news-record.com

Former Gov. Mike Easley displayed a very casual attitude about important matters in his testimony before the State Board of Elections last week.

"Well, to my knowledge I don't think I've ever seen a campaign report," Easley said in response to a question from Chairman Larry Leake.

That most likely would be different if he could be held personally responsible for the $100,000 fine levied by the board for failure to report the value of flights he took as a candidate traveling to political events. Instead, his campaign organization was ordered to pay.

The latest document filed by the Mike Easley Committee showed it had $164,000 in cash on hand on June 30, down from $427,000 on Jan. 1. If its assets have fallen below $100,000 by now, the full fine might never be paid.

Whether it is or isn't, Easley doesn't have to open his own wallet. But state law should require a candidate to pay such fines from personal funds when his or her campaign violates the law. Letting fat-cat, favor-seeking donors pay offers little incentive for the candidate to play by the rules.

Easley found it convenient to tell the board he just didn't know about such trivial details as campaign finance, or that he assumed his friend McQueen Campbell was billing the campaign for his air-taxi services, or that Easley wasn't aware any money might have been improperly funneled to his campaign through the N.C. Democratic Party. He was just too busy with weightier issues than to concern himself with how some $20 million was raised and spent in the course of two gubernatorial campaigns.

The board didn't let the former governor off the hook so easily, referring several matters to the district attorney for possible criminal investigation. It could have taken tougher direct action if state law allowed it to fine Easley personally. The legislature should open such an avenue for future cases.

It also should plug the campaign finance loophole that lets donors give unlimited contributions to a party, and the party to spend unlimited amounts on behalf of a candidate. What's the point of restricting how much a donor can give to a candidate? One way or another, a generous contributor can win a governor's gratitude and put himself in position to receive special treatment from a state agency, or appointment to a board or commission, or some other benefit in return.

Questions of whether Easley and supporters traded favors are the focus of other investigations. Whatever the outcome, it's clear that state laws must be tightened to make it plain that political corruption is unacceptable in North Carolina. Candidates should know that breaking the rules will subject them to criminal penalties and personal financial liability. They shouldn't get away with blaming someone else for campaign violations or paying fines out of funds contributed by the same big donors who were trying to buy favors in the first place. When a candidate says, "Don't ask me, I never looked at the reports," his willful ignorance ought to cost him plenty.