Aide: Easley used private e-mail for state business

Former Gov. Mike Easley’s communications director while in office says the governor had a private e-mail account he used for state business. Sherri johnson made the comments in a deposition last week for a public records lawsuit filed by news outlets.

The lawsuit accuses Easley and his administration of violating public records law by deleting e-mails and directing other agency public information officers to remove messages to and from the governor’s office. Easley has said that didn’t occur. E-mails from a private account for state business would be considered public records.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reports the account used the address “Nick Danger” spelled backwards. The name was likely a reference to the fictional, satirical private eye. The backwards part was because Easley’s learning disability left him writing backwards, Johnson testified.

“The governor wrote backwards. I mean, when he wrote, he wrote backwards,” Johnson said, according to a transcript of the deposition.