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Easley Hearings, Day 4

Day 3 at the State Board of Elections hearings regarding former Gov. Mike Easley's fundraising brought testimony from the man himself. Easley testified for nearly five hours.

The hearings are focused on campaign finances, so they didn't cover all the questions that have swirled around Easley, such as how his wife landed a high-paying gig at N.C. State or his involvement in a kind of sketchy land deal down east. They did, however, provide Easley a chance to rebut friend (I guess, former friend might be more accurate at this point) and campaign aid McQueen Campbell, who said Easley intentionally skirted campaign reporting requirements.

You can click here to read my humble effort to put the day into perspective. Also recommended: WUNC's Laura Leslie's blog entry and this photo gallery from the News & Observer.

Today should be the final day of the hearing. Former N.C. Democratic Party Scott Falmlen is the only witness due to be on the stand today, although there's an outside possibility other witnesses could be called. Today's testimony will likely focus on whether the Democratic Party and the Easley campaign too closely coordinated their fundraising efforts. You should expect to hear questions about a "special" and a "governor's" account managed by the party.

The board is also due to come to some conclusion in the case. The board could absolve the Easley committee of wrongdoing or fine them for errors and/or misconduct. Board members could also refer their information to federal and state prosecutors if they think the transgressions were serious enough.

As has been the case all week, a number of reporters will be using the Twitter microblogging service to cover the event. You can click on the window below to see those feeds from myself and my colleagues aggregated in nearly real time.