#ncga: Hey, here’s a thought. GIVE IT BACK.

It must have been quite a spectacle on Jones Street yesterday listening to all those honorables lecturing the Democrat administration about ethics. ( *Because we ALL KNOW that pay-to-play, sleazy backroom deals, and shakedowns for cash in exchange for favors never, never, never, never, ever, never, ever ever, ever,ever, ever, never never, never, never, never, ever, never, ever ever, ever,ever, ever, never never, never, never, never, ever, never, ever ever, ever,ever, ever, never never, never, never, never, ever, never, ever ever, ever,ever, ever, never never, never, never, never, ever, never, ever ever, ever,ever, ever, never  happen on Jones Street.*)

Apparently, the folks putting in the Atlantic Coast Pipeline forked over $58 million at almost the exact time the Cooper administration gave them a permit to start work.  Democrats inside and outside the administration called the forkover of all that cash a “voluntary contribution.”  It was just a co-inky-dink that the cash changed hands right when the permit got issued.  

Legislative Republicans got it right by attacking the deal for the sleazy mess that it is.  But here’s where they messed up:

[…T]he lawmakers adopted a provision that would remove the fund from Cooper’s control and would direct the $57.8 million to public schools located along the pipeline route. […]

Remember how that lottery got passed with the promise the cash was going to the schools?  Remember how the gas tax got instituted and increased to pay for the roads?  HOW has THAT worked out for us?

Giving ANY of these politicians ANY more money is like handing a bottle of vodka to a wino or some crack to a junkie.  Not much good will come from it.

If the cash was ill-gotten gains improperly (or illegally) taken from the contractor, it needs to go BACK to the contractor.  Taking the money from Roy Cooper so you can spend it the way you want to doesn’t make it better. 

Remember the Tom James Company.  Paying oneself for campaigning for oneself.   That towing company.