Rep. Stephen Easley, a freshman legislator who represented a state House district that included southeastern Santa Fe County, is dead, legislative sources have confirmed. He was 60.

Details of his death are not immediately known. Easley, who was vice chairman of a subcommittee on behavioral health, had been active in recent weeks trying to find answers in the controversy over the suspension of Medicaid funds for 14 mental health providers under investigation for possible fraud.

Roundhouse Roundup, Steve Terrell’s blog

My political perspective is the complete opposite of Easely’s, but I wish his family my sincerest condolences at this time.