News & Observer reporter J. Andrew Curliss and the team responsible for the 2009 reporting on former Gov. Mike Easley on Friday were named one of six finalists for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting to be announced at Harvard University in March.
The judges cited the May 2009 series "Executive Privilege: The Perks of Power" and follow-up stories. The judges said the results of the paper's yearlong reporting on Easley "exposed pay-to-play politics at its worst." The series showed how Easley accepted numerous unreported gifts from supporters in return for political influence. The N&O's reporting exposed election law violations, triggered state and federal investigations, and led to resignations and firings.
On Thursday, a close Easley aide, Ruffin Poole, appeared in federal court after a grand jury handed down a 51-count indictment on corruption charges.
Shortly after the series was published, N.C. State University Chancellor James L. Oblinger, Provost Larry Nielsen and the chairman of the university's board of trustees, McQueen Campbell, resigned under scrutiny of the circumstances surrounding the university's hiring of the governor's wife, Mary Easley, and a substantial raise she subsequently received.
Mary Easley was fired from the position, in which she was running a speakers series and creating a public safety center for the university.
The finalists for the 2010 Goldsmith reporting prize, who will each receive $10,000, include reporters who produced investigative projects for KHOU-TV in Houston, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and ProPublica.
The prize is administered by the Joan Shorenstein Center for the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.
"The inspiring thing about this year's awards is that the competition was so fierce, demonstrating that there are still journalists out there doing critically important work in these hard times," said Alex S. Jones, director of the Shorenstein Center.
Curliss, 36, has covered state and local politics at The N&O for 12 years. His previous investigative reports at the paper include reporting on the state lottery and on former House Speaker Jim Black.
A graduate of the University of Toledo, he joined the paper in 1997. He won The Associated Press' Senator Sam Open Government Award in 2001 for reporting on closed meetings at Durham City Hall. In 2006, he and N&O reporter Dan Kane won the N.C. Press Association's Public Service Award for reporting on Black. Curliss lives in Apex with his wife and daughter.
N&O staff member Jay Price, who covers NCSU for the paper, assisted in the coverage of Easley in 2009. The "Executive Privilege" team included Steve Riley, senior editor for investigations; Tim Lee, graphics artist; Teresa Kriegsman, design director; and Steve Merelman, front page editor.
