DA on Easley case says he's "pursuing new avenues"

The state prosecutor who is handling a case of possible wrongdoing by former Gov. Mike Easley and others says he is "pursuing new avenues" in the matter.

Rowan County District Attorney Bill Kenerly said in an interview today that no decisions will be made in the state case until after July 4th.

"I'm absolutely certain of that," he said.

Separately, federal prosecutors have convened a grand jury that has been probing questions that surround Easley.

State elections officials last year found that Easley violated state elections law following a five-day hearing. They referred the case to a state prosecutor for review because they said evidence from the hearing suggested other state laws were broken.

Kenerly, a Republican who will leave office at the end of this year, recently started an in-depth review of the case.

Kenerly said his review includes a report that elections officials provided to his office and other information that arose out of the state elections review.

"And I'm pursuing new avenues," he said, declining to elaborate.

Easley, a Democrat who was governor from 2001 to 2009, has said he is comfortable with officials reviewing his years of service. Easley denied wrongdoing during the elections hearing. Easley has hired a criminal defense lawyer.

Included in the referral from the state hearing was testimony that Easley avoided paying for about $11,000 in repairs on his home in Raleigh by having his campaign pay for the house work — payments that he did not accurately report on campaign finance disclosure forms. Easley then also accepted a $5,000 insurance check on the repairs, which were paid for by friend McQueen Campbell.

After talking to Easley, according to testimony at the hearing, Campbell billed the Easley campaign for the home repairs. Campbell was reimbursed from campaign donations for his out-of-pocket costs to fix the home and clean it up and received some additional, unspecified profit.

— J. Andrew Curliss