Easley Trips

Gov. Mike Easley on Tuesday defended high overseas travel bills racked up on taxpayer-funded trips he and his wife took in the past two years, saying such excursions are necessary if the state hopes to land big art exhibits or recruit new business. In April, Easley and his wife, Mary, participated in a business-recruiting and tourism-promoting trip to Italy that cost more than $170,000. Last year, Mary Easley went to France with two others at a cost of more than $53,000. And in May, she went to Estonia and Russia with five others at a cost of more than $56,000.

During a press conference, Easley said high bills are unavoidable. "It costs what it costs," Easley said, adding that the dollar is "very, very weak now." Easley said the trips were designed to bring jobs and tourists to the state. "That is why we were over there, in order to get those euros coming to the United States for tourism," Easley said. Easley also said he didn't plan the trips. The trip to Italy was organized by the N.C. Department of Commerce. The trips to France and Russia and Estonia were run by the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources. "It's not something that either her or I have anything to say about or do with," said Easley, who appoints the head of both the commerce and culture agencies.

Mary Easley's trip to Russia and Estonia was to build relationships with museum officials that could one day score a blockbuster exhibit, like the 2006 and 2007 Monet exhibit at the N.C. Museum of Art that brought more than $20 million to the state. If the trip to Russia results in an exhibit from The Hermitage in St. Petersburg, it would likely bring similar numbers, Easley said. Easley said the trip to Italy has led to four or five potential new or expanded businesses in the state. Museum officials acknowledge a major loan from a Russian exhibit has not yet been realized, although plans are in the works to show Estonian artists at a state museum. (Benjamin Niolet, THE NEWS & OBSERVER, 7/02/08).