#ncga: An ORGY of taxing & spending breaks out amid the ‘conservative revolution’
It seems the folks on Jones Street have kicked off one heck of an orgy — apparently in honor of the box office success of ’50 Shades of Grey.’
Let’s do some tallying, shall we? The Republican-controlled state Senate says we don’t have enough money to do all of this oh-so-necessary road construction. So, they think we need to pay more in gas taxes.
It gets, um, “better” over in the House chamber. HB 117 — the North Carolina Competes Act — gives the governor $45 million in corporate welfare to dangle in front of economic development prospects. (Again, taxes will be raised on ALL OF US because there is, allegedly, not enough money to fix the roads and bridges.)
The Republican-controlled House debated this DOG today. (The $45 million was left in, but language allowing more crowd-funding from private sources was stripped. Of course, the goodies for data centers AND airlines were left in.) Let’s not forget that THIS SAME GROUP voted down giving McCrory $20 million in August.
This crowd also seems real favorable toward Gov. McCrory’s idea to float a BILLION DOLLAR bond issue for road construction, as well. Voting on a bond issue means you are letting the government know (1) whether you want to take on more debt, or (2) you want to shell out more of your money to pay off said debt.
Also in the House — let’s not forget Skip Stam’s pet monster, HB 108, which hands out ONE MILLION DOLLARS for various and sundry local construction development projects across the state. Here’s the take from one thoroughly disgusted House insider:
“This is Stam trying to pay back some of his developer buddies. This same basic thing has been shot down the last couple of times he’s tried to bring it up. But this time — who knows? We seem to be really enjoying spending money this session.”
The Stam bill hands out the cash in the form of low-interest loans for 15 years at rates significantly lower than what most people can likely find at a private commercial bank. (In some cases, these “loans” have ZERO interest. What bank out there is offering ZERO interest loans ???)
Of course, the bill contains a statement absolving the state government of any responsibility / liability if a “loan” recipient fails to repay his “loan.”
While I’d agree this current GOP crop is more socially conservative than the Democrats they’ve replaced… I’ve never been convinced that limited and smaller government (and the principles behind why that’s desirable), has ever been something they’re all that interested in.
These guys are a mess – I always get the impression that a lot of them are just fuming mad behind closed doors, that they finally got to power and got all those blasted kids off their lawn for good, and now “the Internet” isnt allowing them to go as full-on slush-fund-crony like they want. 🙂
Of course, sadly, the NC voters arent really exactly holding their feet to the fire, either. *sigh*
When the democrats lost comtrol of the State after 140 years they had no one to blame but themselves, losing touch with voters ultimately caused their downfall. The question : how long will it take the GOP?
The Republicans always seem to find a way to “step on their own peckers” don’t they?
Can’t trod on what they don’t have.
They’re Eunuchrats.
North Carolina conservatives need to organize a PAC to encourage primaries to the GOP phonies who say one thing and do another. South Carolina’s state chapter of the Club for Growth might be a good model.
The ol’ Conservative Revolution. I think it is like the dog chasing the car………..and the car stops.
The Republicans had fire in their hearts when they were elected but when they got to Raleigh they realized the Democrats had the best cocktail parties. Drinking call brands and eating bacon wrapped chicken livers was too much for our guys and their heads were turned. Plus throw in having sex with the lobbyists.
Who was it who said, “Things never change.”