North Carolina elections officials have penalized former Gov. Mike Easley's campaign $100,000 for unreported airplane flights and asked prosecutors to investigate whether laws were broken.
The State Board of Elections decision Friday came after hearings into the conduct of the two-term Democrat and the state Democratic Party.
The party was ordered to forfeit $9,000 solicited by the Easley campaign. The Easley campaign was told to give up $60,000 for flights costs and to reimburse the elections board $40,000 for its investigation.
A political ally of Easley testified this week he flew the governor dozens of times for campaign-related events. Easley denied allegations he told the ally to file flight invoices to get money for home repairs.
Easley Campaign Penalized
Posted: Friday, October 30 2009, 11:44 AM CDT
