Michael Francis Easley (23 March 1950-) was the Democratic Governor of North Carolina from 6 January 2001 to 10 January 2009, succeeding Jim Hunt and preceding Bev Perdue.
Biography[]
Michael Francis Easley was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina in 1950, and he came from a large Irish Catholic family. He obtained his juris doctor in 1976 and served as an assistant district attorney from 1976 to 1982, as a district attorney from 1982 to 1992, as Attorney General from 1993 to 2001, and as Governor from 2001 to 2009, narrowly winning thanks to the endorsement of actor Andy Griffith. He created the "More at Four" kindergarten program for at-risk children, created the "Learn and Earn" initiative to enable high school students to receive college credits from free online classes, and controversially raised sales taxes multiple times to fund his new programs, as the state also suffered from hurricanes, floods, and fiscal problems. He was later convicted of state campaign finance law violations, and he became a corporate attorney after leaving office.