Deregulator: Alive since '85!

Thoughts on a world that will increasingly on different sources of information. It's my first Carolina Journal column.

That's a four-word sentence I knew I'd never write. But it's going to happen as soon as Gov. Bev Perdue signs the law passed by the state House yesterday. On a purely selfish, personal level, I'll be happy to no longer come home from a restaurant or bar with smoke-infused clothing. But as a matter of principle, this is a sad day for property owners. Setting aside cigar bars, private clubs, and some hotel rooms, the state ban outlaws smoking at all places of employment in the state -- including home-based businesses and one-person operations (think small convenience stores or shoe repair shops). The law prevents state or local governments from banning smoking in private residences ... for now. (Strike that; you can't smoke in your home if you provide child-care services.) So that exemption won't last forever.

That's how Sam Hieb, Piedmont Triad blogger for JLF, describes the travel habits of Gov. Mike Easley during his two terms in office. And that's just part of what the News and Observer unveils in a two-part series on the former governor's outside-the-lines activities. I'm proud to say that Carolina Journal did a lot of the early (and follow-up) reporting on Easley's taxpayer-funded private travel and his shady real-estate deals. You can read it all, dating from March 2006, here . Back at the N&O, here's how reporter Andrew Curliss' series opens : While he was governor, Mike Easley turned a small group of influential North Carolina businessmen into his own private air service, an arrangement Easley kept secret. Starting in 2003, Easley took at least 25 flights on private jets, some in apparent violation of campaign laws and ethics rules, documents and interviews show. Some flights were free. The value of others exceeded campaign contribution limits. Taxpa