Trip Response

Republican leaders on Tuesday sharply criticized taxpayer-funded trips taken by Gov. Mike Easley and his wife, Mary. Overall, the three cultural exchange and business-recruitment trips to Europe cost more than $280,000. Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger brought the trips up in a news conference. "If you're in private business and you waste money in that way, you're probably going to be let go. Obviously you can't fire the first lady. At this point, it's a little late in the game to talk about firing the governor," said Berger, R-Rockingham. "But certainly that kind of judgment has got to be something that calls into question a whole range of decisions that have been made over the years." And GOP chairwoman Linda Daves said the Easleys are again "lavishly spending taxpayer money on vacations overseas." Easley, a Democrat, defended the expense of the trips Tuesday at a news conference, saying they can reap exponentially larger monetary rewards for the state through new jobs a! nd major art exhibits. (Benjamin Niolet, THE NEWS & OBSERVER, 7/02/08; Gary D. Robertson, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, 7/01/08).