What The Emails Show

RALEIGH – Based on what we know right now, the governor was at the very least less-than-forthcoming when responding to reporter questions and explaining the administration’s policies.

Yes, I could have written the preceding sentence about the revelations emerging from Wednesday’s release of court depositions from communications aides to former Gov. Mike Easley. At first reading, the testimony – taken in the course of a lawsuit filed by Carolina Journal, the Raleigh News & Observer, and other media outlets – reveals a pattern of evasion, not just of legitimate questions but also of the state public-records law.

But no, that’s not my topic today. I’m talking about the N&O’s investigative work this week on how the administration of Gov. Beverly Perdue handled one of the most explosive stories of the fall: appeals-court decisions that appeared to pave the way for the release of several murderers who were originally given life sentences in the North Carolina prison system.

I should say right off the bat that I haven’t made up my mind about the underlying issue of whether the original decisions were correct in concluding that decades-old policies capping life sentences and awarding time off for good behavior meant that the criminals in question must be set free. I’ve heard both sides argued passionately and persuasively. I don’t know. I hope a new hearing scheduled later this month before the N.C. Supreme Court will clarify matters. (Remember, the dispute involves prisoners sentenced decades ago, under different laws. Everyone recognizes that today’s policies would not allow these possible errors of sentencing.)

But whatever North Carolina’s elected governor and legislators think of the court rulings, they should respect the separation of powers, respect their constitutional duties, and respect the public’s right to honest and open government. Based on the reporting of the N&O’s Mandy Locke, working from emails and other public records, members of the Perdue administration and Attorney General Roy Cooper’s staff do not appear to have respected these principles.

Locke led with the key revelation:

In December, Department of Correction officials and a lawyer for the state’s attorney general said in court that prison officials never authorized the release of inmates sentenced to life in the 1970s and never promised them they were going home.

Dozens of communications between Oct. 9 and Oct. 22 show that Correction officials planned to release the inmates by month’s end and began prepping them for life outside. Staff officials talked with their families, assigned them parole officers to ease the transition and told the sex offenders to register with the sheriffs of their home counties.

This appears to be a clear case of state officials not being straight with the courts and the public. Then there’s this:

[The emails] show that the Department of Correction, with guidance from the Attorney General’s Office, was moving to release the inmates – until Oct. 22, when Gov. Bev Perdue stepped in.

She vowed to block their release and lambasted the courts for allowing them to be freed. Weekly news releases warned the public about the inmates and urged the courts to keep them behind bars. Perdue’s poll numbers climbed, even while she took criticism from Republican leaders that she acted too slowly.

Certainly the governor had every right to express her disagreement with a decision of the judicial branch of government. But she had no business “vowing to block their release” in defiance of the authority of the Supreme Court, regardless of whether her motivation was baldly political or a sincere concern for public safety.

North Carolinians deserve to be ruled by a government respecting the laws, not just a governor seeking applause.

Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation