Gov. Mike Easley called it "absolutely inexcusable." Several key House members said they were unaware. And the woman in charge apologized for "bringing shame" on the legislature.

Fallout was widespread Friday following the disclosure that dozens of high school students who served as state House pages in 2003 stayed at the home of a drug felon who is the son of Ann Lassiter, who was supervisor of the page program.

Easley issued a statement to assure parents that the governor's page program conducts background checks and visits homes where governor's pages stay during their stints in Raleigh.

But Easley did not respond to a question regarding the way House Speaker Jim Black dealt with the problem once he knew of it. Black allowed Lassiter to retire in April 2005 but then hired her back a month later to a new job he created: House historian.

Several legislators said they were not informed of the page problem until The News & Observer asked about it this week. They also had not been told of the job Black created for her. Her salary as House historian is $50,627.

Job won't get done

Lassiter said she has been working for months on a history of the state House but is unlikely to finish the work by the time her temporary job runs out at the end of the year. A separate report on the House speakers since 1963 will be done, she said.

"I'm flabbergasted," said Rep. Fred Steen, a Rowan County Republican seeking a leadership post for his party. "This is about the public trust. Someone who violates that trust should not be rewarded. They should be let go. Period. End of story."

Democrats kept in dark

Black's fellow Democrats were also upset by the revelations. While they said Black did the right thing by removing Lassiter from supervising pages and then instituting safeguards, some said he should not have offered her another job.

"I think most people would have decided that they were not going to reward her by giving her a position after this kind of mistake," said Rep. Dan Blue, a Raleigh Democrat.

House Majority Leader Joe Hackney of Orange County said the historian position "certainly raises questions that you are appropriately asking. But I don't know the answers."

Rep. Rick Glazier, a Fayetteville Democrat, said Black should have notified House members of the problem when it surfaced. House members sponsor pages, and in some cases they are family or the children of close friends.

Rep. Deborah Ross of Wake County said she was also in the dark about the new job.

"I didn't know anything," she said. "I wouldn't have done it like that. I wouldn't have -- and what else can you say?"

Rep. Bill Owens, an Elizabeth City Democrat and staunch backer of Black, said he saw no issue with Black's actions.

"That was the speaker's call," he said of the historian job. "That's not for me to judge."

More want speaker job

It's unclear how the page scandal will affect Black's chances to win an unprecedented fifth term as speaker. But the contest did turn up a notch Friday.

Rep. Drew Saunders, a Mecklenburg County Democrat and a longtime ally of Black, announced that he will challenge Black for the speakership. It's a departure from a wait-and-see posture he had been taking.

"I did not know about this, and I would say this was poorly handled -- no question," Saunders said, adding that the disclosures were not the reason for his announcement.

Blue, Hackney and Reps. Jim Crawford of Oxford, Hugh Holliman of Lexington, Mickey Michaux of Durham and Bill Faison of Orange County also have expressed an interest in the position.

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