Editor’s Note: Carolina Journal today introduces a two-part series that investigates the scandal that landed former House Speaker Jim Black and State Rep. Michael Decker in federal prisons. Today’s story details the involvement by the Easley administration.

RALEIGH — Gov. Mike Easley, Cultural Resources Secretary Libba Evans, or their designees apparently violated state law in 2005 when they honored former House Speaker Jim Black’s request to provide a job for former Rep. Michael Decker.

Black had no authority as a legislator to create a job in the executive branch. He needed Easley to do it.

Black started a five-year federal prison term in August after he pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges. Decker starts a four-year federal prison term in September after he pleaded guilty to accepting a bribe from Black. Court documents show that Black and Decker’s bribery scheme took place before Easley officials delivered the job to Decker.

According to state law, before a department establishes a new position or changes the funding of an existing position, the agency must submit the proposed action to the director of the budget for approval. The director must review the proposed action to ensure that it is within the amount appropriated to the agency. The governor is the director of the budget, but in practice he delegates some of the responsibility.

The Department of Cultural Resources set up a new community development specialist position and put Decker on the payroll for $48,000 per year on Feb. 16, 2005. The department submitted the request for the new position to Easley’s budget office Feb. 25, but it was not approved until March 10. The approval came one week after the News & Observer of Raleigh first drew attention to the hiring of Decker.

Decker’s new job was to promote tourism at cultural and historic sites. Evans told the N&O that she was not involved in creating the job or the process of filling it but that she did approve it because a former legislator was involved.

Decker told Carolina Journal in an exclusive interview that on the day Black was elected House co-speaker in January 2003, Black told Easley that Decker, who played a pivotal role in helping Black, might eventually need a government job.

Decker’s switch from Republican Party to the Democratic Party in 2002 upset the balance of power that led to a unique power sharing agreement, with Black and Republican Rep. Richard Morgan sharing the House Speaker position for the 2003-2004 legislative session.

Decker said he was in Black’s office when Black asked Easley about a future job. “The day the co-speaker arrangement passed in 2003, Black used his cell phone to call Gov. Easley. I only heard Black’s end of the conversation. Black said something like he may need a job when this is over,” Decker said.

Then after Black handed him the phone, Decker spoke directly to Easley. Decker said Easley did not discuss a job with him, but basically said, “Thank you for supporting Jim Black.”

Decker said he told Black he had not planned to run for another legislative term, but later he changed his mind. In 2004, Decker switched his party registration back to Republican, ran again, but he lost the primary.

Decker was out of work when his legislative term ended in January 2005 so he went to Black and asked him for a recommendation for a state job that had already been posted. He said the job was not part of the bribery agreement he had with Black. “It was just Black trying to be a nice guy. I wasn’t going in asking him to create this job,” he said.

Decker said at the time that he had applied for a Cultural Resources job opening in Goldsboro. Decker said he learned that someone else would likely fill that position, so Black’s deputy chief of staff, Allen Rogers, took Decker’s resume, altered it, and wrote a job description for a new job involving historic sites and economic development.

“He took my resume and created the job description so I would be the only one qualified,” Decker said. The job fell under the Archives and History Division in Asheville. Decker said he worked hard at the job, which lasted about one year.

Documents obtained from the Cultural Resources department show that Assistant State Budget Officer David. C. Brown approved the community development specialist position.

When asked who directed him to approve the new position — his boss State Budget Officer David McCoy or someone in the governor’s office — Brown told CJ, “It could have been either one.” Brown said he would check his notes, discuss it with McCoy, and ask McCoy to call CJ to discuss the situation. McCoy did not call and did not respond to multiple requests to answer questions.

Easley’s communications office director, Sherri Johnson, did not respond to questions about the hiring of Decker. Her subordinate, Deputy Press Secretary Seth Effron, responded to a CJ e-mail asking for confirmation on the details of the Decker job. “Any assumptions you might conjure about the inaccuracy of your tales based upon any response or lack thereof from this office would be misguided and unjustified,” Effron’s email said.

Paying for the job

In 2004, Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, Black, and Morgan secretly entered into an agreement to set aside discretionary funds to spend as they wish. Basnight would control $10 million, while Morgan and Black each would control $5 million. Most of the money was parked in three executive branch agencies and doled out on request.

Black designated $45,000 of his share to pay for Decker’s job. Since those funds were nonrecurring, or onetime money, Easley officials should have been concerned about the viability of the Decker job.

The discretionary fund system worked only because department heads who reported directly to Easley participated in the scheme. Easley has never made a public comment about the arrangement. A review by Attorney General Roy Cooper concluded that legislative leaders did not break the law but that the process was not proper.

“It is clear that the manner in which state money was directed is problematic for its secrecy, its lack of accountability, and its end run around the legislative process,” Cooper said in a letter accompanying his office’s advisory opinion of the spending.

Cooper’s review came after an investigation by State Auditor Les Merritt that concluded that Morgan, Black, and Basnight had full control of the funds that they had parked within the Department of Cultural Resources, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Office of State Budget and Management.

Don Carrington is executive editor of Carolina Journal.

Tomorrow: In an exclusive interview with Carolina Journal’s Don Carrington, Decker explains his relationship with Black and reflects on his actions and thoughts after his downfall.