#ncga: *Sniff, sniff.* I smell PORK.
The drivebys are trumpeting a great agreement on the budget between the two chambers on Jones Street. This agreement is loaded with the same kind of pork-flavored crap we’ve grown to expect from Raleigh. And FIFTY GOP House members signed on to the conferee letter — supporting the budget agreement — without even reading it.
I asked one of the signatories WHY he endorsed something that he hadn’t even read. His response? “That’s the way it’s always been done.”
Wait. Didn’t you tell us in 2010 and 2012 that things were going to be different in the big city? 
Wash your hands, take a seat at the table, and tuck your napkin in at your neckline. Here comes SOME of the pork from the budget “deal”:
- Career and Tech Ed School, Onslow County ($5,000,000)
- Jones County public schools construction ($3,000,000 on top of $11 million from last year)
- Recreation grants-in-aid – Watauga, Mecklenburg, Cumberland, Harnett ($1,350,000)
- Healing Waters Flyfishing, Inc. ($50,000)
- Sidewalk Projects, Matthews & Mint Hill ($1,000,000)
- New Hanover County ($1,000,000)
- (non-profit) Triangle Literacy Council ($690,000)
- Gaston Community College Center for Advanced Manufacturing ($3,400,000)
- Broadband Internet, Cumberland & Stokes counties ($500,000)
- Food deserts (state subsidized refrigerators) $250,000
- Outdoor Heritage Council ($100,000)
- Regional Wastewater Funding ($6,000,000)
- Association of Agricultural Fairs ($300,000)
- Food Commercials ($100,000)
- Mitchell Community College Site Prep Part I ($200,000)
- Boys & Girls Clubs ($125,000)
- High Point Market ($600,000 on top of existing money)
- Downtown Winston-Salem Museum ($1,000,000)
- South Davidson Resource Center (no-bid grant to non-profit) $100,000
- Eastern 4H Centers ($300,000)
- Horse stables for SE Agricultural Center, Robeson County ($165,000)
- Tyron Palace ($100,000)
THIS is jus
t the tip of the iceberg. (Wasn’t ConnectNC supposed to handle all of the school-related construction needs?)
We get told there is NOT ENOUGH money for road construction, teacher pay raises, school facilities improvements, and all kinds of other important things. Yet, there IS money for stuff like THIS.
Folks, we are getting played like one of Charlie Daniels’s fiddles.
Who are the 50 non-readers?
Wow! Queen Anne’s Revenge…Provides nonrecurring funds for archaeological work for the Queen Anne’s Revenge conservation and excavation project. The revised net appropriation for
the project in FY 2016-17 is $300,000.
It would be a great service to know which fifty voted WITHOUT READING. I’ll be looking for Haymaker to fill in the blanks
Agreed. They should be outed for all to see, and they either need to change their ways or earn a primary next time.
$28,103,159 NR Compensation Bonus Reserve – Executive Branch
Provides funding for one-time merit-based bonuses for Executive Branch State employees. The State Human Resources Commission shall develop policies for the allocation of merit-based bonuses for State agency employees. Merit-based bonuses provided by employing agencies shall not be considered compensation for retirement purposes. Corresponding special provisions provide additional details on these compensation adjustments.
So much of this pork is just rancid. Has the GOP caucus hired Marc Basnight or Jim Black as a budget consultant? It sure smells like it. GOP voters sure expected better than this!
Vote Republican!
Just kidding. Things are just as bad under Democrats, although we may disagree over what’s justified & what’s not. Clearly a lot if not most is demonstrably “pork” – goodies for connected pols, which the rest of us shouldn’t have to pay for…
Hey, guess what. Budget writer Chuck McGrady is touting the $58 million he got just for WNC projects. Whatta guy.
bit.ly/299pCXy