Easley eyes his future after lottery victory

Gary D. Robertson

Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2005 | 9:48 a.m.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Since taking office in 2001, Gov. Mike Easley has pulled government out of a $1.6 billion shortfall while at the same time persuading lawmakers to pay for class-size reductions and his More at Four preschool program.

Now he's just grabbed the biggest prize of his administration: a lottery.

His win came after more than 20 years of debate over state-run gambling, with Easley managing to convince just enough lawmakers that a North Carolina lottery was better than losing out on money residents spent playing lotteries in surrounding states. His success surprised other politicians who doubted his low-key lobbying would get the job done.

Easley laughed when asked recently what he intended to do before leaving office in January 2009.

"Last week they were writing, 'What has he done for the last four years?' " Easley quipped.

Now, with high-profile projects accomplished, the question becomes what the lame-duck governor will do next with three years left in his second and final term. Easley promises to continue his focus on job creation and education, but some political observers wonder if he needs to aim for another big success to keep the administration chugging.

"I don't know how you run any organization without vision and goals," said Bill Cobey, a Republican primary candidate for governor in 2004 who worked as a cabinet secretary during the second term of Gov. Jim Martin. "There's no vision to speak of and no goals to speak of to motivate your administration and to motivate the people."

With Easley's laid-back approach to governing -- a contrast to predecessors Martin and Jim Hunt -- Easley may stick to familiar themes such as fiscal discipline, education and economic development rather than unveil replacements.

"I think the rest of the term will be like the first of the term," said Mac McCorkle, Easley's political adviser. The lottery won't solve all of the state's education problems, McCorkle added, so "people may be surprised at how serious-minded ... he remains on education."

Easley pushed the lottery as one way to improve financing for public education, and his signing of the bill on Aug. 31 to make the bill law may be the high-water mark of the administration.

He had made an education lottery a pillar of his first gubernatorial campaign in 2000. It was a winning issue -- polls showed that upward of 70 percent of the public wanted a lottery.

"It's been pretty much the lottery, except for More at Four," said Thad Beyle, a political science professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The lottery finally passed the General Assembly this year in part when two Republican senators were absent from the final vote, allowing Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue to cast the tiebreaker.

"One vote changes things," Easley said.

One challenge for Easley in his remaining years will be to ensure that lottery revenue is spent for education as the governor and lawmakers intended. The lottery law sets aside half of the net proceeds for class-size reductions and More at Four, with the rest going to school construction and college scholarships.

Easley and legislative leaders say they'll push next year for a constitutional amendment that would require that lottery profits not supplant education money from other sources.

Easley said he'll also keep focusing on initiatives to create a better-trained workforce.

"Our goals continue to be building knowledge, talent and skill, creativity and innovation in this state," he said. "We're going to continue to build on those growth industries. In order to do that we've got to continue to have the best-educated workforce in the world."

One component of that may be high school initiatives he has already championed, including the New Schools Project designed to create smaller, technology-themed and health science high schools. And the Learn and Earn program will allow high school students to attend college classes before they graduate.

"My commitment is still going to be to improving our schools at every opportunity," Easley said.

Easley also must urge the Legislature to expand the state's response to a landmark school-financing lawsuit in which the Supreme Court ruled the state isn't doing enough to help at-risk students receive a "sound, basic education"

But despite the goals Easley sets, the state's economy ultimately may mean more to his legacy than what happens in classrooms. People will remember him fondly if he can lure enough industries to the state with high-paying jobs, one professor says.

"What the people live and breathe and feel is the economy," said Hunter Bacot, the polling director at Elon University, who cited a recent Easley announcement that 200 new General Electric jobs are coming to Wilmington.

"He will rest his legacy on the lottery and More at Four," he said. "But he will be famous ... or infamous, on how he does on his economic development."

Easley's two predecessors found causes to focus on in their final years in office.

Hunt, a Democrat, championed raising teacher salaries to the national average and expanding his Smart Start early childhood program before leaving office in 2001. Martin unsuccessfully lobbied to build a multistate hazardous waste incinerator and landfill. Both of them also spearheaded drives for major bond packages.

But they also were challenged by the unexpected. Martin, a Republican, dealt with the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo in 1989 while Hunt led the recovery after Hurricane Floyd 10 years later.

They also attempted to manage budget shortfalls. Easley inherited a budget crisis from Hunt that took more than three years to overcome.

That fiscal challenge also may have helped persuade lawmakers to bring a lottery to the state and put Easley in the history books as the governor who got the game passed. And it has made Easley resolute about wanting to leave a legacy of sound financial management.

McCorkle said: "He is not going to leave office and bequeath what he received."