Former Gov. Mike Easley's attorney said Easley got what he wanted for in a referral to prosectors.

"I got what I asked for," said Thomas Hicks, an attorney for Easley
Hicks surprised the Board of Elections on Thursday by asking them to refer the case to the Wake County District Attorney.

Board chairman Larry Leake mentioned Easley by name as someone who may have committed criminal acts.

Hicks told reporters that investigators should focus on Easley friend McQueen Campbell, who testified that Easley asked him to falsify invoices to pay for repairs to Easley's Raleigh home. Easley said the allegation is false.

Board chairman Larry Leake said the board had received evidence that suggests Easley or others may have committed a crime.

"This board has received evidence which, if believed, would tend to indicate
that criminal violations of our election laws and campaign finance laws have occurred on the part of Mike Easley and perhaps others," Leake said.

Easley supporter and friend McQueen Campbell testified that Easley told him to file a false invoice for campaign flights to pay for repairs done to Easley's Raleigh home.

Easley said the allegation is false.
Campbell has essentially admitted to a crime. The question is whether Easley was involved.
"I think McQueen Campbell is where the emphasis should be placed," Hicks said.

Former Gov. Mike Easley cooly answered five hours of questions Wednesday and asserted that key points of McQueen Campbell's testimony are not true.

Because of a secret reason, Ruffin Poole does not have to testify at the State Board of Elections hearings. News organizations, including The News & Observer, have challenged a judge's decision.

Easley found a renter for his Raleigh home: his campaign. Easley received $14,000 in rent payments from his campaign account.

Columnist Rob Christensen notes that Easley took a gamble with his testimony and he was playing for his reputation.

The big moment of Easley's testimony came when Board Chairman Larry Leake confronted Easley with Campbell's story.

The State Board of Elections adjourned its hearing for the day at 4 p.m. and intends to call only one more witness — former N.C. Democratic Party chairman Scott Falmlen.

After former Gov. Mike Easley testified, two witnesses testified that they had little or no involvement or recollection of anything relevant to the hearing. It wouldn't have mattered if they did, because Easley's testimony was the story of the day. Some highlights:

NOT EVER: Easley directly contradicted the story told by McQueen Campbell — that Easley wanted Campbell to pay for repairs to his home with falsified invoices for flights. Both men can't be telling the truth. It's helpful to Campbell, then, that a campaign volunteer recalls Easley urging her to pay the invoice. Easley says he thought the invoice was for future flights.

FRUGAL GUY: Easley didn't like to spend money, so it caught Board chairman Larry Leake as a little curious that Easley never asked how much all those repairs to his house were costing him.

I MADE YOU: Easley began his testimony by reminding the board that he was the one who put a bunch of them on the board in the first place.

COORDINATION: The Democratic Party's defense is going to boil down to an argument that everyone has misunderstood the concept of a coordinated campaign. Yes, Easley was helping raise money for the party, but the party got to say what to do with it, according to the argument. Donors have testified they believed their money would be funneled to Easley.

Throughout the week, campaign officials have described former Gov. Mike Easley as a reluctant fundraiser who was, well in a word, tight.

Easley didn't care to spend money and he told the State Board of Elections that he hated to see money wasted. But that testimony wasn't helpful to Easley.

Easley testified that he was only briefly involved in repairs to his rental home in Raleigh and that he trusted McQueen Campbell to handle the repairs and get paid for them.

Easley said he never asked Campbell how much the repairs were costing him.
Board chairman Larry Leake had a problem with that idea.

"The inference during the testimony is that you are a little on the tight side," Leake said.

"I am with the state's money. I don't want to see anything wasted. I didn't want to see any campaign money wasted, I didn't want to see any campaign time wasted," Easley said.

"You never inquired about how much those repairs were costing you?" Leake asked.

"I just figured it would all come out in the wash," Easley said.

Gov. Mike Easley said he believed McQueen Campbell was paid for all the flights he provided.

Easley said Campbell told him that he was reimbursed, and that Campbell should have known that he needed to submit invoices to avoid problems with the state's campaign finance reporting laws.

"He's not an imbecile," Easley said., "I'm sure he knows he has to bill the campaign...that's something he would have known."

State Board of Elections chairman Larry Leake asked Easley why he didn't check again with Campbell after news reports, particularly in The News & Observer began to highlight unpaid flights.
Easley said he was busy trying to finish his tenure as governor.

"I was trying to get things done, tie up loose ends," he said. "I wasn't out there trying to second-guess somebody I trusted who told me they had been reimbursed for everything they had done for the campaign."

Gov. Mike Easley said he never asked McQueen Campbell to use campaign money to pay for repairs to his house.

Easley's testimony contradicts the account given by Campbell, an Easley supporter and family friend, who said Easley told Campbell to make up a bill for flights on Campbell's private plane. Campbell coordinated repairs to Easley's Raleigh home.

"Why would McQueen Campbell want to contend that those invoices were for work on your house?" State Board of Elections Chairman Larry Leake asked.

"I don't know. But I didn't tell him to send them. I didn't indicate to send them," Easley said. "It never, ever happened."

Easley said that he told Campbell to bill his campaign for future flights. But the invoice Campbell sent was for previous flights already taken. That invoice, which included no supporting documents, got the attention of Rebecca McGhee, a campaign volunteer who handled payments for the campaign.

McGhee wanted supporting documents. Easley called her in August 2005 and told her to pay the invoice.
Easley said he believed the invoice was for future flights and that he was busy corralling votes to pass a state lottery.

"I'm trying to get a lottery passed which passed the end of August...And I'm working on that last vote. If I don't get that passed, I don't have pre-K, I don't have class size reduction and I don't have any of those things we need," Easley said. "I get a call from Mr. Campbell that says 'they don't want to pay.'

"I call Rebecca. I said, 'I know what this is. Pay it. Just pay it.' My state of mind is, 'Can't yall work this out,'" he said.

The News & Observer is featuring extensive coverage of this week's State Board of Elections hearings. Here's what was in Tuesday's paper.

McQueen Campbell testifies that Easley used his campaign to secrety pay for home repairs.

Developers Lanny Wilson and Nick Garrett said they gave big checks to the Democratic Party that they believed were headed straight for Easley's campaign accounts.

Ruffin Poole, a close Easley aide and lawyer successfully had his subpoena quashed. The board is appealing.

Columnist Rob Christensen says that Easley had once built a reputation as a fearless crusader against crime and corruption. That image is now forever tarnished, he says.

Also check out a photo gallery by Shawn Rocco and Chris Seward and a video clip of Campbell's testimony by Travis Long.

The first day of the State Board of Elections hearing included plenty of big moments.

Here are four highlights of today's testimony.

HOUSE WORK: Gov. Mike Easley had problems with the renters in his Raleigh home. He asked his friend and political supporter, McQueen Campbell to take care of it. Twice Campbell fixed up the house at a cost of $11,000 or more. Campbell testified that when he asked Easley for money, he understood the governor wanted him to file a false invoice for a flight.

WASN'T ME: Easley's defense may be geared around putting blame on others. Easley's lawyer took pains to point out that Easley never told Campbell to falsify invoices and that Easley's campaign didn't pay for flights because Campbell never submitted invoices for them.

WISH LIST: Fundraiser Lanny Wilson briefed Easley on a host of helpful facts to get him ready for his meeting with Gary Allen, a Charlotte fundraiser. Easley needed to know that Allen wanted to keep his seat on the Wildlife Commission and was trying to get a permit for a boat dock. The meeting went well. Allen gave $50,000 to the N.C. Democratic Party.

PARTY MAN: Easley fundraisers said they were told by Easley's campaign that big checks given to the party would go to the Easley campaign. The message was delivered Wilson said, by Easley attorney and aide Ruffin Poole.

Former Gov. Mike Easley never specifically asked McQueen Campbell to file false bills for flights.

Under cross-examination from Easley's lawyer, Thomas Hicks, Campbell testified that he "understood" that Easley wanted him to file the invoices to reimburse himself for repairs done to Easley's Raleigh home.

"He never told you to file a false invoice to his committee?" Hicks asked. "No sir, but I understood what he meant."

"You understood what he meant," Hicks repeated.

The exchange may provide a clue to how Easley intends to defend himself.

Earlier in his questioning, Hicks pointed out that Campbell never issued an invoice to the Easley campaign. Easley may try to argue that the violations entirely the fault of Campbell.

McQueen Campbell takes the oath as he begins his testimony Monday in the State Board of Elections hearing on former Gov. Mike Easley.