged that other than raising taxes, he acted like an absentee executive.

Easley asked the General Assembly for controversial changes. He proposed increasing a variety of taxes in 2001, his first year in office, most notably the sales tax and the income tax on the state’s highest wage earners.

He launched a pre-kindergarten program and hired more teachers to reduce class sizes in kindergarten through third grade.

And he asked for a lottery, the first governor to do so. He touted it in both his 2000 and 2004 campaigns and relentlessly lobbied legislators.

In each case, the General Assembly said yes, though the lottery took five years. It passed in September.

“I’m really kind of surprised, in a way,” said Forrester, a physician, “because, you know, Governor Hunt was such a one-on-one person. He’d come by the legislature and meet with the senators…. Governor Easley sends his emissary over there. I’m surprised he’s been as effective as he has been.”

Easley said he talks to legislators a lot more than anyone sees. Instead of trudging over to the Legislative Building, he invites lawmakers to the mansion or talks with them on the phone. He tells funny stories, entertains them, with the goal of making them feel relaxed.

“Make them feel comfortable saying no. Make them feel comfortable disagreeing,” Easley said in a recent interview. “The worst thing in the world is to have somebody who’s opposed to your education proposal or your economic development agenda and they won’t tell you, or you don’t find out why. You can’t fix the problem.”

Both Democrats and Republicans attribute Easley’s success, in part, to the broad appeal and smaller size of many requests. His new ventures are aimed at improving education, a goal shared by both parties.

Hunt, whose second term spanned the high-tech boom years of the ’90s, spent hundreds of millions of dollars on his signature “Smart Start” early education program and raising teacher pay. He overhauled the state personnel system and created a new juvenile justice agency.

“Hunt got enacted public policies changing how the state educated kids, did its business, hired people,” said John Hood, president of the conservative John Locke Foundation. “His programs involved expenditures in the billions. Mike Easley has gotten legislative enactment of things that are modest by comparison.”

John McArthur, a former top aide, differentiated Easley’s chummy, lower-key style from Hunt’s in-the-spotlight cheerleading.

“Hunt was at the bank door with a bazooka and Easley was at the back door picking pockets,” McArthur said. “They both got the money, but Hunt created an explosion.”

Easley’s thrift wasn’t optional. A recession and dip in state revenues prevented him from proposing programs with price tags like those of his predecessor, legislators say.

“When I’m preaching fiscal discipline to the rest of the state,” Easley said, “I have to practice it myself, and that means, in any new program, every dollar has to count and has to have a sustainable source of revenue.”

Sen. Robert Pittenger, a Mecklenburg Republican, argued that Easley’s success lay primarily in spending money instead of saving it. Pittenger faulted Easley for not following more recommendations from an efficiency commission, created by Easley during his first year in office, that proposed cost-cutting and restructuring moves.

“If you are to define leadership and success in achieving what really needed to be done to restructure our government to make it adaptable for the next decade,” Pittenger said, “he was a total failure.”

Dan Gerlach, Easley’s top economic adviser, shot back that Easley has kept spending growth of state funds at the lowest levels of the past 50 years.

“The work force is better educated,” Gerlach said, “jobs are more plentiful, and the state is better prepared to meet global challenges than when he took office.”

Easley and his supporters emphasize that the slumping economy is proof of exactly how much he has accomplished. Despite budget constraints, he has shielded education funding from significant cuts and, particularly in the past two years, has trumpeted a host of businesses moving into or expanding in North Carolina.

“(Hunt and Easley) have been focused on many of the same things: schools, jobs and children,” said Ed Turlington, who was chief of staff to Hunt. “The times were different while they were governor. … I believe Easley has been very successful in those three areas in tough times.”

Gov. Mike Easley

Age 55

Party Democratic

Elected 2000; re-elected 2004

Education B.A. political science from UNC Chapel Hill, 1972; law degree from N.C. Central Law School, 1975.

Family Wife, Mary; son, Michael Jr.

Easley Vs. Hunt

Some comparisons between the two governors:

Easley

Years 2001 to present

Signature Programs Pre-K, class size reduction

Revenue Growth in First YearFamily 0.43 percent