Les Merritt - Notable Audits

Notable Audits

In October 2008, Merritt delivered an audit of various overseas trips Governor Mike Easley and his wife Mary had taken. Easley has defended the use of taxpayer dollars for the trips. Mary Easley took two trips out of the country, one to France and one to Russia and Estonia, for "cultural exchanges" at a cost of $109,000, including $27,000 for rental of a French Mercedes and almost $9,000 in hotel and Monet tour costs, months after the North Carolina Museum of Art's Monet exhibit had ended. A separate trip to Italy in April 2008 taken jointly by the Easleys resulted in more than $100,000 in charges to taxpayers, including $51,640 for a Mercedes and a chauffeur. Critics called the trips overly lavish in a time of economic downturn for the state.

Although the director of the North Carolina Museum of Art defended Mary Easley's trips as possibly helping the museum to receive loaned art items from The Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Raleigh News and Observer noted that no results of the trips were yet evident as of July 2008. As state auditor, Merritt released a report October 31, 2008 that found that 40% of the overseas charges were "unreasonable or unallowable." Mary Easley has hired state Senator Tony Rand as her lawyer in dealing with Merritt.

Merritt found that the $27,000, on-call chauffeured SUV often followed Mary Easley's tour bus through the countryside rather than serving as her transportation. In Russia, hundreds of dollars were charged to the state for both caviar and alcohol purchases. $45,000 in private funds from the NC Art Museum's foundation were used to reimburse the state following Merritt's findings.