Governor in No Rush to Replace Sen. East

Gov. James G. Martin is expected to appoint U.S. Rep. James T. Broyhill (R-N.C.) to serve out the term of Sen. John P. East, but an aide to the governor said Monday that no announcement will be made until the shock of East’s suicide is past.

“Really, there is not even any speculation from here at all about a successor,” said Tim Pittman, Martin’s press secretary. “In the past, when things like this have come up, he’s been a very deliberate sort of governor.”

Pittman said he was certain that no word about a successor would come until after a memorial service today at Jarvis Memorial United Methodist Church in Greenville.

Political observers said that Broyhill was the likely choice for Martin, who spent 12 years in the House with Broyhill before he was elected governor in 1984. Broyhill won the GOP nomination to run for Senate in a hard-fought primary contest with David Funderburk, a former Campbell University professor whom East, who had planned to retire after one term, had endorsed.

An aide found East, 55, dead in the garage of his Greenville home early Sunday, police said. Dr. Lawrence Harris, who conducted the autopsy, said the senator died of carbon monoxide asphyxiation.